The Broken Lake Prison.

“If you are hurt enough, just use a pair of hands to cut open, curse of yesterday…”

Asho looked at the recharge screen in the light curtain, lost in thought.

Yesterday’s exploration of the Virtual Realm yielded little results. Asho finally found an area, only to discover that there was a Fish Dragon inside.

He and Sword Girl fought hard, but in the end, they couldn’t kill the Fish Dragon. The Fish Dragon cunningly pretended to want to die together, then dived into the water and escaped, even farting twice before leaving. And those farts contained Artisans.

So Asho and Sword Girl could only humbly catch the Fish Dragon’s farts and watch it disappear into the mist.

Not very damaging, but extremely insulting.

Once again, Asho learned a lesson from the Virtual Realm. It turns out that the living environment of Sorcerers is so harsh. No wonder the death row inmates don’t feel anything about not being able to enter or leave the Virtual Realm – the Virtual Realm is truly a place where one may try hard but not necessarily succeed, and giving up is definitely easier.

The difference between reality and the Virtual Realm is that reality is a pay-to-win game dominated by whales, while the Virtual Realm is a pay-to-win game dominated by luck. The gaming experience of ordinary Sorcerers is to be beaten up by reality and then ravaged by the Virtual Realm, fully experiencing the ups and downs of the world.

The two Artisans that the Fish Dragon farted out were not very good, so naturally Asho took them and prepared to use them for recharge. After all, as a masochistic player who started in hell difficulty in reality, he could only rely on recharging to change his fate.

The problem arose when Asho was recharging for “The Sorcerer’s Manual of Orola”. He suddenly discovered that the price of a Winged Artisan had dropped to only 8 points!

Just the day before, it was clearly still possible to charge up to 10 points!

What’s going on? Game system, did you fix the Apple recharge channel and charge me Apple tax?

With five Artisans, he only charged up to 40 points, missing a full 20%!

However, Asho had no way to complain or inquire. It was not that the game system did not fix the complaint module, but that their company’s game did not have a complaint module at all…

But Asho vaguely had some speculation – it was probably related to his strength.

After crossing the vortex, his Silver Wing had also condensed more than half. With the growth of his Artificing, the power of his Artisans naturally increased. For him and Sword Girl, the difficulty of exploring the Virtual Realm decreased linearly, as evidenced by the appearance of many more areas on the Virtual Realm map, with areas occasionally appearing.

When the Silver Wing unfolded, Asho was afraid that he would be able to achieve Artisan freedom, harvesting seven or eight Artisans every night, overwhelming the game system. The first thing he would do every morning would be to draw ten in a row to test his luck.

But this was obviously impossible.

Even if Asho’s brain had lost its imagination after being a corporate slave for several years, and his daily thinking power was used to choose lunch, he also knew that this game system definitely had a problem and would not leave such an obvious loophole for himself.

Obviously, in order to prevent the values from collapsing, the game system’s method was to reduce the returns.

Or in other words, a tax mechanism.

Asho estimated that after he promoted to the Second Wing, the price of a Winged Artisan would decrease to 5 points or even lower. When he unfolded the Third Wing, the price of a Winged Artisan would even be so low that he wouldn’t even bother to pick it up if it fell on the ground.

Asho suspected that the selling point of this game might be “Don’t spend a penny, all Artisans can be recycled”. The Artisans obtained from battles could be directly used as currency for recharging, giving players a feeling of “this game is so conscientious”.

But as players’ strength increased, the prices of the low-level Artisans they obtained would decrease. In order to increase the efficiency of gold farming, they would have to obtain higher-level Artisans… In the end, the daily income of all players would be similar. And as everyone knows, if everyone is given money, it’s the same as not giving money at all. Therefore, this tax mechanism is an additional supplement to the sign-in system and can effectively increase the players’ online time.

“So the greater the ability, the more taxes you pay…” Asho sighed and went out for breakfast.

As for the newly obtained 40 points, naturally he would leave them alone for now. He had already bought the Sourcestone Pack worth 30 points, losing the first recharge double reward. Therefore, Asho’s next small goal was the “Pile of Sourcestone Pack” worth 98 points.

When he arrived at the central hall, Asho unexpectedly found many people gathered here. There was even someone arguing with the prison guard in front, which made Asho ecstatic – could a prison riot really be happening?

He squeezed to the front and took a look, only to find that the light curtain in the hall was broadcasting news:

Damn, this news is so sarcastic! Which death row inmate would watch this kind of news!

Asho looked carefully and found a notice posted next to the light curtain:

“I, I am a Second Wing Composite Sorcerer, fully unfolding the Golden Wing, fully mastering the Fire and Wind Sorcery factions, and I can even perform a miraculous ‘Dragon Annihilation Poem’! Why wasn’t I chosen?”

“And me, I am a Second Wing Gun Sorcerer, former Blood Moon Hunter member, with a glorious record, just a momentary mistake that led to my downfall in the Broken Lake. No matter how you think about it, you should choose a Sorcerer like me who was once a Hunter!”

