“Enforcing restraints on the jailers?”
Ronat, having spat out the last of his bile, wiped the corner of his mouth in disbelief. “But they are not the prisoners!”
“Why do you think that only the prisoners’ chips would have restraints added to them?”
Harvey sneered: “Or perhaps, why do you assume that a regular person’s chip can’t have restraints?”
“The Register of Sinners—”
“You were already under multiple restraints while you were detained in the Heresy Court, long before you ever signed your name in the ‘Register of Sinners’. There’s no essential difference between you and an ordinary person. The Register merely ensures that our restraints are permanent.”
Ronat muttered, “I thought it was a hunter using a Miracle on me…”
A chill rose in Ashe’s heart.
This meant that everyone in the Blood Moon Dominion, whether ordinary citizens or sorcerers, wore a figurative noose around their neck—a shackle that could strangle them at any moment. If the processor received the command, it could control anyone within the area to do anything, even if it meant piercing their own throats!
It was almost laughable; Ashe had never truly laid eyes on the Blood Moon Dominion, nor had he met an ordinary citizen from there, but he had uncovered many secrets beyond the reach of common folk.
It was as if he were observing the world through a crack, collecting fragmented keywords: multi-races, Human Rights Association, foster homes, Heresy Court, the Church, memory artisans, Blood Moon Tribunal, Woodpecker Gang… These keywords pieced together a bizarre world that was democratic yet dictatorial, affluent yet impoverished, respectful of human rights yet invasive of privacy, indulging in entertainment to death yet harmoniously stable.
It resembled a blood lotus blooming out of the mud—radiantly tempting but exuding a rancid, sordid stench.
Perhaps this had a lot to do with Ashe’s sources of information. After all, what beauty, truth, or goodness could he witness in a death row prison? Yet no perfect nation exists on earth; perhaps once Ashe steps out, he might find it alluring—lying on a sofa, watching the Blood Moon Tribunal broadcast punctually every month.
“This is certainly not information that a mere cleaner should have access to.” Igor suddenly said: “Who exactly are you? How did you manage to deceive the Heresy Court?”
“I am just a cleaner,” Harvey stated calmly. “My duty is to deal with bodies, making sure they do not call for help, do not resist, and do not attempt to escape.”
“A Controller!”
Something clicked for Ronat: “There were some legendary murders in the industry in the past few years. Victims were murdered at home without any signs of struggle in the room, the bodies vanished without a trace, and among those victims were sorcerers… This killer was dubbed the ‘Controller,’ believed to wield a powerful controlling Miracle, even capable of completely stripping Two-wing casters of their ability to resist!”
“You flatter me, I simply exploit existing vulnerabilities.” Harvey shook his head. “As for how I evaded the Heresy Court, it’s simple—erase the memory first, then find a way to retrieve it later.”
Ashe was perplexed: “If you can erase memories, then why not just delete all illegal memories outright? Wouldn’t that result in an immediate release without charges?”
“He can’t,” Igor explained. “He specializes in the necromancy school, and most of his memories are tied to necromancy. If he deletes the memories related to necromancy, it’s as good as making himself amnesiac; and if he deletes the memories of dealing with bodies without touching the necromancy part, the Heresy Court would definitely know he’s erased his memory—necromancy can’t be learned without dealing with corpses.”
“This is the best outcome he has calculated.”
Ashe voiced an understanding, “Wait, if you’ve handled your memories in advance, does that mean you got arrested on purpose? Do you have a reason you had to be in Shattered Lake Prison? Like… for Narbel?”
A cold draft suddenly swept through the sealed chamber.
When Harvey lifted his chin, his malevolent gaze scanning the room, Langna immediately pulled Ronat behind himself, and Igor stepped forward to stand in front of Ashe.
The chill made Ashe’s skin crawl, and even his breathing became constricted; his mind went blank.
Was it the work of a spirit, or a Miracle?
The wind was as swift in its departure as it had been in its arrival. Harvey lowered his eyelids, “I can add restrictions to the guards, making it impossible for them to take any action, not even to send out an alarm. Can this ability secure a promise from you?”
“Let’s hear your demand first,” Igor proposed.
“After the prison break, you’ll help me kill someone.”
“Who?”
“Arandor Fernand Snow,” Harvey released a name well-known to many: “The current mayor of Caimon City.”
The virtual realm, the sea of knowledge.
