Virtual Realm, Knowledge Sea.

“For the whole day, can’t you find any companions willing to escape with you?”

Sonia swung her sword with force, and the sword energy split into several rotating waves, like a chainsaw tearing through the soil in front of her. This was her newly learned miracle skill, “Wave Splitter”.

“Yeah,” Asho sighed, pointing his makeshift sword and guiding his heart sword to pierce through the soil. But for every layer pierced, another layer would emerge, seemingly endless.

“Not even one?”

“Not exactly none, but except for Igura, who I bound with a contract, the others are unwilling… or rather, they don’t believe.”

“If there has never been an escape from Shattered Lake Prison before, they do have reasons not to believe you.”

“It’s not just that,” Asho sighed. “Rather than saying they don’t believe for objective reasons, it’s more like they refuse to believe on a subjective level.”

Throughout the day, Asho followed Igura to persuade other powerful inmates, such as “Diamond” Teg, “Black Beast” Tuk, and “Nightingale” Juel. Each of them was a notorious sorcerer before being imprisoned, and their criminal experiences could be written into thrilling novels.

But they all refused to participate in the escape operation.

To be honest, Asho was not surprised. The high-pressure rule and almost absolute isolation of Shattered Lake Prison made it abnormal for death row inmates to believe in their ability to escape, and suspicion was reasonable.

But the problem was that the attitude shown by the death row inmates was not suspicion, but resistance.

They resisted the escape.

It should be noted that it was not Asho who was responsible for the negotiation, but Igura, the “Beast” who was somewhat famous in the prison. Although Igura was a fraudster, his reputation was good, rarely lied, and was even one of the few information dealers in the prison with good popularity.

In his own words, “Lying is the taboo of a fraudster, reputation is the face of a fraudster, and honesty is the most important quality of a fraudster. The biggest failure of a fraudster is when others refuse to communicate with him.”

Therefore, what Igura said carried weight. Even if the death row inmates didn’t believe, they should ask Igura for more information to make further judgments.

But the death row inmates didn’t.

Even when Igura mentioned that there might be a way to remove the chip restrictions, no one would ask further questions like “How?” or “Is it true?” Instead, they all showed expressions of “That’s enough” and directly skipped the topic or turned away.

In such a huge prison, not being able to find a companion willing to escape was the worst Asho had ever seen.

But Igura had anticipated this.

During dinner, he explained Asho’s doubts with a single sentence.

“They are no longer who they used to be. Even shit turns into fertilizer when left for too long.”

If time was the best poison, then Shattered Lake Prison was undoubtedly the best septic tank. Whether you were harmful or toxic, once you entered, you would become nourishment for me.

An ordinary person could undergo many changes in a few years, so how could the death row inmates, who had been in prison for so long, still be their past wicked selves?

There were even many death row inmates who sincerely repented when looking back at their past criminal experiences, feeling that their past selves were so naive and impulsive. Even if they didn’t regret it, they would gradually lose their expectations for the outside world and find their own place in Shattered Lake Prison.

Igura had a saying that was very true: Shattered Lake Prison was indeed an ideal place. It prohibited all crimes, and there was no racial discrimination, foul language, fights, or even things like cutting in line or defecating anywhere.

As long as you followed the rules, everyone could live freely without needing to care about others’ opinions, because others couldn’t harm you or affect your interests. It could be said to be true equality for everyone.

The reason why the death row inmates committed vicious crimes out of greed, wickedness, impulsiveness, and various other reasons ultimately came down to them being accustomed to a life filled with crime. Only that kind of life could make them feel at ease.

And Shattered Lake Prison forcibly changed their way of life and still provided them with a place where they could feel at ease.

Feeling at ease could become addictive.

When a person stays in such an environment for a long time, detached from complex social relationships and withdrawn from competitive external environments, even if death row inmates disdain the various restrictions of the prison, once you let them leave the prison and enter society, they would actually feel lost, especially when they could live a peaceful life in the prison.

Many death row inmates couldn’t even get up early, let alone voluntarily leave their comfort zone.After thinking about it, the transformation of the death row inmates in the Broken Lake Prison was very successful. Without any labor reform or punishment, relying on various restrictions, KPI assessment system, and elimination of the last place, the death row inmates were turned into qualified workers who voluntarily worked overtime in the prison, contributing their remaining value. If they had no remaining value, they would participate in live trials to make money. There was always work suitable for death row inmates.

The recruitment of Asho and Igura was equivalent to inviting them to start a business. The future was unknown, funds were insufficient, and they needed to pay for it themselves.

Most importantly, if the business failed, it would be fine. But if it succeeded, they would have to return to the society where they had to fight for everything?

Just thinking about it was terrifying. They quickly bought toy guns to rob a bank and then waited for the Falconer’s Hall to take them home.

