“How can they be like this? Who does that?”

  “Everyone who needs to,” the voice replied nonchalantly.

  “What kind of monster would need that?” Stick’s voice was edged with disgust.

  “Well, if you had the chance, wouldn’t you take the EXP?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The voice sighed, as if explaining to a child. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “When a monster drops to 0 LP, it dies. You know what LP stands for, right?”

  “Life Points?” Stick guessed.

  “Exactly. But for humans, 0 LP isn’t a death sentence.”

  Stick nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s when the God of Life Protection stops working, but you’re still alive.”

  The voice chuckled darkly. “Of course, the Protection. Anyway, once a human hits 0 LP, all attacks that hit… hit for real. The damage you take at that point becomes permanent. I wouldn’t recommend getting hit by a fireball at 0 LP.”

  “Right…”

  “On the flip side, as long as you have even 1 LP left, you can absorb the biggest attack. That’s what we call the ‘Arslan Threshold.’”

  Stick’s eyes widened. “The Arslan Threshold? You mean the hero?”

  The voice laughed. “Yeah, him. He was a real daredevil.”

  “You knew him?” Stick asked eagerly.

  “Of course. He was one of my best friends.” The voice softened, a tinge of nostalgia creeping in. “Loud, cheerful, and reckless. He didn’t care about orders. He’d rush into battle at 0 LP, heal himself, and take another deadly hit like it was nothing. Found a way to refresh his Protection at just the right time to mitigate even the gods’ strongest attacks.”

  “That’s incredible!” Stick said, his admiration obvious.

  “That’s why it’s called the Arslan Threshold. No one else was crazy enough to try it.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by another scream, louder this time, accompanied by the sound of a heavy blow.

  Stick tensed. “They said he wouldn’t be tortured. Are they… are they going to kill him?”

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  “The Court of Carnifex is… merciless. You’ll learn that soon enough.” The unseen man said, “You see, whenever you kill a monster, you get experience points, like in any other video game.”

  “I’m sorry,” Stick called back, “but what does that have to do with Shadis?”

  The unseen man sighed again. “As I said, it’s different for humans. Humans don’t die at zero LP. But the game registers it as a kill anyway and awards EXP.”

  Stick felt a chill run through him. “So if you pass the ‘Arslan Threshold,’ you get EXP from NPCs?”

  “Exactly,” the voice replied with grim certainty. “The trick is to heal them back over the threshold, reduce them to zero again, and repeat.”

  The realization made Stick’s stomach turn. “So they’re getting EXP by torturing him?”

  “Yes, and it’s something you’ll have to deal with for a long time.”

  Stick’s fists clenched in the darkness. “This is awful! Why would they do this?”

  The voice laughed humorlessly, its tone sharp. “Why? Because Carnifex Soldiers can only get to LVL 25 in the lands they control. Any leveling zone between 25 and 45 is beyond the border. The capital’s right at the very end of the 40s zone. Anyone who wasn’t at least level 43 when the war started has no way to level up past 25. That’s why there’s such a massive gap between Commanders and Soldiers. A power disparity like that… well, it invites abuse, doesn’t it?”

  Stick’s jaw tightened. “I’ve seen it myself.”

  “It’s disappointing, I know. Even the Officers who started out in the mid-ranks—levels 25 to 50—looked down on their subordinates. Soldiers desperate to climb the ranks, to get stronger… A bunch of rats that don’t know their place.”

  An uneasy feeling crept up Stick’s spine. He leaned away from the hole separating them. Disappointing?

  ”When word got out that you could ‘defeat’ NPCs and gain experience, it was chaos. People ran rampant, stealing and brutalizing them. They turned basements and attics into EXP farms, crippling NPCs repeatedly. Some misunderstood the mechanic and killed them outright.” The voice paused, then continued, colder now. “No one could stop it. Morals, orders, even threats didn’t work. It took a bloody crackdown to end the revolt. The property damage alone… what a waste.”

  Stick’s hands trembled. “Then why are they hurting Shadis now? If it caused such chaos, wouldn’t this be illegal?”

  The man in the other hole chuckled darkly. “Illegal? No, it was never illegal—at least, not as long as it was your own property. But most people don’t own high-level NPCs. Then someone—a particularly pragmatic German—came up with a better idea. He suggested using the guild’s prisoners—those with life sentences—as EXP farms. That way, Soldiers who performed exceptionally well could earn promotions to Officer. It kept the peace, strengthened the army, and ensured loyalty. It was a brilliant plan, really. That’s why most Officers are level 35 now.”

  Stick bit his lip, anger rising. “And Shadis?”

  “Calm down,” the voice said with a hint of mockery. “Each Player can only get EXP from an NPC once. That’s why they need so many. It will take time, but it will end.”

  “I don’t want to wait,” Stick snapped. “I have to get him out of there as soon as I leave this hole.”

  The voice grew quieter, almost pitying. ”That won’t be possible.”

  “Why not?” Stick demanded, his heart pounding.

  “Because the mere fact that you’re talking to me means you’ll be in here for life, too.”

  Stick felt the weight of the words settle over him like a suffocating blanket. The faint cries from distant cells echoed through the darkness, a haunting reminder of the cruelty he was now entangled in. But even as despair threatened to overwhelm him, a spark of defiance flared in his chest.

  “We have to get out of here,” he whispered to himself.

  The man in the other hole chuckled again, his voice fading into the oppressive silence. “Good luck with that.”

  Another scream echoed through the dungeon, cutting through the silence like a knife. Stick’s resolve hardened. Whatever it took, he would get them out of there—and he would make Carnifex pay.

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