"Hiss... huff..."
During the long inhale and exhale, Li Ban felt as if the entire universe was being drawn into his chest before slowly being released.
He then calmly opened his eyes, feeling a slight coolness in his right eye that was quite comfortable.
"I've sensed the spiritual essence."
The cat-woman opened her eyes at the same time.
"You... have quite good talent." She hesitated momentarily before continuing naturally, "At first when you couldn't sense the spiritual essence, I thought you might be naturally slow."
"Hey hey hey, I was just sitting uncomfortably."
The cat-woman nodded in agreement. "That's part of it. When you were absorbing spiritual essence just now, you seemed to take in quite a lot in a short time. This suggests that when you improve your strength, the time needed to reach full spiritual essence will be shorter than average."
"Is full spiritual essence when you've filled up with elemental energy?"
"How many Identity tiers are there in total?"
"Ten tiers. But most places' Identity systems don't reach ten tiers. In Death Prison, the highest officials only reach the fourth tier. The beast-fighting arena we visited today is also fourth tier. However, Death Prison has the imperial court above it, so its status is slightly higher than the arena."
The highest Identity system has ten tiers.
Death Prison officials have fourth tier Identity.
And there's an imperial court.
Of course, with officials there must be an imperial court.
The emperor must be tenth tier Identity, right?
But to become emperor in the Witch World, would one also need to climb up from being a menial worker?
Getting ahead of himself - none of that concerned the current Li Ban.
What he needed to do now was strive to reach full spiritual essence, then work toward obtaining the next Identity tier based on circumstances.
The next Identity tier... should be jailer.
Imagining himself as equals with Tree-Person A, then someday with jailer Zhou Gu, until eventually becoming a prison official who could trample them all underfoot, Li Ban couldn't help but smirk.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. Having the strength to advance and having available Identities to advance to are two different things." The cat-woman poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "Do you know how many people reach full spiritual essence but remain stuck at their current tier?"
"Do you know how long the longest-stuck person remained?"
The cat-woman's face loomed before Li Ban's eyes, her gaze calmly indifferent.
"Until death."
Li Ban suddenly smiled.
He stood up, brushing dust off his pants. "One position per person - if your superior is young and capable, they'll suppress you for years. I understand that principle. But one should still have dreams - what if they come true?"
"Besides, life here is already so oppressive. Don't take away my right to daydream."
The cat-woman's eyes widened slightly, surprised that Li Ban would say such things.
She didn't know that Li Ban's current calm attitude stemmed more from his desire to leave the Witch World as soon as possible.
Though the laboratory world might not be much brighter, the Witch World was truly dark.
Most crucially, if he died here, he'd be trapped in his corpse.
He didn't even dare think about it.
So now, studying combat skills and absorbing spiritual essence were all for... survival.
Not for the laboratory's mission.
Leaving the prison cell area, Li Ban returned to the storeroom.
When absorbing spiritual essence before the cat-woman, he had stopped midway.
Not because he was eager to report his progress, but because he felt... his experience absorbing spiritual essence was completely different from both the manual's description and the cat-woman's explanation!
The manual said spiritual essence fluctuated and required finding matching frequencies.
The cat-woman said spiritual essence was in the air and would stimulate his senses.
But Li Ban's spiritual essence flowed like a galaxy, like time itself.
Though Li Ban didn't know much about spiritual essence, he instinctively felt this situation wasn't normal.
He hurried back to the storeroom, lying on the crate bed with its still-unchanged new bedding, eagerly attempting to absorb spiritual essence again.
The reclining position was even more relaxed than sitting, and almost as soon as Li Ban closed his eyes, the galactic flow appeared in his consciousness.
The spiritual essence in his right eye began gradually increasing - not particularly fast, but definitely growing.
He didn't know others' cultivation speeds, but Li Ban couldn't help thinking...
"I'm exceptionally talented!"
Unfortunately, Li Ban had barely begun cultivating when a tree-person jailer called him.
"Coming!"
He immediately jumped up and ran out, nearly going the wrong direction.
Now when tree-person jailers called him, it meant going to Death Prison's second level.
Arriving at the second level, Li Ban saw a tree-person jailer standing before a large bucket.
This time it was Tree-Person B, who rarely appeared.
When Li Ban approached, Tree-Person B looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Never thought the vacant menial worker Identity would go to you."
Unsure how to respond, Li Ban remained silent.
Tree-Person B then pointed at the large bucket. "Second-level prisoners get fed every three days. From now on, someone will place the food bucket at the third-level entrance on feeding days. When you see it, give each living prisoner three full scoops - no more, no less."
Li Ban listened carefully - this would be his main duty as a menial worker, with no room for mistakes.
"This level is different from the first. Giving extra or less food could cause problems. If problems occur because of you, there will be punishment."
"Since it's your first time distributing gruel today, I'll demonstrate once."
Tree-Person B's attitude had indeed changed considerably, even demonstrating personally.
He lifted the food bucket with a branch and walked to the first occupied cell.
Li Ban looked at the prisoner lying against the iron bars, his throat tightening.
Tree-Person B used a wooden ladle hanging on the bucket to scoop a full portion, pouring it into a small funnel outside the bars.
The funnel was very smooth.
The gruel-like substance - resembling crushed oats and black rice - flowed down the wide funnel into a thin tube.
After three scoops, Tree-Person B knocked on the iron bars.
The prisoner who had lain corpse-like slowly turned his head, covering the tube below the funnel with his mouth before gulping noisily.
As the prisoner needed to tilt his head slightly, the hair covering his face fell away somewhat.
Only then did Li Ban see the man had no eyes - just deep sunken sockets with something moving inside.
Li Ban's teeth began chattering.
Hearing this, Tree-Person B turned and laughed heartily. "You'll need to adjust quickly. This is nothing?"
He handed the branch-suspended bucket to Li Ban. "You handle the rest."
The bucket itself wasn't disgusting - the gruel inside even smelled good.
As Li Ban reached to take it, Tree-Person B warned, "This stuff is deadly poison to you. Don't eat it, and best not touch it either."
Li Ban's hand paused briefly before firmly taking the bucket, gripping it more tightly than before.
The bucket was heavy, and Li Ban had to walk carefully to avoid spilling.
Steadying himself at the second occupied cell, Li Ban imitated Tree-Person B by scooping three portions into the funnel.
This cell's prisoner huddled deep inside. After pouring the food, Li Ban also knocked on the bars.
The prisoner inside shifted but didn't approach to eat.
Observing this, Tree-Person B said, "If they don't come, just the knocking is enough. When finished, return the bucket to the third-level entrance."
Tree-Person B's patience exhausted, he shook his branches and left.
Now alone, Li Ban carried the deceptively appetizing yet poisonous food to feed the pitiful, disgusting prisoners.
After feeding the last prisoner, the bucket was nearly empty.
Li Ban returned it to its place, then stiffly headed upstairs.
Passing the cat-woman, he ignored her question: "Any meat?"
Instead, Li Ban broke into a sprint.
He raced to the pit latrine like a hundred-meter dash and violently vomited up everything he'd eaten that day.