Chapter 206

"Stubborn and unyielding," Kunxi Ese shook his head at Gao De.

"If you are locked in the dungeon for more than three years, your originally infinitely bright future will be ruined," the vice-chairman spoke up at the right time to help.

Three years was nothing for a high-circle magic user.

But for a young genius who promoted to a first-circle magic user at 14, it was extremely precious.

Gao De squinted his eyes, looking at Kunxi Ese through the faint light of the dungeon.

His expression was calm, and no one knew what he was thinking.

It seemed that changing from a genius famous in the academy to a suspect suspected of deliberately destroying academy assets did not cause Gao De to have any psychological fluctuations.

Kunxi Ese also squinted his eyes, looking at this young student who had only been sent to the dungeon under his instruction, and was somewhat surprised by the other party's calmness.

By reason, a person of this age could not withstand too many blows.

"If you want to talk, notify the guards outside, but I won't give you too much time; think clearly as soon as possible," Kunxi Ese dropped this sentence and turned to leave, not entangled with Gao De any further.

"It's probably not good to lock a student in the academy in the dungeon without greeting Dean Xie Er first, right?" After leaving the dungeon, the vice-chairman reminded him tactfully.

"There's no need to report such a small matter to Dean Xie Er," Kunxi Ese replied calmly: "Besides, you should know Dean Xie Er's character better than I do."

"Dean Xie Er never cares about the process; he only cares about the result. As long as the final result is good, some of my overstepping in this process counts for nothing," he affirmed.

"Have you searched Gao De's room?" Kunxi Ese asked again.

"Searched, there are neither rune constructs nor other suspicious items."

"Besides, I sent someone to ask the people in the Alchemy Department, and they can also testify that at the time the magic array exploded this afternoon, Gao De was indeed collecting Maid Clams under Labor Cliff. It seems that the explosion of the magic array really has nothing to do with him."

"It should be that He Xi set up an early warning mechanism when building the magic array; once it detected that the magic array was being broken, it would start and self-destruct," the vice-chairman speculated.

He didn't understand runology, but he still had the necessary insight.

Hearing the vice-chairman's analysis, Kunxi Ese's face darkened a bit, but it wasn't obvious in the dim dungeon corridor.

—Doesn't this amount to accusing him of not being skilled enough, which triggered the magic array explosion?

"This is not important; what's important is that we must find the rune constructs left by He Xi."

"He Xi was all alone; besides leaving them to this disciple, who else could he leave the rune constructs he made to?"

"Even if they weren't left to him, this kid must know some information."

"After all, He Xi left the rune workshop to him," Kunxi Ese said in a hoarse voice.

Because of the rune construct matter, he had already been angry many times in just a few hours.

These few sets of rune constructs were not only important to Xie Er En and the Second Prince, but also equally important to him, perhaps even more important.

Only with them could he "become" a third-rank rune constructor.

A second-rank rune constructor had a little weight in the Second Prince's camp, but couldn't enter the core circle and wasn't enough to look at.

Now was the critical moment of "supporting the dragon," and the greater the contribution and value shown now, the more generous the feedback would be when rewards were discussed in the future.

It wasn't just Xie Er En who needed to increase chips for the Second Prince's side.

Kunxi Ese also needed to increase his own chips.

"Should we give him a little suffering first to make him realize the reality? Maybe that will make him develop awe for the prison disaster," the vice-chairman offered his suggestion.

Kunxi Ese frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and nodded: "He's already in the dungeon and is still so unappreciative; indeed, we should let him experience the treatment of a prisoner."

In the magic tower's dungeon, there were actually not many prisoners in general.

Even if there were, most of the time they were not humans, but other creatures.

Therefore, the dungeon was particularly quiet, and coupled with the dim light, it was enough to produce a suffocating sense of oppression.

Gao De sat on the floor.

Because there was no bed in the dungeon.

"The mentor is gone, and the data has been destroyed. Now, in the whole world, except for in my head, there will be no place left with information about the six basic rules of runes and interference constants."

"The leakage of results is temporarily nothing to worry about."

"Now what they want are the rune constructs."

"The mentor really didn't tell me about the rune constructs, but since they are so sure, then it's highly probable that the things the mentor stored in the Saint Xi En City branch of the Aokenli Chamber of Commerce are the rune constructs."

No wonder the mentor didn't write these things in his will and urged him to remember to keep it secret and not let outsiders know.

The old man deeply understood that compared to the "knowledge" that was truly priceless in his and Gao De's eyes, for people in the outside world, rune constructs were the things that truly possessed value.

It's just that the old man didn't expect that he had clearly been ignored in the rune workshop for decades, but Xie Er En's gaze on him had never stopped.

