Sorcerer’s Handbook

This new spirit was naturally the fruit of last night’s Exploration in Virtual Realm.

It turned out that the wait was worth it for Ashe and the Swordswoman.

As the Whirlpool was about to vanish, Ashe finally saw the Map prompt change from “Wait a moment” to “Rush,” and quickly pulled the Swordswoman into the Whirlpool with him.

After transmigrating thousands of miles across the sea, what appeared before Ashe and his companion was a grievously wounded Slaying Fish-Dragon.

When dealing with such a Knowledge Creature, Ashe and the Swordswoman naturally didn’t concern themselves with any moral code of the rivers and lakes; they struck while the iron was hot, reaping a total of five spirits. Unfortunately, there were no Experience Orbs, but each of these five spirits had their own unique usefulness, making for quite the bountiful harvest.

Ashe’s eagerness to establish a ‘trade’ relationship with Igor was precisely because of the newfound ‘Libra’ spirit, which gave him ample confidence.

“Libra”

“One Wing Spirit”

“Restriction: The Sorcerer must grasp basic mathematical knowledge such as trigonometry, sequences, and probability theory.”

“Passive Effect: Significantly enhances the Sorcerer’s sense of balance and ability to adjust their center of gravity.”

“‘Balance exists among all things.’”

Initially, Ashe planned to use the Libra spirit as a sort of rebounding armor without much thought. But after leaving the Virtual Realm and returning to reality, he suddenly found that he could easily invoke the resonance of the Libra spirit.

Perhaps it was because he had mastered all the basic mathematical knowledge required by the Libra spirit; after all, these topics were often tested in math exams. Although his ability to solve problems had deteriorated after four years of college, he still understood the basic concepts.

It was the first time Ashe encountered a spirit that had knowledge requirements. According to the Swordswoman, it seemed that only spirits related to ‘Fate,’ ‘Prophecy,’ and ‘Truth’ had such requirements. These spirits were rarely used in Combat or production, but they often played unexpected roles, and the social status of Sorcerers from the Prophecy Faction was quite high.

Being able to invoke the resonance of the Libra spirit at any time meant that Ashe could take advantage of the Libra spirit not only in the Virtual Realm but also in the ‘civilized society’ of the Shattered Lake Prison.

However, the Libra spirit belonged to the kind of ‘holy mother police’ that wouldn’t act unless provoked; it would only respond when others used their spirits to cast spells. In a prison where nobody could use spirits, the Libra spirit actually had few targets to work against.

Except for this ‘good friend’ Ashe had just met.

“Not bad, Ashe,” Igor said as casually as he could: “Since you have my wish, and I have your wish, we have now reached a balance of wishes. From now on, you live your life, I live mine, we coexist peacefully and do not infringe upon each other, building a harmonious prison, how about that?”

“Not so good,” Ashe said with a slight smile: “I’m going to use my wish right now.”

“Think it through!” Igor’s tone turned sinister: “Once you use up your wish, you’ll have no means to threaten me! Then I can make you do whatever I want, not just stand on your head to take a dump and roll over, but even make you lose a Deathmatch willingly!”

Ashe took a step forward, closing the distance to Igor.

Igor had an ominous premonition, retreating as he tried to reason with Ashe, “Really, Ashe, there’s no need to go this far. Or don’t use your wish, just talk to me, I’m your good friend. If I can help you, I surely will…”

“I don’t need ‘if’, I need you to ‘wholeheartedly’ fulfill my wish.”

“I’m just an ordinary con artist, my abilities are limited, you’re giving me too much credit, Ashe. How about this, I’ll try to establish a contract with another death row inmate, and whatever you want, I’ll have him fulfill it for you, okay? Anything goes, and there’s no limit to the number of times!”

“No, it won’t do, it has to be you.”

Igor found his back against the wall, with nowhere to retreat. Ashe leaned against the wall with one hand, looking at him and said, “Igor, my wish is—”

“I’m not listening, I’m not listening!”

Igor covered his ears with his hands and ran away, but he couldn’t use his spirit, and since they were physically similar, Ashe chased after him, grabbed his arm, and said loudly:

“Igor, I want your help to escape from prison!”

A prison guard patrolling nearby glanced at the two of them, shook his head, and walked away whistling.

To the prison guards, who had heard the ‘I’m going to be the king of escaping from prison’ statement hundreds of times, this was nothing new and certainly not something to take seriously.

Even the guard felt a twinge of sympathy for these death row inmates – it’s quite pitiful to be daydreaming right after breakfast.

But to the parties involved, these were not idle daydreams.

Gasping for breath, Igor looked at Ashe with a face as ugly as if he’d been punched, his back unknowingly drenched in cold sweat.

He knew it! He just knew it!

What else could a man who had just survived the Blood Moon Tribunal possibly wish for? Besides the mess of hard knives going in and soft knives coming out, it could only be escaping from prison, right?

The moment Ashe held his wish in his hands, Igor knew he was done for. Indeed, it’s often the swimmer who drowns, the lover who dies in bed, and now he, the con artist who had harvested so many people’s ‘intelligence tax,’ was caught in his own trap.

As for using his own wish to counteract Ashe’s wish, that was impossible – because it would violate the ‘helping Ashe’ restriction, Igor simply couldn’t do it!

Ashe’s wish had made it impossible for Igor to do anything to ‘stop Ashe from escaping from prison’!

