101 Corruption

"Of course." Mr. Long smiled as he clapped his hands. The room instantly went quiet as all of the diners filtered out of it. Then a short esper pushed a cart into the room. It was filled with manullium ingots and several dozen purple mana-cores. "This should take care of all of my members' fees for the month as well as my next month's supply of mana potions."

"What about him?" The tall guard asked while glancing at Ed, noting his lack of a dragon tattoo.

"He's a freeman, so you'll have to collect the fee from him yourself." Tai responded as he went back to eating his meal.

"Here." Ed said as he pulled out the purple mana-core.

The tall man took the mana-core and nodded. "We'll be collecting again this time next month. As long as you meet your quota then I won't cause any problems for you."

"Captain." A high-pitched voice said as a woman stepped out from the crowd of guards. It was the ponytail pilot! "Can you let me handle this boy's quota? We have a bit of a prior history."

"Hmm?" The tall man frowned as he glanced back-and-forth between the two. He tossed the core towards her. "Sure, Samantha. But if you get caught by the Warden then you better not drag me through the mud."

"No worries." She laughed. "The Warden lets me get away with unimportant things like this." She pocketed the mana-core and looked towards Ed. "Oh my, it looks like you don't have a quota to turn in? Well, we'll be back tomorrow to round up those that didn't pay and distribute punishment. I'm sure we can work something out then."

Mr. Long rose his eyebrows in surprise. He watched the show quietly, wondering how his new brother would handle the situation.

Ed calmly drank the last of his wine and stood up. "I'm going to go get another plate of food. I'm starving." He turned to leave.

A fat guard laughed, "Look, he's too scared to even argue! How pathetic is this newbie?"

Ed grinned as he turned back towards them. "You know, I'm relatively new here, so I'm guessing you guys haven't gotten my records yet. You should look into that and prepare yourselves accordingly. Otherwise, you might just step on a landmine." He left the room, leaving only those words behind for the guards.

...

'Well, that was a bit anticlimactic.' Tai sighed while enjoying his wine. He looked towards the guards. "I'm actually quite surprised you guys were willing to make an enemy out of that man. Didn't ponytail over there tell you that it was the President himself that arrested him and brought him here?"

"What?!" The Captain's eyes widened as he glanced at Samantha, who meekly nodded in return. He turned back towards Tai. "Where did you get that information?"

"I naturally have my sources." He smiled and pulled out his fan, waving it towards his face. "Honestly, there's not much of a reason to fear him in here. Any of the four gang bosses could take him down easily, and there are plenty of other espers on par with him. But on the outside? Well, I certainly wouldn't want to become his enemy unless I had no other choice. His plotting is on par with my own, and his powers are perfectly geared towards such things. I really had to go out of my way to befriend him as soon as I learned he was here."

"On par with your own?" The fat guard questioned nervously, his mouth growing dry as he trembled. "You're exaggerating right? After what you pulled off to get in here?"

"I wonder..." Mr. Long hid his smile behind his fan and stood up from his chair. "If you'll excuse me, I do have a party to host. Ah, when you're looking up information on Ed, you'll want to search by the name Forge instead. Good luck." He waved as he left.

The Captain glared at Samantha. "Let's go. If you just made a big mess, then we need to clean it up before he gets to his trial date."

"Right. Sorry Captain." Samantha apologized while biting her lip. However, there was rage hidden beneath the apologetic facade. She had been humiliated by a mere prisoner, and she wasn't going to let such a thing go easily.

...

Ed returned to the buffet room and stacked up another plate with various delicacies. The room was rather crowded due to everyone having left the other room when the guards came. He managed to place his plate on the edge of the buffet table and began eating.

"It must be difficult doing things with one arm." Tai laughed as he appeared behind Ed.

"Mm." He nodded while biting into a chicken drumstick. "Looks like it'll grow back soon though."

"That's good." Tai patted him on the back. "Tell me, what do you plan to do about the guards? They're likely to try killing you during tomorrows castration."

"Oh?" Ed rose an eyebrow. "Why would they try that?"

"Because of your past." He replied. "Your actions are enough to scare most espers out of their minds. If we could use our powers down here, then I imagine that only the gang bosses would be willing to make an enemy of you, and even then, they would only do so begrudgingly."

"Ah, so you've looked into my past already." Ed nodded. "That would explain why you were so cordial to a new prisoner."

"I do like to be prepared for such things." He smiled. "Should I help you with the guards? I know the right hands to grease, but it might cost you something."

"Forget it." Ed shook his head. "Just have the escape plan ready within six months from now. I'll take care of the rest."

"If you say so..." Mr. Long hesitantly agreed, some worry visible on his face. He had planned on taking advantage of the situation again, but he'd help for free if he really needed to. After all, he had invested in Ed and really wished to acquire the chimera powers.

...

The next morning. Ed hadn't slept a wink in fear of sleeping for multiple days again. If that had happened, then he'd likely have awoken to his missing family jewels. If he was unlucky, he might never have awoken at all. He looked around his underground base and sighed. 'I guess it was a waste to build all this after all.' He packed up his essential belongings, which really only consisted of some small tools he had purchased from the settlement. He also melted down the manullium door into a semi-pure manullium chain and wrapped it around his chest. Then, he headed for the northern maze.

