"Now then, let''s start." I transitioned back to my calm self, covering my facial expressions with my black mouth mask.


    Before I decide on what torture route to take, there''s something I want to test.


    "[Heal]" I placed my palm above his bleeding knee.


    I used a healing spell despite not learning any. To my surprise, it worked. Not only that, but it regenerated the wound, making it look brand new.


    This confirms my theory. The Tower said it grants rewards based on one''s desires and personality. Publicly, I''m a doctor. To think my ability is to heal others... of all things.


    Next, I severed his leg.


    "FUUUUUCKKK!" He screamed in agony.


    "Don''t even think of giving up by biting your tongue." I ran my second experiment. "[Heal]" I successfully reattached his limb. "Like this, I''ll reattach your tongue, so don''t cause yourself unnecessary pain."


    Lastly...


    I sliced off his pinky and smashed it until it was incapable of being reattached.


    "AHHHHHH!"


    "[Heal]" His finger didn''t regenerate without its respective missing piece to reattach and make up for the lacking ligaments, tendons, and bones, but I did manage to stop the bleeding.


    So my [Heal] ability can''t regenerate something out of thin air, huh? I want to test reviving him too, but it''s not worth the risk, so I''ll leave that for after I''m satisfied. Well, that''s enough of the experiments. I''ll begin the torture now.


    I covered his mouth with a rope. While he might not call for help, his screaming might alert people unintentionally.


    "mmmpphh!" He exclaimed muffled and incoherently.


    Perfect. That should do it. Time for the preparations.


    I took out a syringe from my pocket and filled it with fluid before injecting him with it.


    Firstly, I need him to suffer from the most excruciating pain. With this drug, his pain receptors will be stimulated, increasing his sensitivity to the max. Let''s check it out.


    "MMMMMPPPHHHH!!!"


    Just a light brush of the scalpel caused the bully so much pain. But I healed his legs, so he attempted to get up and run.


    "Not so fast." I slit his Achilles tendons, sending him to the ground once more.


    I then got up to retrieve his two friends'' swords. While he could no longer use his feet, he still had control over his arms. Crawling was an option, but it was soon cut out after I forcefully raised him to his feet. I slammed him against the wall of the vacant store and nailed his arms to it using his friends'' swords.


    Even though I haven''t started my torture, at this point, anyone who didn''t build even an ounce of tolerance to pain would pass out, however, he didn''t. His pain sensitivity was more than a thousandfold compared to the norm. Yet, he didn''t pass out because...


    "[Recuperation]"


    This spell is kinda overpowered, isn''t it? However, the current standard of society is mainly centered around strength and power, deeming everything else useless. Spells like [Recuperation] and [Lurk] were useful through dirty means, but it didn''t align with their standards and concept of ''power'', solely basing it on strength and not knowledge, thus certain spells have been overlooked. If given to malicious people, [Lurk] could pose a threat to the alien nation, and yet it''s legal because of its undermined definition.


    That aside, it was time for me to begin the torture.


    Oh, right...


    I walked to his dead friends.


    "[Heal]" But nothing happened.


    So, reviving is out of the option? There''s also a chance that I can only revive them within a period of time after their death.


    Considering revenge takes priority, I brushed off my final experiment for now and walked back to the crucified bully.


    "Before we begin with the main event, let''s relive some of the past events, shall we? Of course, you''ll be playing my role."


    Things were finally going to get messy, so I had to put my gloves on.


    "First up, facial disfiguration."


    As long as I don''t burn and dematerialize his skin, I can still return it to its original state. By reliving my past events, I am talking about every single one, starting from the first day they bullied me. In that sense, he has to relive the four years—1040 Academy days—he bullied me, in my perspective. Of course, it will be exaggerated and much worse than what he did to me, but following society''s rules, I need to pay him back at least tenfold, right?


    I removed the rope from his mouth.


    This will get in the way, but hearing him scream for hours would damage my ears.


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    I decided to sew his lips instead. To further prevent any chance of him making a noise, I decided not to damage the lower half of his face, starting from his lips to his chin.


    Finally, all preparations are done.


    "For the next several hours, I''ll be tearing your face off, reconstructing it, and then repeating the process one thousand and forty times."


    I grabbed my scalpel and positioned it near his forehead.


    I need to be careful with the depth of the cut and the speed of my [Heal]. I want to heal him quickly enough to prevent him from dying, but I also don''t want to do it too fast before he gets to feel any pain.


    Without hesitation, I swiftly cut his forehead and dug my fingers in the open wound. I tugged down, peeling off his skin. When it reached the lip, I made another cut above it. I then penetrated my fingers into his eyes, then squeezed my fingers to his nose, getting a good grip on his skin before viciously pulling it off.


    The indescribable pain called for an irresistible verbal reaction, even if he had to tear his lips apart from the restricting threads.


    "MMMPPPHHHH!!....AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"


    What a fortunate unforeseen outcome.


    "[Heal]" I recovered his lips, and surprisingly, the thread once again stitched it. "[Heal]" I reconstructed his face three seconds later.


    With this, not only will his face be torn, but he''ll also suffer from tearing his lips on his own accord. However, to prevent any sound from escaping his mouth, I have to heal it almost immediately. Well, the process causes enough pain anyway.


