Free Web NovelChapter 51: Chapter 51: What’s So Surprising?
Lloyd stood frozen at the door for a full three seconds. He only entered the office after the gaze disappeared.
He quickly locked the door and opened the innermost file cabinet drawer.
Inside was the unrefined Saint Statue. That gaze from before had emanated from it.
The statue’s form had also changed slightly. Previously, it had been a shapeless, rough block, but now it had taken on a humanoid silhouette. Though still very coarse and lacking any detail, the graceful curves of a young woman were already discernible.
Moreover, there were no signs of carving or tooling on its surface. It seemed to have taken on this form all on its own.
This gave Lloyd an instant headache.
Although the gaze was just like the one in the Thought Realm—gentle and warm, free of hostility or any sense of prying, and even reassuring.
But it was still so sudden—it was genuinely terrifying!
Furthermore, it was happening far more frequently than Lloyd had anticipated.
Fortunately, it was just a glance. There was no other reaction.
But Lloyd couldn’t help but grumble to himself:
’I’m not your pet cat, so why are you putting a camera on me?’
’What part of me do you even like? Can’t I just change it?’
After a bit of silent complaining, he thought for a moment longer, then locked the statue back in the file cabinet.
’What else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just throw it away, could he?’
’And carrying it around was out of the question. Then it really *would* be a camera.’
"Whatever. As a fine, well-educated young man, I’ve always been humble, cautious, reserved, self-disciplined, righteous, and passionate. I’ve got nothing to hide. If she wants to watch, let her watch."
Lloyd muttered, pulling out an ordinary pocket watch to check the time.
It was just past ten in the morning. His Enlightenment had only taken two hours.
Since it was still early, Lloyd put on a white lab coat, ready to take care of his regular duties for the day.
Today, the notice board only had one key for the -3rd floor. He went down, dealt with it efficiently, and gained 300 Madness Value.
It was only the base Madness Value for killing the Demon, without any of the small +5 or +10 bonuses.
He had actually noticed the diminishing returns on Madness Value for a while now. Previously, just looking directly at a Demon or hearing it roar would net him various +1 or +3 gains. But as his Attributes increased and his physical condition improved, the low-level Demons on the -1st and -2nd floors only provided the base Madness Value.
This was actually a good thing. It meant he had grown stronger and could now ignore such low-level Spiritual Contamination.
But just yesterday, the Demons on the -3rd floor still provided those small +5 and +10 contamination bonuses. The returns had already diminished compared to his first encounters, of course, because his body was gradually adapting to that level of Spiritual Contamination. Still, the decay hadn’t been too drastic, and executing one Demon still netted him several hundred points—nothing like the meager amount he got today.
Fortunately, Lloyd wasn’t too worried. He wasn’t upset at all; in fact, he looked pleased as he said:
"This is a good thing, too. It means my efforts are paying off. A Danger Level 3 can no longer harm me."
With that, he stepped out of the elevator, just in time to see Weiya walking toward him, holding a notebook as if on her way to a meeting.
The moment she saw Lloyd, her beautiful, large eyes widened slightly. Though her facial expression remained unchanged, her gaze was filled with astonishment.
"You... how are you out so quickly?"
"Hmm? Is there a problem? I’ve always been very focused on efficiency."
"The average time for someone in the Eighteenth District to complete their Enlightenment is 52 hours. Even the fastest record, held by the former Executioner Meditis, was 26 hours."
Weiya said, pulling out her pocket watch to check it before continuing:
"But you... you took less than three hours..."
She still found it unbelievable. She reached out, took Lloyd’s wrist, and released a bit of her inspiration, wanting to see if he was lying.
She immediately snatched her hand back as if she’d touched a hot stove.
"You really completed your Enlightenment? You... don’t you need any time to recalibrate? No time to adapt to the changes after your promotion?"
A shocked expression finally appeared on Weiya’s perpetually calm, beautiful face. Her entire worldview had clearly been shaken.
Lloyd just smiled and asked in a humble tone:
"What’s so surprising? Is today the first time you’ve realized how exceptional I am?"
The expression on Weiya’s face instantly turned cold again. She looked as if she wanted to say something but was holding back. After hesitating for two or three seconds, she finally said:
"Could you try to be a little more low-key?"
"Hmm? When did you get the mistaken impression that I’m not low-key?"
Lloyd retorted, then added with complete confidence:
"Being low-key means not showing off, bragging, or acting ostentatiously. It doesn’t mean denying my own excellence. I’m not some War God Level son-in-law from a trashy web novel."
Weiya shook her head, advising him with a hint of resignation:
"Maybe you should read less pulp fiction... I’m heading to my meeting. I’ll report your status to His Honor the Chief Judge afterward."
With that, she wordlessly pulled the kitten from her uniform pocket and handed it back to Lloyd, adding a special instruction:
"I gave it some treats earlier, so you don’t need to feed it at lunch."
She gave the kitten’s head a final rub and waved goodbye to it before stepping into the elevator.
The next time Lloyd saw Weiya, it was already afternoon. He was in his office studying Mysticism when she knocked and entered.
She asked the moment she came in:
"I reported your situation to His Honor the Chief Judge. He wasn’t surprised. In fact, he praised you profusely. Do you need me to repeat his words for you?"
"No need. I’m afraid it’ll go to my head."
Lloyd replied nonchalantly.
’He’d expected that the Chief Judge wouldn’t be as surprised as Weiya. With that unfathomable air about him, what grand spectacle hadn’t he witnessed?’
Then, before Weiya had a chance to speak, he changed the subject.
"By the way, how many towers for executing Demons does the Eighteenth District have?"
"Towers 3, 6, and 9 were originally responsible for that, but Tower 3 was later sealed for unknown reasons. Currently, only Towers 6 and 9 are operational."
Weiya explained matter-of-factly, then followed up with a question:
"Why do you ask?"
"It’s nothing. I just feel the work of an Executioner is a lot lighter than I’d anticipated. I feel like I’m letting the taxpayers down, so I was wondering if I could help out at the other towers."
Lloyd said, slightly masking his true reason.
’The real reason, of course, was that he wanted to farm more Madness Value and skill fragments, not to mention earn more money.’
But Weiya shook her head, looking somewhat troubled as she said:
"That... might not be convenient... As you know, each tower here has a different function. Executing Demons is only one of them."
