He Didn't Die? Inconceivable! (3/3)

"What're we gonna do now?" one of the older-looking men asks.

Everybody turns to Haalfrin. "You said you had a way to escape?" another one points at Haalfrin and says.

Haalfrin clears his throat thinks about how much he should tell these people about his abilities. Naturally, a lot of these people are vile criminals, and it's very possible one would try to use the knowledge of his abilities against him one day.

Then again, Haalfrin would like to be defeated one day, so it might actually be a good thing for his potential enemies to know information about him.

So, Haalfrin stands up and announces, "I'm one of the rare mages that have spells written into my Names."

The mage prisoners all look at each other. Some are mildly surprised, some still look too brain-addled from their long imprisonment to understand his meaning, while a few reel back in shock. It's said that mages with a soul like Haalfrin are called god candidates!

Haalfrin continues to explain all about how Death Aura works, his ability to manipulate it, and the conditions to getting more of it. After that, he explains about the Wills and his ability to change them into intelligent semi-spirits under his control - well, influence, not control.

The boy considers telling them about his connection to Freyya as well, but he wants all these people on board, and he doesn't want to risk anyone not believing him. So, he comes up with another explanation for the final end goal.

"So basically," Haalfrin explains, "I need to collect enough Death Aura to reach high up into the Warden's tower. Then, my Wills will be able to meddle with the main enchantment Nexus for the whole prison and lift the spatial sealing."

Haalfrin puts his hands on his hips and actually feels proud of himself. In his attempt to tell a lie, he actually came up with a viable plan B… just in case Freyya won't be able to help at all upon learning the prison's location.

The prisoners all look at each other with hope in their eyes… until Haalfrin crashes the party by adding, "It could take years at best and centuries at worst… depending on how often people die in this prison."

Orland speaks up. "... Onto more immediate privilege. We can always use alchemy to make water… but what about food? Even if we didn't have 35 mouths to feed, everyone's going to starve to death before we escape."

"More like we hunger to death now. I hungry?" one of the men asks in a heavy, Alsa'ree accent and broken words.

Haalfrin's mouth hangs open for a second, then thinks, 'Well, I guess I'll just have to tell them about my acquaintance with the Death gods anyway.'

And so, Haalfrin raises his hands to get everyone's attention, and he says, "I happen to be friends with a few of the death reapers. When someone dies up there, I can ask one of them for food… Though it really depends on which death reaper shows up."

"Oi!" one of the younger-looking mages asks, "How do we know we can trust you? You seem to have everything figured out, so what's the point of working with us? Besides, you have so many convenient connections and powers… it seems like a coincidence."

Abd so, instead of answering, Haalfrin shrugs, then pulls out the space bag Freyya gave him. "This was given to me by the Crow goddess when she came to harvest the guards' souls. It's stupid to think these common guards had expensive spatial storage fit for royalty… and why is it full of food? Where could I have gotten it from? Obviously, the only choice is to believe that a god showed pity on us and left food.

Hearing that there's food in the bag, the prisoners all leap up with energy he didn't know they had, and they lunge for the bag. They're about to fight over it, when a strong, oppressive Aura forces them all to the ground.

"Oi," Haalfrin coldly huffs, "Behave. I'm not against sharing." He takes the bag back and empties its contents onto the floor. "Just make sure to eat slowly, since your stomachs are shriveled up.

He spends a few moments handing out the bread and fruits – saving the more sugary and meaty snacks for later, since none of their stomachs can handle it.

After Haalfrin demonstrates that he's willing to share food, he's finally accepted as the de facto leader of their group. He's stronger than everyone else, he has a plan, and he's generous enough to at least release them and give them food.

As everyone is eating, Haalfrin finishes his thought. "Besides, if I'm confident I can gather enough food for you all and keep you all alive, then it's better to do so. We have a stronger chance of escaping if there's more of us. Plus, we've got many years ahead of us, so something unexpected might always show up where we need more people."

What Haalfrin doesn't tell them is that he can use them as emergency Freyya summons, in case he absolutely has to talk to her. He's got 34 free summons, so he has a small sense of security in his heart thinking about the coming years.

One of the older women asks through slow bites, "What're we going to do when the food runs out? Waiting for someone to die could be very inconsistent."

