Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 214: Chapter 214: Chitchat in the Laboratory

Lloyd grabbed the unlucky test tube. With a slight squeeze, it snapped in two right where it had corroded, breaking with a crisp SNAP.

’Success! Absolutely perfect!’

’And the effect is even stronger than I expected!’

Lloyd was instantly overjoyed.

’According to Balderes’s original design, this whole plan was supposed to take over a week, depending on how effective the Corrosion Orbit was.’

’And based on his own tests, it would take about half an hour to corrode through a standard-quality glass test tube. But I just did it in ten minutes, which means the effect is even better than when Balderes set it up.’

’I guess this is thanks to my [Orbital Control] skill, right? Even though Balderes invented this Orbit, he hasn’t practiced it much. His execution is clearly not as good as mine when I use my skill to deploy it.’

’Hmm, it seems that even though he’s a few steps ahead of me in the field of Orbital Mechanics, I believe that as long as I stay humble and eager to learn, with my hard work and diligence, I should be able to catch up to him!’

Lloyd gave himself another mental pep talk, then used his inspiration to check the scene for any residue.

It was indeed very stealthy. The after-effects of the Orbit dissipated quickly, and the [Disappearing Canvas] only left a faint scent of ink in the air, which would soon evaporate completely.

So, after erasing the temporary Mark with his Spiritual Power, he had created the ’perfect crime scene.’

Lloyd’s confidence surged. He wasted no time and began creating more Corrosion Orbits.

He managed to complete another six sets of Orbits before sunset.

Because the [Disappearing Canvas] was a very sensitive material and couldn’t be conveniently placed in his Storage Bag, Lloyd only brought two sets with him for tonight’s use. He locked the rest in the safe in his basement.

After finishing the preparations for the night, he felt a bit tired. It seemed his sister would have to go without a home-cooked meal tonight; he’d just have to grab some takeout on the way back.

Luckily, Evelor had always doted on Lloyd and didn’t mind such small things. She still enjoyed dinner immensely, her small feet, clad in white stockings, swinging leisurely. She seemed exceptionally relaxed, not tense and taut like usual.

And just like that, it was soon time for bed.

......

"[Elolo] has entered the room. Health status is good."

"What about the readings?"

"All readings are normal. In fact, they’ve improved slightly since yesterday and are all above the average of the last operational cycle."

"Close the door!"

"Closing main door. Awaiting lock confirmation... Lock confirmed. Activating warning systems."

"[Miss Xiebeileida] has entered the corresponding alert state. Remaining energy is sufficient, status is good. She can easily kill any target below Tier Five."

"And [Lady Haima]?"

"She’s undergoing routine maintenance, but a guy from the repair department took the night off to take his girlfriend to the opera, so it’ll be finished about an hour later than last night."

"No matter. Let’s wish him well. Given [Elolo]’s current state, we have that much margin for error. But it can’t affect the upcoming plan to load the Forbidden Knowledge."

"That plan... feels awfully risky, doesn’t it? If there’s an accident, will they dock our pay?"

"Who knows? Theoretically, the focus of the plan is on [Lady Haima]’s side, but I doubt we’ll get away scot-free."

"Alright, alright, still worried about a pay cut? That’s Forbidden Knowledge we’re talking about. If something really goes wrong, we won’t have to worry about our salaries ever again."

"That’s why I really don’t know what the team leader is thinking. A plan this dangerous... couldn’t they just give it to another team? Our team just had an incident recently..."

"It’s precisely because we just had an incident that the team leader was so eager to take on this hot potato. If you want to blame someone, blame the last administrator."

In a space that looked like a classified laboratory, three scholars in white coats and monocles were carrying out their final routine tasks of the day.

The area was filled with instrument valves, arc-shaped voltmeters, thermometers, and mechanical counters. There were also many long, narrow, multi-colored test tubes, the liquid within them surging up and down as if indicating some kind of reading.

The three scholars each held a clipboard, checking boxes or writing down values on a series of charts, chatting idly as they worked:

"By the way, does she still cry every night?"

"Yes. So whatever you do, don’t turn on the monitoring Orbit in the room. If her crying gets out, the consequences would be absolutely unimaginable..."

"Right. I’ll double-check. Yep, no problem, it’s off... Hmm, I’m just a bit curious. Why does she still have residual memories from the last cycle? That’s never happened before."

