Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Changes in the Calm

The next three days passed peacefully for Lloyd. He continued his usual routine, making steady progress.

During that time, he attempted to interpret the fragment of unknown composition again. The progress increased by 0.5%, earning him 2000 Madness Value.

’It’s like a daily check-in bonus...’

Combined with the rewards from executing a Demon, he leveled up again. He put all 5 points into [Rationality], which had now surpassed the 70-point mark.

’It feels so steady and reliable.’

After that, he borrowed the bell from Meditis again and conducted his second [Audience with the Saint].

The result was a complete bust. He wasted several hours, only earned a dozen or so points of Madness Value, and didn’t get a single skill fragment. He would have been better off riding the ’subway’.

But Lloyd wasn’t surprised. The Chief Judge had already given him a heads-up in his notes.

A First Tier Novice who had just completed [Enlightenment] could only learn one ability, [Veto Declaration], through an [Audience with the Saint]. To learn more, one had to continue to [Transcend] and delve deeper into the system.

For ordinary people, however, a First Tier who had not yet grasped the [Thought Realm] would experience the [Audience with the Saint] differently. Instead of delving into their Consciousness Space, they would stare blankly at a Saint Statue, listening to the teachings that occasionally whispered in their ears and absorbing safe knowledge from them.

This method was naturally very inefficient. A Novice of ordinary talent would likely need to go through the [Audience with the Saint] process more than ten times to fully master the [Veto Declaration].

What followed would be a long and tedious period of study to master more knowledge while waiting for the next [Transcendence], a process that could take over a year.

Even someone with great talent would need five to six audiences to master the skill. They would also have to continue studying for about half a year before attempting their second [Transcendence].

Regarding this slow pace, the Chief Judge wrote in his notes:

"The Path of the Extraordinary is never a sprint, but a long, winding, complex, and arduous journey. Patience and perseverance are qualities every Extraordinary Being must possess..."

"This is especially true for us Extraordinary Beings of the [Veto] system. Only through solid accumulation and steady progress can you let your own Radiant light shine."

When Lloyd first read this passage, it gave him a lot to think about.

Who would have thought he’d end up learning the skill for his current stage in just a single audience...

’Sigh... What can I say? I’m just a diligent, hard-working, and exceptionally talented young genius.’

Then again, his rapid progress was largely due to the benefits of the [Thought Realm].

So, strictly speaking, Lloyd was essentially a Tier Two Seeker going back to learn First Tier abilities. It would be a huge problem if he *didn’t* progress quickly.

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

That morning, Lloyd was helping his sister with her hair as usual. But instead of the twin-tails he was so good at, he was styling it into a side ponytail to make her look more mature.

"Huuu... Mmm..."

Evelor sat before her vanity, her large, emerald-green eyes drooping as if she hadn’t fully woken up. Her legs, clad in white stockings, dangled motionlessly from her chair. Even the Dazed Hair on her head couldn’t stick up, making her look exceptionally listless.

She had been like this for the past few days, no longer able to get up early to make breakfast for her little brother.

It couldn’t be helped. Ever since becoming that... what was it, editor-in-chief, she had become incredibly busy. She had to set up the editorial department, recruit staff, handle paperwork, and a mountain of other miscellaneous tasks. She was exhausted every single day.

She’d always had a personality of being strict with herself but lenient with others. That, combined with her patient and meticulous nature, made her especially prone to getting bogged down by such mundane matters.

Lloyd’s heart naturally ached for her. His Divination results for his sister over the past few days all pointed to outcomes like ’Busy,’ ’Fatigued,’ and ’Anxious.’ He’d wanted to persuade her to just give it up several times, but he could never bring himself to say the words.

Besides, among the many negative outcomes in his Divinations, there were also positive ones like ’Fulfilled,’ ’Diligent,’ and ’Sense of Accomplishment.’ That made it even harder for him to say anything.

’My sister wants to build a career, and she’s working so hard for it. She even swapped her usual twin-tails for a side ponytail just to look more mature. As her brother, I should be understanding and supportive.’

"All done."

Lloyd secured a cartoon leaf-shaped clip in his sister’s ponytail and spoke in a low voice.

"Mmm~ Thanks, Yi."

Evelor smiled, turned back to give Lloyd a hug, and then headed out the door with a large bag of documents.

After waiting a bit, Lloyd headed out as well. He emerged from the ’subway’ tunnel about three minutes later than usual.

Sure enough, he saw the coolly beautiful figure of Weiya waiting outside again.

It seemed he ran into her here every morning.

Even the little kitten had gotten used to it. It proactively poked its furry little head out of his pocket, waved its tiny paws, and greeted Weiya.

Naturally, Weiya snatched the kitten away as a matter of course. While cuddling it, she asked:

"Still haven’t decided on a name for her?"

"I have, but didn’t you [Veto] all of them?"

Lloyd said with a helpless tone.

At first, he’d planned to name the kitten ’Tom.’ It was a great name, and he hoped the kitten would one day grow up to be an all-powerful Tom Cat.

But Weiya said you couldn’t give a female kitten a name like that...

So Lloyd settled for his second choice: ’Keqing.’

But Weiya thought the name was weird...

Lloyd then tried some less strange names like ’Chocolate,’ ’Vanilla,’ and ’Padophyris.’

But Weiya thought a simple name like ’Xiaomi’ was better...

’Why not just call her ’Big Flower’ then?’

In any case, this debate had been going on for several days now, and it came up every single morning.

’Does Weiya wait for me at the subway tunnel every day just to fight me for the naming rights?’

Lloyd grumbled to himself.

That was why he wasn’t about to give up easily.

He was afraid that if he did, the beautiful and delectable Weiya wouldn’t be waiting for him anymore...

And so, Lloyd and Weiya continued to chat as they slowly walked to Tower Nine.

Weiya then took the kitten to her office, while Lloyd headed for the notice board.

The moment the Executors by the notice board saw Lloyd approaching, someone cried out in alarm:

"Oh no! Senior Lloyd is here again! Everyone, don’t hesitate!"

And just like that, the keys on the notice board were instantly snatched up. Even the keys for Floor -2, which no one usually took, were gone. All that was left for Lloyd was a key to Floor -3.

Lloyd had no idea what had caused this phenomenon, only that it had been going on for three days.

The thing was, he never took the keys for Floor -1. As for Floor -2, he wouldn’t take them first thing in the morning either; he’d always wait until the afternoon, and only if he saw a key was still there would he take it to handle the task.

’I wonder what happened,’ he thought. ’How did the Floor -2 keys suddenly become such a hot commodity?’

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!