Buzz!
[Warning: You are making an output of excessive kinetic energy to a citizen! This is prohibited!]
Without his summon, his field of vision suddenly jumped out of the hologram. The red warning message rushed before his pupils like a waterfall. The shrill alarm that sounded like a scream echoed in his ears, instantly stunning him.
What was going on?
Was it infected by a virus?
But I'm new here and had never visited any mysterious websites before!?
His body instantly stiffened and he couldn't move at all. He only regained control three seconds later.
"It seems that you are very satisfied with your life in the Shattered Lake Prison. I shall not disturb you then."
Igora moved the fist that was almost touching the tip of his nose away and smiled. "By the way, Ash, your weak punch was rather cute."
The other prisoners in the hall glanced at them, including the prison guard, who seemed to have temporarily shifted his attention from the hologram to them. But everyone would quickly look away, as if what happened was just something trivial.
As he watched Igora's back disappear into the tunnel, Ash looked down at his fist, his mind full of questions.
"What's there to be surprised about? Isn't it just that the miracle chip in your nape detected your attempt to attack someone and sent out a neural current to temporarily control your body so that your attack wouldn't work," said Sword Maiden. "This technology is widely used in animal husbandry, in addition to prison, but it seems more practical to use it on people."
"Then why did you ask me to hit him?"
"Although fighting is prohibited here, there are still many tricks you can pull."
The Sword Maiden said leisurely, "For example, you can use a spell spirit to sign a contract. If I'm not wrong, that man just now has a bit of veela bloodline. A veela is the race that finds it easiest to become proficient in the School of Spirituality… If you had responded to his request and shook his hand to sign the contract, you would become 'friends who must help each other'."
"However, this would just be a relationship where you have to help him. Whether he helps you or not depends on his mood. Well, in the eyes of a spiritual sorcerer, friends are no different from slaves."
Ash understood. If he had really shaken hands with Igora earlier, he would have become Igora's employee, or even his intern.
The Alternate World was so despicable. They did not even need to sign a labor contract.
Ash looked around at the other prisoners. "No one else can see you?"
"You can continue to talk to me like this, as long as you don't mind others looking at you as if you're crazy." Sword Maiden continued, "Although I'd rather listen to you talk nicely than the garbage in your mind, one must yield to the circumstances."
Ash understood. "So, you really are the Deadly Berserker Sword Maiden?"
"Yes, I'm the Deadly Berserker Sword Maiden." Sword Maiden said as she leaned against the wall in boredom. "On the other hand, if I didn't see you with my own eyes, I would never have thought that you would end up in such a place… Mind if I mock you?"
[I mind it a lot, but why aren't you wearing the clothes on the illustration?]
"Aren't you also wearing this luxurious version of the classic prisoner suit from the Shattered Lake Prison?" The Sword Maiden rolled her eyes. "You look different from the illustration yourself, yet you feel no qualms talking about me? I'm a woman. Do you expect me to wear the same set of clothes every day without doing laundry?"
What the Sword Maiden said made so much sense that Ash was convinced by her.
However, he obviously did not care about these details. He looked at the Sword Maiden expectantly. [Sword Maiden, my Doraemon, since you're here, help me escape from this prison!]
"I refuse."
[Huh?]
"Why should I help you escape from here?" Sword Maiden said lazily, "There's room and food here. Isn't it suitable for trash like you to stay here? Why do you always want to escape? The outside world might be even worse than here. You should just retire early and live your dream life. Isn't that good too?"
[But I'm a scapegoat. I have to participate in some kind of Blood Moon Judgment in a few days. This definitely doesn't sound like a buffet, right?]
"Oh, Blood Moon Judgment…" Sword Maiden nodded thoughtfully. "Hehe, then I feel even less inclined to help you escape."
