The light and the disinfectant and the bright whiteness were all things Rust had never seen before in his life.
And what was more, there was the silence. A strange silence, but enough to make him feel safe. "Maybe this is why no one really dares to touch Mr. Zecker," Rust thought to himself, his nose still smelling the minty scent from the mask that covered most of his face.
As for White, he seemed a little different than usual this time.
Rust felt the same way. He nervously controlled his breathing as he looked at them through the glass shield.
Rust couldn't go in there. He didn't know how to clean himself properly or disinfect properly. And that wasn't something that could be taught on the spot when they were both having an emergency leg amputation.
"Needle and thread."
White didn't reply, but he took a pair of tweezers and a curved needle with a black thread tied to it, and placed it in Zecker's hand. The whole process was painless, and even White's eyes were strangely calm and focused.
It was the first time Rust had seen White like this.
Since their first meeting, he had only seen White as a strange man who talked about unrealistic dreams. But he had never expected to see that madman have such focused moments. So a question appeared in the bewildered and worried eyes of the boy born in the slums.
_____
"Who are you?"
The surgery to stitch up the wound had ended successfully. The patient had been brought back to their lair.
And now it was time for tea.
If anything, Jim Zecker's house was really soundproof. From the operating room at the back door or now the living room with its harmonious shades of green, brown and orange, it continued to bring a comfortable silence.
Rust was a little absent-minded at this moment. The warm steam and the scent of the new bath products had lifted his mind to cloud nine.
"White Turner. You can call me White. I came from a completely different world than Dump Arena and to save this place."
Another strange confession as usual from White. But it brought Rust back to earth.
The worry of being discriminated against and kicked out of this comfort made Rust want to stand up and explain.
Actually, he was just worrying too much.
"So your knowledge and skills came from that world?"
"Of course."
"Interesting. Very interesting. So that is what Pago said about you. What is this thing called infinite karma?"
White's confidence and certainty made Zecker's limbs move. His long, forked tongue stretched out as if he were about to swallow White.
But the doctor quickly realized this and retracted his stance under the two humans' wary eyes.
"Forgive me. Your case is rare. Very rare. I'm a little excited because…"
His reptilian eyes began to wander. His large, scaly arms began to wave awkwardly up and down, as if trying to grab an explanation out of thin air.
"You seem to be a madman in a white blouse, huh?"-White's fingers moved with the knife in his pocket. It wasn't surprising that a normal person would be willing to settle here, so he had stolen a knife from the operating room earlier.
He didn't know what this simple weapon could do to this lizard. But at least he could take the initiative for a moment, so he could still live.
The lizard doctor didn't seem surprised at all by that comment. He smiled slowly so as not to show his mottled teeth and scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Haha… It's just a combination of a somewhat unusual personality and the species' characteristics. Don't worry about the details."
"It's okay. We'll leave. Thank you."
White kept pulling Rust away.
But he stopped and looked at Jim Zecker. It was like he had discovered something very strange about himself.
"Mr. Zecker? Do you have Authority?"
The words were still hesitant at first, but curiosity was what urged Rust to take those things out of his mouth.
"Its name is Sliced Fang, right? It's the thing that helped you cut off that Birdman's leg with just a small scalpel."
Rust's eyes were directed down the table as if he was reading some information, but his mouth kept talking about its principle. Roughly, it was from karma that created a "concept" of cutting based on holding a sharp object in his hand. That's why the cut on that Birdman was so smooth and easy to recover.
An ability that Zecker was proud of, not everyone could recognize. But Rust could read it in just a few minutes.
He lay down, lowering his long face straight into Rust's eyes.
"How do you see it? They said you have the ability to copy other people's Authority, right?"
"How do I put it? It's like every time I recognize whether it's an Authority, information about it immediately pops up in my head. Like its name, how it works, or how its owner used it."
"That means you can tell by looking, remember, and use over and over again all the Authority you've ever known. But your body doesn't have enough karma or the ability to recover karma to use it."
Zecker knew that Authority was inherently very strong and unreasonable. But such a strong Authority was indeed the first time he had seen it. Rust also nodded to confirm with him.
"If you can recover karma right now, you can show me. As long as you tell the truth, I'll help you use it and maybe get more karma."
As he spoke, Zecker threw a glass bottle onto the table. Its sparkling blue color and irresistible charm reminded him of the potion he used during the ability test.
He knew it. That thing instantly boosts the entire karma of anyone.
However, White pulled out a signal for Rust not to touch it. He also knew what it was. But White really had a bad feeling about being here.
But perhaps this was not an opportunity that Rust, who had spent his whole life in the slums, could have. The potion was immediately snatched away after Rust shook off White's hand and drank it right in front of him.
"How many abilities do you know now?"
"About 3 types. Like I got an Ice Maker from my foster father, a Heat Processor from that scout, and a Sliced Fang from"
As he spoke, a white ice stick emerged from him. His other hand slowly stroked the surface of the ice stick. The heat and the ability to regenerate ice on the spot gradually created a long white blade.
And at this moment, a gentle wave of his hand came from Rust. The bookcase behind Zecker immediately broke in half and fell piece by piece to the floor.
A masterful performance. It was as if Rust was born with those abilities.
"That's right. That's right. That man in black was right. It was extremely true to come here. A masterpiece. Only a masterpiece like this would finish everything."
The huge reptilian tail wagged up and down, even as the great Zecker, whom Dump Arena both respected and feared, knelt before them.
"Please. Let's save this world together. I will help you two use your powers freely. But you have to trust me at least."
Zecker's surprised turn once again made the two boys frown.
What Zecker said was more like an announcement, not a plea.
The floor began to shake and fall.
The entire scene of warm orange-blue gradually faded to black, and white lights continuously turned on as they slid down.
"Everything you two said is like a prophecy. And only I can reveal the future to you two."
The three of them, some with knives and swords, some with claws, digging into the floor to prevent themselves from falling from that dizzying momentum. But they soon landed on the ground.
The two boys' small bodies bounced up and down, making it difficult for them to stand up.
As for Zecker, he immediately stepped up. The huge lizard's eyes were wild, as if the journey was about to begin.
Rust tried to stand up first with his hands, but he immediately vomited and passed out.
Altitude sickness? No.
A series of information. A series of experiences. A series of pain. And a series of screams immediately flooded Rust's brain.
Rust couldn't hear anything anymore. He lay flat on the floor. The horrible memories of dissection, the dreadful tortures so that the beastmen could even have the same Authority as humans. And even the strange transplants or experiments combining humans and other creatures, according to Jim Zecker in those fragments of memory, unleash the limits before the apocalypse.
And in White's eyes, a giant lizard stood proudly in front of hundreds of monsters assembled in each iron cage. The scent of disinfectant could no longer mask the horrible smell of blood and various body fluids.