The crowd of espers in front of the tunnel maze was smaller than usual. Most of those that had just turned in their quotas would be taking a small break. Those that hadn't would usually risk their lives fleeing into the tunnels. In the best-case scenario, they'd return with 2 purple mana-cores and bribe a guard to waive their punishment. In the worst-case scenario, they'd return empty handed and get castrated. However, the majority of espers taking the risk would simply never return alive.

"Edward!" A brawny Asian man waved towards him. He wore purple leather armor like the other espers, but his armor was even more impressive. It covered his entire body and included a helmet with a face mask. It also had plating made from partially purified manullium. The outfit made him look a bit like a purple samurai. The nine men behind him all wore similar armor.

"Wearing all that gear, you guys are making me a bit envious." Ed laughed as he greeted them. "Are you ready for the hunt?"

"Of course." The man grinned. "Just try not to slow us down. We're one of the best hunting teams in the cage. We usually manage a purple mana-core a day, and our hunts usually last between one and two weeks."

"That sounds good to me." Ed nodded. "Ah, what should I call you?"

"John or Leader. Either is fine." He replied.

"Alright, John." Ed pointed behind himself with his thumb. "Let's talk in private for a bit."

"Hmm? Sure." He agreed, a curious expression covering his face.

The two walked away from the rest of the Fire Dragon Clan Members. "Listen." Ed said with his arms crossed. "I don't know how much Mr. Long told you about my chimera transformations, but I'm quickly losing control of it. There's a good chance of me going completely insane at night when we've setup camp and fallen asleep."

"Mm." John nodded. "I've heard from Boss about it. We'll have three guards keeping watch nearby whenever you're asleep. If you rampage, we'll be prioritizing our own safety first.

"That's fine." He agreed. "Just try not to kill me if it happens."

"I make no such promise." John laughed while patting him on the back. "Come. The hunt awaits!"

The group of men headed into one of the tunnels. They travelled for hours through winding twists and turns. Each cavern and tunnel looked more or less the same, containing only purple lava lakes and rivers.

"Shouldn't we be running into a mutant soon?" Ed questioned while growing increasingly bored of the surroundings. Fortunately, espers usually had great memories, so there was little chance of them getting lost.

"No way." John shook his head while laughing. "It usually takes a day or two to get deep enough to hunt mutants. Those that encounter them early on are either really lucky or really unlucky depending on who they are."

"Oh." He nodded, slightly disappointed by the news.

They traveled for a full day before John had them stopped and set up camp. He looked towards Ed. "This is one of our usual routes. The maps for the tunnels are top secret and trade for a lot of resources. Each elite hunting squad keeps their own routes secret. Mr. Long ensured me you won't leak any of our routes, so I'm trusting you on this."

"Why does the route matter if it takes so long to find mutants anyways?" Ed questioned while yawning. He hadn't slept the night before and had been up for two days straight now. The effect of the purple smoke was making it harder and harder to stay awake.

"The route seemed quite boring, right?" John smiled. "That was on purpose. We took a safe route. There are other routes that will easily get you killed. There are caverns filled to the brim with mutants. There are other areas with ridiculously strong mutants that even the bosses wouldn't cross. All of that doesn't even include environmental hazards. When I first came here, I watched the ceiling of a cavern rain down with lava. It wiped out my entire squad. The scariest part was that the lava soaked into the ground and vanished, making the cavern seem completely ordinary again."

Ed felt a shiver go down his spine as he listened. 'I may have been too careless when I first entered the maze.' He placed his bag down in the camp and unwrapped the manullium chain from his chest. He held the chain out towards John. "Bind my feet and arms for when I sleep. I don't really want to wake up to find all of you dead or to find myself missing somewhere in the maze."

John took the chain. "Unusual for an esper to trust a stranger with his life like that." He replied.

"I hardly have a choice right now." Ed scoffed. "Trust me. I'm the last person that wants to take a risk like that. Unfortunately, it's the only real option right now. I'll just have to trust that all of you are loyal to Mr. Long. After all, he has reasons to keep me alive."

John nodded. "Alright then." He wrapped the chain tightly around Ed, binding both his legs and arms in the process.

Ed looked a bit comical as he hopped away. He laid down on the ground and fell asleep almost instantly.

...

The three-legged crocodile rested atop a high rock, looking down upon his domain. For once, he wasn't particularly hungry. In fact, he felt a bit stuffed from all the food he had eaten recently. He lazily bathed in the warmth of the sun as he watched the river below. His arm slowly grew as he relaxed. Soon, the crocodile had all four of his limbs again, returning him to peak condition.

Suddenly, a humanoid monster appeared in the river. A 5-meter-tall giant climbed atop the riverbank. Water poured down its body with each step it took, leaving miniature lakes behind it. It saw the croc looking down upon it from the high rock, and it roared in rage towards it. The ground rumbled as the giant rushed forward.

The croc's eyes turned red with rage at the sight of his territory being infringed upon. He stood up and roared. His claws grew sharper, and his tail waved menacingly. The croc tried to jump down from the rock to attack, but he was suddenly yanked backwards. He glared behind himself and saw a purple chain binding his body. In rage, he bit onto the chain, ravaging it as he shook his head back and forth. His teeth cracked and broke from the pressure, but they soon grew back even longer and sharper. Unfortunately, it still couldn't break the chain, and the humanoid monster was getting closer and closer.