Sorcerer’s Handbook

“Increase the error tolerance of the plan and outline the route after hijacking the ship?”

Atop Sea-view Terrace, Igor listened to Ashe’s request and felt it was odd: “Shouldn’t your top priority right now be figuring out how to survive the Blood Moon Tribunal in a few days? Don’t tell me you think you won’t be chosen for the Lucky Eight Group, or perhaps you believe that this extra Blood Moon Tribunal will only result in one death.”

It wasn’t just Igor who felt this way; even the common death row inmates sensed that the upcoming Blood Moon Tribunals would be particularly deadly—the prison was nearing full capacity.

With the inmate population increasing, the prison could neither expand its infrastructure nor reduce the living space per inmate, lower the quality of living conditions, or convert other facilities into dormitories.

The current conditions at Shattered Lake Prison were already pushing the limits of the “Guidelines for Prisoner Living Conditions.” Should the prison dare to decrease living standards to accommodate more inmates, the Human Rights Association would surely sink its teeth into them, accusing the prison of inmate abuse.

Therefore, the only and best method for the prison was to create a ‘reasonable attrition’ of death row inmates, while incidentally increasing the revenue from the Blood Moon Tribunal. As the prison couldn’t forcibly order the executioner to target non-specific death row inmates, they had to design games with a ‘total annihilation’ and ‘no escape’ approach to maximize casualties, which naturally would result in a broadcast sensation.

Take the Blood Moon Tribunal on the 15th as a prime example; the trial was complex and thrilling, with inmates able to slaughter each other. Moreover, during Valcas’ punishment, the moment he harbored the thought ‘If I’m going down, you’re all going down with me,’ he could instantly lead the other inmates to bow before the Blood Moon Sovereign.

It was an interesting paradox: the Human Rights Association would never allow the prison to decrease living conditions to increase death row inmate capacity, yet it seemed to accept the high mortality rate Blood Moon Tribunals designed to reduce the number of death row inmates.

Although there was no evidence, Igor had a suspicion that a portion of the advertising revenue from the Blood Moon Tribunal ended up as political donations to the Human Rights Association.

“Hmm… Pray to the Four Pillars behind you? Or forsake the shadows and pray for the mercy of the Blood Moon Sovereign?”

“If Shattered Lake Prison is a cage, then the Judgment Roster is the butcher outside selecting which animal to slaughter,” Ashe responded, “We, the beasts in the cage, can’t affect what happens outside, unless there’s a butcher out there who’s chummy with me. Unfortunately, there isn’t, though there may be plenty coveting my carcass.”

“So instead of fretting over whether I can survive the Blood Moon Tribunal, I might as well assume I’ll be lucky enough to live and draft a more detailed Escape Plan.” Ashe crossed his arms and leaned against the Terrace railing, “After all, there are nine days until the next Transport Ship arrives. Can’t let that time go to waste.”

“Sounds like a waste of time,” Igor retorted with a sneer.

“No, Ashe is right!” Ronald interjected excitedly, “Even if we lower the risk by 1% or increase the success rate by 1%, it’s worth our time to try. Friends, our time is precious. If we want to enjoy ourselves, let’s wait until we’re back in the free world. For now, let’s focus wholeheartedly on preparing to escape, okay?”

“Right, it’s not like we have anything better to do in prison,” Langna added, “And besides, I believe Ashe won’t just easily die at Shattered Lake.”

With the vote at 3:1, Igor naturally had to submit to the majority’s opinion. He wasn’t opposed to perfecting the plan; he just enjoyed being contrary to Ashe.

Perhaps because he knew Ashe would never fall for his scams, Igor didn’t bother wasting his charm on him.

When dealing with clients, Igor was the darling everyone adored, a veritable little warm jacket of comfort. Using his spirit abilities, he could easily pry open a client’s heart, engaging them in conversation all day without a hint of dullness. Many would rather be conned out of their money just to chat with him.

“Due to the Restriction of the Chip, my plan has many flaws,” Igor said. “The most critical point of failure is between ‘taking the Medic’s uniform’ and ‘boarding the Transport Ship.’”

“If the unconscious Medic is discovered too soon, or if our actions take longer than ten minutes, or if any other unforeseen events occur along the way, the Prison Guards could discover that we’ve removed the Chips. Once they send a warning to the Transport Ship, boarding it, let alone hijacking it to escape from prison, would be impossible.”

