Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Really Strong

"Praise the supreme Sovereign, and with it, fall into the Abyss..."

"Praise the supreme Sovereign, follow its steps, and touch the truth..."

"Praise the supreme Sovereign, merge as one, and embrace madness..."

"This is... the Path to Immortality... This is... the path of Domination... This is... the path of the Sovereign..."

"This is... the path of Ascension to Divinity..."

"Join us... Join us! JOIN US!!!"

Lloyd listened to the hymn that grew clearer and louder, yet increasingly incoherent, and couldn’t help but frown.

’Not this again.’

His consciousness was still clear, and his memory was intact, so he could clearly remember that the first time he completed his [Enlightenment]—during the library attack—what he saw was this very scene.

There were some minor differences, however. For instance, he felt closer to the writhing, dancing figures, close enough to clearly see that their bodies had the texture of noodles, so soft they seemed boneless, able to twist into any shape at will.

’What kind of knowledge is this, anyway?’

Lloyd didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He closed his eyes and shook his head forcefully.

The wicked and bizarre scene before him began to flip and twist, then split into thin strips like chrysanthemum petals. Finally, it contracted and converged into a seed resembling a pinecone, which slowly sank into a black and empty void.

Lloyd’s vision returned to normal. Before him was yet another unfamiliar ceiling.

A new panel notification immediately sounded in his ear:

[Ding~ Sufficient Knowledge Fragments acquired. Skill level increased. Twisted Realm LV3→LV4]

The ’Villain’ skill had leveled up again. Lloyd wasn’t surprised at all. It leveled up whenever he came into contact with knowledge from the Twisted System. The last time it leveled up was... well, the last time. Specifically, during the execution of that library attacker.

’My head is full of so much new stuff. It’s not like my brain grew; it’s more like I grew a second brain...’

Lloyd thought to himself, then began to sort through the things in his mind.

This wave of gains was huge and bountiful, but also chaotic. Best to start with allocating his attribute points.

The Thought Demon had given him three levels, and he’d gained another two from this huge influx of knowledge from the Twisted System. He now had 25 attribute points to allocate.

He couldn’t just give up on the goal he’d set for himself. Stick to the ’bucket’ build. Plus, plus, plus!

[Ding~ Point allocation complete.]

[User: Lloyd]

[Status: Normal]

[Madness Value: 100/3500, Max: 8000]

[Rationality: 80]

[Spiritual Power: 75]

[Inspiration: 40]

[Cognition: 70]

[System: Twisted LV2, Veto LV1]

[Mastered Skills: High-Efficient Learning; Probe; Divination LV3; Dizziness Resistance LV4; Precise Dissection LV4; Twisted Realm LV4; Swordsmanship LV4; Aggressive Speech LV2; Orbital Control LV1; Seed of Distortion LV1]

[Unparsed Fragment: Unknown Fragment of indeterminate composition*1, Current analysis progress: 6.5%]

’Oops. Did I forget to add points to [Inspiration] again? Ah well, forget it. Next time for sure, next time for sure!’

Lloyd consoled himself and then busied himself with checking the new skill he had just acquired:

[Seed of Distortion (LV1) — A basic skill of the Twisted System. Consumes one consciousness seed to plant it deep within a target’s consciousness, producing a continuous twisting effect. Can only be used on targets with self-awareness. Effects vary depending on the target’s attributes, strength, and Tier. Requires a consciousness seed to cast. Continue acquiring related knowledge to increase skill level.]

There was also a line of small text as a supplement:

"Heh? Nice! He bought it! He really bought it!"

Just reading the plain text description made Lloyd shake his head inwardly. Something felt very wrong.

’I’m losing my mind. What are all these ’Villain’ skills? I’m a perfectly fine, righteous youth who despises evil, so how did I end up with skills like these?’

’Now I’m a real criminal...’

Lloyd grumbled to himself for a moment, then began to check the detailed uses of the new information in his head.

The power—or rather, the ’evil’—of this skill lay in its ability to attack a person’s subconscious, much like the Thought Demon. It was difficult to resist, and the damage it caused was irreversible.

Moreover, there was no ’effective range’ or ’duration.’ Once a [Seed of Distortion] was planted, it would continuously twist the victim’s subconscious.

Because the skill was still only level one, this process would be quite slow. But due to the nature of the [Twisted] system, the victim would be caught completely off guard, being thoroughly twisted without even realizing it.

As for what would happen after they were thoroughly twisted, Lloyd didn’t know. He would have to actually try it to find out.

As for the [consciousness seed] required to cast the skill, the criteria weren’t very strict. It could be a ’specialty product’ of the [Wisdom] system, like a [Thought Mark], or it could be a simple Knowledge Fragment or Memory Fragment.