Even Igura, if it weren’t for Asho’s rebound contract locking him with himself, he probably wouldn’t want to participate in the prison break. Indeed, he could have a better life outside, but he would also be fearful and mentally weak because of the Falconer’s Hall.

Even the fraudsters felt at ease here.

If it weren’t for Professor Xilin and the Blood Moon Trial, Asho felt that the Broken Lake Prison would also be a holiday resort. Here, not only could he enjoy the scenery, but he could also cleanse his soul by force. After leaving, he could no longer fart in bed and had to run to the toilet.

Therefore, Asho felt like a wicked person who forced the death row inmates, who had washed their hands clean, back into the sea. Igura was like an innocent girl caught by him. Originally, they both wanted to live a peaceful life, but now Igura had to become Asho’s top technician…

With a bang, the earthen mound that Asho and Sonia had been hitting for more than ten minutes finally burst open, revealing an old sorcerer hidden inside. Before he could speak, “Evil Light Slash” and “Heart Sword” directly shattered him, revealing three sorcery spirits and a sorcerer’s manual.

This was the best sorcerer’s inheritance Asho had encountered since entering the Virtual Realm.

Because this sorcerer was not a combat sorcerer.

He didn’t know how to fight at all, he only kept creating earthen walls for defense. At first, Asho was a little afraid that spikes would suddenly emerge from the ground and give him a prostate massage, but nothing happened. The sorcerer’s projection had been hiding in the earthen mound, as if this inheritance was testing their output efficiency.

“This type of sorcerer is actually the mainstream,” Sonia said. “Or, it can be said that combat sorcerers are the minority. Most sorcerers are part of the production faction, learning skills that can find good jobs, and incidentally learning a bit of combat skills. There are also many sorcerers who have never possessed combat sorcery spirits in their entire lives and rarely have the opportunity to fight, such as medical sorcerers, meteorological sorcerers, architectural sorcerers, and planting sorcerers…”

She muttered, “If it weren’t for you forcing me to learn swordsmanship, I might have become a water sorcery medical sorcerer who stays away from combat.”

Asho was a little puzzled, “But it’s impossible to not learn combat at all, right? Even if combat is not needed in reality, the knowledge creatures in the Virtual Realm wouldn’t just check their identification and let them leave, right?”

“The way to deal with knowledge creatures is not just combat. There are many ways for sorcerers to escape, defend, and interact with them.”

“But if they never fight, how do they obtain new sorcery spirits?”

Sonia smiled and picked up the dormant sorcery spirits on the ground, casually saying, “By learning! By practicing! By researching!”

“People like us who can gain something in the Virtual Realm every day are actually very few. Most sorcerers obtain sorcery spirits by improving their faction knowledge and resonating with the Virtual Realm, giving birth to new knowledge.”

“Knowledge level is the foundation of sorcerers, and diligent learning is the right path for sorcerers. What we are doing now, fighting and adventuring, is actually the wrong path. Academy sorcerers who grow in an orderly manner often have a complete set of sorcery spirit systems, while adventurers like us have a mixed and unclear sorcery spirit system, far from being as handy as academy sorcerers.”

“And we can’t skip classes either. When our Silver Wings are fully condensed, we will have to go back and make up for our faction knowledge. Without the knowledge of a Golden-level faction, we won’t be able to summon a second wing sorcery spirit. We can only swim in the Knowledge Sea for our whole lives and never set foot on the Time Continent!”

Production is the king, combat is the evil path?

Asho sighed secretly. This kind of transcendent system that required comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor was what he feared the most. He was just an ordinary person, without any athletic talent or the ability to memorize papers. Apart from getting paid to defecate, he didn’t have any special skills. If it weren’t for holding onto Sword Girl’s thigh through “The Sorcerer’s Manual of Orola,” he wouldn’t have had a chance to become a sorcerer.

Wasn’t there a transcendent system where you could drink a bottle of magic potion and digest it to be promoted?

“Speaking of which, Sword Girl, didn’t you say that there is a Golden Fish in the Virtual Realm that, if found, can reach the Time Continent?””Just a rumor, and even you, the observer, don’t know where the Golden Fish is, how could I possibly know?” Sonia picked up the Sorcerer’s Manual and quickly skimmed through it, teasing, “You’re not pinning your hopes on the Golden Fish, are you? You might as well expect a prison riot tomorrow and escape in the chaos… hmm?”

Asho looked at Sonia, who was making strange noises, “What’s wrong? Another Sorcerer’s Manual that doesn’t align with your worldview?”

“Well… I think you should prepare well after you leave the Virtual Realm.”

“What?”

“Because there might really be a prison riot!”

Sonia excitedly squeezed next to Asho, flipping the Sorcerer’s Manual to a page in the middle to show him.

It read:

“I found the Golden Fish.”

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