Elder Lu

[Absorbing Pure Fabric Substance, system booting process at 65.20%]

[Absorbing Pure Fabric Substance, system booting process at 65.21%]

[Absorbing Pure Fabric Substance, system booting process at 65.22%]

...

As soon as Roland started to focus, the notifications started appearing faster and faster. 

Another miraculous thing happened. When Roland closed his eyes, he was able to 'see' the big wall. It was like finding the direction of a light with your eyes closed. 

It was easy, as the light shone on your eyelids and your vision would turn red the only difference was that in Roland's vision, the wall was red and had criss-cross lines.

'It's like a passive, It could be useful in the future I guess.' Roland didn't seem that excited by his first ability. He was hoping for something like poison or damage immunity, not to become some radar.

Roland moved his head around a bit and noticed that in the darkness of his eyes, was a red object in the distance, he opened his eyes and saw that it was an ordinary-looking rock on the side which had the same red criss-cross lines as the wall. 

Roland moved closer and placed his hands on it and sure enough the prompt rang...

[Pure Fabric substance was found. Do you want to absorb and boot up the Chaos system?]

Roland absorbed the rock and the same black powder was left behind. Seeing the black sand Roland remembered something, he grabbed some of the powder and placed it on a rock before he struck it with another stone.

*bang*

When the stone hit, it caused sparks before there was an explosion. Roland didn't use that much powder but even then, his hand was pushed back by a strong force. The explosion almost made him stand up from his seated position.

Roland looked at it and marvelled, 'I think it's just like gunpowder, what a discovery!'

Last time when the guard threw a punch at the wall, Roland noticed that the guard was also surprised by the outcome so Roland deduced it may be an eternal factor and it seemed like he was right.

By the wall was a lot of this black sand but Roland's 'clothes' didn't didn't have any pockets to carry it. Roland just went back to absorbing the wall.

Time went by and soon an hour had passed since Roland came here. Roland was in a better shape then he normally would be after his sessions.

Soon the young guard returned; his clothes a little disheveled, a beaming smile on his face, he was also humming a tune. Roland also smelt a weird repulsive smell from the kid.

"Did everything go according to plan?" The young guard asked. Not even giving Roland the opportunity to respond, he said," I don't care, let's go." 

Roland didn't even bother trying to speak, he followed the guard back to his cell. This time Roland had absorbed a lot but his arms weren't in pain, if anything they were just sore. He felt like he could go for a longer period of time.

.....

Minutes after Roland left, two figures appeared, they looked at the two meter tall and three inch deep 'dent' on the wall. The 'dent' currently resembled a door frame, with the lines being very precise.

"How did you get it like this!?" the one figure was the old man that Roland had first meet when he arrived. The old man ran his hands on the wall and marvelled in astonishment.

"It doesn't matter how I did it, as long as I did it, right? All I need, is for you guys to leave this operation to me. Obviously this must be added to my contribution" Edward, the man that scared Roland earlier said.

"Do you think Elder Lu is gonna allow that to happen? How about you ask her for permission yourself, besides she's already back!" The old man said.

Edward looked at the old man and didn't say anything, after a while he sighed and said, "it doesn't matter, I'll be holding a council meeting today anyway. I'll be discussing this and I wanted you to help me get this operation but I guess we'll see." 

"Che you just want all the benefits for yourself, greedy bastard!" The old man said disdainfully after Edward left. He looked at the wall one last time before disappearing.

....

Just as Roland returned to his cell, he was about to knock on the tunnel when the door began getting opened again, he returned to his default position and waited.

'What is it this time? I know I'm a captive but can't I at least have my privacy?' Roland thought.

The door opened up and by the door, two figures appeared, one of the figures was an old woman wearing a long robe, the old woman had a long pointy nose like some evil fictional character with poisonous apples from Roland's previous world. 

The other figure wasn't entirely human, it was a girl who looked around eighteen with long black hair. 

What was inhuman about her was that she had a human upperbody accompanied but thin spider-legs and multiple eyes on her forhead. On an unrelated note she was wearing a maids outfit.

Roland suddenly had a bad premonition, he hesitated and asked, "Who are you?"

