Tormenting the White-Cloaked Man

Elias and the white-cloaked man found themselves floating in the void with stars shimmering in the backdrop, creating a surreal scene of two humans whose sizes appeared insignificant compared to their cosmic surroundings.

Even the white-cloaked man no longer struggled; his eyes bulged in shock as he observed his surroundings with a mixture of awe and trepidation. He had never witnessed such a scene before in his life. Even though he possessed power equivalent to a 5th Stratum Enlightened Thaumaturgist, the scene unfolding before him still left him shaken.

Meanwhile, Elias paid him no attention, lost in contemplation. Soon, he decided what to create. Drawing from memory, Elias recreated one of the hottest stellar bodies he had encountered as a Unified Field Stage powerhouse.

The Purple Sun from a universe at the center of the Quantum Multiverse.

More precisely, Elias recreated only a miniature version of the core of that burning star, a sphere with a diameter of about ten meters. He couldn't afford to recreate the entire star with his current control capacity, unless he wished to risk burning his manifested body in the process.

Elias's strength in the Mental Landscape was still limited; the potency of his creations reflected his current mental strength. The only reason he could torment the white-cloaked man was due to his superior mental fortitude, forged through thousands of years of experience, not counting time dilations and accelerations, before his death.

Still wearing his smile, Elias gazed at the white-cloaked man who now floated bound in the starry void, his face contorted with fear. Elias's intent was evident. Even the white-cloaked man, witnessing the ball of purple flame and sensing its intensity from a distance, could instinctively guess what was coming.

As expected, Elias casually tossed the purple flames in his direction, letting them roast the white-cloaked man like barbecue meat on a grill.

"AHHH—!"

The white-cloaked man let out a blood-curdling scream of agony as his flesh seared, sizzled, and burned, not even sparing his bones. Though this was a mental world, through Elias's will, the white-cloaked man experienced every sensation with vivid clarity. The indescribable and excruciating pain consumed his body and soul.

The white-cloaked man was quickly reduced to ashes. His soul felt a momentary sense of serenity, as if pardoned. But he was shocked to discover that he had somehow regenerated with an undamaged body, as if the ordeal had been merely a fleeting nightmare. He would soon learn that what he had experienced was no fleeting nightmare, but rather the beginning of his torment.

"Welcome back, boss," Elias said with a warm smile.

"AH–"

The white-cloaked man screamed, recoiling in fear. He was no longer bound by the previous restrictions imposed upon him by Elias, giving him a chance to employ his dark spells in retaliation, but the cruel experience left him so terrified of Elias that he could not respond properly, much less fight back.

"G-Get away from me, you monster!" 

"That hurts my feelings, boss." 

Elias's smile faded. 

"But between you and me, who is the real monster? You lied to me about offering a job when I was homeless. You took advantage of my lack of common sense and desperation to make me sign a slave contract, working for you without proper payment or treatment, leading to my eventual death." 

His voice hardened. 

"All for what? Greed? I thought so at first, but seeing those grotesque bodies made me reconsider. You experimented on the bodies of the dead for your vile purposes, didn't you? You're human scum! Now tell me, who is the real monster?"

"..."

The white-cloaked man was silent, cowering in fear.

…

From Elias's acquired memories, the white-cloaked man was the only one who had reached out to the original Elias after countless rejections from employers who discovered he lacked a Thaumaturge Sigil and couldn't learn the basic techniques to work efficiently in their establishments. The original Elias had viewed this man as a savior who appeared during his most desperate hour.

When the white-cloaked man stated that he didn't mind the original Elias being without a Thaumaturge Sigil, the young man felt touched and decided to work for him with complete dedication. The white-cloaked man had him sign an "employee contract," explaining that Elias would work for him for three years before the contract would be rescinded or readjusted.

The original Elias was fifteen years old at the time and naïve about society's workings, having been a pampered young lord from an aristocratic family. He couldn't have anticipated the harsh reality that awaited him.

After signing the contract, the white-cloaked man forced him to work for days without providing food. Only when he was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion would the man bring some porridge. The porridge was bland and barely nutritious, but it was enough to nourish his body and keep him alive.

He was overworked and nearly died several times from hunger; each time, he would only be given tasteless porridge to keep him alive. He had tried to escape many times, but the white-cloaked man set up magical barriers, preventing his many attempted escapes.

When caught, the white-cloaked man would lash and beat him until he was bleeding profusely or nearly dead before finally leaving him alone. After realizing the beatings intensified with each failed escape attempt, the original Elias gave up, resigning himself to his fate.

The original Elias lived the following days in despair as he mined for ores with his worn-out body. He attempted to end his life, but even that failed. The white-cloaked man was meticulous, as he had placed a curse on him through the contract that prevented suicide.

Three years later, the white-cloaked man stopped providing food and instead told him to find his own in the forest. What could a pampered noble child do in such circumstances?

Nevertheless, the original Elias had attempted several times to catch wild rabbits in the nearby forest but failed due to the ferociousness and survival instincts of the forest creatures. He was almost killed after catching one rabbit, but fortunately, it didn't continue gnawing at his throat, running away the moment he released it.

Due to these repeated failures, the original Elias resorted to gathering wild berries for sustenance.

A few hours ago, while mining for ores, the original Elias had fainted and died from malnourishment and the accumulated injuries he had suffered over the past three years. The white-cloaked man had apparently placed his dead body into the storage compartment in the morgue, and that was when he, the present Elias, transmigrated into the body and was resurrected.

...

After roasting the white-cloaked man, reducing him to ashes, and resurrecting him several more times to avenge the original Elias, Elias grew bored watching the completely broken but regenerated white-cloaked man. The disheveled man before him had a listless expression, his eyes dead and vacant.

With this development, Elias changed his plans, extracting the white-cloaked man's memories to gain a better understanding of this world. The memories played before him from the first-person perspective of the white-cloaked man. Some were so disturbing that Elias merely skimmed through them, extracting only the useful information he needed.

The current world was known as Mystral, a world of thaumaturgy where people awakened to their Thaumaturge Sigil as early as ten years old or as late as eighteen. The Thaumaturge Sigil, when awakened, manifested on their bodies but remained invisible unless they performed thaumaturgy through it.

Everyone in Mystral was born with a Thaumaturge Sigil, which lay dormant until certain conditions were met to awaken it. The Sigil qualified all beings to walk the path of thaumaturgy, granting them the power to command supernatural forces to do their bidding.

Therefore, possessing an awakened Thaumaturge Sigil determined one's prospects regarding status and opportunity in society. Those who awakened their Thaumaturge Sigil and walked the path of thaumaturgy were collectively known as Thaumaturgists.

Elias also learned that Thaumaturge Sigils came in different shapes and types, each granting affinity for a specific element or attribute, such as the Fire Thaumaturge Sigil, which granted affinity for Fire-based Thaumaturgy. The original Elias hailed from the Blaze Household, an aristocratic family renowned for their unique legacy in Fire-based Thaumaturgy.