“So, you’ve signed an unbreakable contract, not yet escaped, but already the powerful mayor is on your hit list?”
“Yes, it just so happens we have a contract sorcerer in the team, there’s no way we could ‘agree now and betray later’.”
“Wow, you even thought about reneging.”
“Yeah…”
“After the escape, you could immediately band together with others to take down the necromancer, thus avoiding fulfilling the contract! The contract doesn’t state that you can’t harm each other, does it?”
“That’s impressed, perhaps it should be you sitting in prison.”
In the midst of their casual conversation, the tattered umbrella bird dragon that had been beaten to a pulp suddenly folded its wings and charged towards the white fog like a spinning umbrella, throwing a spirit in the opposite direction as it did so!
“Swordswoman!”
“I’m on it!”
Ashe rushed over and grabbed the spirit, while Sonya ran right in front of the umbrella bird dragon. Facing the umbrella bird dragon’s fierce charge head-on, Sonya was utterly fearless. Taking up a sword receiving stance, strands of water flowed around her, glowing in the moonlight!
The moment the umbrella bird dragon touched the Moon Silk, Sonya’s entire body tensed like a coiled spring. Her wooden sword traced out a perfect arc, unleashing a surging crimson sword aura!
Miracle – Murderous Moon Reflection! A new miracle fusing the Murderous Sword into Moon Reflection to increase its power!
The umbrella bird dragon’s body was slashed apart. With a resentful cry, it dispersed into wisps of smoke, dropping two spirits.
Seeing this, Ashe sighed, “Still no experience orbs. At this rate, who knows how long it’ll take for you to advance to a two-wing caster…”
Sonya consoled, “There’s no need to rush these things. Many casters say the Virtual World listens to our desires – the more we want something, the more it withholds it. But when we stop caring, it’ll send it our way.”
“Sounds like the Virtual World is bitchy.” .”
“If you say two more words, I’m afraid you won’t be able to see the experience orbs again for the rest of your life.”
With the help of Virtual World Telescope and Eviction Venom, Ashe could now steadily look for knowledge creatures to hunt. In order to promote the Swordwoman to the Second Wing as early as possible, thus allowing himself also could be helped, Ashe had then specialized in searching for Knowledge Creatures that might burst out with experience orbs.
However, after hunting the Chopper Dragon and Umbrella Bird Dragon consecutively tonight, apart from bursting out a few Art Spirits, he couldn’t see any sign of the Experience orb at all. Not only did this make Ashe a bit discouraged, at this rate, it was simply unrealistic to want to feed the swordwoman into a two-winged in ten days.
Sonya lay down in the canoe, directly resting both her feet on the edge of the boat, and said lazily, “Masters basically rely on learning and sailing in the virtual realm to raise their faction’s realm, and once in a while, when they come across an experience pearl, they rejoice with joy, and if they can come across the experience orbs of their major faction, it’s even more of a bounty that can be bragged about for the rest of one’s life. Using experience pearls to pile up the major faction realm? Ideas like this would be laughed at by little children when you say it out loud.”
Ashe glanced at the pair of slender legs swinging lazily, and the sliver of white between stockings and skirt. “Or is it just me, I feel like you’ve been more relaxed around me lately.”
“Wh-what are you talking about, I’m just taking a short rest because I’m a little tired.”
“But I remember you used to always sit properly even when resting, perfect posture and all.”
“Sitting is nothing compared to lying down for comfort. Hey, can you make the boat bigger, with maybe a leg rest? I wanna stretch out and put my feet in the boat, really relax with a good stretch.”
“Don’t get too carried away now, Swordswoman!”
“What, it’s okay for you to act like a spoiled child but I can’t stretch?”
“Wh-wh-what acting!” Ashe stammered in agitation, “When have I ever did that! Don’t go making stuff up!”
Sonya cleared her throat: “‘My whole body feels light as a balloon, yet only a slender thread ties me to the ground. Swordswoman, to me, you are that thread…'”
“Hmph, you think you’ve got dirt on me? You think I’m the sort who gets embarrassed over things like this?”
“Then-”
“But having your feet out like that, it’s easy to get your socks wet. Wouldn’t want you slipping during battle. Actually, I know some foot massages – why don’t you put your feet in my lap?”
Discord: https://discord.gg/pCWPSD3bWA
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/hoxionia
“Enforcing restraints on the jailers?”