"Quite the comfortable and easy life, good for you. but how dare you question me! Why aren't you in your restraints?" As the old lady said that, Roland felt his body getting pushed to the ground, he tried fighting it but his body ended up flat on the ground.

In these few days, Roland felt like he was getting stronger and his frail frame had long disappeared but now he couldn't even struggle.

"Lilly, bring that old man here. Also, ask the guards why they left a prisoner without restraints, then punish them severely no matter the reason." The old woman said to the spider girl. The spider girl nodded obediently before leaving.

'Unreasonable! This old hag is crazy! She must be that crazy old lady, the old man was scared of, Elder Lu! Why does this keep on happening to me?' Roland felt unprecedented fear, his heart pounded hard on his chest, so hard that it was audible.

"Are you scared, little hatching? Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person!" The old lady with a concerned face patted Roland's face.

'She's crazy! What does she mean by hatching! Does she know that I'm a dragon?' If it wasn't for the mountain-like pressure that was currently pushing Roland to the ground, he would think that she actually cared for him.

"Did you hear, we ended up winning against your dragon race! And a good deal of them died." the old lady said as she grabbed Roland's face, she nicked him on the cheek and drew blood, this undoubtedly hurt Roland but he didn't dare scream. 

The old lady used her finger and scooped the blood before placing it in her mouth, after some thought she said, "This taste is unlike any other dragon but this will only add to your value at the auction... oh did I tell you? Your gonna be participating at an auction."

She knows! She knows I'm a dragon! Roland felt dejected. He considered this one of his top secretes, and the fewer people who knew, the better.

Participating? 

Roland was angry at the poor choice of words but again he was too scared to even show it. 'Participating? aren't I one of the products being sold! '

After a while, two figures appeared by the door, one was Lilly the spider girl and the other was that crazy old man. Roland lay there on the ground, looking defeated and with no will power to continue on. The pressure around him was continuously pushing him down.

When the old man entered the cell he couldn't help but look towards a certain corner in the cell, Roland saw this action and got scared even worse.

The old man stared at the spot for a while and shook his head, as if to convince himself otherwise.

"Dominick! what is the meaning of this. This captive was sat here without restraints, he even has the audacity to question me, are you willing to take responsibility?" Elder Lu immediately went on the offensive and berated him. She didn't seem interested in an explanation; instead, she chose violence.

Take responsibility? For who? Your choise of words is startling. The old man, Dominick, started sweating, and his expression turned sour, as if this happened frequently. He immediately went on the defensive and said.

"I placed restraints on him and they immediately got destroyed so I placed new one's. I suspect that he's a rare breed and has some secret on him. I wanted to experiment on him but I stopped when I found out that you brought him here!" Dominick explained sincerely.

'The restraints got destroyed? What bullshit are you spouting! Just say you didn't do it.'

Elder Lu got angry, she knew this old man's personality the best and knew how obsessed he was with experimenting. As for the restraints, she herself couldn't destroy them let alone a kid with no strength.

"Of course his a rare breed you dimwit! There aren't that many dragons left and people are gonna pay a lot of money for him. What would you have done if he escaped? " Elder Lu said angrily. 

'Dragon!'

She gestured her hand and the shocked Dominick suddenly held his neck in pain. He seemed as if he was struggling to breath, following her hand the old man's body was suspended in mid air.

"Elder Lu wait, that's not what I meant! Wait, stop, Stop! Sorry, I'm sorry..." Dominick cried out out of breadth, but elder Lu didn't even flinch.

"Edward is plotting to steal from you" the old man struggled for a bit then he said his last words.

Roland was shivering by the side. He started thinking that he was about to witness a murder, becoming a suspect or the next victim.

Suddenly, Dominick's body hit the ground, and he struggled to catch his breath; there was a visible hand print left on his neck. The old lady had a distorted expression, her fist was even shaking, she angrily asked

"What did you say?" 

The tension in the room turned creepy, this alone almost scared Roland to death. The old man got up and fearfully said.

"It's Edward, he's found a way to damage the crystal cocoon and he called for a console meeting where he plans to convince the board to hand over the operation to him." 

