Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 165: Chapter 165: Reckless Divination

At Jelas’s call, the area quickly fell silent. Everyone present watched him, eager to see how a genius who had been gazed upon by the Saint would perform a Divination.

Lloyd was also curious. This was the first time he had ever observed someone else’s Divination.

But the man didn’t get carried away and first offered a disclaimer:

"My grasp of Divination is rudimentary at best. If I make a mistake, please don’t laugh at me."

The guy who had suggested he use Divination to find the person quickly spoke up.

"Jelas, you’re being too humble! When I lost my wallet before, wasn’t it you who used Divination to help me find it? Could finding someone who’s right here among us be any more difficult than finding something as small as a wallet?"

Someone else immediately chimed in.

"That’s right. There are 25 of us and 25 cells in total. The person has to be among us. I don’t know why they won’t step forward. Maybe they just don’t want to deal with us? Pretty arrogant, huh?"

"Heh~ Now that you mention it, I’m rather curious to see who’s so high and mighty."

As soon as this was said, their gazes immediately shifted to the few Executors who weren’t fond of conversation: one who was always reading alone, one who liked to doze off, two who were visibly introverted and socially anxious, and one who would rather stare into space than speak.

Lloyd should have drawn some attention too, but he found that no one noticed him at all. He was completely invisible to them.

’But I’m so handsome...’

He grumbled inwardly, then heard Jelas say:

"Yes, the friend in charge of Cell No. 1 is definitely among us, which makes this a very safe Divination. So, let’s get right to it."

With that, he began making gestures over the nautical Compass and started circling the Saint Statue, muttering under his breath:

"Who is in charge of Cell No. 1? Who is in charge of Cell No. 1? Who is in charge of Cell No. 1?"

This kind of question was exceptionally reckless. He just dove straight into it so brazenly, with no sense of caution whatsoever. It was as if he was certain his target couldn’t perform a counter-divination or pose any threat to him.

But Lloyd knew he likely wouldn’t be so easily divined.

He had heard Jenkins mention at a seminar that he’d encountered strong interference when trying to divine him.

’I wonder what kind of interference this suspected mole will run into.’

Lloyd watched as Jelas circled the Saint Statue over a dozen times. At first, he confidently repeated the question, but his voice gradually faded. Instead, sweat began to bead on his forehead, forcing him to wipe it away constantly. He looked quite pathetic, as if engaged in some sort of strenuous physical labor.

It got even worse. He started running around the Saint Statue, his expression turning to one of horror and tension.

As he ran, he kept glancing back over his shoulder and picking up his pace, as if being chased by something terrifying.

He no longer cared about the results of the Divination, letting the needle on the Compass spin around like crazy.

The onlookers saw this and realized something was wrong. They rushed forward to restrain him, but he shoved them away.

"Let go of me! That thing... it’s coming! It’s catching up!"

As he spoke, he choked, and blue veins bulged on his neck. His eyes flew wide open, as if he had seen something utterly horrifying, and then he collapsed, unconscious.

Suddenly, the situation had escalated.

* * *

"So, you’re saying he just wanted to know who was in charge of Cell No. 1, performed a Divination for it, and then... this happened?"

The Knight Commander—the one Lloyd had briefly met before, who had been with Human Wall Shandu—was questioning the eyewitnesses at the scene.

After Jelas’s incident, he had been the first to arrive with several black-robed Priests to investigate the situation.

Soon, the scholar who had previously shone a flashlight in Lloyd’s eyes completed his preliminary diagnosis of Jelas and said:

"It’s not too bad. It’s just ’Mild Madness.’ Nothing too severe, but..."

Saying this, he leaned close to the Knight Commander’s ear and whispered the rest of his sentence:

"If he hadn’t passed out when he did, the consequences would have been unimaginable..."

But the Knight Commander seemed to have anticipated this. He nodded, gave the scholar a warning look that said ’don’t say any more,’ and announced to everyone present:

"Alright, everything is fine. Executor Jelas had a minor accident due to improper procedure during his Divination. The situation is under control. He’ll be fine after some rest."

He then signaled for two black-robed Priests to carry Jelas away and added:

"I hope you all learn from Jelas’s lesson. Divination is a very dangerous act. Never overestimate your abilities or act recklessly... Now, the second batch of Demons has been prepared for you. Get to it."

He was about to dismiss them and urge them to get back to work, but someone in the crowd questioned the outcome, shouting:

"Knight Commander, sir, is the person in charge of Cell No. 1... some kind of dangerous individual? Jelas only tried to divine him and ended up with Mild Madness?"

