Chapter 369 - 326: Stat Inflation (3)

Chapter 369: Chapter 326: Stat Inflation (3)

Lloyd figured if someone could actually read all the books in there, they might not become omniscient, but they’d at least have a comprehensive knowledge of the past and present, for starters.

Unfortunately, with the Spatial Storm raging and the library no longer supported by the Miracle, it was certain to be torn to shreds. The knowledge within would probably be lost forever in the Alternate Space.

Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be lost forever. Perhaps, freed from the library’s confines, the knowledge would become more active and start worming its way into people’s minds?

Lloyd thought for a moment and decided this wasn’t something he needed to worry about right now. He’d deal with it later.

He then turned his attention to the greatest reward from this venture—the new Special Skill.

[Incomplete Miracle—Chaotic Space, the long march of ages; even a Miracle will fade in time.]

Just like the previous Special Skill, this new one also came without a written description, and Lloyd had no concept or impression of what it was.

However, there was a line of small text below it that served as a supplementary note:

"Miracles require a price. Even a Deity must bleed for them..."

He’d gotten the Special Skill he wanted, but it didn’t seem to be the kind of Miracle Magic he had been hoping for.

He wasn’t even sure what the skill was specifically for...

The only good news was that he could use this skill right away. It didn’t seem to have the same kind of extremely strict activation requirements as [The Supreme One Thus Spoke].

’Or maybe it does have requirements, and I just happen to meet them right now?’

But Lloyd certainly didn’t dare to use it casually just to see what it did.

’What if I test it once and then find I can’t use it again until I meet the next set of conditions? Wouldn’t that be incredibly awkward?’

Besides, he still didn’t have a clear understanding of the skill’s specific effects...

He could only vaguely sense that it possessed effects related to ’time,’ ’freezing,’ and ’attraction.’

’Could it be like what Professor Fernando and the others encountered? Getting sucked into the Crystal Ball, then having their time constantly drained away until they age to death?’

’It feels like if I want to understand this skill’s effects, I’ll have to start by learning the fundamental concepts of Miracle Magic. But that knowledge is supposed to be lost, isn’t it? That’s why the history department took such a huge risk to try and recover it.’

’But with this Spatial Storm, that path is now closed...’

’I wonder if there are any other ways in this world to learn about Miracle Magic?’

’I’ll worry about it later. For now, I can only treat this Special Skill as a trump card, one whose effects I’m not even sure of myself.’

Lloyd mulled it over.

Although everything was vague and uncertain, having this extra trump card gave him a bit more confidence.

’I’m sure that if I run into a madman like the Advisor, or the Greatly Disrespectful Saint Statue, or even that hexahedron statue and other such freaks again, I should be able to give them a big surprise.’

After he was done examining the Special Skill, Lloyd’s final reward was the reading progress for the Book of Truth.

He first went back through the panel notifications, found the entry related to his reading progress, and after a quick review, realized the main increase had occurred at the exact moment he destroyed the Crystal Ball.

The second largest increase came from launching that wave of powerful attacks.

And corresponding to the increase in reading progress, some new content had appeared in the Book of Truth.

The first was a new type of Demon: the ’Senior.’

The Book of Truth had recorded the various characteristics Lloyd had previously discovered, such as their lack of Rationality, their hollow insides, and the fact they carried Forbidden Knowledge.

But perhaps because this was a new species of Demon, it didn’t have a name yet. The entry for its name was left blank, as if waiting for someone to fill it in.

Lloyd was tempted to try naming this Demon ’Senior Beast’ or something similar.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. He had no idea how to write or draw in the Book of Truth...

So he could only turn to the next page.

The content recorded on the next page was a bombshell.

[Codename: ????, True Name: Blood of the Supreme One]

[Description: The most primordial Holy Artifact, the price paid by a great being for a Miracle. It can, on some level, touch the root and essence of the world. It cannot be understood or touched by humans, and is a thing that should not exist in the mortal realm.]

Next to the written record was a depiction of a ribbon-like substance. If Lloyd’s guess was correct, it was the very thing that had been inside the Crystal Ball.

This single, sparse page of records accounted for the majority of the recent increase in the Book of Truth’s reading progress.

But the current description wasn’t nearly enough to explain this thing’s origins and functions; it only offered a rough explanation of where it came from.

And yet, just a few fragmented sentences of description had caused his reading progress to skyrocket.

Lloyd didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if the Book of Truth recorded all the information about that thing. Would it just burst?

But then he had another thought and realized the Book of Truth shouldn’t be treated like an ordinary book.

Professor Hazled had said the key to using the book was to experience more, to read more, and to "read the book thicker."

’So this ’reading progress’ shown on the panel probably isn’t the crucial part, is it?’

’Even if I complete it, there might not be any tangible change?’

As Lloyd’s train of thought reached this point, another idea popped into his head:

’It seems the panel doesn’t quite have a handle on things like the Book of Truth and Special Skills, does it?’

’So the panel isn’t omnipotent after all. In the end, it can’t learn to put in the effort. A man really does have to rely on his own struggles and hard work...’

Lloyd gave himself a word of encouragement.