Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: The Second Fusion Skill

After this battle, combined with his previous progress, Lloyd had leveled up a total of 8 times.

Factoring in the 20 extra, inexplicable points of inspiration he’d gained, it was the equivalent of 12 levels.

He had no idea how much Spiritual Contamination he’d endured the moment he touched that book. It made him feel like he was "boiling"—an intensity that likely surpassed the upper limit of his Rationality several times over.

Thankfully, he’d kept his Rationality high, and his [Dizziness Resistance] was strong enough to let him grit his teeth on the edge of unconsciousness and absorb that massive wave of Madness Value.

’This [Dizziness Resistance] I learned from riding the subway... it’s a true life-saving Divine Skill!’

But when it came down to it... ’Why did I want this book so badly?’

Even after calming down, Lloyd couldn’t figure out where that sudden impulse had come from. Where had that intense feeling of possessiveness originated?

Moreover, his inspiration was still trembling faintly, warning him ’not to overthink it’.

’I might as well see what this book gave me.’

Lloyd first carefully reviewed the previous system notifications:

[Ding~ Please complete your third Transcendence as soon as possible.]

[Ding~ Sufficient Knowledge Fragments acquired. Skill level increased. Twisted Realm LV4→LV5]

[Ding~ Sufficient Knowledge Fragments acquired. Skill level increased. Seed of Distortion LV1→LV3]

[Ding~ Assessing... Skill fusion available. Fuse with Veto Declaration (Twist)?]

’All I did was pick up a book, and two skills from my Twist System leveled up, and a fusion option even appeared.’

Considering how powerful the [Extraordinary Swordsmanship] Fusion Skill was, there was no question he would fuse them. But there was no rush. First, Lloyd examined the specific changes to his upgraded skills and the new knowledge in his mind.

The upgrade to [Twisted Realm] didn’t bring any new twisting methods; it only strengthened and enhanced the three existing types—twisting thought and Cognition, physical twisting, and twisting Extraordinary Abilities.

Specifically, he could now provide directional guidance, causing a target’s perceptions, thoughts, and Cognition to twist in the direction he guided.

However, it was only a rough, broad-strokes form of guidance, toward concepts like ’optimism,’ ’pessimism,’ ’beauty,’ or ’absurdity.’

For example, he could make a vicious criminal feel their ’death’ was imminent, but the specifics of how and when they would die depended on the person’s own imagination; he couldn’t interfere or control it.

He could also make the little match girl see the beauty in her heart within the flame’s light, but the specific nature of that ’beauty’ would also depend on the little girl’s own mind.

In short, it was slightly more controllable than the previous [Twist] effect, but not by much...

At the same time, the actual effect, just like before, was influenced by the target’s mental state and four Attributes. If used against a High-ranking Powerhouse with a sound mental state, it probably wouldn’t be very effective.

However, it was exceptionally effective against simple-minded Demons and criminals suffering from long-term mental instability.

As for the physical and ability twisting aspects, there wasn’t much change other than an increase in intensity. It could now twist stronger objects and more powerful Extraordinary Abilities.

However, its destructive power still couldn’t compare to bullets or a Spiritual Blade. Overall, the skill remained more control-oriented.

Next were the changes to [Seed of Distortion]. It had jumped two levels at once, but it was still very weak.

Previously, the skill had been very weak. It could only be used on targets with self-awareness, and it would only slowly twist their perceptions, thoughts, and Cognition. Its effectiveness was also checked against the target’s mental state and four Attributes, making it slow-acting and of questionable utility. Furthermore, it required consuming that baffling ’consciousness seed’ to even be cast.

Its only advantages were that it was subtle and had no range limit. Aside from insidiously targeting people, Lloyd couldn’t think of any other application for it.

Now, after the upgrade, in addition to its basic effects being strengthened, it had gained a practical new function: it allowed Lloyd to secretly guide the direction of the twist, similar to the new effect of [Twisted Realm].

Although at LV3 it had gained a function that [Twisted Realm] only got at LV5, its effect and functionality were still weak. It could still only provide broad directional guidance, and it still required that baffling consciousness seed to be cast.

But it didn’t matter. He was going to fuse it right away.

’Confirm! Fuse!’

Lloyd shouted inwardly.

[Ding~ Skill fusion complete. New skill acquired: Blessing Distortion LV1]

[Blessing Distortion (LV1) — Consumes Spiritual Power, guided by inspiration, to inflict a Veto-system judgment on a target, accompanied by a certain Twist-system effect. If a consciousness seed is consumed, the original effect of Seed of Distortion will also be applied.]

Below it, a line of small text provided a supplementary note:

"With piety and fervor, praise the unknown, the truth, and the madness bestowed by the Supreme One."

Lloyd frowned, staring at the overly simplistic skill description for a long time.

[Veto Declaration] was the core and foundation of the [Veto] system. All subsequent abilities within that system were simply enhancements and upgrades to it.

’Now that they’ve been fused, will [Veto Declaration] still have its original, extremely high potential?’

The fact that the [Twist] and [Veto] systems had actually converged in this way gave Lloyd an indescribably strange feeling.

’I feel like the change from ’Declaration’ to ’Blessing’ isn’t just a simple, literal one.’

For some inexplicable reason, he was reminded of that most unique double-helix tower in his [Thought Realm]...

However, judging from his successful experience with [Extraordinary Swordsmanship], fused skills still retained their original effects, and the actual improvement was likely far greater than the simple text description implied.

This new Fusion Skill would be difficult to test, however. He’d have to wait for a chance to see its effects in action.

Lloyd wasn’t lacking for ’testing grounds,’ though. Tower Nine and the Dream Theater would allow him to test its effects on Demons and humans, respectively.

With that, he had sorted out the rewards from his system panel. Next, it was time to organize all the miscellaneous junk that had been crammed into his brain.

His reading progress on the > was only in the single digits, but aside from the skill level increases, it had also made him understand three theorems:

[The more unknown, the more powerful.]

[The more real, the more powerful.]

[The more mad, the more powerful.]

At his current reading progress, Lloyd couldn’t yet comprehend the fundamental principles behind these three theorems. He could only treat them as formulas, forcibly branded deep within his mind.

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