Chapter 290 - 280: Cognition Level Up (2)

Chapter 290: Chapter 280: Cognition Level Up (2)

’Sigh... You can’t even figure out something so simple. Can’t you try a little harder? You’ve been with me for so long, have you learned none of my outstanding qualities?’

Lloyd couldn’t help but direct a pointless tirade at the panel.

He set aside [Spatial Domination] for the moment and looked at the second skill—

[Spiritual Tentacles (LV1) — Condense inspiration and Spiritual Power into a subtle, hidden, tentacle-like form. Quietly invade other beings’ Thought Realms and use it as a channel to interfere with their thoughts. Continue collecting fragments to increase the skill level.]

As usual, a line of smaller text below provided a supplementary explanation:

"I think I can use this skill to peek into other people’s memories and thoughts? Let me give it a try... Hahaha, so that’s how it works! I get it, I get it! HISSS~ROAR~#￥￥#@!@&%"

This skill came from the crazed patterns on the wall. Based on the description, it didn’t seem very useful. It had some functional overlap with what Lloyd had already mastered, as the [Twist] system was also expert at interfering with thoughts.

’Perhaps after a few upgrades, or when paired with some Evil Techniques, it could achieve the same effect the supervisor had when controlling the villagers?’

But Lloyd, who loathed evil, would never do such a thing.

However, the small text below did serve as a stark reminder for Lloyd: he absolutely must not use this skill to peek into other people’s memories and thoughts.

No wonder all the villagers here were effectively braindead. Otherwise, the supervisor wouldn’t have dared to control people like that.

In short, this was destined to be a skill of little use. Lloyd gave it a cursory glance before tossing it aside.

As for the final skill upgrade, it wasn’t a specific skill, strictly speaking. It was an enhancement of an Extraordinary Being’s fundamental abilities, which was why it wasn’t recorded on the panel and had no corresponding description.

According to the new knowledge in his mind, this enhancement was related to basic skills like ’Spiritual Energy Projection’. Its specific effect was to unleash a large amount of Spiritual Power in a single burst, delivering a powerful blow to a target.

And that was it.

As for just how ’powerful’ it was, he’d have to wait and see.

The source of this skill was the three investigators beside him; it was a basic skill he had incidentally ’picked up’ while helping them shoulder the Spiritual Contamination.

’He couldn’t understand why investigators would know such a technique.’

’In any case, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be very strong...’

In addition, Lloyd had also ’learned’ a few things from them, like fighting techniques, investigation skills, and survival tactics.

These were all quite useful, the fruits of their twenty years of precious professional experience. He wondered why the panel hadn’t recorded them.

Lloyd didn’t dwell on it and continued to take stock of his other gains—

[Ding~ Reading progress has increased.]

[Ding~ Unknown Fragment analysis complete. Corresponding knowledge has been acquired.]

[Ding~ Manifestation System Enlightenment is complete. Do you wish to enter this specific system?]

This was to be expected. The fragment had been filled with knowledge about the [Manifestation] System. Finishing it naturally led to the [Manifestation] System’s Enlightenment. It was all a logical progression, things simply falling into place.

He wasn’t in a hurry, though. It was an important [Enlightenment] ritual, after all. It deserved a bit of solemnity and ceremony. He didn’t want to complete such a significant rite while lying on the ground playing dead.

But then again, the basic knowledge of the [Manifestation] System and the [Enlightenment] effect it provided were just minor bonuses. They were like a few ’examples’ in a research paper, not the true focus of the fragment.

That’s why Lloyd had been wondering before why basic knowledge of the [Manifestation] System would be packaged so exquisitely and intricately.

Now, that long-standing question was finally answered. Of course ’examples’ would be simple and easy to understand.

The true essence of the fragment lay in—

[Ding~ Cognition level has increased.]

Although it was just a simple five-word notification, it was Lloyd’s single greatest and most crucial reward for enduring this wave of hardship and danger.

Just a few minutes ago, the moment he received that notification, he felt a sudden, profound clarity wash over him—an epiphany.

The reason he was able to figure out what kind of entity was behind the hexahedron statue, realize the statue’s fragments were precious treasures, and even understand where the [Spatial Domination] skill had come from—his ability to arrive at these answers on his own was all thanks to the effect of his increased Cognition level.

Furthermore, all the jumbled and incomprehensible Knowledge Fragments that had been cluttering his mind—the ones that hadn’t been swept into his mental ’recycling bin’—suddenly started to make sense.

He even gained a completely new understanding and Cognition of that colossal stick figure, causing his reading progress for the *Book of Truth* to surge by another 15%, pushing it past the halfway mark.

Although the knowledge was too fragmented and incomplete for Lloyd to fill in all the blanks himself, he at least now knew what it was all about and what it pertained to.

Clearly, this increase in his Cognition level was akin to opening the door to a whole new realm for Lloyd. In this world where ’knowledge is power’, its effect far surpassed any of the previous attribute or skill upgrades.

Lloyd could even faintly sense that this enhancement was a key to stepping toward a High Position.

Not a High Position like being above the Fifth Tier.

But rather, the realm above a Saint, the one humans called the ’Supreme’...

Only those who held this ’key’ could possibly set foot on the ladder leading to that realm.

Of course, this path would inevitably be fraught with dangers and unforeseen events, destined to be an arduous journey.

But, as they say, he’d already come this far...

There was no way Lloyd was going to give up an opportunity like this.

Besides, he never wanted to be held down and force-fed Spiritual Contamination by some random Evil God’s Offspring ever again.

Then again, Lloyd still couldn’t quite figure it out. How did his confrontation with an Evil God’s Offspring get entangled with this Unknown Fragment?

Even with his enhanced Cognition, he couldn’t come up with an answer...

The moment he even tried to connect the dots, his inspiration and eerie Intuition would begin to run wild—not in the old way, like beating gongs and drums to announce a feast, but more like a rave on a freshly dug grave.

’It seems that while I’ve obtained the key to the Supreme Realm, I still have a very long ladder to climb before I reach the true supreme level...’

’Nothing for it but to keep working hard and striving forward!’

Lloyd reflected internally for a moment. With that, he had more or less finished taking stock of the gains from this venture.

He took one last look at his complete panel:

[User: Lloyd]

[Status: Normal]

[Madness Value: 2000/10000, Limit: 26000]

[Rationality: 260]

[Spiritual Power: 260]

[inspiration: 150]

[Cognition: 260]

[Systems: Twist LV4, Veto LV3, Manifestation System Enlightenment available]

[Mastered Skills: Focused Learning; Enhanced Investigation; Divination LV6; Dizziness Resistance LV6; Extraordinary Swordsmanship LV3; Twisted Realm LV7; Aggressive Speech LV6; Blessing Distortion LV7; Orbital Control (Twist) LV5; Spatial Domination LV1; Spiritual Tentacles LV1]

[Mastered Special Skills: The Supreme One Thus Spoke]

[Unread Books: Book of Truth, Vol. 1, Current Reading Progress: 55%]

There were still some scattered details left to sort out, but he didn’t have time to go over them right now. He’d clean up the rest later when he had a moment.

He peeked out through a squinted eye and was surprised to find the reinforcements still hadn’t located him.

Instead, they were gathered at the edge of the warehouse district, dawdling and unwilling to venture deeper, as if there were something terrifying inside...

At this point, Lloyd felt it would be too awkward to keep playing dead, so he opened his mouth and yelled:

"Help! I’m bleeding out here!"