It had been 2 days since the butler put the tattoo on James's left shoulder. During that time, he was starved and only given water with salt mixed in which ultimately made James even more thirsty.
Zahira entered his room on the third day with the butler holding a big duffel bad. He was still handcuffed to the floor. He was not in a good condition after not being fed for days.
Zahira clapped her hands and another butler with a plate of food giving of a delicious aroma entered the room and left after keeping the dish on the floor, just out of his reach and then left the room.
James couldn't bear seeing the food in front of him just one step away and not even be able to have a bite. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he smelled the fragrance coming from the meat in front of him.
"I will let you eat if you lick my shoes clean" Zahira said with a sadistic expression on her face. She continued while simultaneously signaling her butler to show the contents of the duffel bag, showing many torture devices "or you could not lose consciousness from 10 minutes of torture."
"I'm guessing that's how she broke her other slaves. She offered them a deal like this and if they chose the former, she would torture them anyway" Noah's voice echoed in James's mind.
"Well then, guess I will choose the latter" he said to both her and Noah.
Zahira didn't quite expect the answer that James gave. Most of her slaves broke down after 2 days of starvation. She ordered the butler to leave the duffel bag and go perform his other duties.
Zahira took out her assortment of knives and whips from the bag.
The first minute was hell. It was worse than anything James could have even imagined but his will was still strong. His cries of agony could be heard several cells over.
Suddenly, Noah popped out of the tattoo and turned to his sixth page (only James can see Noah). It read 'HIDDEN PAGE UNLOCKED, PHYSICAL PROWESS.'
���What the f**k is that."
"It's a hidden page. You unlock them during or a challenge. They appear to help you overcome the difficulties and provide many long-term benefits."
As James observed the page further, near the top, he read 'reduces pain by 20%, percentage increases as more pain is inflicted on host's body' while on the middle it read 'Physical strengthening 0%, can be increased by tempering the body by various methods like training, enduring torture, battling etc.'
James saw both the percentages increase as Zahira continued torturing him with a big devious smile on her face, getting pleasure with every whip and cut she made on his body.
At the bottom of the page, the page read 'PAIN REDUCTION' and 'PHYSICAL STREGNTHENING, making it easy to see the percentage of growth.
After another 8 minutes of relentless torture, James had to fake the sounds of pain as he was barely feeling anything anymore. Pain reduction had reached 50% while physical strengthening was only at 2%.
The torture ended after another minute without James losing his consciousness. The only sounds left were the grumbling of his stomach as if begging for food.
"Damn, he is still awake after that. Shit, I lost the bet!" the butler though, peeking through the torture room's window.
"Here's your food, I will break you tomorrow." Zahira said with an unsatisfied look on her face.
"Do your worst tomorrow too." James said while giggling. "F**k off" replied Zahira slamming the door on his face.