Sorcerer’s Handbook

Shattered Lake Prison Cafeteria

Perhaps because he came especially early today, Ashe found the cafeteria filled with inmates having breakfast. Upon closer observation, his horizons were broadened: besides humans, beastmen, and goblins, there were also many other species in the prison, crawling on the ground, having two horns, four hands...

Ashe even saw a particularly voluptuous female with exposed skin, hooves, and fuzzy ears. He didn't know what race she was, which piqued his strong interest in and wondrous fantasies about the healthcare industry in this world.

He wasn't into furries, but...

"Are you ordering food?"

The soul-piercing question from the cafeteria aunt brought Ashe's gaze back.

Ashe randomly ordered a few filling dishes. Seeing there was a 'limit one per person' special food at the window that looked particularly tempting, he asked, "Auntie, what's this?"

"The Royal Seafood Lala Fatty, a seasonal delicacy with very limited supply. If you come any later it'll be gone," the aunt said.

"Okay, give me one..."

"Give me five!"

A deep, rumbling voice interrupted Ashe's words. He turned to see a green-skinned beastman getting food. Hearing the voice, the aunt on the other side immediately took the remaining five portions of seafood lala fatty and dumped them into its huge food bowl.

"Huh? It gets five portions just because it said so?"

Ashe was dumbfounded.

"It's a beastman." The aunt spoke matter-of-factly.

"Why do beastmen get five portions?"

"Beastmen just get five portions, it's always been this way."

"It took five portions, now there's none left for me... How can this be allowed—"

Ashe's words suddenly stuck in his throat. A light screen popped up, filled with rows of red warnings that crowded his vision:

【Warning: You are attempting to make racist remarks! This is prohibited! In the Blood Moon Kingdom, racial equality is the foremost principle! Please be aware!】

Saying beastmen eat too much counts as racism!?

Feeling resentful, Ashe took his tray to find a seat, only to see the cafeteria fully occupied. He finally spotted an empty spot, but next to it sat a big-bottomed blue-skinned monster, looking even more ferocious than the beastman and taking up two seats.

The old Ashe would have definitely turned and left, but this was Shattered Lake Prison. The other party couldn't lay a finger on him, so Ashe swaggered over confidently.

"Hey, you're taking two seats, move over."

The blue-skinned monster eating with its hands glanced at him, then lowered its head to continue eating.

"I'm an ogre."

"Oh, and so? Even ogres can't take two seats—"

【Warning: You are attempting to make racist remarks! This is prohibited! In the Blood Moon Kingdom, racial equality is the foremost principle! Please be aware!】

Saying it's butt is taking two seats counts as racism too!?

Ashe almost wanted to curse, but the words stuck in his throat. He wanted to flip his tray over, but his hands froze.

Under the control of the nape chip, every inmate was the most faithful follower of the law. They had the utmost freedom as long as they didn't violate any laws or morals, but if they even touched the boundaries with a word or look, invisible shackles would tightly bind them.

Suddenly, a pat on his shoulder. The brawny man beside him picked up his tray and stood up, signaling for Ashe to take this seat.

Ashe thanked him and found this burly man looked vaguely familiar - he seemed to be the one Ashe saw at the Deathmatch Society yesterday.

"Desmond," he introduced himself briefly, shooting the ogre and goblin at the table contemptuous looks. "I'm going to the Deathmatch Society first. We can have a round if we get the chance."

Hearing they were from the Deathmatch Society, the others looked up and scooted away slightly. Ashe sat down and listened to the ogre's tractor-like chewing sounds beside him, watching the goblin across from him eating crumbs and making a mess everywhere. A strong desire to escape welled up within him.

Unlike escaping, which was because he knew he'd die if he stayed, escaping was because he detested this environment.

The last time he felt this way was when he encountered a stupid supervisor during his internship. If it was a stupid colleague, he could still fight back, still play tricks; but if it was a stupid supervisor, he had no recourse but to endure, not even able to verbally resist.

He could feel wronged, he could suffer, because enduring was for the day he no longer needed to endure.

But if it was a stupid supervisor, it meant having to always endure. What was the point of working so hard, going overtime everywhere? He might as well quit, the next boss could be better.

The situation now was much worse than a stupid supervisor - the whole environment was stupid.

You were clearly furious, but couldn't say a thing; you wanted to resist, but your body wouldn't obey.

Ashe suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

He had thought Shattered Lake Prison really treated the inmates well.

But in fact, throwing this bunch of abhorrent death row inmates together without allowing any transgressions between them, making them desperately create value for the prison to avoid the Blood Moon Tribunal, was actually a form of mental lingchi.

Extinguishing their anger.

Shattering their hopes.

Eliminating their courage.

Destroying their spine.

Planting seeds of despair, repression, regret, fear and more to take root and grow wild inside them until they were skin and bones, driven insane and collapsed. They would appear at the Blood Moon Tribunal as 'perfect scapegoats', welcoming their rightful miserable outcome.

