Sorcerer Manual - Chapter 35

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Shattered Lake Prison, treatment room.

“Are you going to pretend that I’m not awake as long as I keep quiet?”

Ash opened his eyes and stared straight at the medic who was fiddling with his face.

There was a number badge with [222] on the medic’s clothes. It was obviously the same medic from his last visit.

“If you don’t want your face to rot, close your eyes!”

“Okay.”

After a few more minutes of fiddling, the medic let go of his face. “All right, you can get up now. Here’s the apple you said you wanted last time.”

Ash quickly got up and touched his face, relieved. Next to the bedside table was a plate of apples cut into the shape of rabbits, with toothpicks stuck on them. Ash picked them up and ate a piece with every bite.

“It’s not too bad. Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I can’t believe I’m not missing any of them. I thought I was going to contribute to species diversity.”

“I’m helping to treat you with surgery. How can you doubt me?”

The medic folded her arms across her chest and tried to look angry, but she was wearing a crow mask, and her voice had been processed by the mask. Not only was Ash not afraid, he even held out his hand.

“What?”

“Didn’t you say that you would give me money if I let you do plastic surgery?”

“Oh.” The medic obediently took out her wallet, but she immediately recovered. “I did say that yesterday, but you didn’t agree either!”

“Did you do plastic surgery on me or not?”

“Plastic surgery is very complicated. It’s not as simple as you think—”

“So you did?”

“Just a little, it’s actually just a very small surgery… How much do you want?”

“One silver coin.”

The medic was obviously relieved. She lowered his head and rummaged through her wallet. She looked up and asked, “Is gold coin okay? I don’t have any change.”

Ash, who was being provided for by the state all this while, had no idea what the economic system of this world was like. He was a bit surprised. So silver coins were like spare change for beggars in this world?

One actually dared to give it, and the other actually dared to receive it. As soon as Ash received the gold coin, he felt a burst of excitement in the depths of his consciousness.

As his palm began to heat up, Ash felt as if he saw a human cub in pajamas patting its bulging stomach before lying back and sleeping soundly.

He lowered his head to look at the gold coin and vaguely felt that it had shrunk a little. According to this rate of consumption, he estimated that he could use it for a year.

What? Feeding a spell spirit was actually quite simple.

Although Ash was someone who would take advantage when he could, he had a reason to ask for money this time.

After all, Sword Maiden had told him that spell spirits must be fed with money. Since he had no money, he could only think of ways to get some money from people with lower intelligence.

Satisfied, Ash put the gold coins in his pocket and asked casually, “So, exactly what kind of plastic surgery did you do on me?”

“Drew’s forehead skin extension and wrinkle removal spell technique. Simply put, it’s forehead wrinkles removal.”

The medic paused for a moment and slowly stood up straight. She looked down at Ash with the crow’s beak. “You should kowtow to me for being willing to perform this surgery for you. You should know that forehead wrinkles affect a person’s appearance greatly. A Drew surgical spell technique outside would cost a lot—”

“What? You actually removed my most handsome and manly feature, my forehead wrinkles?”

Ash was furious. “An unscrupulous medic actually disfigured the patient while he was asleep and took away his most beautiful appearance. Is there any law or reason here? This is medical malpractice, marauding, and murder!”

The medic was baffled by the counterattack. After being stunned for some time, she opened her wallet again.

“How much do you want?”

“Hey, don’t be like this. I’m not such a casual person.” Ash refused righteously. “I’m not the kind of criminal who would use leverages to coerce others into doing his bidding.”

The medic pondered for a moment.

“Sit here for a while. I’ll go and look up the news report about you…”

“In! Any! Case!” Ash hurriedly pulled the medic back. “I just want to ask you a few questions.”

“Don’t ask for my name, don’t take off my mask, and don’t touch my skin!”

Startled, the medic quickly slapped Ash’s hand away and crossed her arms over her chest in a highly defensive stance, allowing Ash to finally feel his dignity as a death row criminal.

Ash was also a bit curious, however. “Why not?”

“This is the rule of Shattered Lake Prison. Medics are not allowed to communicate with criminals in private. If found doing so, they will be stripped of their positions as medics. In serious cases, they might even go to jail!”

“You mean… We will soon become fellow inmates?”

“If you have any questions, hurry up and ask them. After that, leave quickly.”

The medic didn’t seem to care much about that rule. Ash had a feeling she wanted a long vacation without a paycheck.

“Is the elf who fought the deathmatch with me still alive?”

“His injuries are lighter than yours. He left long ago.”

“Lighter injuries?”

“All he did was have his throat cut open. That little wound was nothing. Someone else took only a few minutes to heal him. I spent over an hour trying to get you to regrow your flesh.”

The medic spread her hands. It didn’t seem like she was lying.

