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Before landing on X-542, Ishtar had considered nearly if not all factors and variables that could directly affect her probability of survival, because she couldn't make an escape plan if she died in the first place.
Physical factors involved the shelter and living conditions, availability of food, and the working hours of the inmates.
She didn't forget to also consider the possibility of Wardens venting their frustrations and maltreating the inmates.
But the biggest variable of all was actually the inmates, their pecking order, and the factor that ensures a cohesive hierarchy.
For many prisoners, it would be the same as the Wardens too, venting their frustrations. Including but not limited to bullying, rape, torturing, and even direct killing.
But there was an unnaccounted factor that she only learned this morning, and that was the existence of Credits.
Credits directly expanded the dynamics as it could be considered to even be more valuable than life itself.
During the span of her walk, and when she was mining, her mind was running through simulations of different scenarios, especially the fact that the existence of a currency was a very motivating factor of the existence of a pecking order.
And she had considered this current scenario as the most likely to happen. Though she had considered it, she couldn't jump into conclusions, so she would confirm her guess when she had dealt with these.... Vermin.
She wasn't quick to discredit them, who knew? They might just be worth saving... Or not.
Dropping the pickaxe, she brought the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead, and flicked it to the rock walls, watching as it sizzled out of existence.
By the gods. This place was boiling hot.
Meanwhile the man's "intimidating" grin turned awkward. She wasn't even even paying attention to them.
"This bitch! Hand over yer bracelet, and I'll let ya go!" He roared, making a fighting stance.
And the woman beside him, whose burnt face was twisted in a terrifying grin, dittoed his actions, tightening her hold on the broken pickaxe in her arm.
Ishtar's eyes were not to be deceived.
She caught the obvious trembling the woman's hand, and the desperation that leaked from their voices.
She recognized that look, for whatever reason, they were on the fringes of a mental breakdown.
But outwardly, she gave no obvious reaction, still looking at them with a blank gaze.
The man's croaked voice boomed once again, this time with a hint of frustration."Hehe. Princess! Don't make me repeat myself!! I don't want a dainty Royal's blood on my hands!"
Ishtar raised an eyebrow, and took a step forward, with the same impassive expression on her face, unconsciously revealing the same chilling aura of the day before.
The two immediately stepped back, the woman's voice turning flustered.
"S-stay back! You don't want to get hurt!!"
"Yeah!" The man bounced twice, shadow punching with the motive of intimidation.
"Let's show 'er what we made of!"
"Yes! go for it!"
"No you go for it!"
"You're the stronger one!"
"When did I ever say so!"
Ishtar, already bored, hefted the pickaxe to her left arm, and lunged at them.
The man's fight or flight instincts made him misstep, while the woman gritted her teeth and lunged forward too.
Ishtar made the first move with her arm in the air, obviously superior to both in strength and speed.
She swung the pickaxe to the side, and the woman immediately ducked, feeling the damp wind blow against her forehead.
BOOM!!
The pickaxe dug into the wall, but Ishtar's right hand had already grabbed the woman's lowered head and kneed her face.
CRACK!
Her nose broke, with blood spraying the air, and by the time the man had come forward to lend his assistance, Ishtar abandoned the pickaxe-in-the-wall, and pulled the woman before her, causing the man's incoming blow to impact his accomplice's stomach.
His eyes turned red with rage and he roared."Fight fairly!!" His voice bouncing off the concave walls of the tunnels.
Ishtar ignored the rant and spun the woman around, using the accumulated momentum to perform a spin kick.
BOOM!!
The kick buried his face in the wall, and when his face emerged from the mini-crater created in the wall, it was incomprehensibly mangled.
He staggered a few steps, and collapsed on the damp ground.
Ishtar then threw the woman on the floor beside him, as she had already passed out from the punch to her stomach.
Her bountiful chest undulated for a few moments, before she calmed down, and processed all that happened and it's consequences.
She looked down at both bodies, and even though she didn't recognize them, or didn't make any attempt to, as she didn't care anyway, she knew they must have both been entities of importance back in the Dynasty.
Normally, she wouldn't have it so easy if they were in their peak. But now, they were both shadows of their original selves, whittled down, both in psyche and body, by the penal colony.
Only the more reason for her to plan her escape.
She bent down, and was about to confirm her suspicions when she paused, her eyes flickering behind.
"Come out."
And from the other side, behind the deviating cave emerged the hulking Sabrina.
"Fufufu. As expected of the one acknowledged by me."
There was no change in Ishtar's expression, obviously disregarding whatever compliments and acknowledgement given by this brute.
"Why?" She asked, as cold as ever.
Her incomplete question could have meant anything, but the Lionfolk knew she was asking about the reason for following her.
And Sabrina scratched her cheek, eyes revealing some confusion to the answer she herself gave.
"I have no idea. It's just... Instincts?"
Ishtar sighed and turned to the bodies of the two on the floor, at least she felt no malicious intent.
She raised the head of the woman, and checked the Bar-Code on her collar that was giving off a faint blue lustre.
She tapped it, and a miniature hologram projected itself.
===
Credits: 0.00
===
Nothing. It was totally empty.
She had obviously gleamed some information during the walk to the mines, and the storage of Credits through their unique Bar-Code was one of the things she had overheard.
Also, the existence of hierarchy and extortion of the Credits of weaker inmates by the stronger ones was a firmly-established practice that she personally witnessed during the walk, because she wouldn't just make assumptions without any form of evidence, but strangely, no one made a move for the new inmates.
The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
She moved over to the man and did the same for him. It also showed the same empty Credit balance.
After Ishtar checked their collars, she moved to their wrists, and checked their bracelets.
What Ishtar did further solidified the assumptions she'd made.
The woman's was devoid of any ores, while the man's bracelet wasn't even working anymore.
She remembered the words of the Orc again.
Their tools couldn't last forever, so there would inevitably be maintenance services, but what if the services were not rendered free, and the prisoners were charged?
It was obvious, combined with all the actual expenses incurred for food and shelter, and the extortion of a percentage of the weaker inmates' Credits by the stronger ones.
A vicious cycle was created.
With a percentage of their Credits collected, and after paying for shelter, little to nothing would be left for food. And when these weak inmates went to work the next day with weaker bodies, they would be more prone to accidents, and maybe once in a while, the work equipments would need maintenance. But with not enough Credits, there would be nothing to work with, resulting in consuming the expired nutrient solutions that barely left any strength, and the unlucky ones without Credits to pay for shelter would spend the night in the mines, with most of them dying in their sleep.
This cycle would repeat itself as newcomers came and integrated themselves into the system.
These two were obvious victims of this system. No, to be more precise, they were sent by the stronger inmates to actually determine the average strength of the newbies.
She was sure they didn't go voluntarily, but were seduced and convinced of the prospects of taking her mined ores for themselves, with their desperation having lowered whatever sense of reason they had left.
Something sparked in Ishtar's head, and even though it was still vague, she knew she the key to actually escaping was to exploit this system.
She had finished rummaging through the two of them, and just in time, the booming voice of the Kalui Captain was heard, the sound waves spreading through the whole tunnels with the use of Mana.
It was time to head back.
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Trivia:
The Chaos Era that ended 30,000 years ago, is a time when gods were said to roam the land, and the primordial waters were greatly unsettled.
