Chapter 260 - 259: Preparations Complete

Chapter 260: Chapter 259: Preparations Complete

Lloyd sent out his inspiration, touching Elolo’s delicate form. A series of panel prompts immediately rang in his ear:

[Ding! Madness Value +1000]

[Ding! Madness Value +1000]

After ringing more than a dozen times and accumulating over ten thousand points of Madness Value, Lloyd leveled up on the spot. Then, the panel prompts changed slightly:

[Ding! Madness Value +99]

[Ding! Knowledge Fragment +1]

[Ding! Madness Value +258]

[Ding! Skill Fragment +1]

This latter pattern was the norm when he was with Elolo: irregular amounts of Madness Value, accompanied by a jumble of useless fragments.

Those thousand-point increments, on the other hand, were clearly from the Forbidden Knowledge he’d encountered in his dream.

It seemed that the Madness Value Elolo had shouldered for him when he’d received the Forbidden Knowledge was now being reclaimed by Lloyd. Nothing was wasted, and her burden wasn’t increased. It was a win-win for everyone.

’Thank you so much, my Elolo. If it weren’t for you, this ten thousand points of Spiritual Contamination would have been quite dangerous...’

Lloyd once again sincerely thanked his ’little girlfriend’ in his heart. Then, he channeled his inspiration to gently caress the top of her head, as if ruffling her hair, and even playfully flicked her curly, upturned Dazed Hair.

’Sigh... If only I had ’hands’ in this state...’

Lloyd muttered to himself again as his gaze drifted down to Elolo’s outfit for the day.

Today, she wasn’t wearing the sultry, provocative dresses from the past few days, which didn’t quite suit her slender frame. Instead, she had changed into a set of simple pajamas printed with all sorts of cutesy cartoon animals, modestly covering her from head to toe.

Even her delicate, slender feet were hidden away in a pair of ankle socks, denying Lloyd the view.

’But this look is actually cuter and cozier. She really does look like my live-in girlfriend.’

After doting on Elolo for a while, Lloyd glanced at the letter she had left for him today. It was written in the same sugary-sweet tone, pouring out a young girl’s longing and making Lloyd’s heart flutter.

But she had greedily eaten half of the small cake today, and as a result, when Lloyd tried to touch the rest with his inspiration, the giant flower bud refused to eat it...

’So picky, huh?’

Well, Lloyd couldn’t eat it either, so Elolo would just have to finish it herself.

But back to the main topic... Lloyd couldn’t shake the feeling that the Forbidden Knowledge he received today was a little... strange.

In the past, whenever he received Forbidden Knowledge, the illusions he saw were either giant stick figures or twisted noodle people, and his ears would be filled with endless, ever-loudening whispers.

But this time, the protagonists of his visions were actual humanoid creatures. That was a first.

’Could it be because this Forbidden Knowledge was attracted by that painting?’

On another note, this batch of Forbidden Knowledge seemed exceptionally fragmented. It had provided ten thousand points of Madness Value, but the only useful information was about the [Knowledge Beacon]. The rest was just a jumble of incoherent scraps, impossible to interpret, so naturally, no corresponding fragments were produced.

This was also rather strange, but it wasn’t the first time Lloyd had encountered something like this. Previously, during an [Audience with the Saint], he had also received some very fragmented Twisted System knowledge that was impossible to interpret. ’That should count as a type of Forbidden Knowledge, right?’

’Is it because I received this Forbidden Knowledge through some special means, rather than by direct observation?’

’Or maybe this knowledge is simply more advanced? Perhaps what I perceived as ’too fragmented to interpret’ is actually ’too profound to understand’?’

Lloyd mused on it idly but couldn’t come to any conclusions. When the half-hour ’date’ was over, he drowsily fell asleep.

He fell asleep naturally this time, without any strange dreams, and slept soundly until dawn.

Then, pretending he was still half-asleep, he quietly reached for the little kitten by his pillow, caught it off guard, and rubbed it against his face.

Next, he returned to the [Thought Realm], touched the giant flower bud, and deciphered the Unknown Fragment. He leveled up again instantly and was now very close to the next level.

Once he went to the Eighteenth District and finished his duties for the day, he’d be able to level up again.

Lloyd invested the points from the three levels he’d gained between yesterday and today into [Rationality], [Spiritual Power], and [Cognition].

[User: Lloyd]

[Status: Normal]

[Madness Value: 300/10000, Limit: 19000]

[Rationality: 190]

[Spiritual Power: 190]

[Inspiration: 110]

[Cognition: 190]

As for the [Inspiration] Attribute...

’It’s not that I’m a coward or anything, nor am I scared. It’s just that at my current stage, putting points into other Attributes is more cost-effective!’

’Yup, that’s right. Definitely not scared!’

After justifying his decision to himself, Lloyd got his gear ready, borrowed the bell from Meditis, and began today’s [Audience with the Saint].