Ash looked at his perfectly healed thighs and shoulders and wondered if healing consumption was measured in pounds here.

The more meat you lose, the harder it is to treat, while it’s not a big deal to have your throat slit or your brains blown out?

In other words, the butt was considered the high-risk organ here? The butt was more important than the brain?

“Any more questions? Hurry up.”

“I’d also like to ask if there’s a place in the prison where you can trade spell spirits. It’s kind of lonely for a man to live alone. I’d like to have some pets…”

The medic focused on Ash.

“I’m going to report you for conspiring to break out of prison.”

“I’m already a criminal on the death row. Even if you report me, do you think you can increase my sentence?”

“Sure. After you die once, you can be revived so that you can die again.”

“What, there’s such a thing!?”

“Of course not. It would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. And inhumane. This kind of repetitive death penalty was forbidden a hundred years ago.”

“In other words, the death row criminals from a hundred years ago might have needed to die many times…”

“Anyway, I won’t answer this question of yours.” The medic crossed her arms and said, “A death row criminal like you should obediently become our medical material, and obediently die when there’s no further use for you.”

“You have surprisingly good morals…”

“What made you think I have poor morals?”

“After all the time you’ve been talking to a death row criminal like me, I thought you’re the kind of rebellious kid who’d get curious about criminals.”

“I-I’m not curious at all. If I’m really curious, I can just go and watch the news.”

The medic spoke as she gathered the healing equipment. Ash jumped out of bed and swung his thighs and shoulders.

The surgery was very successful. The skin color of a certain piece of flesh on the thigh and shoulder was obviously a shade paler than the rest of the skin, but other than that, there was not much of a problem.

“Would you believe me if I said I was innocent?”

“Don’t think I’m that easy to fool.” The medic snorted. “Ever since the memory evidence system was introduced, there have been no cases of fraud. The Crime Hunting Department must have found out about your criminal process from your memory to convict you—”

“No, the Crime Hunting Department didn’t take any memory evidence from my head.”

“That is impossible—”

“You can check the reports, but the Crime Hunting Department really didn’t take my memories, and I really am innocent.”

Ash spoke boldly. The perpetrator was Heath and not him. More importantly, he didn’t even have Heath’s memories, so he had no psychological burden at all in saying that.

The medic looked at Ash suspiciously.

“You’re not lying to me?”

“If I lied to you, may I receive no overtime pay for the rest of my life.”

“If you dare to lie to me, you’re dead. You’d better pray that you don’t get injured again. Otherwise, when you’re in my hands, I’ll change your race and gender!”

The words of the medic created a huge impact on Ash’s naive mind. He had wanted to experience the healthcare industry of the various races in this foreign world, but he did not expect that the medical technology in this world had already reached a level where even race and gender could be changed!

Could he still believe it if he saw a beautiful girl on the streets? Was there still any trust between people?

“But even if you say so, I can’t answer you.”

The medic shrugged.

“The spell energy of death row criminals like you is restricted. The first step of trading a spell spirit is for the seller to release the spell spirit with spell energy. The buyer will use the spell energy to activate the spell spirit again. If you can’t use the spell energy, you can neither release the spell spirit nor activate the spell spirit.”

Spell energy actually had an effect similar to that of key authentication. The more he thought about it, the more Ash felt that spell energy was really an all-purpose energy source. It wouldn’t be strange if he found out someday that spell energy had a Bluetooth function too.

No wonder the prison didn’t lock down their spell spirits. On one hand, it might be that spell spirits couldn’t be bound. On the other hand, as long as their spell energy was restricted, they wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.

Ash was still unwilling to give up. “Is there no hope at all? Is there no place like the Deathmatch Society that can allow us to remove the restrictions on spell energy?”

After one Illusory Realm exploration, Ash realized that it was as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack to find all the spell spirits he needed in the Illusory Realm. Finding a needle in a haystack might be acceptable if he was given enough time, but the problem was that there was not much time left for Ash.

Although Ash did not hate taking risks and was willing to bet his hope on probability, he was not willing to have no countermeasures. It’s just like how the company bought health insurance for them while making them work overtime 996. Regardless of whether their employees suffered sudden deaths or not, the company would gain majorly. As an outstanding employee of the year, Ash naturally understood such an excellent company culture and was always prepared for contingencies.

If he could find a trading platform for spell spirits, he would have a chance to sell items and recover, even if the things he picked up in the Illusory Realm were all garbage.

“Yes, don’t you know?” The medic’s answer was unexpected.

“How would I know?”

“Because this is an experience that all death row criminals will experience at least once… Oh right, you’ve only been in prison for a few days and haven’t gone through it yet.”

Ash immediately understood what she meant.

“Blood Moon Judgment?”