Episode-261

Words : 1531 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

Chapter : 521 Lloyd’s mind reeled with the tactical implications. The problem of his single, sluggish Spirit Core, the bottleneck that had limited his use of Fang Fairy’s immense power, was not solved, exactly, but... bypassed. He could now fuel her abilities with the combined might of all three of his power sources. The Spear of Justice would still be costly, yes, but the recovery time would be faster, the drain less catastrophic. “And the System itself?” Lloyd asked, his thoughts turning to the more practical, more commercial, aspects of his existence. “What other ‘enhancements’ did this update include?” “The primary functional enhancement of System 2.0,” the Administrator stated, the previous diagram vanishing, replaced by a new, equally startling, piece of information, “is a significant upgrade to your passive resource generation capabilities. Specifically, the Currency Conversion Protocol.” Lloyd leaned forward, his full attention captured. This was the heart of it. The engine of his empire. “Analysis of your recent activities,” the Administrator continued, its tone as flat and clinical as ever, “indicated a significant increase in your capacity for acquiring standard Riverio currency. Your commercial enterprise, ‘AURA’, has proven to be a highly effective, high-volume gold generation system. However, the legacy 1.0 conversion protocol, with its limit of one Gold Coin per 24-hour cycle, was creating an inefficient bottleneck, throttling your potential for System Coin accumulation and, by extension, your power growth.” Lloyd felt a flicker of wry amusement. So, the System had noticed his new soap-fueled wealth and had decided his old, pathetic allowance-based conversion rate was... inadequate. It was like a bank noticing a customer had just won the lottery and graciously offering to raise their daily ATM withdrawal limit. “Therefore,” the Administrator concluded, and the words that followed made Lloyd’s heart give a single, joyous, almost violent, leap, “the daily conversion limit has been tripled.” A new line of text blazed in his mental vision, stark and beautiful in its simple, world-altering significance. [Currency Conversion Protocol 2.0] [New Daily Limit: Maximum conversion equivalent to 30 System Coins (SC) per 24-hour cycle.] [New Exchange Rate: 3 Gold Coins = 30 System Coins.] Tripled. The word echoed in his mind, a symphony of pure, unadulterated, glorious potential. Thirty System Coins. Every single day. Provided he could generate the three Gold Coins to fuel it. He thought of the AURA manufactory. Of the ledgers Mei Jing had shown him. The daily profits were already far, far exceeding that meager three-gold threshold. He could now, with ease, max out his daily conversion every single day, without even denting the profits of his enterprise. The slow, painstaking grind of scrounging for a single coin, of waiting for his monthly allowance, was over. He now had a direct, high-volume pipeline, a golden firehose, connecting his commercial empire directly to the very source of his supernatural power. His rate of growth was no longer a crawl. It was a sprint. A hundred coins for his mother’s bloodline? He could have that in less than four days. The five hundred coins for his first Farm upgrade? Less than three weeks. The thousands of coins needed to rank up his Steel Blood, to push Fang Fairy beyond Transcendence? They were no longer distant, almost mythical, goals. They were tangible, achievable, and rapidly approaching, milestones on his new, accelerated path to power. The strategic advantage was immense, almost intoxicating. He could now out-pace his enemies not just in innovation, not just in strategy, but in the pure, raw, and undeniable, accumulation of power itself. The ghosts of his past, with their decades-long head start, were suddenly, for the first time, looking not like insurmountable titans, but like runners in a race who were about to be lapped. “This...” Lloyd breathed, a slow, wolfish grin spreading across his face, a grin of pure, unadulterated, strategic delight. “This changes the entire equation.” “Efficiency is the primary directive of System 2.0, User,” the Administrator replied, its calm, synthetic voice holding what might have been, if Lloyd didn’t know better, a faint, almost imperceptible, note of smug satisfaction. “Your previous rate of progress was deemed... suboptimal. This is a necessary correction.” The golden multiplier had been applied. The engine of his power had just been fitted with a supercharger. And the race, he knew, had just become his to lose. Chapter : 522 The revelation of the tripled conversion rate was a shot of pure, high-octane adrenaline to Lloyd’s strategic