In the dimly lit basement of Mr Smith's home, which was clearly outfitted as a master smithy room, I stood dripping in bloodied clothes facing him while he sat in his chair.

  Seeing me like that, he immediately got up from his seat and walked toward me. He reached into his heavy leather pocket and produced another pill just before I spoke.

  "I already ate a low-grade healing pill," I informed him, waving it off.

  "It's fine. Two is good," he insisted, holding it out. "Especially with your past injuries. This will heal faster.".

  He handed over the pill, which I swallowed dry once again, only to instantly feel a much stronger, burning sense of healing surge throughout my entire body.

  He reached out, firmly supported my wounded shoulder, guided me to a heavy wooden chair, and made me sit down. He then dragged his own chair close to mine before I finally asked a burning question.

  "These pills, that can miraculously heal people, are they very expensive?"

  "Low-grade healing pills don't miraculously heal. They just forcefully bring out the peak healing ability your body already possesses," "The true miracle might be the mid-grade healing pill I used yesterday to pull you back from near death. But yes, both are very expensive."

  "Thank you very much for this, Mr Smith, I will be eternally grateful to you," I said sincerely, fully aware of the massive debt I owed him.

  "It's fine. " "Also consider taking two pills one after the other a rare exception for this time, due to your severe underlying wounds," he warned me seriously.

  "If you did that usually, your body couldn't physically handle the strain. You might face rapid, extra healing which will chaotically mutate your body. So be careful."

  "Thank you for your advice, Mr Smith," I nodded, shivering at the thought of mutation.

  "It's good if you have understood. Now tell me, exactly what happened?"

  With that prompt, I recounted the brutal details of the alleyway fight to him. My story made him fall completely silent for a long moment before he finally spoke.

  "I will personally look into this later. Also, you are completely fine since your current wounds aren't vital,"

  "Thank you again, Mr Smith," I replied further grateful as I saw him let go of this matter entirely scheduled for later as he said,

  "It's fine. Anyway, welcome to my smithy house. As you can see, I'm a blacksmith," he gestured broadly to the room.

  "I should have easily guessed with all those decorative weapons upstairs," "But still, Mr Smith, why are you working down in the basement?"

  "Ohh, I prefer working completely alone, and the basement is simply the best place for that," "Since this place has a dedicated ventilation system, it doesn't get uncomfortably hot in here. It's also entirely soundproof, so the constant hammering sounds won't get out and disturb others."

  He spoke practically before continuing with a cheeky, knowing smile.

  "So what brings the otherworldly person to this specific place?"

  My blood ran cold. "You knew? I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, despite you saving my life,"

  "Ohh, that's alright. Smart, too," he chuckled. "You didn't reveal a single thing that makes you seem like you are from another world, except for that school thing you mentioned," "We don't actually have schools in our world. Just some private academies, but that too is only for the rich nobles." "Anyway, what really brings you here?"

  Hearing that direct question, I hesitated for a moment. I found it asking way too much to beg for a job after he had literally just saved my life twice.

  Still, I was in a desperate survival situation and finally decided to just ask away.

  " About that, Mr Smith, do you have any jobs here that I can do? With shelter provided, if possible?"

  This direct question made him fall completely silent for a long time as usual when too many things go on in his mind. Not minding that I looked at him hopefully, as he started considering my request far more seriously than was needed before he finally asked a question back.

  "A job, huh? Well, do you know how to cook?"

  Hearing him ask that, my enhanced mind instantly brought back all the times I helped my mother cook back home.

  These had suddenly become much clearer, sharper memories in my mind, with me perfectly remembering even the smallest culinary details, giving me some hope as I said,

  "Maybe not the exact dishes you usually cook here, or not quite as well as you do, but yes, I can definitely cook. I'm also a hard worker and can rapidly improve myself if you just give me a chance," I pitched desperately. "If you need a specific dish made, just watching it cooked once or hearing the detailed explanation is enough for me to try to recreate it."

  I put all my hope on my newly enhanced mind to secure the job only to hear Mr Smith burst out into a loud laugh.

  "Hahaha, congratulations. You got the job, and I am looking forward to testing your cooking skills," "Also, the small room on the left side of the fire room upstairs is empty. You can clean it up a little and stay there." "Also, about my strict eating schedule," he added, his tone turning serious.

  "I will eat my breakfast exactly an hour after sunrise, and my dinner exactly an hour after sunset." Hearing him end it there, I immediately responded with a practical question.

  "What about lunch?"

  "We don't eat lunch here," "Maybe just some light snacks and beverages in the afternoon or evening, but no lunch, unlike back home."

  Hearing him outline the terms, I was so happy about securing the job and shelter that I didn't really care about the sparse meal timings.

