Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

”I—I don’t think... I don’t think I can go in there,” Diya shook her head vehemently, pressing her hands over her ears to stop the guttural, pain-filled shrieks that were so familiar, yet so alien.

”Diya, look at me,” Uhtred moved forward and placed his hands on hers.

She continued to shake her head, adamant on not entering the enclave or even hearing what Uhtred had to say. But as Uhtred eased her hands off her ears calmly, she eventually allowed it.

”I don’t have the stomach for this,” she looked up at him. ”I know they’re our enemies, but that’s why there are different people for different tasks. Just leave the healing part to me. Whenever any of our task force members are injured, I will perform my duty and heal them...”

She swallowed, her eyes pleading with Uhtred.

”But torture? I just don’t have the stomach for torture. I am not against it. I understand why we have to do it, but I don’t want to be a direct part of it,” she shook her head, then threw her hands up. ”It’s not even in line with my area of specialty.”

”Oh, but it is,” Uhtred smiled calmly. ”I’m not exactly sure, but I would guess you were probably in the field of medicine before the integration.”

Diya said nothing, but her stare confirmed Uhtred’s guess.

Uthred sighed, then spoke:

”Look, I’m not going to force you to do what you’re not comfortable with. But just like you’ve also seen with the quest, the situation is extremely dire. The people we’re up against... these ancient variants... they are not merciful.”

”I would know because I have faced one of them,” Uhtred stared deep into her eyes. ”That... Neanderthal had wanted to kill me. I could feel his conviction with every strike he made, with every attempt at my life. These guys mean business. They even went as far as to abduct children from our camp.”

He paused.

”If we cannot match the level of their resolve... If we do not adapt quickly to the level of brutality required to face them, then only our demise awaits.”

Diya’s eyes looked conflicted as Uhtred continued to speak.

”Right now, you are only a healer, but as a medical practitioner, you must have seen a lot of gory things. I understand torture is entirely different from what you’re used to. But Diya, there is no other way to adapt than to force yourself to face these uncomfortable acts.”

Uhtred looked like he had more to say, but he only stared at her a bit longer, then patted her shoulder.

Walking around her, he entered into the newly made enclave. It was a space between two rock faces covered by a piece of cloth at the doorway.

The moment Uhtred stepped in, all eyes focused on him. His words to Diya at the doorway had not gone unheard by those inside. John Allen met his eyes and gave a slight curt nod. It was both to show that he was happy that Uhtred was back on his feet and also to show that he was in support of what Uhtred had just said.

Uhtred returned the nod curtly before taking in the small room in full.

The room was bare and dry. Dark too, save for a small light from a burning hearth in a corner. A total of eight people, aside from Uhtred, were in the room.

John Allen, along with the other five pioneers, made up six of the numbers. The last two were totally new faces to Uhtred.

One was a tall, buff, dark-skinned dude with a bald head. He acknowledged Uhtred only with his eyes as their gazes met. Otherwise, he remained very stoic and silent, his eyes returning back to the last person, who was the main focus of everyone in the room.

Right above the Homo erectus scout which was screaming out loud, was a wiry-framed, short man who looked to be well into his fifties. His features pointed to him being Thai or Vietnamese. He had a balding head with grey tufts of hair at the sides.

He was the only one in the room to not have paid any attention to Uhtred when he entered. Instead, his focus was entirely on the Homo erectus scout on the ground.

In Uhtred’s vision, the man’s level read as Level 1 (Peak) above his head. Yet despite the level difference between him and the Homo Erectus scout at Level 7, there was no trace of hesitation in his movements as he expertly brought immense pain to their prisoner.

”Who’s this guy?” Uhtred moved over to John’s side and asked silently.

”Minh Quan,” John replied as low as he could manage over the loud, chilling shrieks. ”He’s a Vietnamese old soldier... or at least I think he is...”

Uhtred raised a brow, and John Allen shrugged in response.

”I don’t know, man. It was Etounde here,” he nodded towards the silent, tall, dark-skinned guy, ”that introduced him to me. I can’t speak Vietnamese, but Etounde can.”

”Ah...” Uhtred muttered in realization. He had forgotten that none of them here had access to the multiversal store yet. So language was still a barrier for them.

”What?” John asked, noticing Uhtred’s expression.

Uhtred pondered whether to keep on hiding the fact that he had access to the multiversal store and the devices he had gotten from it. But after a moment of quick thought, he immediately decided to tell them about it.

Aside from the fact that they would get access to it soon anyway, there was also the fact that hiding it offered no benefits at all.

They needed to interrogate the Homo erectus scout somehow, and whatever rudimentary method of communication they had all come up with was only going to slow them down unnecessarily compared to talking directly with the scout instead.

”What have you been able to get out of him?” Uhtred asked.

”Uh... Nothing yet. We’ve not even begun attempts at communication. For now, Minh intends to break its... or rather, his, will to show we’re deadly serious.”

”Hmm...” Uhtred hummed, taking another look at Minh’s wiry figure.

”Minh, that’s enough. Let me talk to him now,” he strode forward, just as Minh’s head turned backwards slowly in surprise.

Even Etounde and the rest of the Pioneers who had been watching silently turned their heads mechanically to Uhtred in utter shock.

”You can speak Vietnamese?!”