Episode-262

Words : 1549 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

Chapter : 523 It was a trap. A beautiful, elegant, and utterly, terrifyingly, perfect trap. It offered immense, immediate power, but at the cost of a long-term servitude that could cripple him forever. It was a deal designed for the desperate, for the foolish, for those who saw only the short-term gain and were blind to the long-term, crushing cost. “This is still borderline insane,” Lloyd whispered to himself, a new, cold sweat prickling on his brow. “This isn’t just a loan. It’s a pact with a celestial loan shark.” “The Protocol is designed as a measure of last resort, User,” the Administrator’s calm voice commented, as if sensing his horrified reaction. “It is a tool for survival in moments of existential crisis, when the immediate acquisition of power outweighs all other long-term strategic considerations. It is a choice. And all choices,” the synthetic voice added, with what might have been, for the first time, a faint, almost chilling, hint of something that sounded like amusement, “have consequences.” Lloyd stared at the crimson text of the Debt Protocol, at the terrible, beautiful, and deeply, profoundly, dangerous new tool that had just been added to his arsenal. He had asked for power. And the System, in its infinite, and often cruel, wisdom, had given it to him. It had given him a golden multiplier to fuel his steady, inexorable rise. And it had given him a devil’s bargain, a red button that promised immediate salvation at the potential cost of his very soul. He felt a shiver run down his spine, a cold premonition of a future, desperate battle, of a moment of crisis where the choice between survival and servitude would be the only choice left. He hoped, with every fiber of his being, that it was a choice he would never have to make. He pushed the terrifying new screen from his mind, closing the Debt Protocol interface, locking it away in the deepest, most heavily fortified corner of his mental landscape. He would not touch it. He would not consider it. He would focus on the other path. The slow, steady, and now significantly faster, path of honest, hard-earned growth. The royal summons, the professorship, the war against the counterfeiters—it all felt like a distant dream now. The true game, the game of accumulating power, of preparing for the ghosts of his past, had just been given a new, terrifying set of rules. And the price of failure had just been raised to a level that was, quite literally, astronomical. The path ahead was clear. Generate gold. Convert to System Coins. Grow stronger. And pray to whatever indifferent gods governed this strange, multi-layered reality that he would never, ever, be desperate enough to have to ask the devil for a loan. — The Devil’s Loan. The crimson-tinged notification hung in Lloyd’s mental space like a drop of blood in clear water, a stark, terrifying reminder of the high-stakes game he was now playing. The offer of immense, immediate power at the cost of a soul-crushing, compounding debt was a temptation and a threat, a poisoned chalice he knew he must never, ever, be desperate enough to drink from. He pushed the thought away, locking it down in the deepest, most heavily fortified vault of his mind, a contingency plan of last, absolute resort. He was still reeling from the sheer, world-altering implications of the 2.0 update—the unified power core, the tripled daily conversion rate, the horrifying loan protocol—when the cool, synthetic voice of the Administrator returned, its tone as calm and clinical as ever. “The primary system architecture has been successfully updated, User. The core protocols have been recalibrated. The new financial instruments are now active.” There was a pause, a fractional beat of silence that felt, for the first time, almost... dramatic. As if the System itself were preparing for a grand reveal. “As a final component of the 2.0 installation,” the Administrator continued, “and as a bonus incentive for your prompt acceptance of this critical update, the System has been authorized to grant you a one-time, discretionary reward. A gift. To aid in your immediate security and to facilitate your accelerated growth in this new, more hostile, operational environment.” Lloyd’s attention, which had been focused on the terrifying implications of the loan, snapped back into sharp focus. A gift? A bonus reward? After the staggering upgrade to his conversion rate, he had assumed the update’s benefits were complete. What more could the System possibly offer? Chapter : 524 An image bloomed in his mind, replacing the stark, crimson text of the Debt Protocol. It was a simple, elegant icon: a shimmering, holographic gift box, tied with a ribbon of what looked like pure, solidified