Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Lloyd had no intention of stopping someone else's plan. On the contrary, he was even considering if he could use this opportunity to give Balderes a hand, personally.

If he could really help Balderes out at a critical moment, coupled with his connection to the Supreme One, he could definitely recruit him and kick-start his grand money-making plan.

This was precisely why Lloyd had agreed to it earlier.

Of course, this was all on the condition that whatever Balderes wanted to do wasn't too outrageous. He couldn't go and pull some stunt that would anger both gods and men.

"That's all for today."

Lloyd prepared to leave. He swiped away the screen in front of him and reached out to poke the Tentacle Grass.

The Tentacle Grass quickly cradled his finger, nuzzling it a few times before waving a tentacle as if to say goodbye.

'This little guy is getting more and more well-behaved...'

Lloyd smiled, placed the glass cover over it, then left the Thought Realm and returned to his room in the physical world.

He turned his head to look at his slightly cluttered bedside table.

Three lumps of ancient scrap, an artisanal revolver, a business card, and a small cake.

"I'll have to get a bigger bedside table later..."

Lloyd muttered to himself. He picked up the revolver and toyed with it, finding it hard to put down.

Its craftsmanship and feel were excellent, and its balance was perfect.

With this, he believed he could become a true Sharpshooter who never missed, instead of a master of outlining silhouettes.

'Back in the day, I was an elite counter-terrorist with superb aim myself. I used to snipe terrorists all over the world with my auto-sniper, making everyone so jealous they'd vote to kick me from the server.'

'I even grinded my way up, practicing hard to finally achieve a prestigious 500-point rank.'

'So, compared to swords, guns are obviously more suitable for a progressive, well-educated young man like me!'

'I wonder which lucky Demon will get to experience my marksmanship tomorrow?'

Lloyd reminisced for a moment, then, imitating the gunslingers from the movies, he tried to spin the revolver in his hand.

THUD~

The gun fell to the floor, causing him a pang of distress. He quickly picked it up, wiped it clean, and returned it to his Storage Bag.

He then picked up Balderes's business card, glanced at the contact address, and put it away as well.

Then, while eating his small cake, he weighed the ancient scrap metal in his hand, pondering how to recycle it.

At first, Lloyd had planned to turn them into dumbbells for his little kitten to work out with. But after weighing them, he realized they weren't heavy enough for an effective workout. Besides, there were three of them, an unpairable number that would drive anyone with OCD insane.

'I have no use for them, and I know there are collectors out there... Maybe I should just sell them for cash?'

Lloyd considered another angle.

But he felt a little reluctant. It felt like a waste, like using your guaranteed pity-pull on a newly released four-star character.

'Let's mull it over. I'll take a look at the internal structure first.'

Musing, Lloyd finished the small cake in a few bites, then activated his Spiritual Vision and peered directly inside the scrap metal.

The inside looked a bit like the back of a computer motherboard, only less complex. It was covered in clusters of winding, crisscrossing circuits that formed patterns and markings Lloyd couldn't quite decipher.

The lines were crooked and uneven, not at all uniform. They vaguely resembled the structure of an Orbit, but the difference was much greater. There were also many blurred and broken sections, like a captured Knight in the hands of a mine boss—truly beyond saving.

The outer casing, however, was surprisingly sturdy. Despite being so rusty that flakes were peeling off, it remained solid and firm, a testament to the superior material science of the ancient civilization.

'I remember the Book of Truth said these things were made with ancient Magical Technology. That sounds completely different from our current system of steam and electricity—like a whole other tech tree. Was it really abandoned completely? Seems like a shame...'

As Lloyd mulled this over, turning the scrap metal in his hands, he was struck by a sudden idea. He tried injecting a bit of his Spiritual Power into the circuits, hoping to trigger some kind of Miracle.

The result, obviously, was that he couldn't.

In fact, his Spiritual Power met with a blockage, as if it was being repelled by the lump of scrap.

It was a strange sensation, like packed snow clogging a drainpipe.

'Huh? Could it be... that the ancient 'Fighting Power' and 'Magic Power' are different from the Spiritual Power of today?'

'Perhaps that would explain why humanity abandoned what was clearly a more advanced ancient technology?'

'But that raises another question. When the Demons were running rampant and the apocalypse came, what were all those powerful experts at the 'Third Stage of Fighting Power' doing?'

A chain of wild speculation unfolded in Lloyd's mind.

Suddenly, another idea struck him. He activated the Square Ring on his hand—the Scenes of Wisdom—wanting to see what color this thing would present.

And inside the lump of scrap, a diagram of faint blue lines appeared.