  But suddenly, his choice of words caught my ear.

  "Home? Were you originally from a different world too Mr. Smith? Then how exactly did you get here?"

  "Different world? You can say that. I actually got dragged here approximately ten years ago along with everyone else," "Back then, this entire ground floor was nothing but a brutal wilderness filled with wild animals which we all had to get rid of."

  "What? Then this entire city...?"

  "Yes, we built it entirely from scratch. Although it took some time, we eventually transformed this deadly place," "We killed all the wild animals, uprooted many massive trees, and built the central city and the smaller villages around it. We forged the guilds and an association for those who climb the tower, which also acts as a government here." He said before continuing

  "After that, for a very long time, we fully expected more people to arrive here, but no one did. Until you bunch of teenage students dropped in out of nowhere, which was genuinely shocking for us! Hahaha "

  He chuckled darkly at the memory. Not understanding what was shocking or remotely humorous about kidnapping kids, I wanted him to clarify.

  "What's wrong with teenage students that made you all so shocked? If you adults can come here, why can't others?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "What made us so shocked? Except for the obvious fact that you were from an entirely different world, it was that all of us who arrived ten years ago were prisoners serving life imprisonment in our original world," he dropped the bombshell casually. "Of course, we would be surprised when a random bunch of innocent kids are suddenly thrown into this hell with us."

  Hearing that horrifying truth made me vastly more fearful than even when I was staring down a hungry wolf. My breathing instantly started to intensify.

  I immediately understood with crystal clarity why I had randomly witnessed a brutal murder, broad daylight in the village and why insane people constantly put me in near death situation.

  'No wonder that swordsman tried to kill me without even asking questions. No wonder the stranger in the alley was so casual about a near-fatal stabbing,' I realised with dawning horror.

  'I'm not in a magical city of fantasy heroes; I'm trapped in a deadly cage with monsters who just happen to be building a society,' I thought, my blood running cold.

  Seeing my terrified expression, Mr Old Smith continued to chuckle, perfectly understanding my sudden, paralysing worry. He quickly moved to console me.

  "Hahaha, don't worry too much. That was a long time ago. The people have changed here, and they aren't exactly how they used to be anymore," "Well, at least the core people inside the main city aren't. What happened to you today was a rare exception."

  His calm words managed to help my racing heart a little. I somewhat accepted the reality before thinking about the best way to avoid it, which was simply escaping this place.

  "Hasn't there been anyone who successfully climbed to the highest floor and escaped from here?" I asked, desperately wondering if there had been any real, tangible example of escaping this prison, only to get a disappointing answer.

  "None. The highest floor we could climb and manage to return alive from was only the seventh floor, which consists of terrifying beasts ranging from rank one to seven, making it incredibly difficult to pass through," he admitted grimly.

  "By beast ranks, did you mean the higher floors naturally have stronger beasts?"

  "Isn't that obvious? Naturally, the ground floor only had standard wild animals when we first arrived here. The first floor strictly has first-ranked beasts, and the second floor possesses first and second-ranked beasts, and so on," "That's exactly what made it harder and harder to actually climb the tower. Anyway, don't concern yourself with these high-level things since you have only just arrived."

  "Thank you, Mr Smith, for answering me so honestly,"

  "It's fine, young man. I once heard a wise saying that the most frightening thing in the world is the unknown," "So I didn't want you to be living here paralysed and afraid of the unknown. I also didn't want to give you false hope either." He said before bluntly stating

  "If you truly can't handle the harsh truth, that just means you are weak-minded and simply won't survive for very long here," "But it's good to know that even after hearing the reality about your situation, you didn't just panic and lose your mind with fear. It's a very rare thing to see in young boys your age."

  "Well, that's because I have had my share of mortal shocks already, so I logically know that nothing good will come out of freezing from more shocks,"

  "Good. That's the spirit " He praised before ending the topic as he focused on something else

  " Anyway, let's stop our talk about the tower now. Also, I have a little more heavy work to do. While doing that, I will also explain the exact cooking procedures to you, since my time is precious," "So it will be a little loud in here. Do you think you can ignore the deafening hammering sound, strictly focus on what I say, and remember it later?"

  It was a difficult mental task indeed, but since I didn't actually have to focus on his spoken words, and what truly mattered was fully understanding the psychic intentions directly in my mind, I was confident.

  After all, I also wanted to test the limits of my newly enhanced mind.

  "Yes. I will definitely try my best, Mr Smith "

  With that decided, Old Smith got up from his chair and picked up a heavy set of iron tongs from the crowded table.

  He plunged them deep into the boiling potion in the cauldron and smoothly took out a long, glowing piece of bone.

