The World Devouring System

Several minutes later, Caelum found himself standing near the entrance of the estate's dungeon. On the way there, he couldn't help but reflect on the apathy Elara had for the prisoners – seems like her kind and caring nature did not extend to everyone.

'That's just the kind of world this is. Human lives are not worth much. The weak are at the mercy of the strong.'

Caelum knew that he couldn't stick to the values from his old world if he wanted to survive long enough. In fact, this was not a difficult task for him since he never was a "good" person to begin with. Moreover, he had assimilated the original Caelum's memories, thoughts and experiences already – an act which helped greatly change 'Pascal's' worldview.

Caelum did not make his way to the dungeon to actually 'spar' with any of the prisoners like he told Elara he would. No, he was just here to kill some of them and get a handle on how exactly [Devour] worked.

A badge was pinned onto the front left side of Caelum's robes – a badge handed to him by Elara. She told him that the badge would help people identify his status as the Patriarch's son, saving him the hassle of introducing himself to everyone, especially to the guards and servants at various places.

Elara also reminded him that just because he was the son of the Patriarch did not mean that he could go around doing as he pleased, much to Caelum's chagrin. Apparently, nepotistic practices were disdained by the Goldhearts. Although his status afforded him some respect and conveniences that family members from other lineages would not be able to easily obtain, like a nice residence and access to the exclusive Duke Family Dining hall, that was pretty much all it did – made his life more convenient.

For things that truly mattered – like rare cultivation resources and true respect from his peers, Caelum would have to earn them on his own – at least in theory.

Caelum walked into the dungeon as if it were his own home, which it might as well be. The guards at the entrance did not dare to stop and question him after taking one look at the badge on his chest.

Sitting near the entrance in a meditative posture was the warden of the dungeon. It seemed like he was cultivating. Caelum took the opportunity to observe him. The warden's head was partially bald and his hair was graying. He seemed to be of a medium height, shorter than Caelum himself, though he wouldn't be able to tell for sure unless the warden stood up.

Wardens for prisons typically had a scary looking face but the man in front of Caelum would not be able to scare a baby if his life depended on it, at least not just with his face. Pinned to the man's robes was a badge that indicated that he did not have any Goldheart blood flowing through his veins.

The Goldheart family employed a lot of personnel who weren't actually part of the family in order to fill up vacancies which nobody in the family wanted to fill. The warden and the two guards outside the dungeon's entrance belonged to this category. People like this unfortunately received little to no respect from the family members. It's not as if anyone went out of their way to disrespect them, it was more that their existence was just ignored – they were treated as air.

Caelum understood this interpersonal dynamic based on the memories of the Original.

A few seconds after Caelum entered the dungeon, the warden opened his eyes.

"Good afternoon." Caelum took the initiative to greet the man. The warden first looked at Caelum's face and realized that this was not one of the regular visitors. He then looked at the badge pinned to his robes and understood that this was someone of an extremely high status. At the very least, he could not offend him!

The warden quickly got to reply to Caelum's greeting.

"Good afternoon, Young Master. What brings you to this place?"

"I will be leaving the estate to experience the wider world very soon. I came here to acquaint myself with the act of taking human lives so that I will not hesitate to reap the lives of my enemies when I meet them on the road."

Caelum politely explained to the warden the purpose of his visit – it was a different excuse than the one he had given to Elara, but at this point, he did not care – for he believed that Elara would not care either.

The warden found Caelum's explanation to be perfectly reasonable. From the drawer of a nearby desk, he produced a register and opened it to a certain page, passing it on to Caelum.

"In here, you will find the details of all the prisoners that are being held here. Their cell numbers, names, cultivation levels and crimes are all listed. You might notice that some of the entries are highlighted. Please leave those highlighted captives alone. They have been… reserved, by other members of the Goldheart family for their… personal use."

Caelum noticed the warden's struggle with formulating the last sentence. After taking the register from the warden's hands, he asked him in a neutral voice.

"Do you perhaps pity what happens to these 'reserved' captives, as you put it?"

The warden was frightened after hearing that question!

"No, no! How could I possibly think such thoughts? I haven't even considered pitying them! These people have offended the mighty Goldheart family, one of the pillars of the glorious Novastead Empire. They deserve no pity!"

Caelum was speechless at the warden's exaggerated response, which was tinged with a hint of fear.

'Peculiar. As far as I know, the Goldhearts are not known for being a particularly tyrannical family. In fact, as our name implies, the people of the realm have an impression that we are a righteous and kind hearted bunch. Well, as righteous and kind-hearted as a cultivation family could possibly be.'

Thinking so, Caelum spoke to the warden.

"Be at ease. I will give you another opportunity to answer my earlier question. I will not punish you if you speak the truth. However, if I detect even a hint of lie in your words, you might not like what happens next. I mean it."

Hearing this, the warden felt like he was truly in a pickle. 'A trick question. This has to be a trick question, right?' he thought to himself. Ultimately however, the warden decided to say the truth. There was just something about Caelum's facial expressions and the way he spoke that made the warden subconsciously want to put some faith in his words. And so, he replied cautiously.

"I wasn't exactly lying about what I said previously, Young Master. For people that have offended the Goldheart family, I truly do not have any pity… But, it is my humble belief that not everyone who is imprisoned here might have actually committed the crime that they were accused of. If there is one crime that they are truly guilty of however, then it is the crime of being weak."

The warden tried to carefully observe any changes in Caelum's face as he spoke those words but the only thing he saw was a poker face. He lowered his head after answering Caelum.

"I see." Caelum nodded his head and was lost in his own thoughts for a few brief moments. He then turned towards the cowering warden and said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to punish you for that."

Caelum felt that the warden was overthinking things. He did not have a very deep reason for posing such a question. He merely wanted to get a better understanding of the world that he had transmigrated to. Although he had his predecessor's memories, the predecessor was merely a child – his memories did not necessarily contain the kind of insights that Caelum was seeking.

Caelum had no intention of trying to liberate these "unjustly imprisoned" prisoners. He shifted his attention to the register in his hands and got to the task of choosing a suitable target for [Devour]. The warden also breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Caelum truly wasn't going to find any faults with his answer.