How I got fuc*ed up

Terta, Stellaria Continent, Temple of Stellaris, underground cell

A young man, in the middle of the night, suddenly opened his eyes and got up

“Damn, that was rough… I didn't imagine that I would collapse like this… System, what happened?”

[Your brain shut down itself to prevent the host from experiencing pain caused by breaking the body’s limits] 

“But back when I maxed the strength stat, nothing happened… I even recovered a bit”

[That happened because host obtained the right for the upgrade completing a task, plus the host was drained, so part of the residual energy was used to restore part of the physical condition] 

“Damn… I’ll keep that in mind… Now, let's see what we got here…”

Julius started examining his body searching for changes

“Well… I feel like my body is stronger and more agile than it should be, but not at an absurd level… However, a 10% increment is always good… But for perception, I can't tell very much… For sure my senses are better now, but I assume I would need to test it in a proper way”

As soon as he finished speaking, Julius felt a pressure rising in the cell and all the hair on the back of his head raised, by before he could do anything, a hand grabbed his neck and lifted him off the floor 

“Sooo, tell me, what do you need to test in a proper way?” a masculine voice asked

“I… Coff… Ughhhh… Ca… Can't…”

“What is that you can't? Ahahahahhaha”

“... SPEAK”

“AHAHAHA… There's no point in shouting or do you think that that battle maniac priest will rescue you? Don't worry, we are here alone, just you and me… You see, a little air magic to isolated us from the rest of the world and a little of light magic so you can't see me”

“I…”

“What are you trying to say?” asked the man, loosening his grip to let Julius talk

“... Am not interested in man”

A dead silence fell in the cell, before the man threw Julius against the wall, breaking some of his bones

“What a quick tongue… But don't worry, I can still make you speak without that”

“As before”

“Mh?”

“Not interested”

As soon as Julius said those worlds, before he could even process what was happening, he got slammed against the floor

“I concede that you have balls and I find that amusing… But, unfortunately for you, that's it… Now, I will ask questions and you will answer”

“Ok” coughed Julius, feeling the discomfort growing as the temperature in the cell suddenly rose up 

“Just to be clear, I'm a fire elementalist and if I don't like your answers, I will boil you alive… Now, tell me, who sent you here? For your information, don't lie to me, I can sense that”

“I don't know”

“Do you really want to die, don't you”

“I know it was a Divine Being… But he didn't introduce himself nor did he bother to explain much to me. He just threw me here… And for your information, it sucks… Am I lying?”

“No, you are not… But that doesn't mean you are saying all you know” the man started pressing his hand against Julius’ chest “And if you don't want me to punch through your heart and roast you from the inside, you will speak”

“The Divine Being didn't say anything relevant to me”

“Yeah, I got that… But I know you spoke you Jorlof and I am sure he said something important”

“Yeah, he did… He said that I saw my future”

“Did he? What did he see?” asked the man, anxious

“That I was going to fuc* your mother, you sister and your daughter”

Despite the raising heat, a sudden chill started running through Julius’ back

“I think that someone like you is useless… Just so you know, I will kill you and I will make it painful”

“I don't think so” 

“What?” the man asked, turning his head to see Tarlen, standing right behind him. 

Before he could react, the High Priest already threw a punch straight to his face, sending him right through the wall of the cell 

“It took you long enough”

“Sorry kid, now run away and call for…”

But before Tarlen could finish the sentence, Julius started coughing blood. 

Realizing that the boy could barely move he felt a deep shame for letting that happen and understood that he had to take the fight out of the underground cells. 

Moving accordingly, he sprinted to the man and throwing punches in order to break his defense, which consisted mainly in fire shields

“So you are a fire elementalist…”

“Well, it seems ime Qi didn't make you stupid, at least, not yet”

“Good one… But you see… I have a little talent for Mana too and I'm a Water elementalist”

A horrified look appeared on the man's face as Tarlen created a wave of water out of thin air and destroyed all his barriers. 

The next step was an incredibly powerful uppercut from the priest that sent shockwaves all over the place, making it tremble, and sent the man right through the roof. 

Getting out of the concealment spell, the battle instantly attracted the attention of all the Temple, but Julius couldn't care less. 

He was barely conscious, with just the pain remembering him that he was alive. He had coughed enough blood to cover all the cell floor and was starting to have problems breathing 

“JULIUS” a voice echoed in the prison. 

It was Kalon that after sensing the battle that was happening right in that moment over their head, had rushed to look for the young man

“Boy, if you can hear me, don't worry, that's not a life threatening injury, I can easily cure you”

Amidst all that pain, Julius could think 

“That's not a life threatening injury? Then what is? I don't want to be in this world”

Kalon took out of a bag around 20 little crystals, the size of a little fist. 

Those were low level Mana crystals. 

He then placed them around Julius and started chanting 

“High Heal”

As soon as he said that, a ray of light engulfed Julius and 8 crystals were consumed

“How is that possible? Based on my calculation, you would need all 20 crystals to heal” the High Priest started mumbling to himself, but shortly after a punch landed on his face, not causing any damage

“YOU DAMN BASTARD”

“Julius, keep calm”

“GO TO HELL… YOU KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN…”

“Why do you say so?”

“BECAUSE I KNOW, I CAN FEEL IT”

“Don't be silly, there's no way…”

“When you told me not to say I was sent by Stellar himself, when you told me not to lie, that was to try to give me a slight chance of survival… When Jorlof took me for a walk and left me alone in the maze… That was all to lure someone to me, to make me look weak and vulnerable… And even now, you arrived here with a bag of Mana crystal, ready to cure me, because you knew it… But you didn't expect someone so sneaky to come here for me, that's why Tarlen was not on high alert and that's why it took him so long”

“How…”

“Because I'm smart… I may not look like a smart guy and I may not act as expected but you better be aware of that… Plus, when I was dying on the floor, I thought of Jorlof… He said that nothing can escape his sight here in the temple… Then why the hell didn't he come? I expect someone who his the Supreme Priest to be one of the strongest in the world and yet, someone that can be overpowered by Tarlen, can escape his detection… Sounds quite unreasonable, doesn't it?”