  He placed the treated bone flat on the massive anvil and held it tight before picking up his heavy blacksmithing hammer.

  Soon, as he steadied his heavy breath, he started his rhythmic hammering, as the sound of a metal hammer hitting bone.

  Crang..! Crang..! Crang..!

  At the exact same time, he also started explaining the complex cooking procedures via mirroring intention.

  I focused fully on the mental instructions, completely ignoring the deafening sound of hammering in the background.

  Hours slowly went on while I remained fully focused on the detailed culinary explanation as I successfully managed to grasp it all before finally, fully exhausting most of my mental energy, a minor headache struck me before I stopped focusing.

  Eventually, when the evening came, Old Smith finally stopped his relentless hammering. By then, the long, crude piece of bone had taken the razor-sharp shape of a sword.

  The impossible forging surprised me, but I simply ignored it since I didn't need to care about weaponry for now.

  Finally, when the heavy smithy work completely ended, he stopped his task, and we both wearily left the basement.

  Once up and out, Old Smith left the house to take a thorough bath outside through the exact same backdoor way I had entered, while I went in the complete opposite direction toward the small room located directly beside the fire room.

  Entering the room, I saw it was a cramped, small, unused space containing only a simple bed on the left and a small, wooden table and chair on the right.

  On the table sat some wax candles and what looked like a cheap wooden matchbox.

  After striking a match and lighting the candle, I painstakingly tidied the dusty place up a little, a chore which took almost an entire hour before I finally left my new room.

  Once I was back out, Old Smith had already taken his bath and put on a fresh set of clothes.

  He was sitting comfortably in the fire room and immediately asked a question upon seeing me.

  "Are you done with the cleaning?"

  "Yes," I nodded.

  "Then here, take these new clothes and some other essentials you will need," he offered, handing over a bundle. "For now, take a quick shower and change your ruined clothes. You need to come and see me cook anyway."

  Accepting the fresh clothes, which were surprisingly similar to my exact size, and a bag of other useful items, I was a little confused,

  "Whose clothes are these exactly?" I asked.

  "Yours. Just newly bought,"

  " What? Newly bought? This fast?"

  "Well, the clothing shop is only a few hundred meters away," "So I just asked the guys who fought you in the alley to go get them as part of the compensation."

  " What? but, but that really wasn't necessary," I mumbled.

  "What do you mean not necessary? What happened was outrageous, it's already naive of you not to escalate this. So at least as proper compensation, you should make sure to get as much as you can from them," he lectured sternly.

  "Only then can you truly survive in this ruthless place. Understood?".

  "Yes," I replied with mixed feelings.

  I had highly complicated feelings about extorting my attackers, but still, I felt somewhat relieved and happy that I didn't just get beaten up for nothing, thus accepting Old Smith's words.

  With that, after carefully storing the bundle of essentials in my room, I went straight to the outdoor bathroom located beside the pond.

  There, I used a heavy wooden bucket to haul water directly from the pond, which miraculously replenished its water level within mere seconds, acting vastly more like a well than a standard pond.

  Ignoring that I quickly scrubbed the dried blood off, took a bath, and put on a fresh, clean set of leather clothes.

  The rugged outfit consisted of thick pants and an old-style, round-necked shirt, along with a jacket and sturdy leather shoes pulled from the bag I had just received.

  Once fully dressed and clean, I hurried to follow Old Smith into the kitchen.

  He expertly cooked a rich soup dish using the fresh vegetables and some newly brought, unidentified meat, a complex process which I instantly learned and memorised just by watching him do it once.

  Soon, we sat down and had our dinner.

  After that, without much goodbye, I excused myself and went to my room early because I desperately needed physical rest due to my aching scars.

  Since Old Smith also suggested the same there wasn't any issues.

  Once safely in bed, I pulled the heavy blanket up and finally closed my eyes.

  Finally at total rest in the dark.

  But just as I expected peaceful sleep, out of nowhere the crushing memories of my family that I had suppressed all this time suddenly hit me like a physical knife to the gut.

  A sudden, overwhelming sadness filled my entire being.

  Although I tried my absolute best not to cry, a few hot teardrops still escaped my tightly shut eyes.

  My family, my friends, and my life on earth were all gone. The thought made it hard to even properly breathe as my eyes emptied further.

  But eventually understanding my situation, I controlled myself and made a hardened, iron resolve right then and there that I would survive in this brutal place no matter what.

  I silently vowed to find a way to climb and leave this hell, and one day finally reunite with my family back home.

  With that burning resolve anchoring me, while it was incredibly difficult to drift off, I tried my best.

  I actively used my newly enhanced mind to forcefully control my racing thoughts and force myself to sleep, a mental trick that eventually worked.