Mage Manual

Chapter 84: Chapter 77 Ritual (Fourth Update)

“Six bottles of Fording over here, on me!”

“One plate of extra-large lobster lala, I’m paying with contribution points!”

“Round of beers for everyone, this round’s on ‘Black Beast’ Tuck!”

By noon, the registration point had been dismantled, and volunteer recruitment was over.

The canteen was bustling as the selected death row inmates hastily spent their contribution points on a feast and even generously treated others to share the joy. After all, volunteering meant either leaving prison alive or disappearing without a trace. Either way, contribution points were useless, so they might as well be spent quickly.

The saddest thing in life is to die with money unspent.

If there’s anything sadder, it’s not spending your money but desperately wanting to die.

Ronald Wade was the latter.

Staring at the feast before him, he felt famished yet couldn’t muster any appetite. @@novelbin@@

The canteen waiter brought over the ice-cold beer, courtesy of ‘Black Beast’ Tuck. Ronald hadn’t touched alcohol in days, whereas before his incarceration, he’d practically lived on it. You’d think he’d be longing for it, but after taking a swig, he found it tasted like slightly bitter water.

Boring.

Everything was boring.

Prison was boring. Living was boring. Self-loathing was boring. Now, the only thing that could stimulate Ronald’s pituitary gland, the only thing that made him feel alive was—

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, Ronald plunged his face into his food, shoveling it into his mouth with crazy abandon. He chewed forcefully, his teeth grinding sinews and tendons in the meat, as if this could momentarily make him forget that disgusting and irresistible craving!

“Eating well, I see. But you look thin. Do you exercise regularly?”

Ronald looked up to find two of the prison’s celebrities—the ‘Beautiful Beast’ Igula, known for trapping newbies in lopsided Contracts with his Technique Spirits and also as a prison information dealer.

Lanna had warned him from day one to be wary of anything Igula said, never knowing when he might be trapped into an unfair Contract.

But Ronald, relatively new to prison, hadn’t witnessed Igula’s vicious side yet and wasn’t overly cautious of him. ‘Demon’ Ash left a stronger impression—first defeating Igula, then triumphing over Valcas, and surviving the near-certain death of the Blood Moon Judgement.

To Ronald, Ash seemed destined to lose each time, but somehow, he always won.

He went from fighting to knocking out Igula with a punch, from swordplay to penetrating Valcas’s throat with a stab. During the Blood Moon Judgement, Valcas almost took him to meet the Extreme Master of Blood Moon, yet somehow failed to sever his head…

Had this been the outside world, Ronald would have believed he was witnessing the rise of a new legend.

Too bad, this was Shattered Lake Prison.

Here, miracles were just bubbles rising in Shattered Lake, doomed to burst upon reaching the surface, never to exist under the sunlight.

“None.”

“Why are you so thin, then?” Ash picked up a sandwich and took a big bite. “Is it because your meat decided to run away?”

Ronald raised an eyebrow, his expression blank. “Honestly, if you have beef with Lanna, just go directly to him. I have no interest in getting involved in your grudges.”

“No, we’re here for you,” Ash said. “Are you still down about not becoming a volunteer? Don’t worry, there are other ways to get out of prison.”

Ronald perked up. “What ways?!”

“Escape!” Ash said mysteriously. “We’ve got a big plan, and the chances of a successful escape are very high. We just need a few more hands. Are you interested?”

Ronald paused, then sighed. “Really, can you guys not mess with me? Please? How about this: I’ll treat you to dinner, with one contribution point. Can you cut me some slack?”

Ash looked at Igula helplessly, who sighed. “If every cult leader outside had your way with words, no wonder The Gods of Four Pillars have been hiding for so long.”

Igula turned to Ronald. “You know you can’t keep staying here, right? You have to leave Shattered Lake, escape from Lanna, even if it means becoming a volunteer, risking death nine times out of ten. Because if you stay with Lanna, the end will be worse than death, more unbearable.”

Ronald’s eyes flickered. “I don’t understand what you’re saying. All I know is if not for Lanna, I’d be a regular at the Blood Moon Judgement until the Executioner smashes my head into pulp.”

“That’s quite tempting,” Igula said with a laugh. “As long as you agree to stay intimate with him, he’s willing to lose in the Death Battle Society, letting you earn a ton of contribution points and temporarily escape the Blood Moon Judgement. Especially since you’ve lost five battles straight, Lanna became your only lifeline.”

Like most death row inmates, Ronald’s ways of making money were practically written in the Criminal Law. In prison, he could hardly contribute any social value, so naturally, he turned his attention to the Death Battle Society—his survival for over twenty years had always depended on plundering resources from others.

The tragedy was, there were too many raiders in the prison and too few producers.

Ronald came to the Death Battle Society and chose an old man who looked weak for a death duel, only to be beaten until every bone in his body was shattered—”Diamond” Teague once again successfully robbed a newbie of 1 point of contribution.