Ash's mentality was on the verge of breaking down. He'd thought he'd finally latched on to someone's coattails, but her coattails were too slippery for him to latch on. [You can't do this, I'm your—]
"My what?" The Sword Maiden's gaze sharpened, and she reached out to poke Ash's forehead. "What were you trying to say? What were you trying to tell me, that you're my what? Huh? Huh?"
With each poke, Ash took a step back, until he hit the bench and sat down. Even leaning back, Ash couldn't avoid the Sword Maiden's fingers as she jabbed him hard in the forehead. She leaned down so their noses were touching, and their eyes met. Ash could see his reflection in her wine-red eyes.
"Are you trying to say that you're my—master?" She said in a cold and disdainful voice, "Heh, are you trying to hear me shout that a few more times to get more reference material for the pornographic garbage in your brain?"
Ash calmed down instead. [What's wrong with that interpretation? You're just a virtual character in a game, while I'm the player of the game. If I die, you naturally won't continue to exist. Since we have this bond, why can't you help me?]
Hearing the word "bond", the Sword Maiden blew up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her hair instantly stood on end, and her eyes were bloodshot. Her expression became gloomy and terrifying.
Ash was taken aback, but didn't back down. Instead, he sat up straight and forced the Sword Maiden to retreat. [Deadly Berserker Sword Maiden, I'm not your master, but neither am I your slave. If you can't even treat me as an equal, then you might as well go back to the game and keep being a data stream.]
The Sword Maiden's voluminous chests heaved, indicating that she was very much not in a calm mood. Just when Ash thought she was going to beat him to death with her dainty fists, she suddenly smiled. "Virtual character? You're right. I'm really just an illusory thought… However, Observer, you'd better remember what you said today."
"You are not my master." The Sword Maiden enunciated each word clearly. "Never."
Ash said, [I promise.]
"Swear that the promise will never be broken, or the liar will lose their face."
Although he did not know why the Sword Maiden was so persistent, Ash did not actually have such base desires. He said frankly, "I swear that the promise will never be broken, or the liar will lose their face."
The Sword Maiden seemed to be completely assured. She turned and left. "Let's go. We'll talk as we go."
"Where are we going?" Ash perked up at once.
"To the dining hall. Aren't you going for breakfast?"
[About the prison escape…]
"To be honest, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's that I can't help you," said Sword Maiden. "As you can see, other than you, no one can see or touch me. I don't have the ability to affect the physical world, so how can I help you escape from prison?"
Ash was deeply disappointed. "Then why are you here? Are you just showing off your new skin?"
"Didn't you say so yourself? Bond." Sword Maiden said," I'm here to impart that 30% of shared experience to you."
[Great!] Ash was overjoyed. [Go ahead, I'm ready!]
"Ready my foot." The Sword Maiden pursed her lips. "Do you really think you can grasp my swordplay experience by some miracle, like calling out "arise, spirit"? If you want to dream, you can do it in bed!"
[Then how are you going to impart it to me?]
"It's very simple. Go find someone to fight with. I will transmit the experience while you fight, so you will naturally gain a lot of experience in battle."
[No problem!]
They had already arrived in the dining hall as they spoke.
It was similar to an ordinary dining hall, all with fixed seats. As soon as Ash entered, he saw an excellent target for a fight: bald, tattooed, muscular, with scars on his face. He was obviously a serial killer pervert who'd killed hundreds of people to get in here.
He strode over and pretended to accidentally bump into the muscular bald man's glass. The glass of milk poured down, drenching the muscular bald man's shoes with white liquid!
"Oops," Ash said with deliberate casualness. "So sorry."
The muscular bald man lifted his head and glared at him. He slammed the table hard, causing the entire table to shake. It was as if he was about to stand up to fight with Ash!
Ash swallowed. Just as he was ready to begin his first battle as a novice, he saw the muscular bald man pull a tissue from his shirt pocket and squat down to clean his shoes.
"All right, remember to be careful when you walk. The milk today is quite good. I strongly recommend it," the muscular bald man said to the stunned Ash.