In the quiet teacher's residence, Zane leaned back lazily in his chair, legs propped on the desk, a bored look in his eyes. Holographic screens flickered before him—feeds from his countless surveillance bees and micro-insects scattered across the academy.

"What should I do today…?" he muttered, drumming his fingers against the armrest. "Ah, right. Today is the interview day for students. I already declined Lucen's offer to sit in. Boring stuff. So… what's on the menu for me?"

He tilted his head, smirk tugging his lips. Suddenly his eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah… I caught some rats during the survival exam. Been keeping them warm for my experiments. Hehe… guess I know how I'll be spending today. And the rest of the week. Classes won't start until next week anyway."

With that thought, he stretched, slipped on his coat, and headed toward Lucen's office.

The head examiner was buried under paperwork, Seri standing quietly beside him, ever the loyal aide. Lucen barely lifted his head when Zane strolled in.

"Hi, Mr. Lucen," Zane said casually.

Lucen gave a small nod. "Hello, Zane."

"I'll be gone for a week. Got some… personal business," Zane said with his trademark smirk.

Lucen didn't ask. He only nodded again. "Very well. Don't cause trouble."

Zane chuckled at that, as if trouble wasn't his middle name, and left after enjoying a lavish breakfast—several dishes vanishing from the table like he hadn't eaten in days.

Moments later, in his private quarters, he vanished.

—

When he re-manifested, it was not in Orimund but on his island.

The island wasn't empty. It never had been. Wherever Zane had poured concept into being, life rushed in to fill the gap. Mountains cut the sky, plateaus held gardens of singing stones, rivers glowed with woven currents of raw mana and prana. The coastline curled into a sea that hissed against crystal beaches. Forests thrummed with plants that drank from different energies; beasts prowled that bore the marks of flame, light, storm, and things neither name nor language liked to touch. Mechanical towers hummed in the distance, and scattered between living roots and mineral veins were the mines and refineries Zane had built — veins of energy crystal and ores etc.

Zane took in the sight with a grin.

"Hmm… I managed to manifest directly here this time. Before, I had to step through the multiversal boundary… then down into the universe. Seems my last breakthrough is paying off. My strength really hasn't stopped climbing."

He found the little commotion near the

eastern lab cluster. One of his autonomous enforcers - a squat, efficient thing of magnetized plates and taught cables - lashed four cloaked figures with a whip that spat kinetic light.

"As per Mr. Zane's orders," the bot droned in its mechanical voice, "you are now part of his experiment."

One of the captives-face hidden, aura flickering-shouted, "Who are you?! What is this place?! Release us!"

Zane tilted his head, amused.

"Oh yeah... ever since I stabilized this place, time flows here very slow compared to Orimund. For them, it feels like they were grabbed just seconds ago. For me... it's been a full day ."

The defiant one finally snapped, his magic flaring violently. "I will not be beaten by a tin can!" He charged, aura roaring.

The bot didn't even flinch. Whap! With a single slap, the man was swatted mid-air, crashing into the ground unconscious. The others froze, terror washing over them.

Zane chuckled darkly.

"These bots were modeled to train with me, when I was learning Martial Art. Even the me of back then could crush these weaklings a thousand times over. What a joke."

Zane watched, smiling without cruelty. He'd already warded those people; the island's density of energies would not kill them. That was deliberate. Their bodies were protected from being burnt raw by the ambient aegis he'd cast the moment they arrived. They could be hurt enough to learn, not hurt enough to die — perfect subjects for experimentation and conditioning.

With a leisurely step, he appeared behind the bot, his shadow falling over the captives.

"Enough," he said calmly. "Take them to the… experiment subject pris—" He paused, smirking. "I mean, the shelter."

The bot turned, bowing with stiff precision.

"Welcome, Mr. Zane. Your orders are our command."

More bots emerged, metal feet striking the ground in unison. They seized the five prisoners, dragging them toward a massive structure looming in the distance—the Experiment Hall.

Zane stuffed his hands in his pockets, watching them go with an unreadable smile.

"Time to play with my new toys."

.

.

.

Zane walked into the Experiment Hall, humming lightly. The crystalline walls pulsed with faint veins of light, humming in resonance with the Null core buried beneath the island. He snapped his fingers, and his attire shifted. Gone was the long grey coat and casual dress he usually wore; instead, he now donned grey pants, a neat blue shirt, and over it a crisp white scientist's coat. A pair of thin-rimmed glasses gleamed on his nose — the look of a man who belonged here, in this hall of twisted order.

"Bring me one," he ordered, voice calm, almost bored.

At once, one of the bots dragged a man forward, half-beaten and trembling. Brown hair, brown eyes — a face utterly ordinary, except for the raw terror etched across it.

The man collapsed to his knees the moment he saw Zane.

"P-please spare me! Please! I'll tell you everything, why we attacked the academy exam, who ordered us—just don't—don't kill me!" His voice cracked, breaking into desperate sobs.

Zane stepped closer, crouching, placing a hand almost gently on the man's shoulder.

"Don't fall now," Zane said with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "What's your name, man?"

The captive blinked, hope flooding his face. He thought, for one fleeting second, that he'd been spared.

"M-my name is Ben," he stammered, daring a small smile.

Zane helped him stand, patting his shoulder as though they were friends. His smile widened.

