Chapter : 691

The strategic applications were infinite. It was the ultimate intelligence-gathering tool, a power that would allow him to know his enemy—their strengths, their weaknesses, their very biology—on a level they couldn't even comprehend. It was not a weapon to win a fight; it was a weapon to ensure the fight was won before it even began.

The price was immense. It would leave his reserves dangerously low. It would mean forgoing an immediate, significant boost to his offensive or defensive capabilities. But the Major General in his mind made the calculation without hesitation. A single, critical piece of intelligence was worth more than a thousand swords. An unseen weakness was more valuable than an impenetrable shield.

He focused his will, his decision absolute. He navigated the interface, his mental command as firm and clear as a spoken order.

“Administrator. Purchase Void Power: [All-Seeing Eye].”

[Acknowledged,] the monotone voice replied. [Cost: 1200 System Coins. This will consume a significant portion of your current balance. Do you confirm?]

There was no hesitation. “Confirm.”

[Purchase confirmed. Deducting funds. Preparing for spiritual matrix integration. Warning: The process will be… uncomfortable. Please ensure you are in a secure location.]

Lloyd leaned back in his chair and took a deep, steadying breath. He was in his study, the most secure location he had. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the "discomfort." He had endured the chaotic, fiery agony of the System 2.0 update. How bad could this possibly be?

He got his answer a second later. It began not as a fire, but as an ice-cold needle of pure information being driven directly into his optic nerves.

The pain was not the explosive, all-consuming agony of the System 2.0 update. That had been a physical violation, a brutal reforging of his entire being. This was different. It was a quiet, insidious, and exquisitely precise torment. It felt like a master surgeon was performing open-heart surgery on his very perception, using needles of ice and scalpels of pure light to rewire the fundamental connection between his eyes and his brain.

A blinding, pure white light flooded his vision, even through his closed eyelids. It was not the warm light of the sun or the crackling energy of a lightning strike; it was a cold, clinical, sterile light, the light of a laboratory or a morgue. He felt a pressure building behind his eyeballs, a deep, resonant ache that throbbed in time with his own frantic heartbeat.

His mind, his greatest asset, was being invaded. He felt the Administrator’s presence not as a voice this time, but as a silent, systematic process of installation. He could feel the new power being woven into his soul, a foreign code being integrated into his spiritual DNA. He felt new pathways being carved in his mind, new connections being forged between his optic nerves and the Void power reservoir that now resided at the core of his being.

He gritted his teeth, his hands clenching into white-knuckled fists on the arms of his chair. The warning of "uncomfortable" was a grotesque understatement. It felt like his consciousness was being flayed, layer by delicate layer. Every memory he had ever associated with sight—the face of his first wife, the brilliant blue of Earth’s sky, the terrifying beauty of a mushroom cloud blooming on the horizon—was being catalogued, deconstructed, and then re-contextualized through the lens of this new, terrifying power.

The process lasted for what felt like an eternity, but was likely no more than thirty seconds. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. The blinding white light receded. The excruciating pressure behind his eyes vanished. He was left in the quiet darkness behind his own eyelids, his body trembling, a cold sweat plastering his shirt to his back.

For a long moment, he didn't move. He simply breathed, reacquainting himself with the simple, blessed absence of pain.

[Integration complete,] the Administrator’s flat voice announced in his mind, a jarringly mundane conclusion to a transcendentally painful experience. [Void Power: All-Seeing Eye is now active and available for use. Initial diagnostic scan is recommended.]

Slowly, hesitantly, Lloyd opened his eyes.

The world was the same, but utterly, fundamentally different.

His study was still his study. The oak desk, the leather-bound books, the faint light of the twin moons filtering through the window—it was all there. But it was all… more. He could see not just the surface of the wood on his desk, but the intricate, complex grain running through it, the subtle stresses in the fibers, the ghost of the life the tree had lived. He looked at a heavy iron paperweight and saw not just a lump of metal, but the crystalline structure within it, the faint, almost invisible lines of impurity from a less-than-perfect smelting process.

Chapter : 692

He lifted his own hand, holding it up before his face. At first, he saw what he always saw: the pale skin, the faint scars on his knuckles, the neatly trimmed nails. Then, with a subtle shift of his will, he activated it. He pushed a sliver of his Void power into the new pathways in his mind.

The world dissolved into a new reality. The skin on his hand became a translucent, shimmering veil. Beneath it, he saw the elegant, terrifying architecture of his own body. He saw the network of blue and red veins, the gentle, rhythmic pulse of blood flowing through them. He saw the pale, ivory-white of the bones, the subtle, layered structure of the carpals and metacarpals. He could see the faint, hairline stress fracture on his third knuckle, a remnant of a poorly blocked punch from his duel with his father, an injury he hadn't even known was there. He could see the complex web of muscles and tendons, the way they contracted and relaxed with his slightest movement.

It was breathtaking. It was horrifying. It was the most incredible thing he had ever seen.

He deactivated the power, the world snapping back to its familiar, solid state. He was breathing heavily, his heart racing not from pain, but from the sheer, overwhelming influx of information. The Administrator’s warning about sensory overload was not an exaggeration. The amount of data his new eyes could perceive was staggering. It would take time, and a great deal of practice, to learn how to filter it, to focus on what was important without being drowned in a sea of irrelevant detail.

But the potential… oh, the potential was limitless.

With this, no disguise would fool him. No secret weapon could be hidden from him. No assassin could approach him without him seeing the poison in their veins or the tension in their muscles. He could diagnose his own injuries, analyze his enemies’ weaknesses, and perceive the very structure of the world around him on a sub-atomic level.

He had spent a fortune. He had endured an agony that would have broken a lesser man. But it was worth it. He now possessed a strategic advantage so profound, so absolute, that it changed every rule of the game. He had purchased a power not of destruction, but of truth. And in the shadowy war that was coming, the man who could see the truth would be the man who could not be defeated. The "certain fate" that awaited him in Zakaria no longer seemed so terrifying. Whatever it was, he was now certain of one thing: he would see it coming.

The lingering phantom of the All-Seeing Eye’s installation still echoed in Lloyd’s mind, a high-frequency hum of new potential. The world felt sharper, more defined, as if a layer of gauze had been lifted from reality itself. The power was a quiet, constant presence behind his eyes, a sleeping dragon of information waiting for his command. The cost had been immense, both in coins and in pain, but the return on investment was already proving to be incalculable.

However, the soldier’s pragmatism quickly reasserted itself. A single, powerful new ability was a great asset, but a war was not won with a single weapon. True strength lay in a deep and versatile arsenal, and more importantly, in the logistics that supplied it. His new eye would help him win battles, but his Soul Farm was what would fund the entire war. He had neglected his passive income engine for too long. It was time to reinvest.

With a focused thought, he transitioned from the System Shop interface to the [FARMING SYSTEM] menu. The familiar, rustic interface appeared—a stark contrast to the sleek, cosmic void of the main System. It was a world of green progress bars, earthy icons, and straightforward, quantifiable goals. It was the world of the grind, and Lloyd felt a strange sense of comfort returning to it.

He navigated to the [UPGRADES] tab. Here, a small, humble tree of potential enhancements was displayed. The options were not as flashy as new Void Powers or Transcended spirits, but they were, in their own way, just as powerful. He saw options to increase monster spawn rates, improve loot drop quality, and even unlock new, exotic crafting materials. But his eyes were fixed on the primary, foundational upgrade, the one he had been working towards for what felt like an eternity of slime-culling and goblin-slaying.

[Farming System Upgrade: Automated Harvesting Protocol Mk. II]

[Cost: 1000 Farming Coins (FC)]