When Alec woke up, he was shackled to the wall like before Shim knocked him out, but there was a scar on his chest like he had received an autopsy while he was out.

'Did he open me up? Damn psycho.' Alec sighed. There was something seriously wrong with Shim Lester.

'Miss System, how long was I out?'

[A few hours.]

'Can you give me guidance?'

[A little bit. This is as much of an opportunity as it is a dangerous situation.]

'Yeah, I also got that feeling. If I play my cards right, I'll figure out monsterification.'

Shim might be a little unstable, but he at least seemed serious about solving monsterification.

However, Alec felt like he might die in the process. He had to do something about that.

Fortunately, Shim was an idiot.

Alec looked at his stump. Since he kept subconsciously scratching it while he was researching, when waiting for Shim after he cleared the ranch, he had wrapped it in a bunch of cloth. That made it look like there was a big lump on the end of his arm.

The shackle wrapped around his wrist rested against that lump. If he removed that lump, he could remove the shackle.

However, even if he could remove it, it wasn't a guarantee that he could use magic. Even if he could use magic, there was no way he would beat Shim. He had to escape while Shim was away and get help.

'Any idea when that old fucker is coming back?' Alec asked the System.

[No…] Her answer didn't surprise him.

Alec didn't want ot risk it, so he bided his time and simply used the Poem of Neverlasting Wisdom while trying his best to ignore the hungry monster cow trying to squeeze through the iron bars connecting the floor and ceiling. He also did his best to ignore his own hunger.

He had probably lost a lot of blood and flesh during Shim's operation. [Gluttony] was trying to remake it at the simple price of spine-gnawing hunger.

Alec then focused on spell formations and runes. There wasn't much else he could do, after all.

The minutes and hours ticked away.

By the time Alec started thinking that he should have tried to escape as soon as he woke up, a section of the stone wall slid down into the ground as Shim entered.

He glanced at Alec, seemingly annoyed that he was awake, before walking over to the monster cow. With a quick flash of a spell formation, a root shot out of Shim's palm and pierced the monster's brain, killing it immediately.

He then diced it into pieces with the whip-like root. He roasted it with a spell similar to Flamethrower and then picked up a piece of barbecue.

Alec's mouth salivated as the smell filled the enclosed room. His stomach grumbled with hunger. He would devour that piece of grilled meat in less than a second.

But to his dismay, Shim walked right past him and left the room.

'Is he a fucking bastard or what?'

There was no doubt in Alec's mind that Shim had done that to torture him. After all, if Shim knew everything else about how Alec had eaten monsters, he would also know how unnaturally hungry Alec was whenever he didn't eat monsters.

He could only stare at the closed stone wall with a hangry gaze as he tried not to focus on the pile of food behind the iron bars. It was getting pretty difficult to ignore his hunger.

Eventually, his stomach calmed down a little when it realized Alec had no intentions of sating it. Alec also returned to working on his mobility spell. He had a feeling that it would be pivotal to his escape.

A while later, Shim returned. Alec was about to ignore him when he realized that Shim wasn't alone.

He was carrying a young boy in a harness of wooden tentacles behind him.

Alec's eyes widened, and his hyperactive senses caught the glistening meat juices around his mouth.

At first, he felt a pang of jealousy. It was instantly replaced by the realization of what Shim had done.

He had given monster meat to a kid while fully believing the fact that eating monsters sped up the mosnterification process. He was turning the kid into a monster to see why Alec wasn't turning.

It didn't take the eyes of a detective to see what the kid was, either. He was a street urchin, an orphan.

Shim had gone out and picked up one of the most vulnerable people and used him for his sick and twisted experiment.

Rage bubbled up within Alec.

If it hadn't been for the repeated uses of the Poem and his increased Resistance, he would have lost himself to it and lunged at Shim.

Instead, the cold metal of the shackles and his clear mind transformed his fiery wrath into hot ice in his veins.

Shim Lester was past redemption.

Shim glanced at Alec out of the corner of his eye. He raised an eyebrow at the cold rage that seemed like it would throw the world into a frozen hell, but thought nothing of it. Alec's feelings didn't matter. Alec didn't matter.

The only thing that was important was Alec's role in uncovering the secret of monsterification.

Shim sent his mana into an engraved spell formation inside the ceiling and lowered a few of the bars before dropping the kid inside. The kid yelped silently before huddling up in the corner without making a sound.

It wasn't because he tried to be silent. It was because Shim had Muted the kid as he had done with Alec.

Shim left after closing the cell again.

Alec didn't bother trying to talk to the kid since the kid couldn't hear anything anyway. But as soon as the Mute dropped, Alec opened his mouth.

"Hey, kid," He said gently. The boy was probably scared out of his mind.

"..." The boy looked up, surprised at being able to hear again. But he didn't say anything back. He just stared at Alec with the eyes of a startled animal.

"My name is Alec. What's yours?"

"...Milo…"

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