On the other side of the door was a scene no person should ever see.
Walls were painted in red, and chains lay scattered everywhere.
Inside a cell were people of all ages. *Children were missing limbs or eyes; others bore fresh lacerations and recent amputations, still bleeding.*
On the opposite side of the cell, a man was laughing while torturing an elderly woman.
He was using a small yet razor-sharp knife to make cuts that weren't deadly—just painful.
As he raised his arm to slash downward, Alex cast Wind Slicer. Fueled by anger, the spell reached near-perfection, forming in just 0.1 seconds, and making it his strongest yet.
Vanessa had no time to react; she was frozen, stunned by the carnage before her.
The spell hissed through the air and severed the man's arm cleanly, blood splattering everywhere.
He screamed in agony and collapsed backward, staring toward the source of the attack.
Alex began approaching him, ready to finish what he started, but a hand gripped his shoulder, locking him in place.
"That's enough. Focus on helping the prisoners," Vanessa said. She understood Alex's emotions—his best friend had been tortured back then, too, so this struck him deeply.
"I hope your so-called justice doesn't disappoint me. Otherwise, next time, things won't be the same," Alex warned.
Vanessa nodded. 'That's why I'm here—to make sure these pigs don't escape through corruption, she thought.'
She believed that to ease Alex's hatred, she had to ensure justice actually functioned; his doubts about it were part of why he despised nobles.
Alex returned to the strapped old woman and fed her a healing potion, then gently lowered her down.
After that, he moved to the other prisoners, treating them one by one. Seeing how long it took to help them all, he wished he had already unlocked the healing element for group spells.
Meanwhile, Vanessa approached the man, seizing him by the collar.
"Do you know who I am!?" the man shouted. "I can make you disappear with the snap of a finger!"
"Oh, I know exactly who you are, Roderick Halvern. What I didn't know was that you were such a disgusting piece of shit," Vanessa replied.
Roderick froze. He recognized the voice.
"Pr-Princess! You can't be in here. Who gave you the right?" he demanded, now desperate since she had seen everything.
"Says who? Last time I checked, this is my kingdom," Vanessa replied coldly.
"Besides, we're here as a special unit. We were investigating reports that you were kidnapping people."
"So you'd rather believe the words of a commoner over those of a noble!?" Roderick shouted.
"Shut him up, or I will. Permanently," Alex said from across the room, growing irritated by the man's nonsense.
"You will be judged by a trial of law. Pray to whatever you worship—because as far as I know, this usually means a death sentence," Vanessa said. Then she jabbed a needle with sleeping poison into his neck and applied a topical potion to his severed arm, sealing the wound.
After that, she headed to the window and activated the signal scroll.
The royal guard stormed in moments later and began assisting the prisoners under Vanessa's command.
Alex was already walking away, not wanting to remain anywhere near the man.
Vanessa saw him leave but couldn't follow; with the royal guards present, she needed to oversee everything.
Alex returned home with a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. The man he wanted dead still lived, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't even bypass Vanessa—she was far stronger than him.
This only reinforced his desire to grow stronger.
'As they say, the strong make the laws, and the weak follow.'
He wanted to become strong enough to enforce the law as he saw fit, without anyone dictating his actions.
He racked his brain on how to approach that while walking home.
Almost thirty minutes later, he found the answer.
The map he copied from the alchemist was from the future. That meant he could compare the two versions and locate mana crystal deposits that hadn't been discovered yet.
He could trade that information to the royalty in exchange for a percentage of the mined crystals.
But first, he needed to tier up, then learn the elements, and finally learn spells. Altogether, it would take him around three to four months before he was ready to set out.
So he went directly to his room, meditated for a while, and then slept—he wanted to be at peak condition before attempting to ascend.
After waking, Alex went to continue painting the map; he had only about a week left to finish it.
Leaving his secret room, he headed to the gate hall and teleported to the palace.
Once there, he asked a maid to direct him to a training room.
He had taken Sylvana's offer seriously but hadn't informed her of his arrival; he didn't want to bother her unnecessarily.
Sitting in the center of the room, he opened the status window to see how to advance.
It showed he needed to draw a specific advancement circle—quite a complex one—and place the cores in the triangles and the crystals in the circles.
Realizing he didn't have the materials for it, he stepped outside and approached the maid again.
"Excuse me, is there a room where I can tier up?" Alex asked politely.
"Are you perhaps Alex?" the maid asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Alex replied.
"Her Highness Sylvana instructed the staff to prepare a tier-up room for you. Please follow me."
Alex followed her and soon found himself in a room stocked with all the materials needed for his personal advancement circle.
The maid bowed and left him alone.
Alex began drawing the circle, stroke by stroke.
Elsewhere in the castle, Sylvana was reviewing reports with a focused expression.
Since waking up, she had been vigilant for anything that might threaten the realm. There were issues, of course, but nothing compared to what Alex had warned her about.
Yet she had indeed found traces of the group he mentioned—they truly existed.
A knock interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in," she said. The maid who had guided Alex entered, breathless.
"Your Highness, Alex has arrived at the palace. He's in the room you ordered us to prepare."
"Good. Inform Vanessa as well. Thank you," Sylvana said.
'That brat came and didn't even tell me,' she thought with a mix of annoyance and curiosity.
She wondered how much he had grown—it was a prime chance to sense his current understanding of magic.
Setting the reports aside, she headed toward the training rooms.