So his actions didn't manage to deceive the world.

"I just don't know if Jielika can help me. I have accepted her investment; at least on this level, I have a direct interest relationship with her."

"But the extent of the effort she is willing to put into this matter is still unknown. If they really determine that I know where the rune constructs are, the price of trying to fish me out is definitely not something she can bear."

"Therefore, I must insist that I don't know about the rune constructs. At least the mentor really never told me about this matter, and the current speculation is just speculation. Even if I am 【Tortured】 or pulled into the 【Zone of Truth】, I can handle it calmly."

Gao De was silent, thinking.

Among the 0-circle to 3-circle spells, the only ones that could be used for interrogation were 【Torture】 and 【Zone of Truth】.

【Torture】, Magic User Seda had already let Gao De experience it once.

【Zone of Truth】 is a 2nd-circle spell. Compared to 【Torture】, which allows the caster to know whether the target is lying, its spell effect is to make the target within the zone unable to lie.

But the affected target can realize the existence of the 【Zone of Truth】, so when answering questions, they can completely avoid the important and dwell on the trivial, as long as it doesn't exceed the scope of the truth, there is no problem.

"It's just that if Jielika is unwilling to take action, and I insist that I don't know about the rune constructs, in their shame and anger, maybe I really will have to stay in prison for several years..."

This consequence could not be said to be light.

But would he hand over the things the mentor left him to these villains? Definitely not.

Then there was no need to think about the consequences.

"A first-circle magic user has a lifespan of 150 years; with the 【Qingmu Changsheng Jing】 and Yujia Te Xila, it can be even longer. Let alone a few years, even if it's delayed by ten or twenty years, it's not unacceptable."

Of course, this was the worst, worst-case scenario.

After sorting out his train of thought and preparing himself psychologically to bear the worst-case scenario, Gao De stopped thinking about this matter.

But in the dungeon, there was actually nothing to do.

Gao De simply started trying to construct spell models.

Fortunately, the ternary arrays representing coordinates that were dismantled from those spell models had long been memorized in his mind.

But his stability didn't last long.

About half an hour later, a dull and oppressive sound of footsteps came from the corridor outside the dungeon.

The already dim light in the dungeon became even darker.

The originally dead atmosphere became cold and eerie with the approach of the footsteps.

An ominous aura permeated the air, making people shudder.

Immediately following, a figure shrouded in a black hooded robe appeared outside the dungeon where Gao De was.

His face could not be seen clearly under the shadow.

But Gao De could perceive that the other party was looking at himself with a sinister gaze.

That gaze was not only sinister but also cruel and indifferent, causing a bad premonition to arise in Gao De's heart.

The next instant, an indescribable scorching aura instantly permeated the air.

Gao De's face twisted instantly, his eyes wide open.

An indescribable and uncontrollable intense pain surged like a tide, instantly sweeping through his entire body.

This pain came so suddenly and so intensely that Gao De felt as if his soul were being torn apart.

His body began to tremble violently because of this severe pain, and his muscles were even tensed to the point of almost tearing apart.

He felt that every inch of flesh and blood, every piece of skin on his body, seemed to be experiencing the torture of fire burning, ice piercing, insect swarms biting, and sharp blades cutting all at the same time.

Sweat rolled down from his forehead like broken beads, instantly soaking his clothes and blurring his vision, making everything around him become distorted.

His breathing became rapid and chaotic. Gao De even knelt on the ground in pain.

He clenched his hands into fists, his nails deeply embedded in his palms, hoping to relieve even a little bit of the pain, but it was to no avail.

In this torture that was difficult to relieve and difficult to describe, Gao De's only remaining consciousness had already reacted to what he was experiencing: this was the necromancy 2nd-circle spell 【Agonizing Pain】.

It causes extreme pain to the target's body.

But it does not cause any damage.

It is just pure, unbearable pain.

Under normal circumstances, it is used as a control spell.

But now, it was being used as an instrument of torture to torment him.

In the world of magic users, punishments would naturally not be common physical means such as "whips" or "fire roasting."

Spells were the highest-level instruments of torture.

They wouldn't cause any wounds, but the pain and torture they could bring were something other instruments of torture could not achieve.

Gao De had never been to prison.

This was his first time in jail.

But even in his previous life, Gao De had not heard of the saying of black jails, let alone in the Saint Xi Encheng, where order was far less than in his previous life.

Therefore, Gao De understood everything.

This was "extorting a confession by torture."

The pain lasted for dozens of seconds before coming to an abrupt end.

"Have you remembered yet, where did He Xi put the rune constructs?" A hoarse, unpleasant voice that couldn't distinguish the specific tone came from the figure at the dungeon entrance.

It seemed he was deliberately suppressing his voice to avoid Gao De recognizing his identity later.

