Li Ban's departing footsteps immediately halted.
"My eye ability has improved!"
He was both shocked and delighted, his lips curling into a grin.
The cat-woman had told him that extreme training could slightly enhance elemental abilities, but she never mentioned gaining a secondary ability!
Was this the unspoken information hidden in her words?
This was Li Ban's first time using extreme methods to train his eye ability - how had it leveled up already?
"Am I a genius?" Li Ban chuckled foolishly, savoring this rare piece of good news.
After calming his excitement for a few minutes, Li Ban left the storeroom and emerged from Death Prison to test his new ability above ground.
It was afternoon, sunlight baking the sinkhole floor uncomfortably.
Li Ban focused on the flies and discovered that with concentration, he could see their wing movements clearly and even predict their sudden directional changes.
However, this slow-motion vision only lasted one or two seconds before returning to normal speed.
"I can see slow-motion sequences of fast movements. In a fight, this might help predict enemy attacks."
His initial joy quickly soured.
While his eyes could perceive it, his body lacked matching reflexes.
Using this ability in combat now would mean "watching helplessly as fists connected with his nose."
"My abilities are all supportive. I still need to practice the techniques the cat-woman taught me."
The movements the cat-woman had taught Li Ban carried no grandiose names - just basic verbs like stepping and punching.
This underscored how fundamentally basic this introductory combat style was.
"Daydreaming about taking root here?" The tree-person jailer's voice suddenly came from behind.
Li Ban quickly turned and bowed. "Sir."
Checking the bark patterns, he recognized Tree-Person A.
Tree-Person B rarely appeared above ground, busy with unknown tasks below.
"Since you're so idle, you'll accompany me on an errand tomorrow."
An outing?
Suppressing his excitement after being confined for half a month, Li Ban replied, "Understood."
Since arriving in the Witch World, he'd spent most time in Death Prison's gloomy confines. Finally, a chance to see the outside.
Though Death Prison was notoriously terrible, Li Ban wondered if the outside world might be better.
Nearby, Lu straightened painfully from her work in the vegetable patch, eyes filled with envy.
Tree-Person A left via the sinkhole stairs without offering to bring Lu along.
Her head drooped in disappointment.
Li Ban noticed but said nothing, returning to Death Prison's first level instead.
The newly-arrived Li Ban might have spoken up for Lu, but now he prioritized his own survival.
Walking back to Cell Thirteen, he found the cat-woman feigning sleep on her straw mat after eating.
She didn't rise at his approach.
Li Ban remained standing by the far wall.
"Do ghosts exist here?"
"..." The disturbed cat-woman sighed but answered firmly, "No!"
"What about shadowy monster-like things?"
"Maybe elsewhere, but not here. This shabby Death Prison is still official territory - you think the wardens and officers are useless?"
In all his time here, Li Ban had never seen these officials.
They presumably lived on lower levels, but did they never come up for sunlight?
Or were they underground creatures like mushroom-people or potato-people?
Giving up on this line of thought, Li Ban reasoned that whether the shadow he'd seen was a ghost or someone's ability, he couldn't defeat it either way.
Constant paranoia would only torment himself.
He cautiously broached his new ability: "How many abilities... do elements usually have?"
"Whoosh!"
The previously reclining cat-woman abruptly sat upright, eyes wide as saucers.
"Y-you... your element sublimated?!"
She'd guessed what happened?
This was the first time Li Ban saw her so shocked she stammered.
"What's sublimation?"
The cat-woman didn't answer immediately.
After a long stare, her lips quivered as if holding back tears.
"Why?!" Her voice trembled with anguish. "I trained for years before my final element sublimated. This clueless fool gets his first element - a secondhand one at that - to sublimate immediately?!"
"Ahem!" Li Ban feigned sternness. "Insult me? That's two ounces of meat deducted!"
"My apologies!"
Mention of meat instantly overrode her self-pity - a true pragmatist.
"Explain sublimation properly."
"Elements can sublimate once, usually gaining new abilities or significant enhancements. Even identity-less people's elements can sublimate, but the odds are so low I never imagined it happening to you."
The cat-woman looked utterly crushed, muttering, "What absurd luck..."
Li Ban's expression darkened, but seeing her devastated state, he decided against retaliation and left.
The new ability brought rare excitement to Li Ban's stagnant life.
He began constantly observing fast-moving objects, though Death Prison only offered insects to study.
After several attempts, dizziness forced him to stop.
The cat-woman had warned that without spiritual essence absorption, identity-less people powered abilities with their vitality.
Overuse could cause anything from dizziness to death.
Fortunately, his symptoms were mild, gone after a night's sleep.
The next morning, a thunderous "BANG!" startled Li Ban awake.
He sprang up defensively.
The tree-person at the door scoffed, "That posture wouldn't stop a child. Get moving - we're leaving."
Summer meant Li Ban slept fully clothed, ready to depart immediately.
Following Tree-Person A up the sinkhole stairs, he mimicked placing his hand on the stone door's peach blossom carving.
Instantly, his surroundings shifted to the familiar woods where he'd first entered Death Prison.
A waiting wagon stood before him.
Glancing back, the tree hollow entrance appeared merely palm-sized and impenetrably dark.
"Board!" Tree-Person A ordered.
Li Ban scrambled onto the wagon's front bench before the whip could snap.
The emaciated draft horse looked malnourished.
The wagon lacked proper seating - just a plank with half-meter sideboards.
Tree-Person A retracted all roots and branches into a stubby stump form.
Perched precariously on the edge, Li Ban gripped the sideboard tightly against potential falls.
"Sir, where are we going?"
In relatively good spirits, Tree-Person A answered:
"Qingcheng County. Black and white markets."