Breakfast was a stale, cold loaf of bread, to be eaten while they continued their trek. This time, Solera was near the middle of the line. The asshole guard, Jumpy, was nowhere to be seen today. Lem, however, was behind him. Luckily, all prisoners had gotten a change of clothes from the channelers to clearly differentiate between the two groups, and so Lem couldn’t see the injuries on his back.

“Have you ever traveled anywhere?” Lem babbled on. “I’ve never been outside of Eden, but there are a lot of things I want to see. Excalibur in Camelot, the volcanoes in the Bloodsand Dominion, the Verdant Hills, the Hellhole in the southern continent, the walls of the eastern continent, the-”

“Nope. Never traveled anywhere.” Solera cut him off. Over the course of the last few minutes, he realized Lem didn’t remind him of Guinness at all. One talked too much.

“Eh, that’s too bad. The Pantheon has the only navy in Land, so I’ll probably never get to see any continent other than this one.” Lem sighed. “People from the central continent are so lucky. They’re the only place without war or travel restrictions. I heard their entire continent is one large city. I would like to see that for myself, as well.”

“How about our Tornado Towers?” A female guard walking alongside them looked over, a bright smile on her face.

Solera eyed her warily. Why was this guard talking to them? They were supposed to be enemies!

“The Tornado Towers?” Lem grinned right back. “I guess I’d want to see that too. But it might be too windy. Cuz tornado.”

“Uh, you get used to it.” The woman smiled. “The tornados are really good for cultivating. Even though we’re all primarily channelers, nobody is going to turn down increased longevity. I actually like feeling the wind and dirt on my face now, since I associate it with the towers.”

Solera realized, with a start, that he had heard this voice before. It was the woman from last night! He looked her over again. She had a slightly chubby face, with medium-length brown hair and freckles. She genuinely seemed like a person who was just trying to be friendly, but... Solera wanted nothing to do with her. Just yesterday, she had been one of the people trying to kill him, and there was no way he would forget about that.

“Ahaha!” Lem laughed cheerily. “I’m Lem! What’s your name?”

“I’m Helga.” She answered, drifting a bit closer to them. Solera edged away, a grimace on his face. He didn’t want to talk. Not with her.

“This is Solera!” Lem said, grabbing Solera’s arm. “He likes, uh…”

Several seconds passed awkwardly.

“Training.” Solera looked at the dirt on the ground as he walked.

“Training, huh? I don’t like training. Mantras are a lot of work.” Helga laughed again. “Boss Ras makes us practice a lot in our free time, though. He’s a slave driver.”

“Ras… Rasmarnov?” Lem asked.

“RasmUrnov.” Helga kicked a pebble through the mud as she walked. “I don’t mean to talk bad about him, though. He does a lot to protect his subordinates, and I really respect him for that.”

Solera remembered the events last night and rolled his eyes.

“”Yo, Helga!” One of the soldiers from behind came running forwards to them with a face full of mirth. “You’ve got to…”

His eyes flickered to Solera and Lem, revealing a trace of disdain. “Why you talkin’ with these… these prisoners?”

An annoyed expression appeared on Helga’s face. “Something wrong with that?”

The young man glared at the two of them, especially Lem. “No. Never mind.”

“Tell me what you were going to say, Isidor.” Helga stopped, folding her arms and pouting. Lem stopped with her, so after a meter Solera did too.

“It’s nothing.” The youth looked away sullenly. “Just Jako got his ass whipped by one of the prisoners when he touched one of the prisoner’s asses is all.”

Helga started moving them all along again, but her eyebrows rose upwards like a twig at the bottom of a lake. “What did he do after?”

Isidor glanced at Lem again before leaning in and whispering into Helga’s ear. Solera strained his ears, but heard nothing. Helga, on the other hand, started howling with laughter.

“Okay, you can leave now. That was funny.” Helga waved him away, a grin on her face. Isidor jogged up ahead to tell the next guard, his face slightly less annoyed than it had been before. After a moment of silence, Helga snickered again.

“What’s so funny?” Lem asked curiously. “I wanna laugh too!”

Helga looked at him for a moment before obliging. “There’s this asshole in the back, his name is Jakovich. Apparently he groped one of your comrades.”

“What?” Lem shouted angrily. “That’s not funny.”

If Solera had not already heard that this Jakovich had his “ass whipped,” he would not have been happy either. But it seemed he had been given his due.

