Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: Rapid Leveling

Lloyd mobilized all his inspiration, then released half of it to adhere to Elolo in a more intimate fashion.

If one could see the concrete shape of his inspiration, the portion attached to Elolo would look like a blurry human silhouette, holding her curled-up form in an embrace.

One ’hand’ cradled her rounded shoulder, while the other ’cupped’ her delicate foot. Its ’forehead’ pressed against hers, as if offering gentle care and comfort.

After deploying his inspiration, the Spiritual Contamination Lloyd was subjected to grew stronger, just as he’d expected.

[Ding~ Madness Value +114]

[Ding~ Madness Value +51]

[Ding~ Madness Value +4]

The values still fluctuated wildly, but the ceiling was much higher now, and the notifications were coming in a bit faster.

’This will have to do. It’s the most intimate form of contact I can think of.’

With that thought, Lloyd gradually released his remaining inspiration and began a more detailed inspection of the Orbit in the room.

At the same time, he thought to himself:

’Good thing I’ve always insisted on a well-rounded build. My Inspiration is at 85 points. Otherwise, I’m not sure I could have handled this situation...’

According to the rescue plan he and Balderes had devised, the first step was to get a complete grasp of the complex Orbital Array in the room. He had to find the connection points related to the [Consciousness Lock] effect.

If the array was the cage imprisoning her, then this first step was to find its lock.

After that, he would covertly and gradually loosen the Orbit, trying to avoid detection, just like secretly picking the cage’s lock.

Since Lloyd couldn’t use [Infiltration] for very long, this process might take several days.

The two of them wanted to rescue her as quickly as possible, but Balderes had repeatedly stressed that in times like these, it was crucial to remain calm, patient, and rational.

Otherwise, if something went wrong and triggered the Orbit’s detection or defense mechanisms, he might not only fail to save her but get himself trapped in the process.

In their minds, Elolo’s father was still an unfathomable, monstrous father of a High Position.

They also had to remain completely covert. If that monstrous father discovered them, he might do something unspeakable in a fit of rage, and all their efforts would be for nothing.

So they had to proceed slowly and stealthily.

’I hope Elolo can hold on...’

But judging by her ability to withstand so much Spiritual Contamination without transforming into a Demon, her mental fortitude was clearly extraordinary. She wasn’t as fragile as an ordinary person. She could probably hold out until the day she was free.

After that, Lloyd would find a way to get her out of that house directly.

This was the only rescue plan they could devise with the information they had.

Since they had never been able to contact Elolo, they had no idea that she actually left the room during the day; she wasn’t locked up day and night.

And so, Lloyd patiently continued his work, examining and memorizing the room’s Orbit bit by bit.

This Orbit was extremely complex and vast. It required immense patience, meticulous care, focus, and silence.

But Lloyd found that, for some reason, he was having a hard time staying focused.

His inspiration was constantly transmitting a fragrant, soft, and delicate sensation, as if he were really holding a beautiful young woman in his arms.

This inevitably made his mind wander, filling him with guilt, yet it was also mixed with a certain indescribable thrill...

And in his ears, besides the incessant [DING~ DING~ DING~] of the system panel, a few different notifications would occasionally pop up:

[Ding~ Skill Fragment +1]

[Ding~ Knowledge Fragment +1]

[Ding~ Memory Fragment +1]

As his intimate contact with Elolo continued, his gains increased, making Lloyd even more reluctant to let her go.

Moreover, the pathetic sobs he occasionally heard were heart-wrenching enough to make anyone feel protective.

Just as Lloyd was struggling with his discomfort and unease, he suddenly heard a different kind of sob:

"Sob... Elolo... don’t cry... Elolo... be strong... If you don’t cry... you can have a little cake..."

For some reason, Lloyd felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if it had been slashed by a knife.

But it was followed by a boiling surge of passion that instantly swept away all distracting thoughts. He no longer heard the noise in his ears and was able to focus once again.

Just like that, half an hour passed. Lloyd had just finished a thorough inspection of the Orbit in the room when an irresistible wave of fatigue washed over his physical body. His vision blurred, and his consciousness rapidly returned to his home.

He fell into a groggy sleep, unable to even check his gains on the panel.

Under the influence of that focused state, he had also overlooked the subtle changes happening to Elolo.

Unconsciously, she had stopped crying silently.

Even her unique, mismatched eyes had slowly closed as she drifted into a peaceful slumber.

............

The next morning, Lloyd’s internal clock woke him up right on time. He stretched lazily, then grabbed the little kitten from his pillow and used it to rub his face.

