Chapter 381 - 332: Take a Break

Chapter 381: Chapter 332: Take a Break

Lloyd was in a deep, groggy sleep when he suddenly felt an itch on his face. ’Is a girl nuzzling up against me?’

A sweet fragrance lingered in his arms, as if he’d been holding a delicate body while he slept.

But when he groggily opened his eyes, he found the little kitten nuzzling him instead...

He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed...

"Mrow?"

Seeing that Lloyd was awake, the little kitten quickly waved its tiny paws, seemingly concerned about his condition.

"I’m fine."

Lloyd rubbed the bridge of his nose, then casually patted the little kitten’s head. He asked,

"You’re okay too, right?"

"Meow! Meow meow..."

The little kitten meowed a few more times, its tiny paws gesturing wildly. Was it trying to describe what it had been through?

Unfortunately, Lloyd couldn’t understand a thing and could only give a vague reply.

"Hmm... As long as you’re okay, that’s what matters. Looks like you’re a grown-up little kitten now. You’ve learned to protect yourself. Good, good. I’ll give you an extra treat later."

"Meeeow!"

The little kitten meowed a few more times, then waved a paw to the side.

Lloyd followed its gaze and discovered the very delectable-looking Little Fragrant Pig curled up by the sofa. It looked so clean, white, and plump that he could already picture it roasted to a golden, crispy brown.

’Er... No, no, how could I eat the little kitten’s friend?’

"Welcome, welcome."

Lloyd could only force a smile and wave at the Little Fragrant Pig.

But the Little Fragrant Pig seemed terrified of him, quickly shrinking behind the sofa and refusing to peek out.

’So timid and scared of everything? I guess it’s destined to just be a... mature Little Fragrant Pig.’

Lloyd chuckled to himself, then took out his pocket watch and hourglass to check the time.

It was just past 7:00 PM on the fourth day of his current stay in the academy. In the outside world, it was 5:00 PM.

Lloyd remembered that he had joined the archaeological dig on the afternoon of his third day in the academy, which corresponded to around noon in the outside world. This meant that while so much had happened here, not only was the outside world completely oblivious, but very little time had actually passed there.

This reminded Lloyd of that myth from Earth about the woodcutter who watched the immortals play chess. ’I feel like... the woodcutter’s axe in the story?’

’Ugh... What kind of weird thought is that?’

"Forget it, forget it. I should get something to eat."

Lloyd shook his head and rubbed his empty stomach.

"Meeeow!"

The little kitten meowed in agreement.

It was hungry too.

Lloyd walked into the kitchen. He picked up a spatula in one hand and a hammer in the other, ready to whip up something to eat.

But on second thought, he put the tools down and released his Projection.

Since he hadn’t performed any specific shaping operations on the Projection, it was currently just a condensed mass of Spiritual Power. It had no definite structure and was invisible to the naked eye, but it possessed excellent malleability. With a casual thought, Lloyd made it sprout two hands, which then picked up the spatula and hammer.

However, it was only two hands. The main body was still a clump of coalesced Spiritual Power. It couldn’t transform into one of those beautiful girls wearing nothing but an apron.

On top of that, it was invisible. All he could see was a spatula and a hammer floating in mid-air, which gave the scene a rather ’haunted’ vibe.

’Cook!’

Lloyd issued a command to the Projection in his mind.

The Projection remained motionless, as if to say, ’And who’s supposed to understand *that*?’

’Tsk, tsk. Does it really have no intelligence at all? Do I have to manually control everything?’

Lloyd couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

He’d already discovered that his Projection seemed a bit dim-witted. It couldn’t execute operations like opening a Teleportation Gate or piloting a Space Elevator on its own; he had to divert his focus to control it bit by bit, step by step.

At the time, Lloyd had assumed those operations were just too complex, so now he wanted to try the simple task of ’cooking’.

But as it turned out, even for a simple task like cooking, he had to control every single step.

This proved it didn’t have a shred of intelligence, let alone anything resembling smart-technology or AI. No matter the task, he had to control it personally.

’By the looks of it, this thing is just an extra, invisible hand. Everything it does has to be controlled by my own mind...’

However, this invisible hand was different from the kind he could previously create using his special Spiritual Power release technique.

In terms of control range, structural integrity, sensory feedback, and handling, the Projection was a massively upgraded version of that special Spiritual Power technique.

The Projection’s control range seemed to be immense. During the archaeological dig, for instance, Lloyd had used this incredible range to perform a two-front operation.

’I should be able to pull off even more fancy maneuvers in the future, right?’

In contrast, the hand created by releasing Spiritual Power could only operate within the range of his inspiration, which wasn’t very far at all.

Its strength was in another league entirely. Not only could it easily withstand the seemingly invincible Spatial Storm, but it could also launch devastatingly cool and powerful attacks, wiping out a huge swath of Seniors in a single blow.

’In the future, when I face powerful enemies, I can let the Projection tank for me. If I need to explore a dangerous place, I can send the Projection in first.’

The simple Spiritual Power release technique, on the other hand, had basically no strength to speak of. Other than helping him grab things, its only use was for... playing around with Elolo.