Chapter 286: Seventy-Fourth Floor, Prison Break (4)

[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 167 hours 42 minutes.]

Frustrated, I let out a long sigh. “

Haaa.

”

It hadn’t even been twenty minutes since I had arrived on the seventy-fourth floor. Yet, thanks to the lunatic in the neighboring cell and that creepy guard, it felt like at least an hour had passed.

On top of that, the drop in my physical capabilities kept me on edge.

After taking a deep, calming breath, I resumed plotting.

How to escape, huh? Let me see. What options do I even have?

I mulled over some possibilities, but nothing struck me as brilliant.

Frankly, that wasn’t surprising. I didn’t have any foundational knowledge when it came to prisons or how to escape from one. It was similar to how things had been when I first entered the tower, facing my very first fight to the death.

No—if anything, this was worse. Back then, at least I had been able to rely on a bit of boxing experience. That gave me something to work with.

Now, I had nothing.

Incarceration and escaping from prison were distant, almost fictional concepts to me, even when I had been back on Earth.

The extent of my knowledge

amounted to whatever I had absorbed from movies or television dramas. The first image that popped into my head was using spoons, forks, or even chopsticks to dig through a wall.

Not exactly practical.

I only had a week.

If I had my full strength, maybe. But now? There is no way I can dig through a wall in seven days with these stats.

Moreover, this wasn’t even like the prisons found on Earth. It was infamous at a universal level. I couldn’t even guarantee that the walls were made of something I could dig through.

Worse, there was likely constant surveillance. What if the guards performed daily inspections or conducted regular patrols?

Inciting a revolt did cross my mind.

That, too, was essentially a fantasy, though.

Rallying hardened inmates and leading a full-scale prison uprising? That only happened in movies.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Not only was I a newcomer, but earning the trust of complete strangers in such a short time would be hard enough on its own. Also, if even one of them cozied up with the guards or secretly snitched, the entire plan would collapse.

The only other option I could think of was finding outside help.

However, even considering that was pointless. I didn’t have a single ally here.

If I at least had access to my gear, things would be different. I wouldn’t even have needed much. Just the Necklace of Accord alone would have made this trial laughably easy.

Even a weak thread of mana would have been enough for me to signal for help with the necklace. Then, Ha Hee-Jeong could come to get me out.

Honestly, if skills and mana weren’t restricted, I could have just opened a portal and walked out.

Never mind the cuffs. I would have dealt with them afterward.

Hmm.

I forcibly shook the distracting thoughts from my head. Pointless speculation wouldn’t help. I had to work within the constraints I had been given.

Now was the time to return to the matter at hand: escaping.

I decided not to completely abandon my wall-digging idea just yet. Even if it seemed unrealistic, it wouldn’t hurt to at least test the theory. Besides that idea, none of my other ideas seemed even slightly feasible. I simply didn’t have enough context or knowledge about this prison.

If only there were communal periods, like time for inmates to rest or exercise together.

That kind of scene popped up all the time in prison films. For instance, a bunch of prisoners would gather in a yard to work out or get some fresh air.

Usually, that was when the veteran inmates would pick fights with the newcomers to assert dominance. An opportunity like that would be ideal for gathering intel and possibly recruiting someone to help me escape.

Even if I couldn’t win over everyone, I could probably find at least one collaborator. That wasn’t guaranteed, however.

I didn’t even know if this prison had free time.

Not something I can count on yet, I am better off shelving that for later.

I tried approaching my situation from every possible angle, but came to the same conclusion: the cuffs were the first and biggest hurdle. Once they came off, it was practically guaranteed that I could escape.

With my powers restored, I could break out by force. If the guards turned out to be too powerful, I could just open a portal and leave.

Either way, I would be free.

Regardless, I still don’t know how to remove them.

Ultimately, every problem I faced stemmed from a lack of information. It seemed clear to me that I was supposed to spend the full seven days gathering clues before using them to break out.

Honestly, things felt murky and uncertain at the moment, but I wasn’t too concerned. I hadn’t even been here for forty minutes.

Finding the answer to a seven-day trial in under forty minutes would be ridiculous.

The solution had to be hidden somewhere in this prison. I was confident that I could overcome this floor through my own efforts.

After all, the tower’s first principle seemed to be that climbers had to be capable of overcoming each trial. It was a rule that I hadn’t once seen broken.

I halted my thoughts and rose to my feet.

Hmmm, I should search the room more carefully.

Sometimes, the solution would lie closer than expected. The cell was tiny, barely a hundred fifty square feet, but who knew? Maybe pressing a particular brick would reveal a hidden key or a secret passageway.

That is unlikely, of course. Still, it is worth checking.

I started at the base of the bars and began methodically pressing each brick, from floor to ceiling. Despite the small space, combing through it thoroughly took more time than I expected.

Unsurprisingly, I found nothing.

Even when I projected small amounts of mana, nothing reacted.

The only furnishings were a filthy chamber pot and a bed. I inspected the inside of the pot—unpleasant, to say the least—and lifted the bed, but there was only dust beneath it. It was safe to conclude there was nothing useful hidden in the room.

Welp, can’t help with that.

When it came to escaping, whether through planning or taking action, I had reached my current limit. Once again, I came to a simple conclusion: I needed more information.

As I slumped back onto the bed, an idea sparked in my mind.