Ronat, having spat out the last of his bile, wiped the corner of his mouth in disbelief. “But they are not the prisoners!”
“Why do you think that only the prisoners’ chips would have restraints added to them?”
Harvey sneered: “Or perhaps, why do you assume that a regular person’s chip can’t have restraints?”
“The Register of Sinners—”
“You were already under multiple restraints while you were detained in the Heresy Court, long before you ever signed your name in the ‘Register of Sinners’. There’s no essential difference between you and an ordinary person. The Register merely ensures that our restraints are permanent.”
Ronat muttered, “I thought it was a hunter using a Miracle on me…”
A chill rose in Ashe’s heart.
This meant that everyone in the Blood Moon Dominion, whether ordinary citizens or sorcerers, wore a figurative noose around their neck—a shackle that could strangle them at any moment. If the processor received the command, it could control anyone within the area to do anything, even if it meant piercing their own throats!
It was almost laughable; Ashe had never truly laid eyes on the Blood Moon Dominion, nor had he met an ordinary citizen from there, but he had uncovered many secrets beyond the reach of common folk.
It was as if he were observing the world through a crack, collecting fragmented keywords: multi-races, Human Rights Association, foster homes, Heresy Court, the Church, memory artisans, Blood Moon Tribunal, Woodpecker Gang… These keywords pieced together a bizarre world that was democratic yet dictatorial, affluent yet impoverished, respectful of human rights yet invasive of privacy, indulging in entertainment to death yet harmoniously stable.
It resembled a blood lotus blooming out of the mud—radiantly tempting but exuding a rancid, sordid stench.
Perhaps this had a lot to do with Ashe’s sources of information. After all, what beauty, truth, or goodness could he witness in a death row prison? Yet no perfect nation exists on earth; perhaps once Ashe steps out, he might find it alluring—lying on a sofa, watching the Blood Moon Tribunal broadcast punctually every month.
“This is certainly not information that a mere cleaner should have access to.” Igor suddenly said: “Who exactly are you? How did you manage to deceive the Heresy Court?”
“I am just a cleaner,” Harvey stated calmly. “My duty is to deal with bodies, making sure they do not call for help, do not resist, and do not attempt to escape.”
“A Controller!”
Something clicked for Ronat: “There were some legendary murders in the industry in the past few years. Victims were murdered at home without any signs of struggle in the room, the bodies vanished without a trace, and among those victims were sorcerers… This killer was dubbed the ‘Controller,’ believed to wield a powerful controlling Miracle, even capable of completely stripping Two-wing casters of their ability to resist!”
“You flatter me, I simply exploit existing vulnerabilities.” Harvey shook his head. “As for how I evaded the Heresy Court, it’s simple—erase the memory first, then find a way to retrieve it later.”
Ashe was perplexed: “If you can erase memories, then why not just delete all illegal memories outright? Wouldn’t that result in an immediate release without charges?”
“He can’t,” Igor explained. “He specializes in the necromancy school, and most of his memories are tied to necromancy. If he deletes the memories related to necromancy, it’s as good as making himself amnesiac; and if he deletes the memories of dealing with bodies without touching the necromancy part, the Heresy Court would definitely know he’s erased his memory—necromancy can’t be learned without dealing with corpses.”
“This is the best outcome he has calculated.”
Ashe voiced an understanding, “Wait, if you’ve handled your memories in advance, does that mean you got arrested on purpose? Do you have a reason you had to be in Shattered Lake Prison? Like… for Narbel?”
A cold draft suddenly swept through the sealed chamber.
When Harvey lifted his chin, his malevolent gaze scanning the room, Langna immediately pulled Ronat behind himself, and Igor stepped forward to stand in front of Ashe.
The chill made Ashe’s skin crawl, and even his breathing became constricted; his mind went blank.
Was it the work of a spirit, or a Miracle?
The wind was as swift in its departure as it had been in its arrival. Harvey lowered his eyelids, “I can add restrictions to the guards, making it impossible for them to take any action, not even to send out an alarm. Can this ability secure a promise from you?”
“Let’s hear your demand first,” Igor proposed.
“After the prison break, you’ll help me kill someone.”
“Who?”
“Arandor Fernand Snow,” Harvey released a name well-known to many: “The current mayor of Caimon City.”
The virtual realm, the sea of knowledge.