“Refusing should at least give a reason, there is no limit to the number of people, why am I not allowed to become a volunteer?””I don’t really care about being released from prison. I just want to do something to contribute to society. Why are you stopping me from serving the country?”

The prison guard sitting at the front registration desk had a cold expression and completely ignored the pleas of the job seekers. He coldly said, “Next.”

Asho also wanted to register, but unfortunately, he wasn’t even a second-tier sorcerer and didn’t even have the qualifications to submit a resume. However, he refused to leave and could only stand by and watch, not knowing what he was waiting for.

“What a great opportunity, but unfortunately, you can’t seize it. You look like a vulgar man who knows he doesn’t have the qualifications to pursue happiness, yet still hopes that a beautiful lady will suddenly go blind and be willing to spend a good night with you.”

Asho glanced at Igura, “Aren’t you going to register?”

“I did, but I wasn’t selected.” Igura looked at the crowded registration area and shook his head. “It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t chosen. I don’t have the confidence to survive in such a special mission.”

“Do you know what the special mission is?”

“I don’t know, but I can guess. I observed that the selected death row inmates are mostly from the water, earth, wind, and light sorcery factions.”

“What’s special about these sorcery factions?”

“Let me put it simply – the death row inmates who were selected have these common characteristics in their crimes: multiple refusals to be arrested, long-term escapes, extensive criminal experience, and crimes committed in multiple cities.”

Multiple refusals to be arrested, long-term escapes?

Asho recalled the power of the Bloodthirsty Hunters in the hunting hall and suddenly realized something. “Are they skilled in escaping?”

“Exactly.” Igura nodded. “This special mission probably doesn’t require combat or social skills, but rather requires volunteers with ample experience in escape and survival. It’s undoubtedly an extremely dangerous reconnaissance mission. I have to say, all the people in Camon City who can meet these two requirements are in the Broken Lake Prison.”

“But I didn’t expect there to be a mission that pardons death row inmates.” Asho said, “Does this kind of thing happen often? Have death row inmates previously left openly through these missions?”

“Impossible. I’ve been here for over a year, and this is the first time I’ve seen it. I asked the other long-term prisoners who have been through thick and thin, and they also said it’s the first time they’ve seen a mission that can pardon death row inmates. Previous special missions at most rewarded death row inmates with some contribution points.”

Igura squinted his eyes slightly. “Speaking of which, a proposal like pardoning death row inmates would definitely not be approved by the Order Organization. The council would also debate it for a long time… What kind of huge benefits would make the Order Organization approve such a dangerous proposal?”

“Order Organization?” Asho heard a new term.

“Don’t you know? It’s a faction in the council that is opposed to the Human Rights Association. The Human Rights Association advocates for people as the purpose, and all regulations should aim to protect people and not treat them as expendable objects. On the other hand, the Order Organization advocates for absolute order, and regulations must be strictly enforced without considering people’s demands or emotions.”

“Most bills need to find a balance between these two organizations to be passed. Like the Blood Moon Trial, it took years of debate between the Order Organization and the Human Rights Association to form its current form. The Order Organization wants the death row inmates to die as quickly as possible, while the Human Rights Association believes that death row inmates still have a chance to reform. The Blood Moon Trial allows some death row inmates to contribute to society while giving the judgment power to the general public, so it gained unanimous approval from the council members.”

Igura looked at Asho. “Professor Xilin, a city council member, is a member of the Order Organization.”

Upon hearing this news, Asho’s desire to escape became even stronger – with such a major antagonist in politics inciting trouble outside, the law could no longer be his shield.

“So what is this special mission exactly?”

“The benefits that can make the Order Organization shut up, recruiting volunteers who are skilled in escape and survival, and the approaching change of seasons… After thinking it through, there is probably only one possibility.”

Igura said, “A stable virtual realm turbulence has appeared in Camon City, and there may be a virtual realm passage leading to other countries inside.”

“If we can find a stable virtual realm passage, it would be a great achievement that pleases the Blood Moon.”

…

…

Garlean, Sword Flower University.

Except for Yingu Lite, who went for a morning run, the other three were in the dormitory.

Lois glanced at Adair, who was sleeping with a stuffed toy, and got out of bed to pick up a bottle of ice spring water spray. She angrily sprayed it on her face, causing her whole body to tense up, as if enduring the torture of morning skincare.

At this time, Sonia was already taking a shower in the bathroom, so Lois could only wash her face and apply a thick layer of jelly mask, then find time to read a book – she couldn’t use a sheet mask, otherwise the essence would flow down to her chin.

In order to quickly become a hydromancer and retrieve the “Torrent” artisan from Sonia, Lois had to compress her skincare and makeup time and squeeze in time to study and practice.Every time it came to this, Lois was both resentful and admiring of Sonia – how could there be such a scheming bitch in this world who had time to dress up and still learned quickly?

Suddenly, the miracle bracelet vibrated slightly. Lois pressed to check and found that it was a message from the meteorological station.