The Gentleman at the End

Chapter 262: Chapter 261 Illness and Epidemic Value

Upon exiting the secret passage from the hospital, Yi Chen stowed away the frame on his head and took a more secluded route back to the academy, to his own dormitory.

Yi Chen now wanted a private space to accept, adapt to, and enjoy the fruits of his laborious efforts over this period.

Cold water showered down through his hair, the stimulation helping to clear his mind.

This time, Yi Chen was taking a shower with his clothes on,

During the shower, threads from between the sleeves pierced into his skin, conducting a comprehensive check-up on Yi Chen’s breakthrough state, projecting a set of entirely different monitoring information before his eyes.

≮Profession: Lecturer≯

*This profession is uniquely purple and tailored, possessing inherent growth potential. Upon reaching the next stage, the profession’s name will change.

≮Rank: Open Source≯

*Breaking through primal limits, touching the pathological origin, and establishing a bond allows ancient abilities to develop, preparing to seek out the disease root.

≮Disease and Epidemic Value≯

*Different from the basic attributes of the human stage, the Open Source Stage combines “disease” and “epidemic value” to evaluate an individual’s state of Open Source.

*Disease specifically refers to the syndrome formed after the “Basic Attributes” from the human stage are combined with the “Plague Relic.”

“Disease – Epilepsy Syndrome”

[Category]: Belonging to the epilepsy category, yet differs from common epilepsy, encapsulating unique individual traits such as physical, iron chains, and other disease signages, with ‘syndrome’ as a suffix to denote its complexity.

[Association]: The disease is associated with brain capacity, physical breadth, and mental sensing. It can be sublimated by absorbing homologous diseases, teaching, personal grimoires, etc., *increasing the Epidemic Value, evolving towards an older, purer symptom until a breakthrough is achieved.

[Rating]: S-rank, an exception among the rare diseases ‘Epilepsy’, with pathological potential exceeding epilepsy, unique without any parallels.

“Epidemic Value – Brass Frame”: Corresponds to the outwardly shown frame value, the higher the epidemic value, the richer the fluid within the frame.

Based on the richness of the frame’s fluid, the epidemic value is divided into four levels:

1. Dilute

2. Ordinary

3. Viscous

4. Solidified

*The higher the concentration means the more damage can be mitigated, and the higher the pathological purity.

*When reaching the [Solidified] stage, one qualifies to break through to the next Rank stage (other conditions must be met too).

Current Epidemic Value -[1]

*The Epidemic Value Frame can be displayed or hidden according to the individual’s subjective will, often used for identity disclosure, deterrence, etc.

≮Professional Characteristics≯

“Inquisitive (Passive)”:

Substantially increased reading speed, efficiency in understanding ancient texts, and secret techniques by 50%, proficient in “Ancient Living Text”.

“Central Tasting (Passive)”:

Can efficiently absorb brain marrow from patients and other creatures to replenish “brain energy” and obtain memory fragments from others.

“Education (Active)”

Can attempt to educate defeated individuals, this ability requires substantial brain energy and a significant amount of time. Cases of strong willpower and stubborn individuals may easily result in education failures.

[Success]- The individual’s soul will be branded with the character [痫], becoming your permanent student. Their lifestyle and abilities remain unaffected, yet they will be completely obedient to you and keen on the pursuit of knowledge, allowing for unhindered knowledge sharing.

[Failure] – The educated individual will become frenzied and launch a suicidal attack on you, possibly leading to soul fragmentation. You, as the source of the education, will also suffer some connected damage.

≮Disease Traits≯

1. “Epilepsy”, the core trait of Epilepsy Syndrome, which can induce epileptic seizures to greatly enhance sensing, the effects of releasing magic, secret techniques, etc. It also accelerates brain discharges, increasing the speed of nerve transmission, aiding in the learning and enhancement of various skills and magics.

The Magic System “Star” has now been developed.

2. “Chain of Suffering,” a combined trait of the Epilepsy Syndrome, mainly has a direct impact on physical functions.

It includes the following effects: “Chain Tissue,” “Hellraiser,” “Needle-Chain”

(*For specific content, please refer to Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Nine)

3. “Dead Sore,” an intrinsic trait of the Epilepsy Syndrome, is a black tumor hidden between the layers of the brain’s hippocampus, permanently congenital and ineradicable.

The currently developed abilities include:

“Pus” – The individual can autonomously use the fluid that flows out between the black tumors, for instance, coating weapons with pus to endow them with death effects. Alternatively, the liquid can be directly created into shields, or condensed on the surface of clothing to form a dead membrane to enhance defense and provide death counter-damage.

“Dead Man Makeup” – At the cost of continuous consumption of pus, the individual applies makeup that renders attacks unable to kill the host if they do not transcend the Dead Man Makeup.

*Special note, after the use of Dead Man Makeup, the individual will fall into a prolonged state of weakness, so please activate it with caution.

≮Pets≯

[Name]: Little Grape. Grep

*The origin of this pet, along with all its basic information and abilities, is difficult to verify in full; it is suspected to be a combination of several ancient corpses that are over three hundred years old.

The information of one of the combined corpses has now been detected

“Eye Collector. Gemhar” *See Chapter One Hundred Seventy.

“Corpse Development Level”: 30%→50%.

*It can visually display the Corpse Form, use the base abilities of the corpse, specifically as follows:

1. Pupil Skill Mastery – Abilities related to the eyes are enhanced, acquiring better effects and reduced mental exhaustion.

2. Witchcraft – Capable of casting specific witchcraft, which will also benefit from the effects of witchcraft when casting spells.

*Development level can be increased by consuming the eyes of the powerful, or by unlocking more complete Corpse Forms.

“Absorbed Cemetery Traits”:

1. Cold Lake Cemetery – Little Grape can secrete Cold Lake Water to cleanse eyeballs, increasing the duration of eye use (also used to clean the host’s brain).

2. Stone Statue Cemetery – Little Grape can harden its eyeballs to reduce external damage.

…

“The basic attributes are directly renamed to illness and Epidemic value, essentially clarifying that the path the organization takes is fundamentally ‘Pathological.’

‘Gentleman’s Skin’ seems to be a parasite disease specially made by the Skin Market for humans. It is very stable compared to other pathogens. As long as the Skin Content does not exceed a certain limit, it will not lose human nature and will maintain self-awareness.

To fully maintain self-awareness while infected with other pathogens, you must become a ‘Patient Zero’ like Lorrian.

Moreover,

The gentlemen predecessors chose to use various ‘Relics’ as a means to Open Source. They also encouraged us to combine ‘Pathological Crystals,’ perhaps to make us infected with more diseases, not just skin diseases.

This is to avoid full-scale mental enslavement by the Skin Market one day.

Is this the hidden truth of the organization? From the perspective of survival alone, it is still acceptable… However, when the Grey Zone fully spreads to every corner of the world, problems will undoubtedly arise.

The specific outcome will depend on the Skin Market’s attitude toward us.

Considering the worst-case scenario, I need to secure more leverage before that happens. Even if I cannot save everyone, I must protect myself and those around me.”

As Yi Chen fell into deep thought, he felt a touch on his waist and abdomen, making him think some pervert had slipped into the bathroom again.

Of course, the touch still came from the hidden Yellow Skin in the wardrobe.

§ Since you have Open Sourced, don’t waste time. You can now handle more Skin, so hurry up and incorporate that low-quality Skin you got from the ‘Connector’ into your outfit. My stomach is so hungry. §

“Wait a moment, I’ll need to bother Mr. Ivan with that. As I’ve been promoted, my outfit needs major alterations, we’ll head there in a bit.”