Chapter 2978: Plus Ten

Excellency Aike's divination was incredibly accurate; today was indeed a good day to forge connections.

That pleasure was so vivid that Fu Qian could almost picture himself abandoning all formalities, flipping over every table at this treacherous banquet, and tearing all the attendees into spare parts.

Yet, it was precisely this vividness that provoked an agonizing thirst before any of it could become reality.

He could only concede that this was indeed Excellency Father's Amnion's method of attack.

Even holding back his true form as the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison and maintaining only his Tier 2 state, he found the dual-layered impact terrifying.

The ultimate result was that Myriad Tentacles forcefully erupted inside his body, churning his insides into a complete mess in a single instant.

By the time he digested that pleasure and wrestled it back under the control of his reason, he realized his painstakingly tuned body of flesh and blood had been reduced to little more than an empty skin.

Still, looking on the bright side, at least the skin hadn't torn.

And since his skin hadn't torn, his only remaining formal suit was still intact.

"Professor Fu?"

Under Stoss's shocked and uncertain gaze, Fu Qian maintained his forward-pointing posture, even though his arm had contorted to a gruesome degree.

"Don't worry... I feel fine," Fu Qian said.

Casually swallowing a mouthful of "hot blood" and reconstructing his vocal cords in the process, he shot a deliberate glance toward Su Gao to signal that she didn't need to worry.

She had been rather quiet along the way and rarely voiced her opinions, but her hand had already dropped to her sword hilt even before his body began to deform.

After advancing to Tier 2, Classmate Su Gao's perception seemed to have become even more absurdly sharp.

"Are you sure?"

She dropped her guard just as quickly. By the time she gave a slight nod and released her hilt, Excellency Stoss was still trying to confirm the situation in disbelief.

"I'm sure."

Fu Qian clenched his fist, his palm already rapidly returning to its original shape.

Just as he had said earlier: manifestation, exorcism, and backlash... it was a standard, by-the-book exorcism routine. What was there to make a fuss about?

Even his claim of "feeling fine" was no lie. Although it defied all reason, that forcefully provoked thrill of slaughter was still rather intoxicating.

Even if, under his forceful restraint, the target of that slaughter had been confined entirely to himself.

If not for his foundational resilience as the King of the Abandoned Prison, that single strike would have been enough to heavily injure him.

Had Excellency Father's Amnion attacked personally, the effect likely wouldn't have been much worse. That thing really hadn't been posturing; he had truly just faced a higher entity.

Though, comparatively speaking, it couldn't take a hit nearly as well. A single glance was enough to tell that it and the Emissary Mask had been completely obliterated by the Flame of Frenzy.

And just like Ian before it, its final ashes were buried beneath the waves of the Formless River.

[SAN Value -10, Inspiration +10]

Accompanying this was a pleasant notification sound.

...

Excellent. Now that was what he called efficiency.

Even though he had lost ten points of SAN Value in one go, his Inspiration had actually increased by ten points as well.

That wasn't even the most important part; the real takeaway was confirming the conversion ratio.

It really was a one-to-one exchange, and it had indeed occurred after eliminating the corruption caused by his own actions.

With this dual confirmation, his future explorations and research could be much more targeted.

Of course, there was also some unfortunate news. Even after gaining another ten points of Inspiration, his Transcendent Perception still showed no signs of recovering.

"I... feel like I'm fine too..."

At the same time, the target of the exorcism finally reacted.

After her initial shock, Aike stared at her hands in disbelief, inadvertently plagiarizing Fu Qian's line in the process.

"It's really lifted? How is that possible?"

From the looks of it, Old Man Stoss really didn't place much faith in exorcisms.

Even after watching such a textbook procedure, he clearly hadn't expected it to actually work.

"It might not be."

Professor Fu actually agreed with him, signaling that it was best not to celebrate too early.

"I did destroy something just now, but this type of target is incredibly stubborn. It's best not to drop your guard."

His tone was extremely humble, refusing to blindly take all the credit.

This was despite the fact that the entity he killed hadn't been particularly smart, and his Inspiration had genuinely increased.

"Is there any way to completely eradicate or confirm it?" Stoss asked.

As Aike's joy suddenly froze on her face, Stoss appeared much calmer, carefully checking with Professor Fu to see if they could take things a step further.

"You don't think I stopped here on purpose just to squeeze extra fees out of you, do you?"

In response, Fu Qian frowned slightly, looking displeased.

"I know a lot of peers out there pull that kind of stunt, but I'm not like them."

...Honestly, there didn't seem to be any difference at all.

Faced with such a self-righteous reprimand, even someone as experienced as Excellency Stoss couldn't help but look a bit embarrassed.

For a moment, even though Professor Fu's exorcism routine had been incredibly textbook, Stoss found it hard to argue back.

"Understood. I will still report the situation here; we can't leave anything to chance," Stoss said. "But regardless, thank you very much for your help, Excellency."

Deciding not to dwell on the minor details, he decisively stated that they would proceed according to the original plan.

He was a man of action. After offering his solemn thanks, he asked everyone to wait for a moment and hurriedly left the room.

...

"Thank you very much."

With Stoss gone, the office fell into a stereotypically awkward silence.

Starting with that joke of a divination, the situation had flared up just like that intense burst of pleasure, making it difficult for things to settle back into a state of calm.

And as the one at the center of this commotion, Excellency Aike's feelings were undoubtedly the most complicated.

There was despair, but also hope. There was anticipation, yet she didn't dare expect too much... She couldn't even distract herself with work, because the exorcist was still occupying her seat.

Even so, she hadn't forgotten her manners.

Breaking the silence a moment later, her very first reaction was to thank Fu Qian.

"So you really didn't feel anything before that?" Fu Qian asked.

As for Fu Qian, it wasn't that he insisted on hogging her seat.

Mostly, it was just as the saying went: meals had to be eaten one bite at a time, and a person had to be molded back together piece by piece.

As someone who was quite literally nothing more than an empty skin at the moment, he had prioritized fixing his vocal cords. Getting his legs back in working order to stand up had naturally been put at the bottom of the list.

Calmly accepting her gratitude, he had also grown curious about Aike's mental journey.

"Unfortunately, I felt absolutely nothing," Aike replied. "And I regret that I can't share too many operational details with you, but believe me, there wasn't a single moment where I let my guard down during the entire process."

The question seemed to hit a sore spot. Aike's voice grew even quieter, though she still strictly adhered to their confidentiality protocols.

"I completely understand," Fu Qian said. "Human capability has its limits. Some things can't be avoided just by staying vigilant."

Fu Qian genuinely agreed, and he wasn't just offering empty comfort.

A sudden jump of ten points in Inspiration didn't just mean a bountiful harvest; that number alone proved that the entity he had just killed was far from simple.

Regardless, the banquet had finally become lively.