starlight. It pulsed with a soft, gentle, golden light, a beacon of immense, untapped potential. It was beautiful. And it was, he sensed with a jolt that made his heart hammer against his ribs, impossibly, overwhelmingly, powerful. “This reward,” the Administrator explained, its voice a calm counterpoint to the sudden, frantic thunder of his own pulse, “is a Spirit Grant. A direct, high-level acquisition, bypassing the standard purchase and customization protocols. It is a one-time gift, a foundational asset to ensure your immediate survivability against the newly identified, high-level threats now active in your reality.” A Spirit Grant. Another spirit? He already had Fang Fairy, his magnificent, Transcended storm goddess. Was the System offering him a second companion? A fire spirit, perhaps, to complement her lightning? An earth spirit for defense? The possibilities were dizzying. But the Administrator was not finished. It delivered the final, breathtaking, world-shattering revelation. “The spirit contained within this reward vessel is pre-selected and pre-configured for optimal synergy with your current power matrix. Its level has been pre-determined.” The holographic gift box pulsed again, a line of golden text appearing beneath it, a description so simple, so audacious, so utterly, comprehensively, game-changing, that Lloyd’s mind simply... stopped. [Contents: One (1) Summonable, Transcendent-Level Spirit.] Transcendent. The word was a silent, nuclear detonation in the quiet, chilly confines of his suite. Not a Manifestation-level spirit to be trained and nurtured. Not an Ascension-level spirit to be ranked up. A fully-formed, combat-ready, and unimaginably powerful, Transcended spirit. From the very start. He thought of the cost. A thousand System Coins to push his own beloved Fang Fairy from Ascension to Transcendence, a sum that had represented the culmination of weeks of dangerous, exhausting work. And the System... the System was just... giving him another one? For free? As a thank you gift for clicking ‘accept’ on a software update? The sheer, staggering, almost ludicrous, value of this gift was beyond anything he could have possibly conceived. It was a king’s ransom, a ducal treasury, a life’s work of power, all wrapped up in a pretty, shimmering, holographic box. A second Transcended spirit would not just double his power; it would multiply it exponentially. It would make him a force of nature, a walking army, a power on par with the greatest warriors in the entire kingdom. With a single click, he could transform himself from a clever, rising star into a true, undeniable, continental-level threat. The temptation was immense. A physical, aching thing. His fingers, his very will, trembled with the urge to reach out, to focus on the icon, to say the single, simple word—‘Open’—and unleash the tide of power that awaited him. He could feel it, the potential energy humming within the icon, a sleeping titan waiting to be awakened. He could almost see it: the flash of light, the tearing of reality, the emergence of a new, magnificent, and utterly loyal, companion at his side. He could feel the surge of power, the doubling of his own spiritual reserves, the dizzying, intoxicating thrill of becoming one of the most powerful beings in the land. All he had to do was say the word. But then, a flicker of movement from across the room, from the distant continent of the bed, brought him crashing back down to the cold, hard reality of his situation. Rosa. She was still there. Asleep, her breathing deep and even. Utterly oblivious to the cosmic, soul-altering transaction that was taking place in the mind of the man sharing her room. And he realized, with a sudden, sinking feeling of profound, almost comical, frustration, that he couldn’t do it. Summoning a Manifestation-level spirit, like his initial call to Fang, was a subtle thing, a mere shimmer in the air. The Ascension had been a contained explosion, a blast of light and power that he had, thankfully, been alone to witness. But the Transcendence... Fang Fairy’s Transcendence had been a cataclysm. A violent, reality-bending event that had nearly shaken his private training hall to its foundations. To summon another, new, Transcended spirit for the first time... the eruption of power would be immense. Unmistakable. A magical earthquake that would likely shatter every window in the East Wing, send a shockwave of spiritual pressure through the entire estate, and instantly alert every magically sensitive being within a five-mile radius—including his father, his mother, Ken Park, and, most immediately and most terrifyingly, the Ice Princess currently sleeping less than ten feet away from him.

Episode-262

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