    The [Recuperation] spell prevented his will and mind from breaking. Also, his body never builds tolerance to the pain. So through the hours of having the same process repeated one thousand and forty times, all he felt was pain, mentally and physically. His mind was too stable to resist and distract himself from the pain, and his body was recreated to the moment prior to the torture, so it never had a chance to gain tolerance to the same pain processed over and over.


    You might think that this makes it pointless, but the only thing that isn''t affected by my spells is his... memories. Memories are located in the brain, so even if his body doesn''t remember the hours of agonizing torture, his brain will remind his body. It is akin to trauma. The fact that his body isn''t entirely aware of the source—unbeknownst to the pain makes it even more terrifying. It''s like an itch you can''t scratch.


    <hr>


    "[Heal]"


    That makes it one thousand and forty.


    One of the things I didn''t account for was that blood wasn''t considered a necessary requirement for my healing. So, even though I had to reuse the same skin in order to restore his face, his blood remained scattered everywhere. This could''ve also been an indication that my ability was the growth type. Since I only used it today, I still could only materialize blood. Meaning, that if I keep on using this ability for months or years, I might be able to regenerate limbs without the need for their arms and legs. And what about revival, hmm?


    "Congratulations on making it this far. Not that you had a choice. Now then, shall we start phase two?"


    At this point, you should already know what I''m going to do. Relive the day he raped and killed my sister. The number of times will be affiliated with how many days I had to continue living with the pain of my loss. If I''m not mistaken, it''s been two years, eleven months, and three weeks, but let''s just round it to three years, including weekends, making it 1095 days. As for how I''m going to recreate that scene...


    <hr>


    And that makes it one thousand and ninety-five. After five hours, I had one hour left to finish my business. All that remained was to decide on what to do.


    Now that trauma was etched into his brain. If I let him live, he''d suffer to the point his mind would break a day or two without healing him. Ultimately, he''ll kill himself. While that does sound appealing, it''ll deprive me of killing him with my own hands.


    "[Heal]" I attempted after killing him, but even immediately after his death, I couldn''t revive him.


    I walked to the other two corpses, beginning my escape route from this mess. Using the puddle of blood on the floor from the five hours of endless gushing, I drew an apple icon on the wall. Using one of his friend''s intestines, I decorated the stem and his other friend''s livers for the leaves.


    Just then, I looked at my artwork and heard a stone being kicked. It splashed while skipping along the pool of blood.


    "As expected, you were here. I suppose I must thank you for the soundproof barrier, huh?" I looked to my right, unfazed at the presence of that man with a crescent-shaped mask.


    "You sure come up with interesting ideas," he nonchalantly remarked, paying no mind to his three dead comrades. "But was I excluded from your revenge or something? Why am I still breathing?"


    After killing thousands of monsters in the Tower for two years, I gained more experience. With that experience, I could gauge the difference between us in strength. Even now, he was... still far beyond my reach.


    Should I take the wise and logical route by retreating and challenging him when I''m stronger, or irrationally attack him now? It''s pointless dying if I can''t assert my revenge. But after staying awake for nearly three years, I aged rapidly, so I doubt I have much time left before the end of my lifespan.


    I clenched my fists.


    No, that''s arrogant of me.


    After five hours, the walls were finally drenched in someone else''s blood—mine. Before I knew it, I was looking at the sky and only felt the upper half of my body.


    I wasn''t the one strong enough to have options in the first place!


    As my upper body dropped to the floor, I shot my eyes down, looking at my legs standing up and then dropping.


    "GAH!" I coughed out blood, sending my mask flying, but that was nothing compared to the guts and blood gushing from my severed torso.


    "Didn''t even see my attack? How disappointing. I expected much more from someone so dedicated to his humorous revenge. Well, a doctor at the end of the day has no place to rebel against warriors," he commented harshly while approaching my upper body. He stepped on it and leaned closer to my face. "I win, worm."


    "HAH, HAH, HAH..." I breathed rapidly, and my consciousness slowly faded.


    Concluding it was the end for me and our three-year-long fight, he walked away. It was a repeat of that day. Leaving so casually after stealing something from me. I gritted my teeth.


    YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTARD! BASTARD!


    "[Heal]" I healed myself after he left.


    Well, I was only angry that I didn''t hold a candle to him.


    My body was reattached perfectly, my wounds healed, and my missing blood was restored. I got up and wiped the blood from my mouth.


    I thought it was a mistake on the Tower''s part to give me a healing ability because it didn''t correlate to my personality, but it seems I was mistaken. The healing is more prominent when I use it on myself.


    My emotions, which I thought disappeared long ago, resurfaced after reliving that event.


    "The Tower... Past, Present, and Future... Benevolence, and Malevolence..." I mumbled.


    I staggered to the blood, pulled in by something. A word then entered my mind and escaped through my lips.


    "[Insight]"


    My vision changed. The sea of blood emitted a nauseating, reddish gas.


    "Mmmpfhh! Bleeghh!"


    W-what is this nauseating sensation?!


    Without my knowledge, the information that I questioned surfaced in my brain.


    "I-Impurity...?"


    "So, you realized. As expected of an ability that a doctor would receive." Someone sauntered behind me.


    I flinched and glared behind me.


    "Who are you?!"


    The sun rose, resonating with the introduction of the guy before me. He grinned slyly and answered: "Me? I''m the one that you tried to frame." He then pointed at the grotesque apple design on the wall. "Nice to make your acquaintance, ''Dr. Stein''."