“There are too many risks and too many unpredictable factors in this part of the plan. If it fails, it’s most likely to happen here,” Igor looked around at everyone. “Any thoughts?”

Ashe racked his brain, Langna remained silent, but Ronald raised his hand and suggested, “Why don’t we just kill all the Prison Guards, how about that?”

“Unless we can kill all the Prison Guards at the same time, even one survivor could raise the alarm,” Igor replied, somewhat exasperated. “And since the guards are on rotating shifts, they always have someone in the guard’s living area, which is off-limits to us. We won’t have the opportunity to take them all out at once.”

Ronald spoke earnestly, “Then let’s find a way to get them all together!”

“What way? Have Ashe Pray to the Four Pillars? Or better yet, directly Pray for all the Prison Guards to drop dead at the same time—”

“If we Purify someone’s Chip and then have them go after killing other Death row inmates and Prison Guards, wouldn’t that draw the guards together in pursuit?”

Igor was about to dismiss the idea, but he caught himself and began to pace back and forth, thumb in mouth, biting his nail, deep in thought.

Ashe blinked, “Sounds… more reliable than just leaving it to chance!”

“Dear, you’re brilliant,” Langna said, patting Ronald on the shoulder with a smile.

“While there are many details to work out, it’s definitely feasible!” Igor’s eyes brightened. “Using a decoy to draw the guards’ attention, whether to ambush and kill them or to seize the chance to hijack the Ship and escape, it’s much better than my original plan. And we can prepare more contingencies, like having Ashe Purify more Chips to incite a massive riot in Shattered Lake Prison!”

“To turn Shattered Lake upside down right under the noses of the guards and in their full view!”

The thought of his orchestrated chaos becoming grander and more thrilling filled Igor with an exhilarating passion, reigniting a long-lost work enthusiasm within him!

“We should act quickly, let’s go pick a lucky Death row inmate as our decoy!” Ashe said excitedly.

With no objections from Igor, the four headed for the Deathmatch Society.

Their criteria for the decoy were: bravery, hatred for prison, obedience, and gullibility—qualities that were mostly found in the members of the Deathmatch Society.

As they were walking, Ashe leaned towards Igor and whispered, “Ronald’s been acting strange today.”

Ronald, who today was all smiles, actively participating, and bursting with a bright and warm demeanor, was a stark contrast to the nearly desiccated, withdrawn Ronald of the past few days, and it was enough to give Ashe a sense of foreboding.

Igor responded in a low voice, “That means the Ritual is in its final stages. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ronald’s dormitory is emptied out by tomorrow.”

“I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve enhanced my hearing with a spirit, haven’t I?” Ronald turned to look at them, shaking his head. “Unless you cover it up with a spirit, I can hear whispers at this level!”

Ashe and Igor stopped in their tracks, both wearing an innocent ‘nothing happened’ expression. In terms of thick-skinned, they were surprisingly in sync.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m sure I’ll make it to next month,” Ronald said, patting his chest. “What’s going on with Langna and me won’t affect the Escape Plan. If it comes to that, we’ll deal with it after the escape, rest assured!”

Unable to resist, Ashe asked, “Why have you changed so much these past few days?”

Ronald put a finger to his lips, “Secret.” After saying that, he bent his elbow outward, making room for Langna to link arms with him. Watching the close duo walk away, no one would guess they were in a life-or-death relationship.

But Igor was pensive, wondering if Langna had intentionally changed Ronald to align with the Escape Plan, because this new sunny, cheerful, and proactive Ronald naturally helped advance the plan, even offering useful suggestions right away.

If Langna had done this on purpose, it meant he had a lot of confidence in the Escape Plan, enough to alter his own Ritual process in its favor.

But even Igor, the proposer of the plan, wasn’t very confident about the escape; by his estimates, their chances of a successful escape were less than 10%, and even with refinements, still under 30%.

Where did Langna’s confidence come from?

Igor knew for sure it wasn’t in himself.

With this thought, Igor subconsciously turned his head to gaze at the Cult Leader beside him. Ashe, caught under his stare, was a bit puzzled. After a moment of hesitation, Ashe also made a space with his elbow, showing an exasperated ‘what can I do with you’ expression, “Didn’t expect you to be envious of this; I guess I’ll just have to put up with it…”

Ah, the urge to hit him, to scold him was strong.

Igor was so angry that he was close to losing his cool.

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