With a sigh, Igor said, “Come with me.”

Igor took Ashe to his room. Shattered Lake Prison didn’t prohibit prisoners from visiting each other’s rooms; in fact, the prisoners could even sleep and chat together – after all, besides sleeping, there was nothing else they could do. The restrictions in the chip included ‘intimate contact.’

Only the Couples Room could temporarily lift the ‘intimate contact’ restriction, only the Deathmatch Society could temporarily lift the ‘battle’ restriction, and only the restroom could lift the ‘excretion’ restriction – yes, the death row inmates didn’t even have the freedom to defecate in public.

Or rather, the death row inmates had the same freedoms as normal people, it’s just that you had to report to the prison and apply for permission before doing certain things. Only if the prison allowed it, could you proceed.

The difference between a death row inmate and a free person might just be the difference between “nothing can be done without permission” and “anything not forbidden is allowed.”

“Your room is quite big.”

Ashe plopped down onto the velvet bed and sank back into it. Watching this scene, Igor, who had just pulled out a chair, couldn’t help but twitch the corners of his mouth.

Ashe glanced at him and waved his hand, “Don’t be so formal, make yourself at home, make yourself at home. I’m not very particular about etiquette, no need to pour water for me.”

What a pity, I was just thinking of scooping some water from the toilet to quench your thirst, even considering adding some ‘flavor’ if I hadn’t just finished peeing… Holding back a surge of resentment, Igor sat on the chair, fingers interlaced, staring at Ashe.

“Do you really want to escape from prison?”

“What kind of question is that? Who living here doesn’t want to escape from prison?”

“Many,” Igor said flatly. “Take ‘Diamond’ Taig, for example. He doesn’t want to escape from prison. He’s made too many enemies outside, and it’s actually more dangerous for him out there. Besides, Sorcerers of the Physical Faction don’t have many options other than being hired muscle or bodyguards. As long as they’re not chosen for the Blood Moon Tribunal, Taig actually has a more comfortable life here than outside.”

“There are quite a few people like Taig, or rather, anyone who has survived here for a few years has basically found a new way to live, without much longing for the outside world. To them, the outside is just a bigger prison.”

Igor looked at Ashe and quietly activated his ‘resonance’ spirit, speaking in a voice full of temptation: “Since you survived the first Blood Moon Tribunal, unless something unexpected happens, you’ll join us in participating in the Blood Moon Tribunal according to the sequence of Contribution points. As long as you have enough contribution points, you won’t be chosen.”

“You’re strong, with a high chance of victory in a Deathmatch. In other words, you have the ability to live comfortably here as well.” He spread his hands, “If you wish, you can live in a big room like this, have the restaurant make whatever you want to eat, read books, watch films, drink, dance, and even indulge in Moon Sugar if you want. If you have any requests, you can make suggestions to the prison. The new ice rink that was just built was because a prisoner liked ice skating.”

“To people outside, this place might seem like Utopia — no crime, no vulgarity, no competition, and even no work. Every day is a life of regular routine and full of energy.”

“The life here is not worse than outside.”

Seeing Ashe seemingly swayed, Igor’s heart surged with excitement, and he couldn’t help but mentally pat himself on the back for his cleverness.

Ashe’s wish wasn’t without loopholes. The premise of ‘helping Ashe escape from prison’ is that Ashe wants to escape. Therefore, as long as Igor can persuade Ashe to give up this idea, Igor naturally wouldn’t have to fulfill that wish.

But this was also Igor’s heartfelt truth.

Escaping from prison is a hopeless path with no end. Fleeing is not a momentary victory, but a lifelong torment. Not to mention whether they could escape from prison, even if they could, they would face even harsher challenges — living like rats scurrying across the streets, hiding their names, and living in fear, breathing the murky air filled with the scent of freedom in the sewers.

Clawing out an existence is, for them, a happiness that’s easily attained.

A death row inmate who has survived the Blood Moon Tribunal knows which choice to make.

“You make a lot of sense.”

Ashe sat up and nodded in Igor’s expectant gaze: “Indeed, escaping from prison is a path filled with danger and unknowns, and although there are risks to living here, it’s overall much more comfortable. If I stayed here long enough, I suppose I’d become like you all, knowing how to enjoy prison life.”

Igor was delighted, “Right, right, Ashe, as long as you understand that, then—”

“That’s exactly why I must escape from prison, and the faster, the better!”

Ashe looked at Igor and shook his head gently, “I don’t want to become like you, dulled by conformity, my courage extinguished, my backbone broken.”

“I don’t want to live like a… dog!”

Igor’s expression froze instantly.

After a moment of silence, Igor slowly stood up.

Snap!

He kicked the chair over with one foot and turned to throw a punch at the wall, but just before his fist hit, his body suddenly stiffened, his kinetic energy output halted by the chip.

“Interesting, so calling oneself a dog doesn’t count as a swear word? Must be a loophole in the chip, huh? Hahaha…”

“Fine! Escape from prison, escape, all escapes are possible!”

Igor shook his hand in disgust and said coldly: “But the precondition for escaping from prison is, we have to figure out how to kill… deal with the neck chip! As long as the neck chip is there, forget about escaping from prison, you can’t even decide where to take a dump without the prison’s say-so! Heh, that’s something I can’t help you with. Do you have a way, my dear Cult Leader, Ashe Heath?”

“I have a way to deal with the chip.”

“I knew you had no… what?”

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