Episode 4: A Certain Prison Camp (3)

From the moment that guy called me, my head was in a mess.

Should I steal the key now?

If so, how do I draw his attention?

The 고민 didn't last long.

It was close to gambling while the synchronization wasn't complete.

There was no need to force it. Now was not the time.

"I heard you're piling up the stone towers very diligently?"

Clarke looked at me and asked mockingly.

Judging from the atmosphere, he didn't seem to know about what happened in the cafeteria yet...

"I thought you'd have a dying face, but it seems you can endure it."

"..."

"Hey, guard. Double his workload from tomorrow. Do you understand?"

"Double it from now...?"

"Do I have to say it again to understand?"

"Ah, no! I will do as you say!"

Hah, look at this?

They'll complain again about the increased workload. That guy was deliberately creating situations to make things difficult for me.

"I want to see you begging me to kill you."

I wondered what kind of bad blood there was to build up so much emotion.

I was frustrated in many ways, but there was nothing I could do right now.

"Get enough sleep. It'll get more tiring as the days go by."

"..."

Clarke said a few more mocking words and moved to the next room. It seemed that the real business was not with me.

"Number 114. Number 456. Number 891. Number 2918. Come outside."

The summoned prisoners came out into the hallway, hesitating.

But they all had heavy expressions. No, the expression 'heavy' was not enough to describe how gloomy and dark they were.

"Sigh, they're going again."

"Who are those people?"

When I asked, Riu shook his head.

"They're death row inmates. They're going to enjoy their last supper."

"They execute people here too?"

"Of course. It's a place with strict systems and rules."

"Didn't they just kill people indiscriminately last time?"

"That's because there was a reason for it, which was escaping. Just look at you being alive? The Warden hates you so much, he would have killed you a long time ago if there were no rules."

Now that I heard it, it was true.

Well, Kerion Prison Camp was officially operated by the Empire, so the Warden couldn't just do as he pleased.

Riu told me a few more things besides that.

"The prisoners have their last supper before the execution. They can eat as much of what they want as they can."

"I thought they threw human rights out the window, but it seems that's not the case."

"It's their last moment. They even listen to the last words of knights and wizards, right?"

"What is the criteria for selecting death row inmates?"

"Huh? You really don't know anything?"

Riu tilted his head and opened his mouth again.

"Most of the prisoners didn't commit big crimes. The nobles feel uncomfortable killing the lower people, so they send them here. Murder is a serious crime in the Empire."

"It sounds like they can just send them here if they don't like them."

"That's right. Instead, they pay a certain amount of money every year. If they don't pay that money for more than a year, they're selected as death row inmates. So most of them don't last more than a year."

It was a very unique place.

When I played it as a game, I only thought that the difficulty was hard, but life here was just as hellish.

"How many years has it been for me?"

"Don't you think it's weird to ask me that?"

"I just suddenly couldn't remember."

"I heard from the guards that it's been 3 years."

That meant that the Arahan family was paying money every year.

It meant that they didn't want to kill me even though they threw me away. The reason why Riu stuck to me was probably because of that.

Other prisoners were executed after a year, but I was still alive after 3 years.

'The puzzle is coming together.'

I was able to picture how to escape from here in my head.

Several more days had passed since then.

The prisoners' groaning never stopped every night because of the increased workload.

As days went by, dissatisfaction was bound to 쌓이다 (pile up), and I often felt glares directed at me.

Riu was already fast asleep, snoring.

I, who was also suffering from body aches because of my weak body, fell asleep as soon as I lay down.

And the synchronization ended while I was sleeping.

[Synchronization complete.] [Retrieving information.] [Name: Jed (Arahan)] [Class: Wizard] [Traits] [Immune to All Poisons (S)] [Immortal Gambler (S)] [Persistent Challenger (S)] [Noble Soul of the Champion (S)] [Protection of the Archmage (S)] [Stats] [Strength: 100 (-50)] [Agility: 100 (-50)] [Stamina: 100 (-50)] [Sense: 100] [Magic: 0] [※ Penalties due to stunted growth will be applied.]