“I guess not.” Helga smiled. “But also apparently he got beaten up by your other prisoners. So he ran crying to the boss, and Ras was like-”

At this point, she folded her arms together and imitated Rasmurnov’s monotone voice. “‘who asked you to be a little bitch? That was nobody’s fault but your own!’”

“Oh.” Lem began smiling. “This Rasmurnov seems like a good guy after all.”

“Well, that’s probably not exactly what he said. But it’s something along those lines.” Helga smiled smugly. “That was Isidor, by the way. He’s from one of the smaller villages, and doesn’t speak too good. Great shot, though.”

Solera’s eyelid twitched. So this Isidor had murdered Solera’s fellow countrymen as well. He wondered how many Helga had killed. The discomfort in his heart took on a tinge of anger as he thought about how Lem talked so casually with her.

A thought popped into Solera’s head, causing him to frown. It actually made sense to talk to her. She was one of their guards, and could kill them anytime she wished. But if Lem befriended her, wouldn’t that make it a bit harder for her to treat him cruelly?

Solera rubbed his chin. Maybe Lem was not so naive after all.

“Hey, do you know about that Jumpy guy, then?” Lem asked. “He kicked Solera yesterday. I don’t like him very much.”

“Did he?” Helga scratched her head. “That guy’s a little crazy. Uh, let me put it this way. He has two names: Jumpy and Not Jumpy. He used to just be weird, but in a battle with the Thundercloud sect somebody bonked him on the head too hard. Or something.”

“Oh, so he’s just crazy.” Lem laughed. “That’s okay, then.”

“Yup.” Helga nodded, then blinked. “Well, I got something to do now. Nice meeting you.”

“Yup.” Lem nodded, waving as she trotted away. He turned back to Solera, a wide grin on his face. “She’s hot.”

No. Lem definitely was too naive. Solera shook his head, smiling. In a single morning, he had gone from annoyed with Lem, to interested, back to annoyed, and then to impressed, and now to incredulous.

Though they were mostly moving westwards, their slight orientation to the south meant that they were slowly passing into the Tornado sect’s territory. Nearly everything directly south of Eden was either mountains or desert, if Solera remembered correctly. The Tornado sect should be no different. As the sun swung through the sky, the forests slowly began to thin out and the hills began to grow more pronounced, and by the time the sun had set, the fertile black soil had turned into a dark shade of brown.

The channelers had burned down another portion of the forest to create a large clearing for the prisoners to sleep in. Solera lay in the middle of this clearing, holding his riceball just above his head. He was deep in thought again.

With the crystal, Solera’s arms had recovered their full range of motion. Another day and he would be fully healed. After that, he could even use the power to cultivate. Not that he would, of course. The crystal was a weapon which bestowed upon him power that could be used both to heal and to kill.

Solera’s eyes glimmered. No, he would not be using the crystal to cultivate. It would be for his escape from this damned march. With it, who could stop him from running away in the middle of the night? Like Helga had said, these guys were channelers, not cultivators. They could at most lift their gauntlets up before he disappeared into the forest or the mountain or wherever he would be. But after that, he would have to fend for himself.

It would be best to start saving food wherever he could, whenever he could. Too bad this riceball would go stale within a day. Solera bit a chunk out of it, the top of his head rubbing against the ground as he chewed.

Navigating back to Eden would not be easy. It would require crossing the enemy lines, for one. Maybe he would have to steal a uniform from the guards. And how could he prove he was from Eden when he got back?

Bah. He’d figure out those issues when he came to them. First things first, he needed to finish recuperating. Then, he would wait one week charge up enough power. By then, he would have to finish preparations for his getaway.

Just like the night before, Solera practiced his circulation mantra for as long as he could. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep, but when he opened his eyes again it was the crack of dawn.

He was at the back today, with Jumpy just a few meters ahead of him. Solera paid him no mind, though; he was trying to locate himself in the mental map he had conjured up. Solera estimated that their average pace was fifty kilometers per day, which would mean the trip would take under a month. He didn’t know why Rasmurnov had said it would take several months. Maybe they would have to climb mountain paths or take a more roundabout trail.

“No! Stop!” Solera heard a woman’s cry, and then a loud crackling noise.

About thirty meters in front of him, five guards had surrounded a young woman with their gauntlets raised at the nearby prisoners. In the center was a youth with a pockmarked face and a ruthless expression.