Lloyd didn’t have any on hand at the moment, nor had he come into contact with this area of knowledge, so he couldn’t test it yet.

He set this skill aside for now and looked at [Twisted Realm], which had risen to level 4.

The main description and the small text hadn’t changed much. As for its specific functions, in addition to its two original functions, it now had a new effect: ’Twist the Extraordinary Abilities of others.’ The results would vary based on the difference in attributes and strength between both parties, as well as the specific power of the ability in question.

Lloyd remembered that the [Veto] system had a similar high-level ability that could directly negate someone else’s Extraordinary Ability, serving both offensive and defensive purposes. However, it had to be based on a sufficient level of understanding.

In comparison, his new ability was much simpler and more brutish. But as for its actual effect, he’d still have to find a chance to test it.

"Why does it feel like all my new skills are geared towards humans? But I don’t want to transition into a PVP player like the butler..."

Lloyd muttered to himself and continued examining the new things in his mind.

’Hm? The method of [Transcendence] for the [Twisted] system?’

’There are two of them?’

Lloyd quickly began to carefully examine this part of the knowledge.

The first method was called ’Twisting the Transcendence effect of other systems.’ In other words, turning the [Transcendence] of another system into the [Transcendence] of the [Twisted] system.

This was like how Lloyd had clearly completed the [Enlightenment] for the [Veto] system, yet it was the [Twisted] system that had leveled up.

But according to the knowledge in his mind, if you twisted another system’s [Transcendence], then that other system naturally couldn’t be improved. It was like an experience book in a Krypton Gold Mobile Game—you couldn’t feed it to two different waifus.

But Lloyd really had completed the [Enlightenment] for the [Veto] system...

’Could it be the influence of the panel?’

Besides, he didn’t remember performing any kind of ’twisting effect’ operation at the time...

Yet the knowledge in his mind told him that this required a complex process, a costly Orbit, a long period of time, and all sorts of unpredictable dangers.

Furthermore, the effect produced by this twisting wasn’t a one-to-one correspondence. One might need to undergo [Transcendence] in another system two, three, or even more times to complete a single transcendence for the [Twisted] system.

This was simply a roundabout and counterproductive method. It was best not to choose this path and stick to the normal route.

But as Lloyd looked over this so-called ’normal route’ again and again, he discovered that what was revealed between the lines could be summed up in two words—

Courting death.

Just to undergo [Enlightenment], one had to absorb a piece of Twisted-related Forbidden Knowledge while fully conscious and in a normal state of mind...

And for the second [Transcendence], one had to be on the verge of [Severe Madness] and twist out a sliver of Rationality...

The third time, one had to be at the absolute limit, on the brink of death, and use a twisted method to obtain a shred of life...

The knowledge currently in Lloyd’s mind recorded the methods for the first five [Transcendence]s, but he didn’t even want to look at what came after, because it was pointless.

In any case, it was all about repeatedly jumping back and forth between various extreme states, courting death over and over, and struggling madly.

’What kind of human can fucking walk this path?’

One could only say that this [Twisted] system wasn’t designed for carbon-based lifeforms...

No wonder a PVP player like the butler, who had fought against all sorts of systems, had never encountered the [Twisted] one.

Because anyone who dared to set foot in it would have long since tormented themselves to death...

In comparison, the first, roundabout path suddenly seemed much gentler and safer.

But dabbling in two, three, or even more systems at the same time was itself a form of slow suicide. Human Rationality could never withstand it.

Many systems had characteristics like ’difficult cultivation,’ ’slow progress,’ and ’unpredictable dangers,’ but compared to the [Twisted] system, they at least offered a path forward, with some room for maneuvering.

But the [Twisted] system was fundamentally a domain that humans could not touch.

"Why does a system like this exist? And where did this knowledge come from?"

Lloyd couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.

He felt that the existence of such a system was like the world playing a cruel joke.

But what if... just hypothetically, if someone could truly use this path to ascend to a High Position...

A power honed on the edge of death and madness would surely be extraordinarily strong!

A mere level-three [Twisted Realm] had been able to effortlessly take care of a giant cicada with a danger level of 6, without even allowing it to put up a fight.

The combat power of the [Twisted] system was likely on a level that other systems couldn’t even touch.

After finishing this segment of knowledge in his mind, Lloyd, for some reason, suddenly didn’t mind the fact that he had gone astray so much.

Because this system was strong. Really, really strong!

This wasn’t one of those illegal systems that the butler would have dismissed as ’third-rate, backstabbing rats.’ It was truly powerful.

Besides, it was almost impossible to be discovered or detected. Basically, the very fact that he was still alive was proof enough that he hadn’t come into contact with this system. Its concealment was excellent.

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