Interrogation

As I walked into the cave, I looked at the three, now naked, survivors who had been tied up with twisted cords of fiber. There were two women and one man. The man had red hair, was relatively fit, and looked to be a little taller than six feet. The first woman was freakishly tall and buff. She had long brown hair, and brown eyes, but she wasn't too attractive. The second woman had short blonde hair, blue eyes, looked very athletic, and was very attractive. 

As I walked towards them, I withdrew my combat knife. And got close to the red-haired man first. "You will answer my questions, or you will feel unimaginable pain. You taunted us after you thought you had us caged. We will now treat you as animals unless you give us the information that we want. Perhaps we will let you live then."

I walked closer to him, and I started to slide the knife across the hair of his leg. The hairs were sliced as though my knife was a razor. I looked into his eyes. "My first question is: What year did you die in, and did you live on earth?"

The man smirked as he looked at me. "If you are going to kill me anyways, why should I tell you?"

I turned my knife away from his leg and I grinned. "Because if you don't, I guarantee the women will. Do you want them to hear you scream? Do you want to suffer?"

I shrugged as he did not answer. "Alright, you can't back down now, can you?"

I grabbed his hand with my freehand and I shoved the blade under his thumb's fingernail. He flinched and I could see that he was gritting his teeth in pain. I turned around to Zint who was watching me in horror. "Get a torch."

She nodded and turned around towards the rows of chests we had in the cave. 

I brought my blade under all the rest of his ten fingernails. By the time I was done, he had blood flowing from his lips. I smiled at him. "The funny thing is that you are inflicting pain on yourself to not show weakness. Now, how does that make any sense?"

He looked up and grinned at me with a crazy expression. I sighed. "Has he really lost it? Well, whatever."

As Zint handed me a torch that had been lit, I brought it towards his face that had just been grinning. He started to scream in pure agony as the flames consumed the skin off his face and the hair on his head. I brought the torch away from his face and it was still burning. 

He started to talk. "Please, just kill me. I'm sorry for what I said. Just end it."

I shrugged. "Tell me what I want to know."

"Just kill me!"

I sighed. "No."

I kicked him in his ribs and his body hit the floor. He was still breathing. I would wait a little bit.

I turned to the two naked women. "I will give you two choices. You can endure a similar torture that will bring you to the brink of death, or you can let us take over your Soulstones."

The woman with brown hair scowled at me. "Kill me."

The woman with blonde hair sighed. "What would you do to me?"

"Make you do manual labor. You will be our grunt force whenever someone attacks. Your mind will not be taken from you. You will just have to follow our every command without a question. Once we have your soul, you will have no choice in the matter."

I turned to the brown-haired woman. "You know, It was never a choice to begin with. We will just have to break your mental wall and will. You don't have to be unconscious, but it makes things easier."

I walked up to her and hit her in the forehead with the butt of my knife. She fell limply on the ground. No system information popped up, but I imagined she would be just as easy as the raptor I had tamed. 

I sat on the ground as my tribemates watched the other two enemies. I blocked out all my senses and sent a strand of mana from my mouth. My strand of mana traveled down her throat and to her heart. The Soulstone inside was much bigger than the cores of the raptor and trike and so it was harder to wrap my mana in strings all the way around it. 

I still accomplished it in the end though. I sent a spike of mana towards her Soulstone. I felt a faint sense, but no wall. She probably had not invested in mana sense or capacity. She was an easy target. I laced a knot around her very soul. She was mine.

I inscribed commands upon the knot so that she would not be able to disobey me no matter how much she wanted to. There was no leeway for her to be able to kill herself if she broke my commands.

The commands were: Do not harm me or anyone in my tribe. Always listen to me and everyone in my tribe but give priority to me. You will die for me if I command it.

After finishing the knot around her soul, I returned the excess mana to my soulstone and opened my eyes. She had a blue overlay above her head that showed her level and subject identification number, unlike the green ones over my tribemates heads. 

There was a system window which popped up in front of me. 

___________________________

You have made subject 8390 (level 10) submit to you. 

^Hidden Quest completed: You, subject 6535, are the first to have conquered another subject's Soulstone. Reward → Ascendant skillbook: Soul Flayer.^

___________________________

I grinned. I would open it later. She groaned on the ground as she slowly sat back up. I looked into her eyes. "Now, tell me. Who is the leader of your tribe?" 

She opened her mouth and then closed it. She finally spoke to me with hate in her eyes. "It is the man whose face you burnt beyond recognition."

I sighed. "You will not ever glare at me. You will smile at me whenever you see me. You will answer me in a timely fashion. You will be helpful and go beyond what I ask of you. You will die before you let another have sex with you.

Next question, Does the woman with blonde hair have any points into mana capacity or control?"

She smiled nicely as she looked at me. "She has all of her points into one of those two stats. She also is lying to you. She intends to kill you."

I liked my lips. And turned around to the woman with blonde hair. "What do you have to say?"

She spat towards me. "Do your worst, you bastard."

I shrugged. "I will."

I turned around and opened the system. I needed to see if the Soul Flayer Skill book could help.

___________________________

System Search/ Command:

{Input: Select the Soul Flayer book from inventory and read its description.}

{Response: Soul Flayer → It is a consumable item. This is an Ascendant skill book. Description → You will hold complete dominance over a subject that you have conquered or an animal that you have tamed. Your bond will never fade, even in death. Subjects and animals will be 10x easier to conquer. Subjects and animals do not need to be asleep to conquer them.

Skill adds 10 mana control and 20 mana capacity.}

{Input: What are all the tiers and their descriptions?}

{Response: Tier List → Common: The ordinary tier which everyone can craft from the base engrams provided upon the correct level. 

Uncommon: The tier where items become somewhat valued. The item is well made and serves its function quite well. 

Rare: The tier where items are sought after. The item is very well made and goes beyond its function. The item will provide significantly more damage than is typical for its type. 

Magic: The tier where items can hold mana. This tier also holds unique equipment that cannot be crafted, like necklaces, bracelets, and rings that can supplement certain stats to the user.

Ascendant: Items that are ascendant are very powerful. They may be countered by higher tiers, but every item is unique and serves purposes that the user will find to be invaluable. Items of this type will be able to supplement more than just one stat.

Transcendent: Items of this quality are insanely powerful. They are all unique and will have multiple uses that will ensure dominance over every other subject.

Mythic: The number of these items is in the single digits. These items are capable of destroying gods and planets. If you receive one of these items, you will become unstoppable and may even be able to return to the planet you came from.}

___________________________

I opened my inventory, and I withdrew the book from it. Its description was almost too good to be true. I had to use it right now.

As I took the book out of my inventory, it glowed in a blue color. A window popped up as I held it in my hand. 

___________________________

Will you learn and consume the Ascendant Skill book → Soul Flayer?

Note, the backlash may be severe.

[YES][NO]

___________________________

I turned around to my tribemates. "If I go unconscious when I learn this skill, don't kill or molest them. Please watch and make sure they don't escape or do something stupid though."

With that said, I did not even let them respond to me before I hit "YES" on the system display.

As soon as I touched it, my world went black.