It was an aftereffect of the Spiritual Power he had just injected. Although the power couldn't flow through the circuits, it had washed over their surfaces and adhered to them, revealing them as fine blue lines.

These blue lines were incredibly fine, no thicker than a strand of hair. Without activating the Square Ring, they were completely imperceptible with just Spiritual Vision and inspiration.

With the lines all turned blue, their structure hadn't changed, but Lloyd could now see their layout much more clearly.

He observed them carefully for a moment, and then he heard a panel notification:

[Ding~ Erroneous Knowledge Fragment +1, Madness +500]

"Huh?"

Lloyd stared, stunned. He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.

'So the panel can handle things the Book of Truth can't? It can read knowledge the Book of Truth can't?'

He quickly repeated the process with the other two lumps of scrap.

[Ding~ Erroneous Knowledge Fragment +1, Madness +500]

[Ding~ Erroneous Knowledge Fragment +1, Madness +500]

After obtaining three Knowledge Fragments in a row, Lloyd's head started to itch, as if his brain was growing.

He quickly examined the new information in his mind.

It was the complex circuit diagram from inside the scrap metal.

All three pieces of scrap were 'decommissioned Portable Shield Generators'. Their internal structures appeared identical, but each was damaged in a different place.

By mentally piecing them together, he could form a more complete picture, but parts of it were still missing or blurry. He couldn't assemble the full design.

'These things really are too badly damaged...'

He wasn't sure if it was because the diagram was incomplete, but for now, all he had was a pattern. He hadn't gained any extra insight and still couldn't figure out the principles or mechanisms of the ancient device.

'Maybe I need to assemble the complete diagram? Or find a 'Portable Shield Generator' that's in better condition?'

However, once supplemented, this circuit diagram showed more similarities to modern Orbits. The gap was still massive, though—something like the difference between a 'limited banner' and the 'standard banner' in a Krypton Gold Mobile Game.

'In any case, they both fall under the 'gacha pool' category...'

But what concerned Lloyd more was the panel's notification.

'What does "erroneous knowledge" even mean?'

'And why would this kind of knowledge cause Spiritual Contamination?'

He was about to let his imagination run wild, but he immediately felt a warning from his uncanny intuition, forcing him to rein in his thoughts.

It was just that... in the past, whenever Lloyd ran into a situation like this, both his inspiration and his uncanny intuition would be raising a ruckus in his head. This time, only his uncanny intuition was sounding the alarm...

Lloyd could only sigh with helpless resignation.

"In my short life, I have come to understand one thing: the more you study ancient history, the more you realize that humanity has its limits..."

With that, he flopped onto his bed and peacefully went to sleep.

...

Meanwhile, far away in the City of Joy, a young girl named Elolo stood in a fairytale-style bedroom. She was wearing cartoon pajamas, her feet bare, as she carefully cracked open her door.

First, a single, crooked strand of Dazed Hair peeked out from around the doorframe, followed by her mismatched blue and black eyes.

Outside her room was the second-floor hallway. It was dark. A single oil lamp at the far end cast a weak glow, but it did nothing to dispel the surrounding shadows. The entire corridor looked like the gullet of a great beast, and there was no telling where the darkness at the other end led.

Elolo instinctively shrank back, still not daring to step out of her room.

Neither her father nor the strict Ms. Beileida allowed her to leave her room after bedtime.

Elolo looked down at the stuffed octopus she was clutching and felt a power radiating from within it, stronger than ever before.

This power seemed to grant her a strange kind of courage.

'I have to at least... get to the ground floor... No, just to the top of the stairs!'

'You can do it, Elolo! You can do it!'

Elolo gave herself a mental pep talk. Pursing her soft pink lips, she clutched the stuffed octopus and took her first step out of the room.

On her slender neck, another faint, thin line appeared.

Elolo didn't notice this change. On her bare feet, she tiptoed carefully, step by step, toward the pitch-black stairwell.

She was terrified. A cold sweat had already soaked through her pajamas without her realizing it.

She should have given up long ago, but a strange thought in her mind made her stubbornly cling to her resolve.

And so, step by step, inch by inch, she advanced into the corridor's darkness.

She silently counted her steps as she went.

One.

Two.

Three...

She had counted them carefully before. It would take exactly 23 steps to reach the stairwell.

Twenty-two...

Twenty-three...

'I made it!'

'I did it!'

Elolo's heart leaped with joy. For the first time in her sixteen years of life, she had finally taken this most crucial step.

Next, she reached out, trying to find the stair's handrail.

But no matter how her delicate hands groped in the darkness, she couldn't find the handrail she remembered...

Or rather, she couldn't feel anything at all...