"Ben, you don't have to cry, you know. Because…" His tone shifted, voice smooth and merciless. "…I don't give a damn why you attacked the exam."

The smile froze on Ben's lips. His knees buckled again.

"You're only here as my test subject."

Tears spilled down Ben's cheeks. Fear poured through him, more suffocating than the machine dragging him here. The smiling monster before him was worse than any nightmare.

"And you should be happy," Zane added casually, straightening his glasses. "I'm going to give you more power."

Ben's eyes widened. "W-what…?"

"Take him," Zane ordered.

The bot seized Ben like a ragdoll and tossed him into a transparent pod. Restraints clamped down over his arms and legs with a sharp hiss.

Zane stepped forward, gesturing to the machine as though introducing a stage performance.

"This," he said, "is the G.E.N.O.M.E. Manipulator. A little artifact of my own making." He smirked, tapping the glass of the pod with one finger. "With this, I will splice and alter your DNA. Could I do it directly with my powers? Of course. But why waste the effort when this is more… fun?"

On his command, the machine stirred to life. Crystalline conduits lit up, the hum of mana and machinery merging into a low, ominous song.

The chamber began filling with viscous liquid, pale blue and faintly glowing. A breathing mask clamped over Ben's mouth and nose. He writhed, screaming into the mask, his cries muffled and pitiful.

Zane stood a step back, tablet in hand, stylus poised to record. His smile was sharp and amused.

"Begin."

The pod vibrated as the Manipulator's core flared. Ben's body arched violently, his veins glowing. Cells were broken down, rewritten, and forced to regrow at unnatural speed. His flesh bubbled with tumors, muscles tearing and stitching themselves together again in grotesque shapes. His skin crawled with bulges before splitting to reveal half-formed masses of meat. His eyes rolled, bloodshot and wild, as muffled screams rattled the chamber.

Zane's glasses caught the reflection of the monstrous transformation. His smile widened further, a picture of detached curiosity. He scribbled notes with brisk efficiency: "Subject: Ben. Initial response — rejection of altered strands. Muscular system tearing… interesting. Pain tolerance average, vocal cords strained. Regeneration speed below expected threshold."

Every moment of Ben's agony was documented with the precision of a man cataloging flowers.

Inside the pod, the subject howled wordlessly as he warped into a grotesque parody of humanity — a mass of writhing flesh that refused to stabilize.

And Zane, with his calm smile and glittering eyes, simply wrote, humming faintly as if enjoying a symphony.

Inside the chamber, Ben writhed in the viscous medical fluid, his swollen, deformed flesh twitching with each pulse of the machine. His muffled cries echoed faintly, barely audible beneath the humming instruments.

Zane stood outside the transparent pod, calmly scribbling something into his black note-tablet. His smile widened as he muttered,

"Computer… upload this schematic for Ben. Right here, in the bots' core."

A crisp beep answered him. The machines stirred. Robotic arms shifted, their lenses glowing a dull red as the chamber's runes lit up.

Zane approached, his boots clicking softly against the cold steel floor. He placed a hand on the pod, peering at the grotesque mass of flesh inside.

"Oh, my dear Ben," Zane whispered with a chuckle, "don't thrash so much. Soon… you'll have something special."

He lifted his head and commanded with a grin,

"Do it."

The bots obeyed instantly, pressing sequences of buttons. The chamber whirred alive with a deep, resonant hum. Within, Ben screamed in agony as his bones cracked and reshaped, sinew and muscle knitting together in unnatural patterns. His grotesque body shifted, rebuilt into something stronger, faster—reborn.

Zane scribbled notes with eerie calm, his expression unreadable.

Ben's eyes, however, widened in terror. His body was changing—yet something far more terrifying gnawed at his mind.

The chamber hissed. The pod opened.

The moment the robotic arms reached toward him… everything slowed. The whirring ceased, the fluid hung in the air like glass beads frozen midfall, and the mechanical arms seemed locked in place.

Ben gasped, his voice trembling.

"T-this… this is the p-p-power… that monster was talking about…"

He staggered out of the pod, his movements blurring with inhuman speed. The world around him crawled, each tick of a machine stretching into eternity.

A spark of hope flickered in his chest. I can escape… I can outrun him…

He turned toward the door, his steps echoing like thunder in the frozen silence. Yes… yes, this speed… this is mine. I'll get away from that demon—

A voice slithered into his ears.

"Oh, Ben…"

Every inch of his body froze. His breath caught, his chest heaved. His legs buckled as tears welled in his eyes. Slowly, agonizingly, he turned his head.

Zane was standing there, smiling through the glass, his eyes gleaming.

But then… the bots all turned in unison. Their heads rotated a full 360 degrees, their glowing eyes drilling into him.

Ben's vision blurred. He blinked—

And Zane was gone.

Another whisper, closer this time.

"Oh, Ben…"

He spun around—Zane was standing right behind him, smiling, eyes closed, as if savoring the fear radiating from him.

Ben staggered back, his knees shaking.

Zane tilted his head, his voice soft and venomous.

"Where are you going? The experiment… has only just begun."

Ben's scream ripped through the chamber, raw and broken. The sound of his cries, the pounding of fists against steel, and the hiss of the machines filled the darkness as the experiment continued…

And no one outside would ever hear.