Mage Manual-Chapter 115 - 105: No Way to Deal with You

Chapter 115: Chapter 105: No Way to Deal with You

“Enhance the error tolerance of the plan and draft the route of action after seizing the ship?”

On the sea-view rooftop, Igula found Ash’s request somewhat odd after hearing it. “Your top priority right now shouldn’t be thinking about how you’ll survive the Blood Moon Judgement a few days from now? Don’t tell me you think you won’t be chosen as one of the lucky eight, or that you believe only one person will die in this additional Blood Moon Judgement.”

Not only Igula, but even the ordinary death row inmates felt that the upcoming Blood Moon Judgements would be extraordinarily deadly—because the prison was nearing full capacity.

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More and more people were arriving, but the prison couldn’t expand, nor could it reduce the living space per death row inmate, worsen the living conditions, or convert other facilities into dormitories.

The conditions at Shattered Lake Prison were already very close to the limits set by the “Guidance on Prisoner Living Environment”, and if the prison dared to reduce the living conditions to increase prisoner capacity, the Human Rights Association would surely bite back, accusing the prison of inmate abuse.

Therefore, the only and best method for the prison was to create ‘reasonable attrition’ among the death row inmates and incidentally increase the revenue from the Blood Moon Judgement—because the executioners couldn’t be forcefully ordered to strike non-targeted death row inmates, so to increase the casualty rate as much as possible, the prison had to design game segments where ‘no one escapes’ and ‘everyone meets their end’, making for an explosively popular live broadcast.

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For example, the Blood Moon Judgement on the 15th was a clear example, with complex and exciting judging phases where inmates could additionally kill each other, and during Valcas’s punishment, as long as he harbored thoughts like ‘If I’m going down, you’re all going down with me’, he could at any minute take other inmates to bow down to the Extreme Master of Blood Moon.

Interestingly, the prison lowering living standards to increase inmate capacity was not allowed by the Human Rights Association; but the prison designing high-fatality Blood Moon Judgements to reduce the number of inmates was acceptable to them.

Although there was no evidence, Igula had a hunch that advertising revenue from the Blood Moon Judgements definitely contributed to the Human Rights Association as political donations.

“So what do you think I should do to safely get through the Blood Moon Judgement?”

“Hmm… pray to The Gods of Four Pillars behind you? Or renounce the dark for light and beg for the mercy of the Extreme Master of Blood Moon?”

“If we say that Shattered Lake Prison is a cage, then the trial list is the butcher outside choosing which animals to slaughter,” said Ash. “We beasts in the cage can’t influence what happens outside, unless there is a butcher outside who knows me well, which unfortunately, there isn’t. There are probably many eyeing me as their meal, though.”

“So rather than worrying about whether I can survive the Blood Moon Judgement, I’d rather operate under the assumption that I will miraculously survive and make a more detailed escape plan.” Ash crossed his arms, leaning against the railing of the rooftop. “After all, there are still nine days before the next transport ship arrives, and we can’t afford to just waste that time.”

“That sounds like a waste of time,” Igula scoffed.

“No, Ash is right!” Ronald exclaimed excitedly from the side. “Even if it’s just lowering the risk by 1% or increasing the success rate by 1%, it’s worth our time to try. Friends, our time is very precious, let’s fully focus on preparing for the escape now, and continue enjoying life once we’re back in the free world, shall we?”

“Right, there’s nothing else to do in prison anyway.” Lanna said. “And besides, I believe Ash won’t just easily die in Shattered Lake.”

With the vote at 3:1, Igula naturally had to comply with the majority’s opinion. However, he wasn’t against improving the plan per se, he just enjoyed contradicting Ash.

Perhaps knowing that a person like Ash could never be his con target, Igula didn’t bother to waste his EQ on him.

In dealing with clients, Igula was beloved and affectionate like a cozy sweater. With the power of Technique Spirit, he could easily pry open clients’ hearts, letting them talk all day without getting bored, with many even preferring to be swindled by him just for the conversation.

“Due to limitations with the chip, my plan has many flaws,” said Igula. “The riskiest flaw is likely the time after ‘taking the Medical Practitioner’s uniform’ and before ‘boarding the transport ship’.”

“If the unconscious Medical Practitioner is found early, or if our actions take more than ten minutes, or if any accidents occur along the way, it would alert the Prison Guards that我们已经解除了芯片. Once they alert the transport ship, there’s absolutely no way we’d be able to board the ship, much less seize it to escape.”

