Nero followed Lyon out of the room and together, they walked in silence through the corridor. Nero caught sight of a flight of stairs that led upwards.

After walking through the dark corridor, the eventually arrived at the stone stairs. With Lyon's lead, Nero took wobbling step after wobbling step.

Lyon's steps were much more stable and grounded, and in a few minutes, they had ascended to the final platform. Lyon pushed back the steel doors to reveal another corridor.

The walls here were much different from the dungeon, being cleaner and better maintained, with torches spaced evenly along the stone that cast steady light rather than flickering shadows.

The air was less damp as well, though it still carried that faint smell of herbs and blood that seemed to permeate the entire facility.

They walked for several minutes before Lyon stopped in front of another large iron door. He pushed it open and gestured for Nero to enter.

The room beyond was vast, easily three times the size of the procedure room, with a high ceiling supported by thick wooden beams. But what caught Nero's attention immediately were the objects filling the space.

Metal items and large instruments covered every surface, many of them unlike anything Nero had ever seen before. Some had thick wires and tubes jutting out from their sides, coiling like serpents across the floor and connecting to other devices.

Others were sleek and polished, their surfaces reflecting the torchlight in strange ways, but they were just as off-putting as the cruder ones.

Nero's eyes moved from one machine to another, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. There were tables with leather straps, glass cylinders filled with murky liquid, metal frameworks that looked like they could hold a person or Abomination upright, and countless smaller tools and implements arranged on trays and shelves with an uncanny precision.

Why do such strange things exist? Nero thought to himself, his brows furrowing as he took in the unsettling array.

Well, it didn't take him much longer to come to a conclusion mental. His expression shifted uncomfortably and turned even paler than it already was.

Lyon walked further into the room, his hands clasped behind his back, then turned to face Nero.

"We will begin with a series of tests before we can proceed any further with anything," he said, his tone returning to that clinical quality. "I need to establish a baseline for your current physical and spiritual state, to understand exactly what we're working with here."

Nero nodded slowly, making a mental note to simply do as he was told for now. He wanted the process to be as streamlined as possible, and questioning every step would only slow things down after all.

Seeing Nero's acceptance, Lyon nodded with a pleased look on his face and gestured toward the other doctors who had left earlier.

They were scattered throughout the room, fiddling with various instruments and making adjustments to the machines. Methan was examining a glass cylinder, while Alvi stood beside a metal framework, checking the integrity of the straps.

Lyon directed Nero toward what he called a "machine" near the center of the room. It was a large pod-like structure made of dark metal with a transparent front panel. The interior was lined with soft padding, and there were runes carved into the metal surface that glowed faintly with a dull blue light.

"Sit inside," Lyon instructed, "and regulate your breathing. Nothing more."

Nero stopped in front of the pod and stared at it for a moment. His instincts screamed at him to ask what the hell the thing was, but he had just resolved to follow instructions without question.

Still, he ironically couldn't deny his nature and the words came out before he could stop them.

"What does this machine do?"

Lyon glanced back at him, a faint smile touching his lips as though he had expected the question.

"It will be used to get a feel for what your general health looks like," he explained. "We need to confirm your current state before we proceed. The runes inside will measure your Ein Sof flow, your physical vitality, your spiritual integrity, as well as all the things we need to know to tailor the conditioning properly."

Nero nodded and climbed into the pod, settling himself onto the padded interior. The material was surprisingly comfortable, and the space was just large enough for him to sit without feeling cramped. He closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing, focusing on the steady rhythm of air entering and leaving his lungs.

The transparent panel slid shut in front of him with a soft hiss, sealing him inside. For a moment, Nero felt a flicker of panic, the sensation of being trapped bringing back memories of the dungeon cell, but he forced it down and kept his breathing steady.

Outside the pod, Lyon moved to join a group of doctors standing a few feet away. They were all focused on the transparent surface, watching Nero with varying expressions of curiosity and anticipation.

Lyon, however, had his attention fixed on a strange item he held in both hands. It was a flat rectangular object, perhaps the size of a large book, with a black screen made from some dark polished stone. Hundreds of runic symbols and figures danced across the surface, shifting and rearranging themselves every second in patterns that seemed much too complex for the mundane mind.

The room fell silent as they waited. Nero remained still inside the pod, his eyes closed, his breathing slow and controlled. The runes on the pod's surface began to glow brighter, pulsing in time with his heartbeat, and faint lines of light traced across the transparent panel like veins spreading through glass.

Several minutes passed before the dancing runes on Lyon's device began to slow, then finally stopped. Lyon's eyes scanned the information displayed on the screen, his expression neutral at first, then gradually shifting into something else.

His eyes widened slightly, his brows rising, and he muttered under his breath.

"Impossible."

One of the other doctors standing nearby turned to look at him, confusion clear on his face. Lyon didn't respond immediately, still staring at the device as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then he passed it to the doctor without a word.

The man took it, glanced down at the screen, and his reaction was immediate. He yelped loudly and nearly threw the device into the air in a panic, fumbling to keep hold of it before passing it quickly to another doctor.

Lyon hummed thoughtfully, his fingers tapping against his thigh.

"His energy readings are astronomical," he said slowly, "even compared to regular Templars. This is..."

"Absurd? Strange? Impossible," another doctor murmured as he shook his head and handed the device back to Lyon. "I've never seen numbers like this. Not even from veterans who've been deeply entrenched in their sins for decades."

Lyon stared at the screen for a long moment, then sighed and gestured toward the pod.

"Take him out."

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