Do I really have to stay lying down like this?

I had rested enough back in the waiting room—and eaten well, too. Even with my stats weakened, I wasn’t fatigued, nor was I starving.

I immediately sat up.

Let me see. So far, two floors have reset or weakened my stats and skills.

One of them had been the forty-fourth floor, Abandoned City. There, every action translated to a slight increase in my stats.

Maybe the seventy-fourth floor was similar. I didn’t have any solid evidence supporting this theory, of course, but both floors did end in a four.

Either way, the possibility that physical training could help me regain my strength was worth pursuing. I wouldn’t know unless I tried.

In this cramped cell, my options were limited to basic bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats, or something similar. Luckily, a personal trainer turned climber had taught me a few proper techniques back in a previous rest area.

May as well put them to use.

***

[Overcome the conditions presented and escape. Time remaining: 162 hours 42 minutes.]

The following morning, I awoke to the faint sound of clinking metal.

Clatter, rattle—

A wheeled cart was making its way down the corridor. It would pause at intervals, followed by the soft clink of something being placed.

Sounds like meal distribution.

The noises were still distant, approaching from far down the hallway. I would have to wait a little longer.

As I lay there, I recalled last night’s events.

Not bad.

It wasn’t extraordinary by any means, but it had gone fairly well. I could feel myself gradually strengthening with each round of training. Even my mana had accumulated, although only by a fraction.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call the results impressive, since my growth hadn’t been dramatic enough to be called a breakthrough.

Still, progress was progress, no matter how slight.

Of course, I doubted I would become strong enough to escape with just a week of training, but that didn’t mean I could afford to slack off.

You never know how things will unfold.

If worse came to worst, this training could end up saving me.

Maybe it is because I am weaker now, but that bit of exercise really wore me out.

Barring a few moments, like when I had passed out after consuming an elixir or after overusing Divine Power, it had been a long time since I had slept so soundly. Four hours was far longer than normal for me now

I wasn’t sure if that was something to be happy about.

Still, I had to admit that compared to last night, my head felt clearer, my thoughts sharper.

As if on cue, a prison guard appeared from the left side of the corridor. It wasn’t the same one from yesterday.

This one looked tired, and she moved with all the enthusiasm of someone half-asleep. Wordlessly, she slipped a bowl through the bars and disappeared. The bowl contained a thin stew with a spoon and was topped with a fist-sized piece of bread.

The first thing that caught my attention was the color. Both the spoon and the bowl were a deep blue.

Is that a clue?

As I examined them more closely, a message window appeared before my eyes.

[Utensils of Al Ferhadeen]

- Created with mana to prevent its usage in an escape attempt.

- Will disperse and vanish after a certain time.

- Time remaining until disappearance: 4 minutes 54 seconds.

These bastards.

I had been planning to test the wall with the spoon. Just like that, one possible route was gone before I could even try it.

Now I understood why this place was infamous. Escape was going to be impossible unless I removed these cuffs.

I forced myself to drop that earlier train of thought.

Five minutes left.

I needed to eat quickly. The stew wasn’t much, but I could finish it fast and then test the wall just to see. Even if the spoon melted, maybe I could find or create some other tool later.

I had to try everything available to me—I couldn’t afford to sit around and wait for the perfect solution.

Wait.

Just as I was about to pick up the spoon, a thought from my early-morning training flickered into my mind.

This facility housed powerful individuals. I couldn’t be the only one thinking along these lines.

Regardless of the cuffs, surely other prisoners had also realized that they could still train and grow stronger. Despite that, the guy in the next cell had complained about his weakened aura.

Thankfully, the cuffs don’t seem to limit my growth.

If they had, then all the progress I had made during my training would have been erased.

Of course, it could be because I was a climber, but maybe there was another explanation.

What if the cuffs only suppress you when they are first applied?

If that were true, then there had to be a different reason the other inmates hadn’t been able to improve their physical condition.

A sinking suspicion took root. I quickly turned my gaze toward the stew. No alert popped up, but I didn’t look away. Not all system messages appeared automatically; some were deliberately hidden, like secret quests.

Sure enough, after about ten seconds of silent observation, a new window bloomed in the air.

[Stew of Al Ferhadeen]

- A bland, poorly made stew prepared by Al Ferhadeen’s guards.

- Contains a drug that inhibits the accumulation of mana and physical growth. Continued consumption will eventually suppress even the potential for advancement.

I nearly cursed violently.

It suppresses even the potential for growth?

If I had eaten this without thinking, I could have ruined everything.

So that is why the other prisoners have weakened over time.

Maybe they had resisted at first and gone a few days without food, but lost to hunger in the end. Eventually, they would have to eat.

As soon as they did, they could no longer grow stronger.

I can’t eat the food here.

That meant I only had to stifle my hunger for seven days.

Humans could survive without food for a week. Sure, I would be exhausted and hungry, but that was a secondary problem.

Thankfully, I had eaten plenty before arriving here.

I grabbed the bowl and dumped its contents out the tiny window above the bed. Now, all I had left were the bowl and spoon.

They won’t stick around for much longer, but I should at least try to damage the wall.

A sudden and sharp thought stabbed through my mind. The system had said the bowl and spoon were made from mana.

If that was true, could consuming them increase my mana reserves?