The Knight Commander shot the man a glare, an exasperated look on his face, and retorted:

"Do you think the Sect would assign you to such an important mission without knowing your situations and backgrounds? Or let me put it another way: did it never occur to you that Cell No. 1 itself is a very special place?"

Hearing this, the young Executors present suddenly had looks of realization.

It seemed the problem wasn’t with the person in charge of Cell No. 1, but with Cell No. 1 itself. Jelas’s reckless Divination had clearly implicated the cell, which was why the accident happened.

Although the cause of the accident was clarified, everyone grew even more curious. Who could possibly be in charge of the special Cell No. 1? Could they be even more outstanding than Jelas?

Mulling over this question, they started whispering among themselves as they went back to work.

The focus of their discussion remained on the five reserved young people who didn’t like to talk or interact with others.

Still, no one noticed Lloyd, which in turn confused him.

’Have I awakened some kind of presence-erasing skill?’

’Or is it the effect of this little vest I’m wearing?’

Lloyd scratched his chest through his uniform’s outer coat, as if stroking the small vest underneath.

He had actually discovered before that the Book of Truth had no record of this small vest. He speculated it might be related to that ’detached from the world’ trait.

’So, for someone as handsome as me to have no presence in others’ eyes... could that also be an effect of being ’detached from the world’?’

It was probably similar to how that pendant had a permanent ’accelerated Spiritual Power recovery’ effect; the small vest might have a similar permanent effect.

But it wasn’t a complete erasure of his presence. People close to him, people who knew him well—his sister, Weiya, and the Executor trainees he spent every day with in the Eighteenth District—were not affected.

And the two Knight Commanders he’d met, that enthusiastic adjutant, and the scholar in the white coat had also been able to perceive his existence.

’So it must be some kind of conditional lack of presence?’

’The trigger condition might depend on their connection to me, or perhaps their inspiration isn’t high enough?’

After some speculation, Lloyd was about to go find someone to test his theory.

The Book of Truth had no record of it, and Big Brother hadn’t mentioned it either, so he could only figure it out through direct experience.

However, just as he stepped out of the temporary chapel, the Knight Commander, who was waiting by the door, stopped him and asked in a low voice:

"Why did he perform a Divination on you?"

Lloyd then reported his suspicions truthfully: from the man’s differing description of the Saint’s gaze, to the strange interest he’d shown in Lloyd, the disrespectful Saint Statue, and his focus on Cell No. 1.

After listening patiently, the Knight Commander analyzed:

"It does sound a bit strange, but if you stretch it, you can explain it all away. While the Saint Statue was disrespectful, it didn’t explicitly break any rules. So, what you’ve mentioned doesn’t count as concrete evidence. But I’m not one of those clowns from the Saint’s Grace Court; this isn’t my area of expertise."

Lloyd offered his own opinion:

"I don’t understand much about this either, but after that reckless Divination of his, my suspicion of him has actually decreased. It feels like he isn’t some kind of infiltrator, but more like he was acting on someone else’s behalf?"

"Oh? That makes some sense..."

The Knight Commander thought about it seriously, nodded, and continued:

"You’re right. If he were truly an infiltrator, he shouldn’t have been so high-profile and conspicuous. His subsequent actions were also very immature. It does seem more like he was running an errand for someone... Hmm, I’ll go find the people from the Saint’s Grace Court and have them launch an investigation."

"There are people from the Saint’s Grace Court here too?"

"Of course. You didn’t think the Great Expansion was some kind of happy-go-lucky party, did you? It’s filled with people harboring ill intentions."

The Knight Commander gave a helpless smile and prepared to leave. But after just two steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask:

"You said his description of the Saint’s gaze wasn’t right. So, what do you think the Saint’s gaze should be like?"

Lloyd had expected him to ask about the Spiritual Contamination Jelas suffered, but instead he asked this, so he answered casually:

"I think... it should be gentle, considerate, virtuous, and wise. Sort of like a Childhood Sweetheart from next door? Uh... is that disrespectful?"

The man across from him froze for a moment, his pupils rapidly contracting.

But he recovered just as quickly, gave an awkward laugh, and said:

"Not at all, not at all. It seems that every person sees a thousand different protagonists in the same novel... Anyway, it’s nothing. You should go get some rest. You may be assigned more tasks like today’s in the future."

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