Elder Lu's expression grew increasingly sour the more she heard, but it eventually turned solemn, and she regained her composure, her eyes sharper. She took a deep breadth and said.

"I'll allow you to live for now but I'll thoroughly punish you later! Lilly put some restrains on this captive. As for Edward let's go and attend this meeting and see who dares to side with him." 

Dominick, picked himself up and limped out of the room following the crazy old woman. Lilly the spider girl walked up to Roland and placed the restraints on him.

Roland didn't consider himself someone with discerning tastes, but even he had to admit that she was beautiful in every aspect.

Her skin as pale as snow, her contrasting dark hair , her proportions perfectly proportioned, her curves exquisite. Roland couldn't help but get flustered and frightened at the same time.

Roland looked at her breathtaking beauty from up close and couldn't help but blurt out...

"You look beautiful."

Lilly was caught by surprise, she looked at the small boy in front of her and frowned. After placing the restraints she turned around and left without saying anything. Leaving Roland alone in his thoughts.

As soon as those restraints clamped together, Roland felt the strange power inside his body slowly depleting, like water draining from a sink, before disappearing as if it didn't exist.

Roland felt his senses get dull and he started feeling uncomfortable, it was like he went from a healthy person to a person who had a terrible cold.

It was only now that his senses were somewhat impaired that Roland knew how uncomfortable the restraints were.

Roland didn't know that other people, regardless if they were weaker or stronger, had it worse then him, he was just different.

'Why did I say that? She probably think I'm weird...wait Why do I care.' Roland regained his train of thought.

Roland sat up straight and organized his thoughts, a lot happened and after thinking about it, he decided not to go down there, he feared that they might come back and find him to be gone.

Regardless of how he felt, Roland decided to do some exercises and afterwards meditated to help pass the time. After a while he sat in his bed for a while before he called out.

"Hey brother! Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here! How can I help you"

Artic's voice drifted in, he sounded a little tired and bored. Being alone in a confined dark room got boring and could drive anyone crazy if they stayed long enough. So he was pleased to speak.

The two started talking, hypothetical situations were tossed back and forth to pass the time, Roland felt like he was starting to know the Demi human quite well.

....

In a dimly-lit room a bunch of figures could be seen sitting around a table. Most of them looked old except for a few. 

"You've all seen it, this is progress! If you guys vote in my favour and hand over the operation to me, I could brake the cocoon. The sooner I do that, the sooner we all go home."

"Isn't that what we all want, to go home and not have our children inherit this burden like we did." Edward emotionally preached. His emotions changed to match his words like a corrupt politician.

He slowly looked at everyone while nodded his head slowly.

"If we hand over the operation to your faction, how confident are you in completing the task?" One old man asked. Everyone turned to Edward the hear the answer.

"I'm fifty percent sure."

Hearing his words, the others started exchanging looks as if having conversations with each other.

"It's a gamble, I know but it's a start. I've only visited the cocoon twice and I've already done what Elder Lu and her faction couldn't do in two hundred years." Edward said, he got up and started walking around the table slowly.

"It's clear that she can't deliver anything, if this operation remains in her hands, we might have to stay here for another hundred years." Edward monologued.

"I'm sure we all got the news that we won the war. With them done, 'he' will definitely come here and what if there's no progress, wouldn't it be better to have something then to have nothing." Edward continued to pace around the table, walking behind everyone's chairs.

"Although it's a gamble, and it's a fifty percent chance. It's a way! and I promise you! I will show you results." Edward suddenly stopped and said with a determined look.

They all fell silent. Everyone had to admit that he was right. In fact, all of them hated this job and could barely wait for it to be over.

They have been in this boring place for so long that they forgot how the outside world looked.

The old men exchanged glances in silence until one of them voiced out everyone's concerns, "What about Elder Lu, have you talked to her about this?"

"Indeed, we can't just take the operation from her without talking to her first.." An old man said while stroking his long-grey beard.

"Let me remind you, the cocoon belongs to the organization and not her or her faction. And no I was planning on talking to her after this, I just wanted to make sure everyone understand where we all stood." Edward stood in the front of the table.

*Bang*

The doors were suddenly kicked open, and an old lady, followed by a spider girl, walked into the room.