Of course, Lin Luo soon realized that he had misjudged the situation again. Misaka stated, "The kind of malice I mentioned earlier is defined in our terms as 'Intent Information.' Ordinary people cannot perceive it; only those whose spiritual power reaches a certain level and possess an extremely keen consciousness can receive this information. The fact that you sensed the hostility emanating from the other party indicates that you have already surpassed the level of ordinary people in this regard." Lin Luo listened, grasping the meaning vaguely, and asked, "You mean my spiritual power is very strong?" Misaka nodded, "Something like that.

At the same distance, if you can sense what I sense, you are at least not much inferior to me." "My spiritual power is close to LV5?" Lin Luo said in disbelief, finding it somewhat absurd. His own spiritual power was only 300—at most, three hundred Spartans. But Misaka’s spiritual power reached the level of one Spartan plus 5,000 Railguns.

There was simply no comparison! "It's not exactly like that. Fundamentally, you are still an ordinary person.

Hmm, how should I put it..." Misaka closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "You’ve seen it in movies, right? When an ordinary person faces an oncoming car, they are often so terrified they freeze up and end up getting hit and killed.

But a warrior who constantly walks the line between life and death will appear calm and find a way to escape. The difference between these two reactions lies entirely in the strength of their consciousness." "That... what?" Lin Luo felt like he was listening to an alien language; he couldn't understand it at all.

"Ah, you’re so dense! How can you call yourself a genius like this?" Misaka scratched her head in frustration. "Simply put, it’s about the ability to receive Intent Information.

Even if an ordinary person and a regularly trained warrior have the same spiritual power rating, there is a huge difference in their capacity to receive external information. We call this reception capacity 'consciousness.'" "Fundamentally, consciousness is a part of spiritual power. The higher the consciousness, the more external information we can perceive.

Spiritual power is the main channel that carries this information. When I said your spiritual power was strong, I was actually referring to this consciousness. I didn't expect you couldn't even grasp that," Misaka looked at Lin Luo as if he were an idiot.

"Under normal circumstances, consciousness and spiritual power remain in balance. But if this balance is broken—say, someone has very high consciousness but very low spiritual power—then when they receive information exceeding what they can bear, their emotions will fluctuate wildly. Conversely, someone with low consciousness but extremely high spiritual power will feel rather numb.

Do you understand now?!" This time, Lin Luo finally nodded, seeming to have an epiphany. "I get it. A person with high consciousness and low spiritual power is mentally unstable, and a person with low consciousness and high spiritual power is a natural airhead...

So that’s how natural airheads are formed. I finally understand." Misaka instantly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her, and she slumped. "Then you are a mentally unstable person." "Sister Biri-biri, let’s not get personal, okay?" Lin Luo felt quite wounded.

"I’m just defining it based on your understanding, because your current physical state is consciousness far exceeding spiritual power." Lin Luo paused for a moment, seeming to grasp something, and asked, "What kind of situations might arise from that?" Misaka sighed and explained, "Didn’t I already tell you? If overly powerful consciousness lacks the corresponding strength of spiritual power to support it, once it accepts a massive influx of Intent Information, the spiritual power will collapse. You felt it on the rollercoaster, didn’t you?

That malice directed at you exceeded the limit your body could handle, which is why you felt paralyzed." "So that’s how it is," Lin Luo mused thoughtfully. "Then, does the Intent I generate myself also fall within the scope of reception?" "Of course. It happens in real life too, right?

People who die from excessive joy or sorrow—it’s because their spiritual power couldn't handle the emotional charge. It’s just that your consciousness is significantly more powerful." "Then that’s really bad," Lin Luo finally understood. It was like his fear of heights.

Normally, even if he felt fear, it wouldn't be intense. But this time, because his consciousness was so strong, his perception was amplified, causing that fear to magnify infinitely. If that were the case, "Does that mean I could be in mortal danger anytime my emotions become intense?" "Are you an idiot?" Misaka looked at him with utter disdain.

"It’s not that serious. Although there are rare cases of people dying from intense emotions, those are extreme exceptions. Besides, after receiving malice of that level, you didn't even faint, doesn't that prove your spiritual power is already quite strong?" That was true.

Misaka’s spiritual power was 5000, more than fifty times that of an average person. Calculated proportionally, Lin Luo’s spiritual power had already reached more than three times that of an average person. However, this level of spiritual strength clearly could not maintain balance with consciousness approaching LV5.

If it were normal times, it would be fine—at most, his feelings would occasionally be stronger. But now that an unknown enemy was eyeing him, this imbalance became a fatal weakness, meaning he had to do something. Strengthen spiritual power?

For now, that seemed to be the only option. Lin Luo brought this up to Misaka, but since she wasn’t a spiritual-type esper, she didn’t have any good solutions. Lin Luo had to look for another way.

Later that evening, Lin Luo lay on the sofa, unable to sleep at all. His body had undergone a massive, unknown change. Although he didn't know how it happened, it was definitely related to the Contract Book.

Before obtaining that thing, he was just an utterly ordinary shut-in. But now... Lin Luo felt it was necessary to thoroughly study this Contract Book.

Previously, Lin Luo believed the Contract Book was only for signing contracts—useless until he contracted with Misaka, so he had never examined it closely. But now he held a different view; otherwise, there was no explaining the tremendous change in his body! Spiritual power three times that of a normal person, consciousness almost as keen as the Railgun’s...

no matter how he looked at it, it was completely abnormal! ... Deep within his consciousness, the Contract Book lay silently.

Lin Luo opened it with his intent. "This thing doesn't even have a guide; it leaves one completely lost," Lin Luo fretted. He flipped through the entire Contract Book.

Apart from the attribute descriptions for himself and Misaka, the rest was blank—not a single piece of useful information. The unknown nature of the Contract Book was too vast. Could he really only wait for it to level up?

Lin Luo was deeply unwilling to accept that. On the Contract Book, his attribute panel showed no changes. The 300 spiritual power had been there from the beginning, meaning his spiritual power was strengthened the moment the Contract Book merged with him.

"Could my consciousness also be from that time... No, that's wrong!" Lin Luo swore that the consciousness he possessed just after integrating the Contract Book was definitely not this strong. Although he couldn't explain it verbally, he could clearly sense the difference before and after.

"That means..." His powerful consciousness was due to Misaka! That was it! Why was his consciousness close to LV5?

Wasn't the answer obvious! With this realization, Lin Luo immediately shifted his focus to Misaka’s attribute panel. Two areas were different.

First, her Favorability rating had changed; it was now 75. It looked high, but Lin Luo knew there was still a long way to go to reach 90. The second difference was: Seal of the Heart: Second Level.

Second Level? Last time it seemed to be Three, now it’s Two. What did that mean?

To be honest, regarding Misaka’s special attribute panel, Lin Luo could only understand the first four lines and the final Favorability data. He couldn't decipher the other five lines at all. "Could this be a seal, and one has just been broken?" Lin Luo felt a sense of confusion.

Suddenly, he noticed a red heart icon lit up next to Misaka’s portrait. Looking closely, there were three such heart markings in total, but the other two were gray. "Is this the Seal of the Heart?" A thought flashed through Lin Luo’s mind.

For some reason, he felt an intense urge to reach out and touch it. So, he extended his intent toward it... "Pending Follower Misaka Mikoto, First Seal has been lifted, actively triggered by the Contractor.

Current Contractor may enter 'Symbiosis' Mode." The moment his intent touched that red heart, the cold voice of the Contract Book sounded in his mind once more. Votes, please, votes, have them or not!!

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