One of the other mages speaks up, "Back when I was a free man, I had invented a way to reverse the transition between calories and mana. We all know that eating calorie rich food is the fastest natural way to replenish your mana. I used that logic to find out how to turn your own stockpile of mana back into calories."

"Oh!" one of the others exclaims. "That'll be useful."

"Well, there's a downside," the first adds. "this technique doesn't give you any essential minerals or vitamins, so it's incredibly unhealthy to use if it's the ONLY thing you're using. It doesn't get rid of the hungry feeling in your stomach either."

Haalfrin nods. "So you teach us all this technique, then use it to supplement our diet. Our bodies naturally replenish mana by absorbing the natural energies around us, so if we all spend a few minutes sitting out in the hotter parts of the floor, we can slowly build up our mana reserves, then use this mana to help make our rations last longer. We'll make sure to eat our rations ONLY to supplement our diet and keep our bodies healthy."

The leader of the escapees narrows his eyes and looks at some of the female prisoners. "One last rule. Absolutely NO hooking up down here. I don't tolerate killing children, but we can't afford to raise them either. All of you, keep it in your pants. I'm not afraid of punishing anyone who breaks this rule!"

A few of the younger-looking men and women cough awkwardly, but they all nod. Everybody knows that years, decades, or centuries is PLENTY of time for kids to pop up. With everyone stuck with free bodies, but nothing to do, some people are bound to get bored eventually.

"All right!" Haalfrin stands up and announces, "I'm getting to work now. Don't disturb me."

He walks over to another corner, sits down cross-legged, gets comfortable, and appears to fall asleep.

Just when the other prisoners are sure Haalfrin is unconscious, they feel a terrifying presence briefly grip their hearts before fading away.

The few spirit mages among them use their magic eyes to see a huge column of black aura extending into the ceiling and slowly getting thinner as it stretches out.

(Unlike the last people who used Sprit Sight to look at Haalfrin's Death Aura, these people didn't immediately die. The mages on Floor B33 are all considered strong and dangerous enough to be kept in some of the lowest floors of the Pit. Plus, they had enough sense to immediately look away after briefly glancing at it.)

Orland sees a few of them gawking at Haalfrin, and he shoos them away. "Away with you all! You might distract him." He turns to the door. "Let's focus on cleaning this place up or doing something useful in the meantime. He shouldn't be the only one working."

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Meanwhile, several days pass and Warden Prella is sitting at her desk, going through huge stacks of reports. Today, most of her paperwork has to do with foreign royalties checking in on their political prisoners inside, or petitioning to pay the fee to have someone valuable secured in her establishment.

Actual criminals generally have nobody wondering about where they are, so she gets no letters about them though, so there's that at least.

Anyway, as she's going through them all, her secretary knocks on the door and walks in with another folder full of papers for her.

"Do you have anything on the escaped prisoner on Floor B33?" Warden Prella asks.

Shortly after the escapee's cell grew from a single room to an entire floor, the young-looking mage had swept the floor clean of all surveillance enchantments. Being completely blind to the man's activities, she has to rely on secondary witnesses and careful watches stationed on the floors above and below Floor B33.

"Everything's still silent on that end," the secretary says as he flips through the papers in his arms one last time. "I've been keeping an eye out for any reports, but there's absolutely nothing."

Prella smiles and finally takes a sip of her tea – a habit she only has when she feels relaxed. "Good. I don't think we'll have to worry about that one anymore."

The secretary nods, "Should we take down the Spatial Sealing Field and retake that floor now?"

"Hmm…," the warden considers carefully, "Just leave it. Better safe than sorry after all." She looks up from her latest report. "You don't have to ask all the floor managers about any disturbances from Haalfrin anymore. Just tell me if something comes up."

"Yes Ma'am."

Warden Prella smiles cheerily and takes a long whiff of her fragrant tea. "Looks like everything's going my way again," she mumbles.

The secretary hears this and looks down with disapproval.

"Did I say something wrong?" Prella asks her subordinate.

The man looks like he's not sure if he should open his mouth… but after another moment's thought, he says, "It's bad luck to announce out loud that everything's going your way."

"Nonsense," Prella laughs as she shoos the man away, "You read too many books."