"Who knows? Maybe it was the previous administrator’s dereliction of duty. Maybe she’s malfunctioning. If you want to find out the reason, you’d probably have to ask her original designer."

"Huh? Wouldn’t I have to switch my major to archeology for that? And then go dig up someone’s grave?"

"What’s so bad about that? Archeology is getting more and more popular these days. At least it’s better than staying in this godforsaken place, torturing a little girl."

"Hey! Watch your mouth. What little girl? If the team leader heard you say that, you’d be in for it."

"Haha, just talking. I’m not like the last administrator. I actually have a daughter, so I wouldn’t go treating this *thing* like one... It’s just... she really is too human. No... that’s not right either...

Forget it. Anyway, I don’t even dare to tell my daughter what my job really is. She thinks I teach at a university... Ahem, don’t let the team leader hear any of this!"

"Don’t worry. Pretty much everyone on this team has similar thoughts. After all, she just looks like a delicate and adorable young girl... Forget it. I should just find a girlfriend as soon as possible. But if I get married in the future, I’m definitely not having a daughter. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night."

"Alright, alright. Don’t you check her readings every day? Her numbers these past two days are the highest on record. That proves the team leader’s strategy is correct. We’re not doing anything evil; we’re just bearing this burden for the good of all humanity."

"Maybe... If she maintains this good state, the plan to load the Forbidden Knowledge should go smoothly, right? But no matter what, I still hope her residual memories fade quickly. She’d probably be more comfortable that way."

"Okay, okay, you guys with daughters are always so sentimental. Are your charts filled out? If you’re done, let’s go out for a drink!"

As this final procedure came to an end, the three scholars left the secret laboratory and turned off the lights.

In the darkness, the glowing green needles twitched from time to time, and the colorful liquids in the sets of long, narrow test tubes gradually settled, no longer surging up and down.

But suddenly, all the fluorescent needles twitched and twisted violently. They began to jump frantically across the various values, and the mechanical counters beside them started spinning at high speed, the numbers on them scrolling too fast to be read.

The sets of long, narrow test tubes became as soft as noodles and began to writhe like tentacles, as if performing some kind of bizarre dance.

And the colorful liquids within them rapidly changed colors, like the disco lights in a dance hall, adding to the splendor of this frenzied ball.

The ball didn’t quietly conclude until half an hour later.

The needles returned to their calm state, the counters reset to their initial numbers, and the test tubes grew still once more.

It was as if nothing had happened at all.

......

When the next day came, Lloyd woke up bright and early as usual, then called up his panel and started allocating his points.

’Five points into [Rationality], five into [Spiritual Power], five into [inspiration], and five into [Cognition]. Make me well-rounded!’

[Ding~ Points allocated.]

[User: Lloyd]

[Status: Normal]

[Madness Value: 2733/7000, Max: 15000]

[Rationality: 150]

[Spiritual Power: 145]

[inspiration: 95]

[Cognition: 145]

[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) LV4]

[Unparsed Fragment: Unknown Fragment (Composition Unknown) x1, Current Analysis Progress: 13%]

[Unread Books: >, Current Reading Progress: 27%]

’How should I put this...’

’This ’double experience’ event is just too awesome!’

Anyway, Lloyd felt like he was really starting to like Elolo...

He liked her madness, and he liked the pleasure she brought him at night.

’The pleasure of leveling up, don’t get the wrong idea!’

It was a good thing the persona he’d created for himself was that of a moral youth who suppressed evil and promoted good. Otherwise, he might have been tempted to deliberately stall for time and rescue Elolo as slowly as possible.

Fortunately, he didn’t do something so shameless. Last night’s rescue operation had progressed very smoothly, even more smoothly than Balderes had previously estimated—

Last night, after hearing Elolo’s crying, he first had the Tentacle Grass take out the screen. He selected the ’Gift’ function and designated it to appear next to Elolo.

Then, he used [Infiltration] to get close to her. Just like the previous night, he used his inspiration to embrace her, his ’forehead’ touching hers, one ’hand’ on her shoulder and the other holding her delicate foot, mimicking the pose of holding a beautiful woman in his arms.

He then found the Corrosion Orbit, which had landed right next to the bed. He infused it with enough Spiritual Power to last for a fixed twenty-five minutes, then used his Spiritual Power Mark to guide the Orbit’s effect toward the node he had scouted out during the day, officially beginning the rescue process.

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