5 Fake Prophet

Since high school, Alexei greatly despised time-travelers and transmigrators in various fiction works who always pulled the 'I'm-a-prophet' card in order to escape from poverty or whatever bad situation they were in.

He himself was not sure about the reason. Maybe he just felt like those people were stealing intellectual property and capitalizing on information that they did not work hard to obtain. Or maybe deep inside him, a part of him was envious because those people could easily lead a leisurely life thanks to this 'cheat'. Perhaps, it was really the latter.

It was hard to think highly of them when there was a voice in his head constantly saying that if everyone was given the same opportunity, it would be natural to have a rise in fame and status.

But... was that really the case?

Look at him now. In his current situation, Alexei really had to admit that he was merely jealous of those protagonists because when he tried to pull off the same trick, this usually insane card only brought him a chance for survival.

The prophet trick did not give him special status in the organization.

Although it was understandable as no sane leader would trust a nobody's words, it just left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Servant. My struggle only elevated my status from a test subject to a servant...."

"Alright. Let me just hypnotize myself that this is already more than what I can ask for." Alexei laughed, trying to cheer his quite depressed self.

The Leader took a bit of interest in him due to the information he let out earlier and spared him from further suffering. The lich obeyed the Leader's order and brought him to the first floor.

Only an hour had passed since then. Enough time had been given to him to rest.

As of now, he still looked terrible in shape since no healing service was provided to him. But as he lay on the narrow bed, he felt that he was already doing pretty good compared to before. And yes, he was given a bed to rest in and a small room too.

Alexei nearly shed tears when his back first made contact with the bed cover. Though of course, he only felt moved for a few seconds.

If one were to look around, they would see that the place was really poor and nearly empty, only having a narrow bed opposite the door. No cabinet, no drawer, no bathroom attached to it, not even a window.

Were all servants treated like this? He wondered.

Compared to the damp, cold, smelly prison cell where he used to reside, this was already a night and day difference.

But precisely because of this that the slight smile hanging on his lips turned even more bitter.

Weakness could truly render one helpless and desperate. In order to get to this place, he gave away a piece of information that might become really crucial to the game plot.

"In four years' time, the Mountain Dragon Lord of the north will re-awaken."

"Before the resurrection of this Mountain Lord, the Sovereign of Rock would fall into eternal slumber."

The things he revealed all had relations to the divine. And if his guess was correct, the side of the abyss had some clues, but just lacked a way to confirm their hunch. Alexei's background was that of someone from a backwater village. With that said, the leader must have believed that he was either a spy, or an oddity transformed by the abyss relic.

Alexei stayed in that room for half a day until his room got an unwanted visitor.

It was the lich. The latter's arrival reminded him that the Leader said he would meet him.

'If I remember correctly, the Leader called him Abel.' After a brief glance at the undead's bizarre appearance, he hurriedly lowered his head.

"Your name?"

"Alex," he replied with difficulty, averting his eyes from the others' skull-face. The voice that he had finally grown quite familiar with after several weeks came out really weak and hoarse.

The undead creature threw a waterskin at him which he barely managed to catch. Amazement then flickered across his eyes for he was indeed thirsty. However, Alexei did not immediately drink from the water container. Instead, he looked at the lich.

"That is my gift to you, Alex."

A few moments later, he was left alone, dumbfounded by what the lich actually meant.

The waterskin functioned as a supplier of unlimited water and was basically a low-level magical artifact. It was not only meant to hold drinking water. Alexei who understood this was at a loss. It was only due to his apprehension to appear unpresentable before the leader that he somehow managed to freshen up using the artifact.

Then, the meeting with the Leader proceeded just like yesterday. However, Marlon did not appear, most probably not invited by the giant. As such, the one who held the abyssal relic was the Lich. Although he did not see his most-hated magician, Alexei predicted that this would happen so he merely repeated what he did previously. He might not be the brightest in his class, but Alexei still had some common sense and knew that he should not spit out everything he knew if he did not want to lose his value immediately.

The plan was to only give them partially substantial information every other week or so. Plus no more mentioning of anything that might potentially ruin the game plot.

'Even if I do this, they won't discard me, right?'

His courage to proceed with that plan stemmed from the conversation he overhead yesterday. If he was really the only 'odd case' of a subject getting precognition ability from the abyssal relic, then there was a high chance of them not being willing to kill him fast.

Thankfully, he betted right. When no new information came out of his mouth, the Leader merely waved a hand and dismissed him.

Days passed after that. Because the Leader would only summon him every other day, the Lich arranged a routine for him to do in his vacant time. Because of that, he learned what it actually meant to be a servant. Duties varied from cleaning the various rooms on the first floor to the twentieth floor, to feeding dangerous-looking plants and monsters. Alexei was not the only servant around, there were others like him, and while the majority were automatons, there were also others from other races. Amongst them, he was actually the only human.

When he first appeared before his new colleagues, all gave him a weird look.

"I wonder how a mere human managed to go beyond being an experimental subject." One time, a male snake demon talked to him.

Because there were other servants around and he was the weakest of the bunch, Alexei kept quiet while wearing a thin smile. His colleagues then lost interest since he did not reply and then dispersed to do their own duties, which made him greatly relieved.

However, when he returned to his small room, Alexei muttered to himself.

'So unfair.'

''It's quite uncommon, other humanoid races can also receive Gifts from Sovereigns. Why is this organization so fixated on humans?'