The outcomes of the next four death duels were much the same; Ronald had already done all he could to gather intelligence, but almost everyone willing to duel him could easily crush him.

After losing 15 points of contribution, Ronald became the bottom of the prison food chain. He didn’t dare to accept any more death duels, his confidence shattered by the first five fights, feeling as if everyone in here was stronger than him.

If he couldn’t find a way to earn contribution, then he would appear in every subsequent Blood Moon Judgement, until the citizens, perhaps grown kind-hearted (or sick of it), allowed the Extreme Master of Blood Moon to take away this woodpecker with the golden mouth, longing for redemption.

It was then that Lanna appeared.

He was willing to deliberately lose to Ronald in the death duels, letting Ronald earn contribution. And it was a long-term arrangement; Lanna had his own ways of earning contribution, and as long as he was willing, both he and Ronald could maintain high contribution points, living comfortably for years in the prison wasn’t a problem.

He had only two conditions, the first being that Ronald maintain a close relationship with him. Although Ronald wasn’t too willing, he wasn’t particularly repulsed either; after all, he had his experiences on the outside, so he accepted this slight sacrifice of his dignity as a necessary measure for survival.

And his second condition…

“Lanna needs you as ‘ingredient,’ right?” Igula said. “He applies to duel with you, and of course, you have to accept to get the contribution points. In the duel, all restrictions are lifted, he can do whatever he wants to you… and when you’re about to die, Lanna will end his own life to let you win… that’s roughly the process of your deal, isn’t it?”

Ronald fell silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, “As long as I don’t die, the body can always recover. Though it may reduce my lifespan in the long run, without contribution points, I don’t even know if I can survive the next Blood Moon Judgement.”

Igula smiled and said, “Yes, if the ‘terms of the deal’ are just that, then it certainly is a very cost-effective trade, even I would be tempted.”

“What do you mean?”

“You should understand better than I do—after all, I’ve only guessed his true purpose by gathering information from Lanna’s previous few ‘buddies.’ And you were the sacrifice in the ritual itself; you must have felt the essence of this deal, haven’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so eager to volunteer, looking to escape from Lanna.”

Ronald’s pupils widened. “Ritual? What ritual?”

The corners of Igula’s mouth lifted slightly. Revealing the truth to the victims was one of his favorite parts of the crime, and if given the chance, he would unveil his schemes to every fool he defrauded—the world’s most joyous tragedy is making the fool realize their own stupidity.

“You don’t think Lanna made such a request just because he’s gluttonous, do you? And you should feel it, too. Lanna doesn’t regard you as an object, a tool, or a stranger; he truly loves you… wholeheartedly, with no reservations.”

Ronald’s expression paled even more, his hand trembling as he clutched the meat steak.

It sounded ridiculous, Lanna threatening Ronald to agree to his terms while exploiting his weakness, treating him like a rib to be gnawed on in each death duel. No matter how you look at it, Lanna seemed to treat him as a slave to be used at will.

If that were the case, Ronald would have felt relieved, as it was a relationship he could understand.

However, he felt that Lanna’s love was genuine!

Ronald was not a loner assassin; he had been in love before, and he knew what love felt like.

Which is why he was so afraid—every look from Lanna, every move he made, was full of genuine emotion!

Even when Lanna was eating, there was not a hint of killing intent in his eyes!

Deep love and feeding, Lanna was actually able to perfectly unify the two, as if they could exist simultaneously!

Ronald had always avoided thinking too deeply, but now, confronted by Igula, he was forced to face this cruel truth!

He swallowed hard and asked with difficulty, “This, what is this ritual?”

“To be honest, I don’t know; I only know the fate of the ritual sacrifices,” Igula said. “All of Lanna’s previous ‘buddies’ invariably died in their own dorms.”

Ronald’s face went white, “How is that possible!? How could they possibly die in their dorms?”

Ash realized it too—unless in the area of the death duel arena, chips forbid the death row inmates from harming or killing themselves!

If an inmate refused to eat, when the body grew hungry to a certain degree, the prison would notify the guards to feed the inmate! Therefore, it was impossible for an inmate to die in their dorm, unless of natural causes!

But Lanna was clearly not an enthusiast of twilight romances.

“It’s said that their bodies showed no abnormalities and appeared quite normal, but all their organs had ceased to function,” Igula said as he picked up a strawberry from the strawberry cake with his fork, “It’s like… the spirit had suddenly vanished, so the body collapsed soon after.”

Ronald’s face was as pale as paper, his lips trembling non-stop.

Igula delivered the final blow.

“Right now, you should be indifferent to everything, yet you are filled with anticipation for Lanna’s ritual, right? Even if you already have enough contribution points, you still accept Lanna’s invitation to a death duel… do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because only in the ritual can your spirit find brief completeness—your incomplete spirit is eager to escape your body.”