Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Orbital Control
After getting home, the brother and sister quickly washed up and then went to bed.
As for the little kitten tasked with guarding the house tonight, it was already curled up in a ball by Lloyd’s pillow, snoozing away.
The next morning, while eating breakfast, the siblings were still complaining about last night’s terrible experience.
"That was so boring. What a waste of precious sleeping time!"
Evelor pouted, then reached up to rub her delicate cheeks and lamented with a touch of melancholy,
"If a girl doesn’t get enough sleep, she’ll age faster!"
Lloyd almost laughed out loud when he heard that.
’He’d actually prefer it if his sister aged a little...’
’But not too much. Just a little bit would be fine.’
Outwardly, however, he asked a normal question:
"That place, Arkham... is it famous for something? The flyers the butler brought out last night were all themed around it. It must be infamous, right? But last night was the first time I’d ever heard of it..."
As he spoke, he spread chili sauce on a slice of soft white bread.
Evelor, who was spreading black pepper sauce on her bread, began to explain:
"It’s only famous in the realm of folklore, but folklore itself is a pretty obscure and niche interest. And you, Yi, have always been focused on your studies, so it’s normal that you’ve never heard of it."
She then gave Lloyd a brief overview of the town’s prestige in the world of folklore—
Thirty percent of the various submissions she received were about Arkham.
It was a place where all sorts of tear-jerking tragedies happened daily. On average, the town destroyed itself three times a day, destroyed the world five times, and got caught up in over ten different conspiracies, disasters, and mystical events.
The town’s residents died and came back to life every day; the whole town was like a field of leeks...
But even so, folklore enthusiasts still talked about it with great relish, never tiring of it. The topic of whether Arkham was real was a perennial debate.
"So that’s the gist of it. Randolph collected those flyers because he wanted to help share some of my workload. As for Desda, she saw a new Mysticism-themed dress in a magazine and, on a whim, decided she wanted to see what Arkham was really like..."
"In the end, she was sorely disappointed. She’ll probably give up on this folklore researcher job soon, right? But I have to keep going. After all, I’m helping Randolph."
Evelor added these details, tying up all the loose ends of the story. Then she changed the subject and asked:
"Yi, if you’re interested in the place, I have a few high-quality stories I’ve collected. Want to take a look?"
Lloyd was about to refuse. As a member of the Holy Judgment Court, his duty was to vanquish demons. Anomalous cases and strange incidents were outside his purview; that was business for the Saint’s Favor Court.
But on second thought, it would be a good way to pass the time, and he’d be supporting his sister’s work as well. So, he nodded and agreed.
............
Lloyd had just arrived in the Eighteenth District via the ’subway’ when he heard a series of violent gasps:
"COUGH COUGH COUGH!!! COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH!!!"
He turned his head and saw Weiya leaning against a wall, coughing so hard her body trembled. She looked pitifully fragile.
He hurried over to help, reaching out to rub her back repeatedly.
[Ding! Madness Value +1]
[Ding! Madness Value +1]
After more than a minute, once Lloyd no longer heard the notifications in his ear, Weiya finally recovered and hurriedly said:
"Sorry, you had to see me in such a state."
"You should ride this thing less in the future. Don’t we have dedicated dorms here for our rank?"
Lloyd advised her earnestly out of goodwill and handed her a tissue.
He’d always felt there was something truly strange about this subway. With his current Attributes, even a Demon from the -3rd floor could only inflict Spiritual Contamination by sacrificing its life, yet riding the subway still gave him +50.
’Would even a Saint get +50 from this?’
With Weiya’s original constitution, +50 wouldn’t have mattered much. But now that she was already a bit touched by madness, it was best for her to avoid this strange Spiritual Contamination. Otherwise, he would have to ’cleanse’ her every so often.
’This time I could help her just by touching her back. Where will I have to touch her next time?’
"Thank you, I’ll consider it."
Weiya took the tissue, wiped away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes from coughing, then looked up, studied Lloyd for a moment, and asked:
"You didn’t sleep well last night?"
"That’s right. It’s because..."
Lloyd nodded with a solemn expression, lowered his voice, and explained:
"I was so captivated by this story that I lost track of time."
As he spoke, he pulled a few pages of manuscript from his pocket, on which was printed a short story set in Arkham. He then continued, asking:
"Do you want to give it a try?"
"This... seems a little against the rules..."
Weiya said hesitantly, but still reached out and took the pages from him.
Lloyd had skimmed the story on his way to work. It was quite well-written. It wasn’t a thriller or a horror story, but rather a positive one about a pair of male and female colleagues who outsmarted a vicious gang in the small town, ultimately foiling their plot.
Evelor had loved this kind of theme since she was a child, and so did Lloyd. He thought he would share it with Weiya.
"Alright, I’ll read it when I have some free time."
In the end, Weiya took the recommendation.
The two of them then went to Tower Nine together. As usual, Lloyd first finished his regular duties, then went to the library to borrow books and continue his research on Orbits.
By the afternoon, he finally finished the book he had been reading for three days, *Orbital Mechanics (Introductory)*.
A notification immediately sounded in his ear:
[Ding! Skill Fragment +1]
[Sufficient Skill Fragments acquired. Unlocking Skill—Orbital Control, LV1]
[Orbital Control (LV1)—Use mastered knowledge of Orbital Mechanics to set up Orbits with corresponding effects; Orbits can be miniaturized without disrupting their operational principles; can be controlled remotely by leaving behind a Mark or other means; continue studying to increase skill level.]
Below it was a line of small text with an additional note:
"There’s clearly an error here, but why does it still work? There’s clearly no error here, so why doesn’t it work?"
Lloyd didn’t rush to read the description. Instead, he turned his head and stared at the filing cabinet next to him.
After a long moment, having confirmed that the Saint was still not interested in him today, he finally muttered in a low voice:
’It seems the Saint can’t detect it when I allocate points or gain skills. Looks like my panel, while not proactive enough to make me stronger on its own, is pretty good when it comes to stealth.’
Only after saying that did he begin to study his new skill.
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