“The risks involved are too great, with too many unpredictable factors. If the plan fails, it will mostly likely be at this stage,” Igula looked at everyone. “Any suggestions?”

Ash racked his brains while Lanna remained silent; Ronald, however, raised his hand and said, “How about we just kill all the Prison Guards, what do you think?”

“Unless we can kill all the Prison Guards at the same time, if even one escapes, he could activate the alarm,” Igula was somewhat speechless. “Moreover, the guards are on shift duty. They always have someone in the Prison Guard living area that we can’t access, so there’s no opportunity to eradicate them all in one swoop.”

Ronald said seriously, “Then let’s find a way to gather them all!”

“What way? Have Ash pray to The Gods of Four Pillars? Or might as well be direct—have Ash wish for the Prison Guards to simultaneously drop dead—”

“If we find someone, purify their chip, and then have them kill other death row inmates and prison guards, would the guards gather to hunt him down?”

Igula was about to dismiss the idea, but he swallowed his words. He paced back and forth subconsciously, stuck his thumb in his mouth, nibbled on his nail, and fell into deep thought.

Ash blinked, “It sounds… somewhat more reliable than just relying on luck!”

“Ronnie is really impressive,” Lanna patted Ronald on the shoulder and laughed.

“Although it still needs a lot of refinement, it’s feasible!” Igula’s eyes brightened, “Using bait to draw the guards’ attention, whether it’s ambushing to kill guards or seizing the opportunity to steal a ship and escape, it’s much better than my original plan. Plus, we can prepare more fallbacks, like having Ash deactivate more chips to incite a major riot in Shattered Lake Prison!”

“Right under the nose of the prison, right under the gaze of the guards, to turn Shattered Lake upside down!”

Thinking about how the play he directed could become even grander and more spectacular excited Igula, reigniting his long-lost passion for work!

Excited, Ash said, “No time to waste, let’s quickly pick a lucky death row inmate as bait!”

Igula had no objections, so the four of them headed to the Death Battle Society.

Their requirements for the bait were: brave and fierce, despising the prison, obedient, and easily deceived, and most people who met these criteria were concentrated in the Death Battle Society.

On the way, Ash leaned towards Igula and whispered, “Ronald is acting really strange today.”

Today Ronald was all smiles, actively speaking, with a sunny and warm expression, which stood in stark contrast to the almost dehydrated, shriveled Ronald of the past few days, making Ash quite afraid.

Igula responded quietly, “That means the ritual is in its later stages. If Ronald’s bedroom is vacated tomorrow, I won’t be surprised.”

“Have I mentioned that I’ve enhanced my hearing with Technique Spirit?” Ronald turned his head to look at them and shook his head, “Unless covered by Technique Spirit, I can hear whispers of this caliber.”

Ash and Igula stopped, both wearing an ‘innocent, nothing happened’ expression. When it came to having thick skin, the two were surprisingly consistent.

“You don’t need to worry about me, I’m sure I can survive till next month,” Ronald patted his chest, “My issues with Lanna won’t affect the plan, and if needed, we will settle them after the escape. Don’t worry!”

Unable to resist, Ash asked, “Then why have you changed so much these past few days?”

Ronald put a finger on his lips, “Secret.” After speaking, he elbowed space for Lanna to hook on his arm. Seeing their affectionate backs, an onlooker would never imagine their relationship being a life-or-death one.

Igula, however, pondered if this was Lanna intentionally making Ronald like this to align with the escape plan. After all, this sunny, active Ronald naturally helped advance the plan, even offering useful suggestions from the get-go.

If so, it meant Lanna was confident about the escape plan, enough so to willingly alter his own ritual process in favor of the plan.

But even Igula, the proposer of the plan, didn’t have much confidence in the escape, estimating their chances of success to be less than 10%, and even with refinements, no more than 30%.

Where did Lanna’s confidence come from?

Igula knew it certainly wasn’t coming from himself.

With that thought, Igula subconsciously turned his head to look at the cult leader beside him. Confused by his stare, Ash also elbowed outwards, revealing a resigned expression as if saying, ‘Can’t believe you’d envy this, fine, I’ll just put myself out there…’

Ah, how much he wanted to hit him, to berate him.

Igula was so enraged he felt like he was on the brink of losing his rationality.