Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Of course, Lloyd failed to notice such a minute detail as the Knight Commander’s pupils contracting. He simply turned and walked away.

Only after Lloyd was a good distance away did the Knight Commander press his lips together, his brow furrowed, and mutter in a low voice:

’He actually doesn’t feel any majesty or awe from the Saint? Did he fail to perceive it? Or could it be that the Saint, toward him...’

Although Lloyd’s earlier answer hadn’t explicitly admitted to receiving the Saint’s gaze—he had phrased it as "I feel"—the Knight Commander clearly knew a thing or two about him.

He was, after all, Grand Judge Demani’s trusted deputy.

That was why he’d been assigned to make contact with Lloyd. His duties included reporting on Lloyd’s performance to the Grand Judge and helping resolve any problems Lloyd might face.

His knowledge wasn’t particularly deep, however. He only knew the basics: that the young man was exceptionally talented, that the Grand Judge held him in high regard, and that he had received the Saint’s gaze.

He’d never imagined that Lloyd’s opinion of the Saint would be so... peculiar.

In fact, while the suspected traitor, Jelas, might have his issues, his reaction to the Saint was perfectly normal.

The Knight Commander himself had received such a gaze once, years ago, when he ascended to become a Tier Five Transcender.

At the time, he had been just as terrified and overwhelmed, so nervous and flustered that he nearly fainted. His mind had gone completely blank, save for a sliver of pure awe. There certainly wasn’t any room for joy at being noticed.

His impression of the Saint was one of pure sublimity—so lofty he dared not look directly, so transcendent he could never hope to reach.

Thankfully, the Saint had only gazed upon him that one time. Any more, and he wouldn’t have known how to cope with such ’high favor’.

If a Tier Five felt that way, what hope did a young man like Jelas have?

So, the Knight Commander’s suspicion of Jelas stemmed mainly from that Greatly Disrespectful Saint Statue, not from his description of the Saint’s gaze.

A few minutes ago, he would have sworn that no one who had been directly gazed upon by the Saint would dare harbor such disrespect as to create a Saint Statue in that style.

But now, he had his doubts. ’Who’s to say this Lloyd won’t go and make a Greatly Disrespectful Saint Statue of his own in the future?’

’Comparing the Saint to a Childhood Sweetheart from next door... *You’re* the one being greatly disrespectful, aren’t you? How dare you?’

If Lloyd weren’t a newcomer favored by both the Grand Judge and Shandu of the City of Order, the Knight Commander would have demanded an explanation on the spot.

But in the end, he was the one who didn’t dare to ask...

So... is this young man truly being greatly disrespectful to the Saint?

Or... does the Saint genuinely like him?

At this thought, the Knight Commander shook his head vigorously, not daring to let his mind wander any further down that path.

Trying to fathom the Saint’s thoughts was an extremely dangerous and foolish endeavor.

’I just need to follow the Grand Knight Commander’s orders, look after this young man, Lloyd, and assist him with the two important dissections. That’s all.’

’As for everything else, it’s better not to think too much, not to ask too much.’

With that, the Knight Commander reined in his thoughts and went to find the people from the Saint’s Grace Court.

This Jelas was too fixated on Lloyd and Cell One, and his behavior was contradictory. He needed to be investigated thoroughly.

...

Lloyd, for his part, had no idea his ’little report’ would cause the Knight Commander’s imagination to run wild. He also didn’t know that his own suspicions about Jelas had been off the mark from the very start.

After all, he’d never truly been subjected to that awe-inspiring, suffocating gaze. Lacking a true sense of what it was like, he hadn’t immediately realized the contradiction presented by the Greatly Disrespectful Saint Statue.

Yet, by sheer accident, he had managed to make the man reveal his true colors.

Of course, Lloyd didn’t know any of this yet. After wandering around the massive construction site for a while, he found it to be both noisy and boring.

Back in the Processing District, things had seemed quiet, probably due to the effects of the Orbit. But as soon as he walked a little further away, he was met with the cacophony of a construction site, and even the distant roar of cannons and gunfire.

But worse than the noise was the boredom. There was no library, no training ground—no way for him to improve himself. He’d thought about going back to the Processing District to help with the executions, but that scholar had threatened him with a flashlight, telling him to go get some rest.

He wanted to go back to having an [Audience with the Saint], but without [Intense Concentration] to help, it would be nearly impossible given the terrible environment and constant noise.

The only thing Lloyd could think to do was test out the passive effect of his new vest.

The results were just as he’d predicted. As long as he didn’t initiate conversation and the other person didn’t already know him, they would subconsciously treat him like he wasn’t there.

However, it was ineffective against people with a certain amount of inspiration. The scholar, for example, with his 30 points of [inspiration], had been able to ’spot’ him at a glance.