Solera immediately started moving forward, his face dark. So there really was scum in this world. At least the commander, Rasmurnov, didn’t seem to care if they beat up this kind of trash.

“You! At it again!” A prisoner shouted as he barreled towards the group. A guard lifted his gauntlet up, shooting out a wire that embedded itself in the prisoner’s arm. A crackling sound rang out again, and he dropped to the ground, screaming in agony.

Solera stopped in his tracks, his face shocked. These guys were actually willing to attack them for this girl? Were they not thinking about the consequences at all?

“Hahaha!” One of the guards laughed. “You guys can go fuck off!”

The crackling noise began again, causing the man’s howls to redouble. Solera was stricken with fear as he watched. He didn’t want to risk being heavily injured or killed defending someone else. Not when he was still injured. Not when he still had to escape. Not when he could kill them all in the future.

“Look, girl. I really don’t understand why you’re so scared.” The pockmarked youth said amidst the screams, a nasty smirk on his face. “I’m not even going to touch you. Just teach you a lesson for yesterday.”

He dodged aside as she threw a rock at him. “Hey, the boss will punish you if you inflict permanent injury or death. Ha ha ha…”

Solera looked at the man on the ground closely, his eyes narrowing. Was it that this strange weapon they were using wasn’t lethal? Though the man was squirming on the floor like a fish out of water, the pockmarked man’s words had made him reevaluate.

“Jako, just take her. She’ll be begging for more tonight.” One of them said, causing the whole group to laugh. Solera gritted his teeth and began charging forward again. One of the channelers looked over at him, smirking. He nonchalantly raised his gauntlet upwards.

Solera dodged aside as a wire shot out from the boy’s crackling gauntlet. But before he could recover, another three wires shot into his body. An immense tingling sensation shot into him, sending him tumbling into the floor. That tingling instantly turned into blinding pain, causing him to shout out.

“Dumbass.” One of the guards sniggered. By now, all the nearby prisoners and guards had stopped to watch, most with varying degrees of indifference.

Solera struggled up, but the crackling intensified and he was sent to the ground again. He found… that he couldn’t move! He had no control over his muscles anymore, no matter how much he flailed about.

“Look, girl. You’re my spoils, understand? I feed you. I own you.” The pockmarked kid, Jakovich, had bent down next to the fallen girl, waving his fingers. A third crackle rang out, causing the girl to yelp in pain. “We can make life easier for all of us, right?”

Solera cleared his mind as the pain coursed through him. This weapon was definitely not causing him serious injuries, so he needed to calm down. Assess the situation. Figure out how to get out of this thing.

A burst of green power flooded into his arm, which wrapped around the needles embedded into his body. As his hands touched the wires, it automatically clamped down, sending an intense tingling down his arm.

“Raggghh!” Solera snarled as he tore all three needles out of his skin at the same time. He flailed about for a split second before rising to his feet again. Immediately, another channeler shot a wired needle into him.

“What the fuck?” The first one asked, staring at the wires on the ground.

Another burst of power. Solera charged forward, closing the last five meters within a second. His fist smashed into a third channeler’s face before he could shoot more wires. Without missing a beat, Solera’s knee carved upwards straight into Jakovich’s face, sending him stumbling backwards.

Crackling noises shot out from Jakovich’s gauntlet as he unconsciously channeled power into it, causing the girl to scream again. Solera smoothly got on one knee, delivering a vicious punch into Jakovich’s stomach.

Out of the corner of his eye, Solera could see the other captive kicking the legs of one of the channelers before pushing him over onto the ground. Solera’s other fist punched into Jakovich’s side as his second knee swung down onto Jakovich’s arm, pinning him to the floor.

He looked down at Jakovich’s face, his eyes cold. This was the face of a piece of filth. But he couldn’t kill Jakovich. He could only give him a sound whipping. With his left hand gripping Jakovich’s neck, his palm descended down, again and again, delivering a series of resounding slaps to Jakovich’s face.

“Ah!” Slap! “God-” Slap! “Stop it!” SLAP! Slap! Slap! “I’m s-” Slap! “Sorry!”

A needle embedded itself into Solera’s back, but he overpowered and just continued. Actually, this felt kind of good. The faint tingling in his back made the feeling of slapping Jakovich’s face much more stimulating. Well, it was mostly because slapping a piece of shit felt good. He should have done this to Chip back when he had first seen him again after Fortress Hickory. Or-

Everything went black.