Jacob, despite experiencing the excruciating pain from the Cursed Immortality, this pain was still not something that he could take with a grain of salt.
Furthermore, Masha wasn't just done after making only one stroke, but she was just getting started, and she even had this crazy sadistic look in her eyes as she stroked Jacob's back, and watching him tremble and groan in pain gave her pleasure. She was not different from an Evil Witch at this moment.
However, as painful as it was, Jacob endured with everything he had and focused all those pain on his hatred for being so powerless despite everything he had done to reach to this point.
Despite enduring so much pain and being so much meticulous, he still ended up captured by a bunch of outlaws, and now to survive, he needed to be a slave. He never wanted to experience this sort of feeling after Decker's lab, but here he was, forced to walk on the same road again. He wasn't angry at anyone but himself for still being so powerless.
Yet, at the same time, Jacob learned a valuable lesson. In this place, emotions or feelings were nothing but a hindrance. If you are powerful but have remorse and feelings, you will only end up dead, while the person who was ruthless to others and himself will survive in any scenario.
In this place, if you are not flexible, then you are dead!
That pain and suffering was something that Jacob would never forget, and this will always remind him what will happen to those who can't fight back, and this was the fate of the weak.
Maybe there were some good people, but Jacob has yet to encounter one. Even if he did encounter them, he would never be the same after what he's been through or what he'll go through in the future.
After a total of 48 strokes, Masha finally stopped as she looked at the crimson diagram filled with rune symbols on Jacob's back which now was totally red. At an unknown moment, if he hadn't been held by the blue mana around his shoulder, he would've been kneeing since all that pain was too much for him to stand still.
Masha nodded in satisfaction as she admired her work, while Captain Free Sword and Harold had cold smiles on their faces without any hint of pity in their eyes.
"Do you want to do the honor, Captain?" Masha spoke while she looked at Captain Free Sword smilingly as she was indicting toward the final step of this Salve Rune competition.
Captain Free Sword shook his head and replied, "I'm not into pretty boys. You can keep him. Besides, if he turns out to be a Faery, he will be very precious, and you are the best person to keep an eye on him. Albeit, I'm pretty sure you want to have some fun with a Faery, so you can keep him and fulfill your desire until we find our way back home."
"Thank you, Captain, you are so good to me!" Masha, like a little girl, ecstatically exclaimed, completely different from her sadistic self.
She didn't waste more time, afraid Captain Free Sword might change his mind, and quickly cut open her finger, and purple blood gushed out. Without hesitation, she splashed the blood over Jacob's back on the crimson diagram.
The moment that blood fell over the diagram, a strange reaction happened. The crimson diagram suddenly started to emit smoke and started twisting on Jacob's back which sent another volley of even more intense pain.
The purple blood was fully absorbed by the crimson diagram, and it completely changed its shape. What was left of that diagram were dark runes shaped like chains.
Magically those chains suddenly started immersing into Jacob's skin before fully vanishing, leaving nothing but Jacob's red back.
Jacob, at this movement, suddenly feels all those feelings getting distant as he slowly loses the feeling from his limbs, and this phenomenon spared all the way up to his neck before stopping.
Except for his face, he couldn't feel any of his body, yet it was still there, but he couldn't control it anymore, as if he needed some sort of power to control his own limbs. It was a very strange feeling.
He might be only feeling this way because he was now far stronger than when he was under Decker's enslavement.
However, this time, his face was completely under his control, and his cursed heart was also the same, not to mention he could easily circulate his mana as usual.
It was just as Immortika said; only his body was enslaved, not his mind and free will, and his magic were also not restricted nor his ability.
"Now it's game whether you can hold off your blinking or not because the moment you blink or even twitch a muscle without her command, hehehehehe…" Immortika wrote impishly at this moment.
Jacob knew it had really come to his acting skill and how masterfully he could control his facial expression now.
"Turn around, my little slave," Masha commanded at this moment with a voice full of ecstasy.
The moment Jacob heard Masha's voice, he suddenly felt he got all the control over his body back, but to his astonishment, he could only move back, not anywhere else.
Still, he pulled an emotionless face and turned around as Masha had already retracted her magic power, which was holding Jacob up. Hence, his movement was still clumsy because of that lingering, hellish sensation on his back.
Now, he faced the three giant figures without any emotions on his face.
"Now, you have to answer Captain Free Sword's question with nothing but the truth!" Masha commanded coolly before she turned toward Captain Free Sword and said, "He's all yours."
Captain Free Sword was very satisfied with Masha's performance and asked Jacob, without beating around the bush, "Now tell me your name?"
Jacob knew if he wanted to trick them, he needed to speak some truth first, so he replied emotionlessly and finally revealed his full name after a very, very long time because he abhorred the last name of his father and always used his middle name as a surname.
"Jacob S. King!"