"... Mother," Gao De, whose whole body was soaked in sweat as if he had just been fished out of the water, moved his pale lips and said with difficulty.

"What did you say? Mother?" The figure frowned, thinking it was some address, and hurriedly asked: "I can't hear clearly."

"I said..." Gao De bit his lip, used all his strength, and said word by word: "I f*** your mother."

"Actually, I admire your courage to provoke me after such torture," the figure raised his eyebrows slightly and laughed high above: "If you begged me for mercy, you might have had an easier time today."

"You can just come ahead." Gao De recovered some strength, and speaking was not so difficult anymore.

"You really have a stiff mouth; I just stopped because I was afraid you would faint from excessive stimulation."

"Since that's the case, I'll play with you slowly; I hope your bones are as hard as your mouth," the figure teased.

"Come." Gao De laughed.

【Continuously enduring intense pain and torture, your ability to endure pain increased by 6%】.

Staying at the bottom of the river for an afternoon, 【Adaptability】 only provided 0.6% cold resistance.

And just in those dozens of seconds of pain, Gao De's ability to endure pain increased by a full 6%.

It is conceivable how terrifying the pain brought by 【Agonizing Pain】 is.

But likewise, the more terrifying the pain, the faster Gao De would adapt.

What doesn't kill him will only make him stronger.

This is the power of 【Adaptability】.

The figure looked at Gao De, and the corners of his eyes twitched.

The next instant, the scorching aura permeated again.

The familiar intense pain swept over again.

Gao De's whole body twisted on the floor like a shrimp, his back arched into a ball, emitting bursts of dull low groans.

The 6% increased pain tolerance could not make Gao De ignore this pain.

But it could indeed be clearly felt that it was already much better than before.

And this number, accompanied by the pain, was still increasing at a visible speed.

6.1%, 6.2%, 6.3%... This time, 【Agonizing Pain】 lasted for a full minute before stopping.

Because the figure found that Gao De's low groans were getting smaller and smaller, fearing that Gao De's consciousness couldn't bear this excessive stimulation and would faint directly.

He was prepared to play with Gao De slowly.

"Just this?"

But what he didn't expect was that as soon as the spell effect ended, Gao De had already "provoked" again.

He snorted coldly, didn't talk nonsense with Gao De, and cast 【Agonizing Pain】 again.

Gao De's back, which had just straightened, arched again, twisting and wriggling his body on the ground, seemingly wanting to relieve the pain in this way.

This time, 【Agonizing Pain】 lasted for nearly two minutes before ending.

And after it ended this time, Gao De didn't speak again for the first time.

"It's nothing more than this," the figure sneered, believing he had already taken hold of Gao De.

"Just this?"

As soon as his words fell, Gao De's weak voice sounded again in the quiet dungeon.

This time, the figure finally changed his expression.

The torture that 【Agonizing Pain】 could bring, even the most pain-tolerant Human-Faced Elephant couldn't endure for too long, let alone a human?

But the person in front of him could be so fearless; what kind of powerful and tenacious willpower was this?

"I don't believe I can't tame you today," this time, it was the figure's turn to clench his teeth.

He said viciously.

As the perpetrator, not seeing the victim's begging for mercy made him feel particularly failed.

The next moment, Gao De's endured muffled groans sounded in the dungeon again.

In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour had passed.

The figure's face, hidden in the shadows, was full of disbelief.

He cast 【Agonizing Pain】 on Gao De time and time again.

After half an hour of continuous casting, he was even panting slightly, but Gao De seemed to be getting clearer and clearer, and his state was getting better and better.

At the beginning, Gao De still performed as if he were in extreme pain.

Later, he didn't even make muffled groans anymore, just lying on the ground with his body arched.

He had never heard of, let alone seen, a person who could endure 【Agonizing Pain】 for half an hour without fainting and without yielding.

Is this a human, or a stone without pain? The pain coming from his body disappeared again because the spell ended.

Gao De climbed up from the floor tremblingly, baring his teeth and smiling at the figure outside the dungeon.

"Just this?!"

This time, it really wasn't "stiff mouth," but complete "adaptation."

【Continuously enduring intense pain and torture, your ability to endure pain increased by 67%】.

At the beginning, in dozens of seconds, 【Adaptability】 could let Gao De's pain tolerance increase by 6%.

But this rate of increase became slower the further it went.

Even just now, the three-minute-long 【Agonizing Pain】 only increased Gao De's pain tolerance by 1.2%.

The reason was also very simple.

He had gradually adapted to this kind of pain.

Now, 【Agonizing Pain】 could still bring him pain, but for Gao De, it was nothing, at most it just refreshed his mind.

(End of chapter)