Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

The rescue that followed was smoother than expected. It was fast, stealthy, and completely automatic. Lloyd didn’t need to do anything extra—just wait patiently.

Besides, he couldn’t do much else other than wait. He couldn’t float far, and he didn’t dare to recklessly extend his inspiration, afraid he might trigger an alarm.

But as he waited, his mind inevitably began to wander...

After all, with a beautiful girl so close, his eyes kept drifting toward Elolo.

’She really is cute. Her skin is so fair, her legs are so straight, and her feet are so lovely...’

’Ahem, don’t get any ideas, don’t get any ideas!’

Lloyd quickly looked away.

But just then, he heard a different sort of whimper.

"Mmm... who are you?"

’Elolo stopped crying? And she’s noticed me?’

’This means things are going really well!’

Lloyd’s heart leaped with joy. He quickly lowered his voice and whispered:

"Can you hear me? I’m here to save you."

But Elolo replied in a dazed, syrupy-sweet voice:

"Are you... Lord Uther?"

’Uh... seems like she didn’t hear me.’

She continued, seemingly talking to herself:

"Lord Uther, you’re okay! I’m so relieved. Come, give me a hug~"

Then, Lloyd felt a slight stir through his inspiration, as if a slender finger had gently brushed against his own.

’It seems the Corrosion has indeed loosened the Orbit a little, but not by much. Maybe just enough for her to stick a finger through?’

Lloyd observed her carefully again. Elolo’s delicate form hadn’t changed at all; she was still curled up in that pitiful little ball. She wasn’t speaking aloud—her sealed-off consciousness was communicating with him.

The reason she couldn’t hear him was likely that her consciousness hadn’t been fully freed yet. And since he wasn’t part of the [Wisdom] system, he didn’t know how to use his inspiration to communicate.

So, Lloyd could only listen in silence as Elolo continued.

"Lord Uther, are you here to get me out? Heehee, you’re the best... I just knew you’d come back for me..."

"Sob... They took my daddy away and locked me in this pitch-black room. I can’t get out..."

"I’m so scared... I really want a little cake..."

"Oh, Lord Uther, can you find a little cake? Please offer it to the Venerable for me. Then the Venerable should be able to come save me. Remember, it has to be the kind of little cake with a cherry on top."

"Heehee, luckily I still have you by my side, Lord Uther. I don’t think I’m so scared anymore."

"Your hand... it’s so warm. It’s just... you’re tickling my foot..."

"You’ll... stay with me always, won’t you?"

Lloyd was completely unable to respond, so he could only listen in silence as she poured out her heart.

And as the Orbit corroded, Lloyd noticed something else—the Spiritual Contamination he was suffering was actually getting stronger.

Along with it, the number of miscellaneous fragments was also increasing...

And so, for more than twenty minutes, Elolo performed a one-woman show, pouring her heart out to Lloyd, her silent audience. Eventually, her emotions calmed, and her words became mumbled and indistinct.

"Mmm... I’m getting sleepy... I want to sleep..."

"Heehee, with Lord Uther here, I’m sure I’ll have sweet dreams tonight."

"Good night, my Lord Uther..."

Elolo fell silent. She was no longer crying. Even her physical body stopped shedding tears, and the corners of her mouth even turned up in a faint, peaceful smile.

She was sleepy, and Lloyd felt sleepy too. Just then, the effect of the Erosion Orbit wore off, and the Orbit itself dissolved on the carpet.

Lloyd wasted no time, erasing his temporary Mark before his consciousness returned to his own room.

"Good night, Elolo."

Lloyd mumbled, already half-asleep, and drifted into a deep slumber.

That was the extent of his rescue operation last night. It had indeed gone smoothly, with clear progress and significant gains.

But the gains were mainly in his Madness Value. The miscellaneous fragments were still useless.

The skill fragments couldn’t be pieced together into a complete skill. The Knowledge Fragments were all strange, useless trivia. The Memory Fragments were a tangled mess.

’So why am I getting all this random junk?’

The problem was, these fragments weren’t just simple memories or bits of knowledge. He couldn’t just forget them; they remained lodged in his mind.

’If they keep piling up...’

Luckily, something in his mind—he wasn’t sure if it was the system panel or the Book of Truth—had partitioned off a special area to dump all this stuff, like a recycle bin. As long as Lloyd didn’t actively try to recall them, he wouldn’t think of them.

But letting this go on probably wasn’t a long-term solution. Although Lloyd considered himself smart and capable of storing a lot of information, his mental capacity wasn’t infinite. If this junk kept piling up with no way to get rid of it, it would surely cause problems down the line.

It might not have any effect in the short term, maybe not for a few years or even a decade. But what about in several decades, or a century?

’Should I start looking into the [Wisdom] system? As a system specializing in the Consciousness Realm, they should have ways to deal with this kind of problem, right?’

Lloyd mused to himself.

......

In a laboratory filled with various instruments and long, narrow test tubes, several scholars gathered around a middle-aged woman, reporting on the situation.

"Lead, this is last night’s data. It’s very optimistic. [Elolo]’s condition is getting better every day!"

"Excellent. This proves our plan is correct. This is the proper way to utilize [Elolo]."

"Lead, here is last night’s security log. Everything is normal."

"Mmm... is anyone on duty in the central control room?"

"Well... the security department is responsible for that. But because she cries every night, no one dares to stay in the control room for too long. They just do routine patrols. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Alright, that’s understandable. [Elolo] is, after all, extremely dangerous and mysterious..."

The middle-aged woman in the lead also wore the classic scholar’s attire of a white lab coat and a monocle. Her expression was exceedingly stern, and the others around her hardly dared to meet her gaze.

After examining a thick stack of data and charts in her hands, the lead researcher spoke again.

"How is [Lady Haima]’s condition?"

"Everything is normal. We can begin the [Lecture] at any time."

"No, that’s not what I’m asking. I want to know if we can proceed to the next phase of the experiment—the one involving Forbidden Knowledge."