Turnaround

The lady pulled out a tiny makeup mirror, and started waving it in front of Samuel.

"This mirror is known as the 'collector', it gathers all the knowledge on powerful families and powerful talent into lists. You are on neither list. Meaning you do not have an astounding known talent, nor do you have a background to be proud of. So, why were you allowed onto their ship? I think you are probably either an illegitimate child of the Strand family, or a secret talent they have hidden. Or I thought. You don't have a talent present in your body that the mirror can pick up on, meaning your peak stage will be mortal evolution, nothing higher. So, whose child are you?"

"I am no child of the Strand family. I told you, I encountered their ship on their way over here. I asked for a ride, they agreed. That is all" 

"So what, you just happened to encounter them, in the middle of the ocean? Okay, say you did. Why were you there? And don't tell me you're a pirate, we both know that is not true" 

"I was sucked into a spatial tear and ended up there"

"You have to realize there are formations detecting every single spatial tear that appears in the Shattered Realm, and I have access to this information. Meaning I can easily verify if what you are saying is true or not. But I'll allow you this. So, tell me, where were you sucked into the spatial tear?"

"I can't remember the empire it was in, but the place was the outskirts of a place called the Mountain of Transcendence on the Cyan continent. I had just woken up when I was sucked into the tear. Next thing I know, I'm hundreds of meters in the air, falling towards an ocean"

Samuel was clearly exasperated at his circumstances, so much so that the female's conviction was starting to waver. 'Everyone of status knows about the enormous spatial tears appearing on the Mountain of Transcendence, but the spatial tear appearing over the Kalamark Ocean is known only to a few. Not even the Strand family should know about it, yet he does. Was he really telling the truth?'

As the female was reflecting, Samuel was suffering. He had spoken way too much just now, aggravating his injuries, especially the one to his throat. It was now making a sound above and beyond what it did in the past. If someone who were not accustomed to disgusting things were to listen to this, it's almost guaranteed that they would puke. Samuel however was in too much pain, and too enraged to even notice this sound. 'This fucking bitch! I swear to the Heavens, I will have her suffer pain for eternity! Even if I die here, I will not let this great injustice go!'

"Even if what you told me is the truth, it doesn't make sense that Merling would treat you with such care and respect"

"Me and Merling did some research together after I expressed interest in learning about runes. We achieved some minor success and he called me a runemaster prodigy. That is why. It's not because of my status or cultivation talent, just my contribution"

Almost convinced she had wrongfully captured and tortured Samuel, she decided to give him a way out. 

"If you tell me what the research was about, I'll let you go, with everything I promised you. My word is gold"

'How can anything that exits that foul, disgusting, wretched mouth of hers ever be gold' 

Although this is what Samuel was thinking, he didn't dare harbor the thought of saying it out loud. Rather opting to shoot his shot, and attempt to get out of that God abandoned cell.

"We attempted engraving runes onto the human body. Can you let me go now?"

"What? You achieved some success in engraving runes on humans?"