soul. The path to power, which had once seemed like a long, arduous climb up a treacherous mountain, now felt like a ride on a high-speed, magically propelled ski lift. His commercial empire, the AURA brand, was no longer just a business; it was a mint, printing the very currency he needed to arm himself for the coming war. The future felt bright, predictable, and wonderfully, gloriously, profitable. But the System, it seemed, was not finished with its surprises. The sleek, star-dusted interface shimmered again, the cool, synthetic voice of the Administrator returning, its tone as calm and clinical as ever, yet the information it was about to impart was anything but. “In addition to the optimization of your existing resource generation protocols,” the Administrator stated, “System 2.0 introduces a new, high-risk, high-reward, financial instrument designed to provide the User with emergency capital in moments of extreme, unforeseen necessity. A contingency measure. A final resort.” Lloyd’s attention sharpened, the triumphant glow of the golden multiplier giving way to a new, wary curiosity. A financial instrument? A contingency measure? This sounded... complicated. And dangerous. “This new function is designated: the Debt Protocol,” the Administrator continued. “Or, as it is more colloquially known in some of the more... financially adventurous... sectors of the multiverse, ‘The Devil’s Loan’.” The Devil’s Loan. The name itself was a warning sign, a bright, flashing beacon of ‘here be dragons, and they are probably also loan sharks’. Lloyd’s internal eighty-year-old, who had seen enough predatory lending schemes on Earth to be permanently skeptical of any offer that seemed too good to be true, immediately went on high alert. A new screen bloomed in his mental vision, stark and simple, its text a cautionary, almost menacing, shade of crimson. [New System Function Unlocked: The Debt Protocol] [Description: Allows the User to take an immediate, unsecured loan of a significant number of System Coins directly from the System’s central reserve.] [Loan Amount: A single, fixed withdrawal of up to 1000 System Coins (SC).] The number made Lloyd’s breath catch in his throat. A thousand System Coins. Instantly. On demand. It was a staggering sum, a treasure hoard of power available at a moment’s notice. It was enough to Transcend a spirit. It was enough to rank up a Void power through multiple levels. It was enough to turn the tide of a battle, to snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat, to save his life in a moment of absolute, desperate crisis. It was a panic button. A beautiful, powerful, and almost irresistibly tempting, panic button. But he had lived long enough to know that nothing, especially not a loan from a cosmic entity that called itself ‘The Devil’s Loan’, was ever free. He scanned the screen, his eyes searching for the fine print. And he found it. [Loan Conditions: The Debt Protocol is a high-risk instrument, and its terms are absolute and non-negotiable.] [1. Interest Rate: The loan is subject to a compounding interest rate of 15% per seven-day cycle (weekly). The interest calculation begins the moment the loan is accepted.] Lloyd did a quick, focused mental calculation. Fifteen percent. Compounded weekly. It was still a brutal, predatory rate, but it was no longer the instant suicide pact of a daily rate. A loan of 1000 SC would become 1150 SC after one week. After two weeks, it would be 1322.5 SC. After a month, it would balloon to over 1749 SC. The debt would not just grow; it would metastasize, becoming a heavy, oppressive burden that could quickly spiral out of control if not managed with ruthless efficiency. It was not a financial black hole, but it was a deep, treacherous whirlpool, designed to drag the unwary, the desperate, and the poor planners down into a spiral of cosmic obligation. [2. Repayment Priority: Until the loan, and all accrued interest, is repaid in full, the User is forbidden from spending any other acquired System Coins on any form of upgrade, purchase, or System function.] The second condition remained just as brutal. It was a complete lockdown of his own power progression. If he took the loan, his entire System Coin income stream—from his new, impressive 30-coin daily conversions, from quest rewards, from any other source—would be automatically diverted to paying down the debt. He could not upgrade Fang Fairy. He could not rank up his Steel Blood. He could not even purchase the next upgrade for his Farming dimension until the loan was cleared. He would be trapped, his own power frozen, while the interest compounded relentlessly, a ticking time bomb at the heart of his soul.

Episode-261

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