Cursed Immortality

Jacob carefully entered the long passage leading inside the dome after confirming that it was completely safe. He had yet to see any mechanical technology being used in this place, and everyone was magic-oriented.

Maybe the dark beings trust the magic technology more, or they simply don't have the brains for it. Whichever the case was, it made it quite easy for Jacob because of his Eyes of Judge.

Surprisingly, there was no dark being inside, and once Jacob left the passage, he was shocked because in front of him was a beautiful grassland, and the sky was filled with warm sunlight.

Furthermore, not too far away from him were stone buildings, and some children of different races were happily playing around. There were also some adult and elderly people wearing simple clothes and watching those kids with gentle smiles.

'What the hell is going on in here?' Jacob was completely bewildered since he was expecting some kind of huge secret or treasures hidden in this place, not this… this village!

Furthermore, he knew this entire environment was a complete illusion and bioproduct of magic, and this place was some kind of sanctuary.

A ghastly realization struck Jacob at this moment, 'Don't tell me this is some kind of pen to rear the living beings, so those dark beings can use them whenever they please. I can't think of another way to explain this massive settlement. They clearly won't be doing this out of the good of their hearts. For dark beings, the living beings are food…'

Jacob's heart was cold as he looked at those blissful villagers. They clearly had no idea what kind of place they were living in. They were just cattle being prepared for slaughter.

Furthermore, no one seemed to notice Jacob standing in front of the huge passage. It was like they couldn't see it, which means the passage was also hidden within the illusion.

In the end, Jacob merely shook his head. He didn't have any pity for them. He wasn't here to save them, and even if he had such thoughts, he knew the moment they went outside, their entire world would crumble, and they would die in the poisonous environment outside.

Their entire world was this tiny dome, and the way to liberate them was to end the entirety of dark beings, which was completely impossible. There might be even more such pens out there, and this was nothing but a pipe dream to save them.

Jacob then looked within the passage, since the inside was a huge illusion formation, there has to be some kind of control room where this illusion formation was being control. He can't leave empty-handed.

Since he had already used the Eyes of Judge for around four seconds, he could only use it for another second before he had to rest, or it would start to affect his mind and vision.

So, he used it the final time and quickly spotted an anomaly on the right-side wall, and without hesitation, he threw a full power punch on the gray spot.

The next moment, a small blast rang in the silent dark passage and in front of Jacob a spacious room appeared as he blasted apart the hidden door.

However, the moment the hidden space was revealed, Jacob was startled as it was empty. There were small black humanoid creatures around 1'2 feet tall, but their heads were extremely large a crimson web of veins was apparent on their bald disc-

like heads and pulsing.

There were twelve of them, and they were looking at Jacob with their big crimson eyes without any irises in utter shock and disbelief. Furthermore, they were sitting over twelve circles glowing with magic runes, and in front of them were two projections that showed different images of the village inside the dome.

Jacob's eyes narrowed as he was just as surprised as those imps, and he could sense they were all unique rank dark beings with powerful spirit prowess but extremely weak bodies.

Without giving them a chance to react, he dashed towards the closest imp with two short swords, which were quite long, around 4 meters long, but completely perfect for someone of Jacob's height.

Just when the first imp reacted, two large heads of the imps were already flying in the air.

"Mental Shock!" A powerful, invisible ripple suddenly surfaced in the air. Jacob felt slightly lightheaded before nothing happened.

"Child's play!" Nyx's disdainful voice rang as she was the culprit behind rendering that mental attack useless.

Jacob's footsteps didn't stop, and more heads began to fly before the final imp was nailed to the ground as Jacob's sword pierced into its chest.

"Tell me, what is this place?" Jacob asked while sending Fire Aura into the imp's chest, making the latter shrill in pain.

"P-pen… this is Life Pen No.432, located on the Dead Island No.

108!" The imp quickly replied as the pain from the fire aura was driving him crazy.

He was just a small fray, and their race, the Brainy Imp Race, was one of the weakest races among the Dark Beings, who were only proficient in mental attacks. They had high intelligence, but their bodies were as weak as a common rank goblin.

That's why they were used in researching and handling the formations. They were no fighters, so their pain and endurance were almost nonexistent. As for loyalty, the Brainy Imp Race was quite indignant for always being laughed at by other races and treated like mere tools. So, he quickly begins to answer Jacob's questions.

Jacob learned that there were 1200 Life Pens like this one, and just on this island, there were forty-nine more such places. These life pens were used to nurture the living beings before they were taken by the powerful and talented members of the dead faction to raise their powers. His previous guess has been spot-on.

As for lost living beings' origin, their ancestors were prisoners of war; some were kidnapped, and some were even sold to the dark beings by the slave traders. The Life Pens were also divided by the bloodline of the living beings.

Those who could rise to the Unique Rank were kept in the Life Pens from No.1 to No.500, while the epic ranks were kept in Life Pens above No.500. The smaller the number, the higher quality and powerful the bloodline of the living beings.

There were 80 islands devoted to raising living beings, and they were all spread throughout the Dead Faction Territory, which was a combination of 470 Islands!