He didn’t snap out of that state of absolute, focused Self-forgetfulness until it was almost lunchtime. He pursed his lips.

’Why does my mouth taste sweet again?’

’It’s like someone fed me a piece of candy... but it also feels a bit like kissing Weiya...’

Lloyd couldn’t help but scratch his head.

’But this is my [Thought Realm]. Who could possibly get in here to feed me candy?’

’It must be an illusion from being so focused, right? It’s like when you dream about eating something delicious; for a short while after you wake up, you still think you can taste it...’

’Scientifically speaking, the pleasant dream probably just triggered a past memory in my brain, right?’

Lloyd thought about it briefly, and then looked at his gains for the day.

To use a progress bar as an analogy, he was only 15% away from advancing in the [Veto] System. One more [Audience with the Saint] should do the trick.

After yesterday’s haul, he had also gathered pretty much all the Forbidden Knowledge he needed for the [Twist] System.

But what was surprising was that he suffered Spiritual Contamination again during today’s [Audience with the Saint].

And along with the Spiritual Contamination, new Forbidden Knowledge appeared in his mind—stuff that wasn’t there yesterday.

’This must have been... learned from the Double Helix Tower, right?’

Lloyd recalled the only possible source of this Forbidden Knowledge; he had indeed encountered a similar situation before.

So the question was, why did [Audience with the Saint] sometimes involve receiving pure knowledge from the [Veto] System, and other times expose him to all this messy Forbidden Knowledge?

’Is it because of that painting from yesterday?’

’Or is it a problem with this Double Helix Tower?’

As Lloyd was pondering this detail, he suddenly felt a racket erupt in his mind. His inspiration and his bizarre Intuition started going wild again, making his right eyelid twitch uncontrollably.

’Alright, alright, I’ll stop thinking about it. Time to go have lunch with Weiya.’

Lloyd resolutely chose to stop thinking. He left the [Thought Realm] and went to find his ’quasi-girlfriend’.

After they got their food at the cafeteria, Weiya produced a small paper box from her chest as if by Magic.

She opened it to reveal a pile of oddly shaped cookies. They looked like some sort of indescribable Demons, which was rather unsettling...

"Lloyd, have a taste, won’t you? These are... My family’s chef made them. They’re little animal cookies."

Weiya pushed the small box toward Lloyd, her beautiful gray eyes watching him eagerly, brimming with anticipation.

Lloyd, however, just frowned. He picked one up, examined its monstrous shape, and deadpanned:

"Is your family’s chef not very good? You call these animal cookies? They’re more like grotesque Demon cookies."

With that, he popped it into his mouth and tasted it carefully.

"Mm... The taste is off, too. Why is it so sweet? If you’re going to go with such an unconventional look, why not commit to the theme and make them spicy or something... Huh? Weiya, why are you upset?"

As Lloyd was talking, he noticed Weiya had lowered her head dejectedly and was silently picking at the food on her plate, looking upset.

’But I was just criticizing her family’s chef. Why would she get upset over that?’

Lloyd didn’t get it, so he quickly tried to console her:

"Alright, alright, he’s just a lousy chef. You can always replace him, right? It’s no big deal. Besides, once your dad gives us his blessing, I’ll cook for you every day. I’m a great cook! Not only am I creative, but my ingredient pairings are sublime!"

Hearing that Lloyd was willing to cook for her, Weiya instantly brightened up and quickly corrected him.

"I’m not upset. It’s just... tonight, my father is taking me to a reception, so I won’t be able to spend time with you again. I’m just disappointed about that."

"Oh, is that it? Don’t worry about it. It just so happens I was planning to go gather some materials anyway."

Lloyd grinned, putting on a magnanimous and unbothered front.

In reality, though, he was grumbling to himself about Weiya’s father. ’What kind of feudal old fossil is he? Keeping his daughter on such a short leash...’

’No wonder he’d hire such a lousy chef. It fits his whole ’Hu the Butcher’ vibe.’

’Then again, her dad is apparently some fallen noble. It’d be stranger if he wasn’t a fossil, still clinging to those outdated ways in this day and age...’

After grumbling for a while about his future father-in-law, the meal was about finished. Lloyd chatted with Weiya for a bit longer, then left early and headed to the ’Dream Theater’ to grind for points.

After a flurry of activity, he had just about enough points. He redeemed them for the three materials he needed for the [Twist] System, leaving him with a little over 50 points to spare.

Next, Lloyd refused the Attendant’s carefully calculated attempts to detain him and went over to the club to place an order for the [Veto] System materials.

Finally, he walked out of the club, one hand clutched to his chest, the corner of his mouth twitching.

The two large checks from Big Brother and the butler were gone before he could even get used to having them, and he’d even had to dip into his own salary.

His heart ached as if it were hemorrhaging blood! It felt like it was about to stop beating.