I was tossed inside the flying disk, so I had no idea what route it took during the journey.

As far as I knew, this world was covered in forests. Even if the terrain varied, it was mostly just forest, so there was no way I could memorize any path.

I could only pray that the skeletal rat I created using necromancy before being transported like cargo would successfully lead Alice and Sylph to me.

To be honest, even if Alice and Sylph were gone, I wouldn't be terribly inconvenienced. My life magic had leveled up to the point that my hearing could now rival theirs.

However, I owed them both a debt—before I made the contract with the dragon, they helped me when I was on the verge of death. If possible, I didn’t want to be separated from them.

They said the disk had been summoned from the base. So it was likely heading there.

As I watched events unfold quietly, one of the humans in silver suits spoke.

"This is O-30. We've retrieved Professor Salt and the others. Preparing to dock."

"Acknowledged. Opening the hatch."

He didn’t appear to be holding any kind of communication device. My field of vision was limited since I was still lying down, but I could tell he was speaking without holding anything.

I felt the disk begin to descend.

The ceiling of the disk opened, and I saw a human—one not wearing a silver protective suit—peering in.

In other words, we had already arrived at the base—the so-called human stronghold.

A rope was lowered through the opening in the ceiling, and the silver-suited humans tied it around the corpse of the giant bird monster they had acquired. The rope was then used to haul it up.

Some things still looked oddly primitive. Perhaps that was because only limited technology could be used in this world, or maybe some technologies still weren’t practical even a thousand years in the future. I had no way of knowing.

One by one, the humans in silver suits were lifted out by rope. At the end, I too was hauled up like mere cargo.

The rope was held by a metallic arm that resembled construction machinery I recognized.

Lifted, moved, and then lowered to the ground.

"Professor Salt, welcome back. What is this?"

I couldn't believe my eyes. A man who appeared to be human—without any protective gear—was looking down at me.

What shocked me was how bizarre he looked.

His skin sagged, his back and waist were hunched, his fingers and neck were long. His belly bulged, and his hips protruded.

He was definitely human. I could even tell his gender. But to my senses, he didn’t look like any ordinary human.

The fact that he wasn’t wearing a suit at all meant he must not have been among the ones I met outside. Which made me wonder—what do those wearing silver suits actually look like?

“Ah, we picked him up outside. We believe he's a native of Earth's ‘Blood Pond’ region. His body shows extremely primitive traits. What he says is interesting too, but biologically, he’s a valuable sample.”

That was Professor Salt speaking. As he spoke, he began removing his silver suit.

The others around him did the same.

Until now, I had only seen their faces through the transparent visors of their suits.

I had assumed Professor Salt was Black. He had many features I associated with Black people.

But seeing his face without the visor, I realized—he didn’t belong to any ethnic group I knew.

His skin was mottled, almost like patterned paint. His facial features were generally similar to mine, but the placement seemed slightly… off.

His eyes, in particular, looked as if each eyeball had multiple pupils.

---

I was granted permission to stay at the "base" of these future humans.

They saw me as a contemporary human who had the misfortune of being born and raised in a deprived area, resulting in my primitive appearance.

Back when I was transported here, a thousand years ago, life in this world was difficult for humans. Even though there were small outposts to protect against monsters, they couldn't build settlements on the scale of villages.

A thousand years later, more evolved humans began arriving in this world. In order to protect themselves from monsters, they fortified their outposts into full-fledged bases.

Safety improved, but it was still a dangerous world—enough so that living outside a base remained unthinkable.

I was treated as a valuable sample of a primitive Earth human, but I wasn't actively studied.

Even if they examined me thoroughly, they couldn't present the findings unless they returned to the original world—which, to this day, no method had been discovered.

In short, I was a neglected test subject.

From what I’d heard, in the future, people are surgically modified at birth and connected to computers.

I used to think smartphones were convenient, but in their advanced world, people can project even more high-functioning devices directly from inside their bodies into the air.

I don’t know how big the base is since I haven’t seen the outside, but considering everyone has a private room, along with labs, control rooms, and hangars for outdoor missions, it’s probably about the size of a small factory.

Apparently, there were extra rooms, because I was given one too. However, I was fitted with shackles on both hands and feet. They were very light, not tied by chains or ropes, and didn’t restrict my movement.

However, I was told that if I acted suspiciously, the shackles could be operated by Professor Salt and the others to rip off my limbs.

Even after hearing that explanation, I didn’t feel afraid. If they were willing to accept someone like me—completely unknown to them and even shaped differently—then I figured that level of restraint was only reasonable.

The private room was about the size of four tatami mats. Once the foldable bed was opened, there was no space to do anything else. Still, I was grateful. I couldn't even remember the last time I’d been able to lie down and relax in peace, in my own space.

The day I was given the private room, I decided to spend it alone. As a test subject, it would be best not to summon Wu from the magic tablet until the people at the “base” lost interest in me.

Also, I figured it was too soon to go looking for Sylph and Alice.

I lay down in the room—no windows, completely covered in some kind of unfamiliar mineral-like panels.

There was nothing in particular to do. I planned to just observe how things unfolded over the next few days.

But on the very first day I was given the room, I had a visitor.

It wasn’t Professor Salt. It was a woman. By my standards, she wasn’t exactly attractive.

Compared to the humans I knew, her neck was longer, her limbs were bent at odd angles, and her stomach protruded unnaturally.

I understood that this was probably the standard body type for future humans, but even so, that didn’t make her appear appealing to me.

“What’s up? You need something from me?”

“They say you're from the 'Blood Pond'—is that true?”

“We don’t call the place we lived in ‘Blood Pond.’”

“Figures. Anyway, I brought you food.”

She handed me a jelly-like mass in a wooden bowl, then sat down.

It seemed like she’d come to chat, and I welcomed the company.

More than anything, she was a valuable source of information.