He then took the kitten with him to start his simple morning exercises, pulling up the panel to take stock of last night’s haul.

’Holy cow, I leveled up 5 times...’

’Is this some kind of double EXP event?’

And looking at the Madness Value acquisition log, there were almost no signs of diminishing returns, which meant his body hadn’t started to adapt yet.

’So it’s an infinitely farmable double EXP event?’

’Better allocate my points first...’

’10 points into Rationality, 5 into Spiritual Power, 5 into Inspiration, and 5 into Cognition. Allocate, allocate, allocate!’

[Ding~ Points allocated.]

[User: Lloyd]

[Status: Normal]

[Madness Value: 233/6500, Max: 14500]

[Rationality: 145]

[Spiritual Power: 140]

[Inspiration: 90]

[Cognition: 140]

[System: Twist LV3, Veto LV2]

[Mastered Skills: Focused Learning; Probe; Divination LV4; Dizziness Resistance LV5; Extraordinary Swordsmanship LV2; Twisted Realm LV6; Aggressive Speech LV3; Blessing Distortion LV4; Orbital Control (Twist) LV3]

[Unparsed Fragment: Unknown Fragment of unknown composition*1, Current Analysis Progress: 13%]

[Unread Books: "Book of Truth - Volume One," Current Reading Progress: 25%]

’Well-rounded, balanced, strong. This is the reward for all my hard work!’

Lloyd nodded in satisfaction.

What did dissatisfy him, however, was that despite receiving notifications for various fragments last night, he hadn’t obtained any new skills.

As for what the Knowledge Fragments gave him, it was all just a bunch of random junk.

Things like novel-writing techniques, bond-selling scripts, and a post-modern abstract aesthetic sensibility.

You couldn’t say it was all meaningless, just that it was completely useless.

The few Memory Fragments were also ridiculous. They were all incomplete, offering only one or two shattered images that were impossible to piece into any useful information.

But judging from this fragmented information, their original owners could have been farmers, students, millionaires, or chefs—none of whom fit Elolo’s profile in any way.

’Meaning, these aren’t her memories at all.’

’Then why am I getting these fragments from her?’

Lloyd couldn’t figure out the reason, only feeling that another layer of mystery now shrouded her.

On the other hand, his reading progress for the "Book of Truth" had increased by another two percent, which was a solid improvement.

Combined with his previous contact with Elolo, his progress on the "Book of Truth" had increased by five percentage points, enough to turn to a new page.

The contents of that page were still in a mural style, and the protagonist was still that giant stick figure.

It seemed to have left the Blood Sea and shaken off the surrounding tentacles. They no longer worshipped It, nor did they gnaw on It.

Its previous injuries had healed, and It had begun to roam freely across the land once more.

Although Lloyd was happy for It, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d missed a whole season’s worth of plot. ’How did it jump so far ahead?’

But on second thought, this was how murals worked. The murals from Earth that Lloyd could still remember only recorded major events. They used the same kind of sudden, jumping narrative style, lacking continuity, foreshadowing, and detail.

So, for the missing parts of the plot, Lloyd could only try to fill in the blanks himself.

The stick figure was probably some great being. It walked into the sea, met the tentacle monsters, and took them as its kin instead of crushing them.

But this group of tentacle monsters got carried away. While prostrating themselves in worship, they secretly gnawed on the stick figure’s lower body for nourishment.

Later, the stick figure couldn’t take it anymore. It killed all the tentacle monsters, ate them to replenish its nutrients—which is why its lower body grew back—and then left the ocean to continue its wandering.

’Maybe It’ll meet a female stick figure next, and they’ll live a wild and shameless life together?’

That was all the information Lloyd had, so that was the best he could speculate.

But then he had another thought. That theory was too cliché, too mundane.

So, he let his imagination run wild and came up with a much bolder theory—

’The original giant stick figure was probably eaten clean by the tentacle monsters!’

’The one in the picture now could be Its friend, or maybe Its lover, searching for It, only to find that not even bones remained!’

’Then, this new stick figure, enraged, charged into the ocean to make those tentacle monsters pay their blood debt!’

’But the tentacle monsters, having devoured the previous stick figure, had already evolved into ferocious, giant tentacle monsters!’

’The two sides clashed in a fierce battle! There was Flying Sand and Stones, the Sun and Moon Without Light, and the very Great Dao Erasure!’

’In the end, the new stick figure was unfortunately defeated and fell into an endless hell of tentacles...’

’Ahem, ahem. Got a bit off track there. That last part went sideways...’

Still, this kind of imaginative speculation was just for fun.

Lloyd chuckled, not taking his own wild theories too seriously.

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