“So, you’ve signed an unbreakable contract, not yet escaped, but already the powerful mayor is on your hit list?”
“Yes, it just so happens we have a contract sorcerer in the team, there’s no way we could ‘agree now and betray later’.”
“Wow, you even thought about reneging.”
“Yeah…”
“After the escape, you could immediately band together with others to take down the necromancer, thus avoiding fulfilling the contract! The contract doesn’t state that you can’t harm each other, does it?”
“That’s impressed, perhaps it should be you sitting in prison.”
In the midst of their casual conversation, the tattered umbrella bird dragon that had been beaten to a pulp suddenly folded its wings and charged towards the white fog like a spinning umbrella, throwing a spirit in the opposite direction as it did so!
“Swordswoman!”
“I’m on it!”
Ashe rushed over and grabbed the spirit, while Sonya ran right in front of the umbrella bird dragon. Facing the umbrella bird dragon’s fierce charge head-on, Sonya was utterly fearless. Taking up a sword receiving stance, strands of water flowed around her, glowing in the moonlight!
The moment the umbrella bird dragon touched the Moon Silk, Sonya’s entire body tensed like a coiled spring. Her wooden sword traced out a perfect arc, unleashing a surging crimson sword aura!
Miracle – Murderous Moon Reflection! A new miracle fusing the Murderous Sword into Moon Reflection to increase its power!
The umbrella bird dragon’s body was slashed apart. With a resentful cry, it dispersed into wisps of smoke, dropping two spirits.
Seeing this, Ashe sighed, “Still no experience orbs. At this rate, who knows how long it’ll take for you to advance to a two-wing caster…”
Sonya consoled, “There’s no need to rush these things. Many casters say the Virtual World listens to our desires – the more we want something, the more it withholds it. But when we stop caring, it’ll send it our way.”
“Sounds like the Virtual World is bitchy.” .”
“If you say two more words, I’m afraid you won’t be able to see the experience orbs again for the rest of your life.”
With the help of Virtual World Telescope and Eviction Venom, Ashe could now steadily look for knowledge creatures to hunt. In order to promote the Swordwoman to the Second Wing as early as possible, thus allowing himself also could be helped, Ashe had then specialized in searching for Knowledge Creatures that might burst out with experience orbs.
However, after hunting the Chopper Dragon and Umbrella Bird Dragon consecutively tonight, apart from bursting out a few Art Spirits, he couldn’t see any sign of the Experience orb at all. Not only did this make Ashe a bit discouraged, at this rate, it was simply unrealistic to want to feed the swordwoman into a two-winged in ten days.
Sonya lay down in the canoe, directly resting both her feet on the edge of the boat, and said lazily, “Masters basically rely on learning and sailing in the virtual realm to raise their faction’s realm, and once in a while, when they come across an experience pearl, they rejoice with joy, and if they can come across the experience orbs of their major faction, it’s even more of a bounty that can be bragged about for the rest of one’s life. Using experience pearls to pile up the major faction realm? Ideas like this would be laughed at by little children when you say it out loud.”
Ashe glanced at the pair of slender legs swinging lazily, and the sliver of white between stockings and skirt. “Or is it just me, I feel like you’ve been more relaxed around me lately.”
“Wh-what are you talking about, I’m just taking a short rest because I’m a little tired.”
“But I remember you used to always sit properly even when resting, perfect posture and all.”
“Sitting is nothing compared to lying down for comfort. Hey, can you make the boat bigger, with maybe a leg rest? I wanna stretch out and put my feet in the boat, really relax with a good stretch.”
“Don’t get too carried away now, Swordswoman!”
“What, it’s okay for you to act like a spoiled child but I can’t stretch?”
“Wh-wh-what acting!” Ashe stammered in agitation, “When have I ever did that! Don’t go making stuff up!”
Sonya cleared her throat: “‘My whole body feels light as a balloon, yet only a slender thread ties me to the ground. Swordswoman, to me, you are that thread…'”
“Hmph, you think you’ve got dirt on me? You think I’m the sort who gets embarrassed over things like this?”
“Then-”
“But having your feet out like that, it’s easy to get your socks wet. Wouldn’t want you slipping during battle. Actually, I know some foot massages – why don’t you put your feet in my lap?”
Discord: https://discord.gg/pCWPSD3bWA
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/hoxionia