"Ugh...!"

I felt extreme pain while sleeping.

Was this what it felt like to have my body torn to pieces?

Thanks to that, I woke up 2 hours earlier than wake-up time.

'No, is this right...?'

I roughly wiped my body, which was wet with cold sweat, and looked at the screen.

I knew instinctively while enduring the pain. That the synchronization was over.

But I could only be dumbfounded after looking all the way to the bottom.

'...Magic is zero?'

Shiba.... The class is a wizard?

But how can magic be zero?

This was a bun without red bean paste, a dumpling without fillings.

How can the most important stat for a wizard be zero?

I laughed as if I had lost my mind at the incredibly unnatural stat window.

'So I really am a half-wit. I can't believe there was such a crappy character.'

I had no choice but to understand why this kind of child was born into the Arahan, the strongest family, and was abandoned.

That's how great Arahan's name value was in the Empire.

Well, it was also a very unique family.

'Hoo.... Let's calm down and check slowly.'

What could I do about what had already happened?

The habit of thinking positively for adaptation helped me a little.

I pulled myself together and looked at the state window one by one.

Anyway, the synchronization I had been eagerly waiting for was over.

"Hmm."

The max stat in Last Savior was 100.

As expected, it was a blessing in disguise that Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Sense were maxed out.

As expected, synchronization meant that my past life's stats were gamified.

However, due to stunted growth, only 50 Strength, Agility, and Stamina were applied. This was probably due to my body's problem.

The effects of 100 stats couldn't come out from a skinny body. It was unnecessarily realistic for a game.

'The penalty can be solved with physical training.'

What mattered was that I had received max stats.

What was so difficult about doing what I had been doing all the time, which was lifting weights?

Moreover, it was what I liked to do the most. It was a temporary penalty, so I could recover quickly if I had the right conditions.

'There are a lot of new traits I'm seeing for the first time. But they're all S-rank.....'

Looking at the stats alone, I was the worst trash character, but looking at the traits, there was no better blessed character.

No, it wasn't right to call this a blessed character. It was better to call it a balance breakdown.

The only S-rank traits I had gained while playing the game for 10 years were 'Immune to All Poisons' and 'Immortal Gambler.'

That's how unique S-ranks were, and even getting just one of them had enormous potential. There were 5 S-rank traits.

Magic being zero was shocking, but it was somewhat comforting to look at the traits.

'What is Archmage's Protection? The magic is 0, is this a joke.'

It was a shame that there was no separate explanation, but there was a saying in Lase that 'traits don't betray you'...

'It's not like there's no way to solve the magic problem.'

Anyway, the synchronization was over, and the top priority was to use this to escape from here.

"Number 218?! What are you doing there? Have you finally gone crazy?"

Riu, who had just woken up, looked at me in shock.

I greeted him lightly in a handstand position.

"Did you sleep well?"

"No, why are you standing upside down? You scared me half to death."

"I'm exercising."

"Exercising...? Is carrying stones not enough?"

"Yeah. I still have energy left."

"..."

I did a few more push-ups in a handstand position and released it. The heat in my body was moderately circulating, and I felt refreshed.

Even if I was getting a penalty, it was 환골탈태 (a complete transformation) compared to the previous weak body.

"Huh?! Were you always that tall...? I thought you were similar to me? And why is your body so solid?"

"You should also carry stones diligently."

"You get taller by carrying stones?"

Riu kept scanning me as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The state of my body had changed considerably due to the effects of synchronization. But at best, it was still at the level of a child compared to my past life's body.

"Work starts! Prisoners are to line up in front of their rooms!"

Everyone sighed as if the ground was sinking with the guard's shout.

As I went outside as if I was being dragged to a slaughterhouse, I saw the stone tower I had been building yesterday.