Ashe could also understand why the Deathmatch Society had so many members.

It was the only place where death row inmates could vent their frustrations, the only place with a breath of fresh air in this prison.

It was like a trash can.

Interestingly, it was Ashe, unable to tolerate the environment, who was the trash. The death row inmates able to leisurely enjoy themselves were the model inmates of this prison.

After quickly finishing his meal, Ashe also hurried to where the trash should go.

There were no ongoing deathmatches in the Deathmatch Society. The bright interior allowed Ashe to spot Langna lying in his boyfriend's arms from afar.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Ashe felt Langna's boyfriend looked slightly thinner than yesterday.

No way, wasn't Langna the one who used to drain others?

"Ashe," Langna raised his hand in greeting. "You're here so early, just had breakfast? Wanna rest and digest first since Valcas isn't here yet anyway?"

Ashe nodded and randomly found a place to sit. Someone immediately came over to sit next to him.

"Sylin Dole."

"Who?"

Ashe looked at Igor beside him warily.

Igor raised his eyebrows. "No need to be nervous, I've no interest in challenging you to a deathmatch. I won't participate in any fight I don't have certainty in, nor waste time over worthless things like face. I take wins and losses, and accept things fair and square."

"With your dirty tactical mind, I don't trust you."

"Then let's skip the pointless prelude and go straight into the most ancient human interaction—"

"Mating?"

"Trade, trade!" Igor enunciated each word clearly as if wanting to bite them and draw blood. "You answer one of my questions, I'll answer one of yours."

"I've got no questions for you."

"Really? Don't you want to know why that elf Valcas took the initiative to challenge you?"

Elf?

Ashe was surprised inwardly but didn't show it outwardly.

"Alright, I am a bit curious, but how do I know you won't lie?"

"How do I know you won't lie to me either?" Igor laughed. "We're taking the same risk."

"What's the point of this trade then?"

"Because I'm confident in my ability to tell if you're lying. Even if you do lie I can guess the truth. And you can do the same—"

"I can't. I'm not well-read, you'll definitely trick me."

Igor was rendered speechless, seemingly the first time seeing someone so self-aware.

After a moment of silence, he reluctantly said, "Then I'll just tell you the info first. You judge if it's valuable, and if so, answer my question, okay?"

With this aggrieved tone, he was like a Sichuanese person agreeing to hotpot... Ashe thought about it and didn't feel he would suffer a loss or be duped, so he nodded.

"Valcas Uhl used to be a researcher at Caimon Comprehensive University. He was imprisoned for allegedly stealing important patented technologies, illegally raising children, and killing colleagues. Due to his elven identity, he's the only inmate who didn't participate in the Blood Moon Tribunal in his first month here. He's been in prison for five years without a single Tribunal."

Ashe let out a sound of realization. He remembered Langna saying every death row inmate had to participate in the first Blood Moon Tribunal. That was called 'walking through', just walking through would earn the qualification to create value at Shattered Lake. Unable to walk through meant only being qualified as fertilizer.

"How can he skip the Blood Moon Tribunal? Because of his elven identity? Isn't racial equality the foremost principle of the Blood Moon Kingdom?"

"Of course racial equality is the foremost principle."

Igor had an inscrutable smile.

"But some races are more equal than others."

As expected, equality was a horizon, existing everywhere yet unreachable anywhere... Ashe didn't have much lament for this. After all, he hadn't been here long and didn't know much about how 'racial equality' was implemented.

"So why does he want to challenge me?"

"That's tied to the crimes he committed. Although stealing patented technologies and killing colleagues were severe crimes, they weren't enough to send him to Shattered Lake Prison. What truly incurred the authorities' wrath was him illegally raising children!"

Ashe was dumbfounded.

What the hell?

"Why is illegally raising children the most serious crime?"

"Because it's prohibited. No one can illegally raise children."

Ashe grew more confused.

"If no one raises children, then how did you...how did we grow up?"

"We grew up in foster care of course," Igor frowned deeply. "Socialized fostering is a fundamental national policy in the Blood Moon Kingdom. Are you nitpicking by asking this?"

Socialized fostering?

Ashe tried his best to understand this unfamiliar term. "You mean we were all raised by the state, everyone is..."

He wanted to say 'orphans without fathers or mothers' but the words stuck in his throat.

Not because the chip was stopping him this time.

But because Ashe simply couldn't find the vocabulary.

He racked Ashe Heath's brain but found no equivalent for words like 'father', 'mother' in his native vocabulary! The only remotely related term was 'guardian'!

There was no stronger evidence than this.

Even the vocabulary for 'parents' didn't exist, enough to prove there were no such roles in the Blood Moon Kingdom's social relations!

Moreover, socially fostered orphans, nape chips that controlled everyone's speech and conduct...

Ashe suddenly felt a tinge of fear toward the world outside the prison.

Just what kind of world did I get transmigrated to!