Lloyd tested it on a few more Priests and discovered that the threshold for [inspiration] seemed to be around 15 points.

As it happened, the other twenty-odd Executioners had a standard Holy Judgment Court Attribute distribution—their inspiration was universally low, with none of them surpassing 15 points.

Naturally, they were unable to perceive Lloyd’s presence.

So that was the gist of the effect. It wasn’t true Invisibility, more like being ’removed from the world.’

’No greeting,’ and ’no prior acquaintance’—for strangers, it was as if they existed in two different worlds.

The function was pretty useful. It didn’t interfere with his daily life and could save him from minor annoyances. And if he didn’t need the effect, he could just take the vest off. Very convenient.

After finishing his tests, Lloyd was left with absolutely nothing to do. He even considered going to help the surveyors lay out lines, so his university major could finally contribute something to the grand cause of humanity.

Thankfully, a second thought stopped him. ’Better not,’ he decided. ’I might blend in too well with the construction crew and never get out...’

’Maybe... I could sneak out for a bit?’

Lloyd looked out at the undeveloped, primordial landscape beyond the camp, feeling the itch to explore.

’I wouldn’t have to go far. Just look for some tasty mushrooms nearby.’

He was just about to act on the impulse when another series of gunshots and cannonades echoed in the distance, stopping him in his tracks.

’Never mind, never mind,’ he thought. ’I’ve got my sister back home, Weiya in the Eighteenth District, and a bright future ahead of me. No need to go looking for trouble.’

Overcome with boredom, he returned to his dorm room. He took out the Storage Bag he’d acquired earlier and started fiddling with it.

Seeing the bag reminded him that the Grand Knight Commander, Shandu, had given him a small booklet.

As if he’d found a lifeline, Lloyd eagerly began to flip through its pages.

’You can use Spiritual Power like this? Interesting...’

The manual’s main focus was on how to enhance conventional exercises like running, push-ups, and frog jumps by coordinating them with unique applications of Spiritual Power to improve one’s physical conditioning more effectively.

Lloyd took his physical health seriously. He exercised with his kitten every morning and practiced his swordsmanship for a more intense workout whenever he had time, but his regimen was still fairly basic.

The methods in this manual, however, were clearly more scientific and systematic.

It even specifically mentioned that the effects were better ’the stronger one’s Spiritual Power.’

Lloyd immediately took off his jacket and did twenty push-ups in his room, following the manual’s instructions to stimulate and guide his muscles with Spiritual Power.

As for the results...

He didn’t feel any improvement whatsoever.

That was to be expected. Physical training was always a long-term process; no method, no matter how scientific, offered a shortcut.

Besides, Lloyd didn’t have a strong foundation to begin with. He’d had a difficult childhood, unlike someone like Weiya, who had been training with a sword since she was a little girl.

He would just have to take it slow and build it up bit by bit. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do anyway.

So, Lloyd decided to follow the beginner-level workout plan from the manual. He started with some indoor exercises, then put on his vest and went out for a run.

Thanks to the ’removed from the world’ effect, at least no one would think he was a lunatic...

He then scavenged some scrap materials from the construction site, pieced together a crude dumbbell, and went back to his dorm to continue working on his arm strength.

After all that exertion, even someone with the constitution of a college athlete would have been exhausted. He was quickly worn out, collapsing onto his bed and drifting into a deep sleep.

By the time he woke up, it was already dinnertime.

Lloyd was ravenous. He found the simple construction site mess hall and ate enough for three people before heading back to his dorm to continue his training.

The training plan in the manual was designed to utilize pockets of free time. It had exercises scheduled from morning to after meals to before bed, all without interfering with normal work or rest. It was a very considerate design.

"Ninety-nine... One hundred! HUFF... PUFF..."

Lloyd finally finished the last rep. He hastily dropped the indescribable lump that served as a dumbbell and stretched his aching arms.

Just then, he heard a knock at the door.

He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of a cartoon speech bubble containing the image of a lightbulb.

Knight Commander Korall, who stood under the bubble, wore his usual serious and solemn expression, a complete mismatch for the cartoony graphic.

"..."

He remained silent, handed Lloyd a document, then turned and went back to his own room.

Lloyd picked up the document. It was a transcript of an interrogation recorded by the Saint’s Grace Court.

The subject of the interrogation was none other than the suspected traitor, the Executioner Jelas.

’I can’t believe the Saint’s Grace Court is so efficient. They’ve got results already?’

’But why give a copy to me? And have a Knight Commander deliver it personally?’

Lloyd was confused, but he pushed his questions aside and began to read intently.

As he read on, his brow furrowed and his expression grew increasingly disgusted.

By the time he was halfway through, he couldn’t hold back a curse:

"Pah! Damn simp deserves to die a horrible death!"