"By the Warden's orders, the workload will be increased even more from today! Everyone, don't walk, run! Do you understand!"

"No, Shiba! Where can we increase it any more from here?!"

"We're already moving as if we're running! Come on, make us work within a possible range!"

"Seriously, let's be reasonable! How many times is this!"

The prisoners, who had already reached their limit, immediately protested.

Then the guards next to them drew their swords. It was an expected reaction.

"I'm just conveying the Warden's orders. If you want to argue, argue with the Warden."

"What kind of...! Isn't this too much?"

"So tell the Warden. Or."

The guard stopped talking and winked at me.

The prisoners would have known what that meant. That the workload was increasing solely because of me.

The prisoners, who had realized this, now had the eyes of beasts.

'Look at these guys?'

Killing intent spread in an instant, as if they had promised each other.

Was this also a pre-arranged event? To kill me by disguising it as a simple riot?

Warden Clarke's intention was blatant.

He kept claiming that knights valued honor, but in the end, it was a trick.

He was just that kind of person, so he managed a backwater prison camp.

The named knights in Last Savior that I knew weren't like this.

"Hmm, hmm. Let's take a cigarette break for a while."

The guards who saw the atmosphere intentionally slipped away.

Tacit agreement. The beasts, who no longer had anything to lose, slowly began to surround me and Riu.

"This means the Warden approved it, right?"

"Let's get a grip. Can't you tell by the guards' attitude? They're telling us to kill that bastard."

"If we don't kill him today, they'll increase the workload even more tomorrow, right?"

Whether they had feelings for me or not, they had to kill me in order to survive. Clarke's intention had created that kind of environment.

I shook my head and sighed deeply.

"It's not that I don't understand your position. It's because it's an unavoidable situation."

"Don't resent us. You have to blame the fact that your bloodline is Arahan and you're a wizard, what else can we do?"

"You guys should understand my position too. I can't just quietly die, right?"

"Pooh-! He's still acting tough, even though he's supposed to be a wizard. You're just a half-wit in the end."

"..."

At that moment, a feeling of anger surged up.

I felt bad seeing the magic stat '0' above my head.

Thinking about it again, magic 0 was too much for a wizard.

"Well, it's good because I needed a target to vent my anger on anyway."

As if there was no need to listen to my words, a group of orange men surrounded me in layers.

Riu, who was pale with fright, muttered that he had gotten on the wrong line.

I felt like adrenaline was about to explode at the tension I was experiencing after a long time.

How much power would the applied stats show?

Would it not be as much as my past life?

I had been itching to find out since before.

"Don't waste time, come in. I want to feel it right away."

"What are you doing?! Kill that bastard!"

Leaving Riu, who was covering his head and squatting in place, behind, I lunged toward them.

Soon, a smile came to my face as I felt the heavy impact of my hands and feet.

Peoek!

Right hook. Left uppercut.

A turning kick that rotated the waist around the right foot.

The effective hits landed on the desired area at the desired timing as I intended.

"Yeah, this is it! This is the 맛(taste) I was looking for!"

The pleasure of avoiding attacks.

The thrill of landing an effective hit.

The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction I got from pushing myself to the limit.

I started fighting because I was addicted to this taste.

I enjoyed fighting strong opponents and desperately wanted a stronger rival to appear.

"Come at me more aggressively!"

"Keuheok...!"

I had imagined such things on the octagon.

I wished they would stop attacking me one by one and attack me all at once.

That way I could fight even more opponents.

"Come on! More! More!"

"Keuk!"

I was experiencing the things I had imagined in reality.

My heart was beating as if it would explode from the intense sensation.

I started the game to meet strong people who weren't in my past life.

I wanted to feel it even outside of the monitor, but I came into it.

"More! Just a little more!"

In this place overflowing with 강자(strong people), I was no longer the boring champion.

I was the 숙명(fated) challenger who had to rise from the bottom.

That fact made me insanely excited.

ed workload.