We use teleport crystals to return to the Crimson City, and I'm led out into the desert, about 50 kilometers away. There are no main trade roads connecting this far out, and the only major landmark here is the edge of the dark abyss on the horizon. A large rectangular prison made of mana-manifested stone comes into view, far out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a single door on its front and two level 1400+ guards from the Crimson Army standing watch. There's a large man with earth magic and body hardening who has high-grade armor crafted by Bri and an earth-imbued longsword that I made for him before I left. The woman by his side uses air magic. Her bow was crafted by me too, and much of her other high-grade gear also appears to be crafted by Bri, making them up to par with her new level gains these last few weeks. I feel the aura of my body double's surveillance, even 50 kilometers away, but we're greeted very respectfully once we arrive. They show us two small bows as they open the front door for us, and the woman speaks. "Welcome back, it is an honor to see the Flame Emperor's Inner Circle all together. " At the same time, the man hands me a ring of keys holding over 40 in total. Then, I turn back and use one of the pink crystal keys on a ring to open up a cell at random near the entrance of the prison. I look at the young man with defeat in his eyes, then send a single divine energy-imbued mana bullet from my finger to shatter the cuffs on his wrists. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. His body is revitalized with energy in an instant, and I see a spark of hope in his gaze; but I quickly suppress it by activating [Heavy Hand] to increase the gravity inside this cell by over 20 times. I turn to my teammates and speak up. "This is probably going to take a while, so get comfortable." They all look very interested in my process, and a round of nonchalant replies give me the go ahead to do whatever I want to the criminals that attacked them while I was away. I turn back to the man on the floor and activate my lie detector skill and release a wave of intimidation that would make even a double ranked-up hunter shiver. "What can you tell me... I want to know everything that happened the day of the attack. Who sent you, and what were your exact orders?" One by one, I go to every cell and each and every one of them cracks. I grin while opening the lock to the first golden-collared B-Class Hunter's Cell. While activating [Heavy Hand], [Intimidation], and [Lie Detector] again, I break the cuffs of a muscular middle-aged water wielder and start asking questions. "You heard your friends break; it's time to talk." Another hour or so passes, and as I make my way through each of these higher-tiered hunters, it's much harder to get information out of them. Their minds don't wander, and no matter how bad the mental or physical pressure I push down on them, they still don't talk even when they're close to death. It's like there is a mental barrier up that wasn't present in the others. My best guess is it has something to do with the Sun God's Curse Mark. Even with the system-blocking cuffs on, their soul energy necklaces still glow brightly around their necks. I make my way back to the first golden-collared hunter I started with and murmur to myself. "I guess it's time to take that collar off... I'm not going to get anywhere with you all acting . I've been wondering if it was even possible for me to do this, so you'll be my first test subject." In the next moment, I concentrate on letting dark red Soul Energy pour out of my hands, covering the man's entire body that lies on the cell ground before me. I vividly remember using my absorption skill's innate properties combined with Soul Energy after defeating the Lich King to cleanse those that were still infected by its curse. As the fiery aura covers the man, and I concentrate on the golden energy that surrounds his neck and is bonded with his cells all throughout his brain, heart, blood, bones, and body, I focus and let the same process play out. More and more Soul Energy pours out of my body; it feels similar to when I was imbuing the Crimson Barrier with everything in my core. Getting rid of the Lich King's power was far simpler because he was already gone; trying to force this golden energy out is infinitely more difficult. I feel my energy clashing with the golden light deep within the man's body, and a microscopic war of Soul Energy particles commences. At first, it is a losing battle. I feel a tremendous power lurking deep inside the golden energy, and my heart feels tight just thinking of the time the Sun God himself attempted to assert pressure on my own core; however, we're thousands of kilometers away and all I'm doing is trying to overpower the borrowed soul energy within a hunter that hasn't even double ranked up yet. The more Soul Energy I flood into his system, the more the intrinsic strength of the Soul Energy doesn't matter. I overpower the energy by raw volume alone, and to be on the safe side, I begin enhancing the weight of my own Soul Energy with Divine Threads once the golden light that poisons his flesh starts to be devoured. This speeds things up drastically. All of the golden light is ripped from his being and locked away in my item storage. As my body naturally regenerates and my fatigue is gone in seconds, I feel a new link of loyalty form from the B-Class hunter that just had a curse lifted from his status.