I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

What about this part on my chest?

Lu Yuan held the completely dead pocket watch handed to him by the Great Knight Commander of Rock in his palm, his gaze rising from the dial and then falling to his left chest.

Since I redeemed it in Grim Harbor, I've fed it countless amounts of sanity during battles. After the battle in Bronze City, it became completely attached to my flesh and blood. Before, it seemed to just hang on to me. Now, after feeding it for so long, how far has it progressed?

Normally, it would just lie quietly on his chest. With a slight shift in his rational consciousness, it could automatically deduct his rationality and then activate its skills. It was a very useful extraordinary weapon, and Lu Yuan had long been used to having such a thing on his body.

However, just as Lu Yuan was halfway through his thought, a strange sensation suddenly came from his left chest.

The feeling was hard to describe; it was as if something that had been lifeless had suddenly come to life.

A strange consciousness surged into Lu Yuan's consciousness through the sticky flesh, intermittent yet incredibly clear.

I want to eat this thing!

I want to eat this thing!

Lu Yuan was startled at first. This consciousness from the timekeeping system instantly flooded into Lu Yuan's mind and was completely beyond his control.

Lu Yuan paused for a moment while holding the Grand Knight Commander of Rock's pocket watch. Although he was still sitting in front of the Grand Knight Commander of Rock, he dared not show the slightest abnormality on his face.

After all, it was his extraordinary weapon that had been dormant for so long. The broken body, which should have been completely still, kept emitting a thought: it wanted to devour the pocket watch in his hand.

The consciousness wasn't fierce, but it was extremely anxious. There was no emotion mixed in with it; it was as if some kind of instinct was at work.

At the same time, Oden realized something was wrong almost immediately.

In an instant, Lu Yuan felt an invisible wall silently rise up next to his consciousness. It was Auden's doing. The fragmented consciousness that had been lingering deep in his left leg actively swam out and approached Lu Yuan's chest as if facing a formidable enemy.

The closer Oden got to his left chest, the slower his movements became.

At the same time, Lu Yuan also saw clearly that the thing had completely merged with his body. The outer shell of the pocket watch lay on the skin and flesh of his chest, while the tentacle-like remains inside were completely connected to his flesh and blood. It seemed that they could not be torn apart.

Oden's heart sank lower and lower.

Unlike Lu Yuan, who was oblivious to everything, he usually swam around inside Lu Yuan's body without noticing anything unusual. As for the Timekeeping Device hanging on Lu Yuan's chest, he just regarded it as a dead supernatural weapon. After all, Auden did not detect anything strange from it, so he never paid any attention to it.

Now, that consciousness that shouldn't exist is coming from inside the pocket watch. The thing inside seems to have developed its own consciousness, which is not right.

Auden dared to leave the life-saving stone statue and follow Lu Yuan into the real world because of the Drowned One on Lu Yuan's body, an empty shell refined from pure consciousness and retrieved from the sea of ​​knowledge.

That thing is essentially the complete consciousness of a strong person, formed after being constantly baptized by the sea of ​​knowledge. It is something that has been stripped of consciousness and survives only on instinct.

Unless Lu Yuan actively introduces some external consciousness into it, or after a long period of settling, or by returning to the sea of ​​knowledge, it is almost impossible for this empty shell to cultivate a new consciousness.

It was precisely because this outer shell was strong enough that Oden dared to hang himself directly inside.

He was overjoyed when he saw the drowning person in the underground corridor of the Temple of Knowledge, because that thing was the purest spirituality and the most perfect vessel for carrying consciousness.

Therefore, if you want to parasitize the body of a normal superhuman, there is no other way but to seize the host's consciousness. Of course, even if your own consciousness splits, it doesn't count, because you are still essentially an individual.

In other words, a third consciousness suddenly appeared in Lu Yuan's body.

There is only one possibility: it wants to take over Lu Yuan's body.

This is absolutely unacceptable; at least in Oden's eyes, it is absolutely unacceptable.

The consciousness of each person is the core of their being, containing not only the safety of their path, but also all their secrets, plus ownership of their body.

Once someone is taken over, going berserk is a minor issue, as there's still a chance of survival. However, once ownership of the body is taken away and all the secrets are revealed, the person is no different from being dead.

Auden didn't even dare to think about what would have happened if this thing had developed consciousness earlier and attacked him and Lu Yuan when they were off guard.

"Lu Yuan!" Oden's voice carried a hint of ferocity.

Lu Yuan also noticed Oden's intense emotional fluctuations. He did not intend to stop Oden, but instead spoke first in his mind.

He has a connection with the timekeeping device within his body. He can activate it with just a slight movement of his consciousness, which is why he dares to speak.

Something did indeed come to life within that seemingly lifeless Time Revelation, or rather, the remnant of the Time Reversal Worm within it came to life. Although its consciousness was extremely weak, it was indeed so. Moreover, Lu Yuan could sense that the thing had no malice whatsoever, at least not now.

"Don't be nervous, listen to me," Lu Yuan's voice remained calm. "You and I have both seen this thing before. It's an extraordinary weapon that I redeemed a long time ago. It's made from the remains of a time-reversing worm. It can devour reason and survive for a short time. Mine probably devoured too much reason, which is why it's like this."

"What kind of bug?" Oden was taken aback.

He had never heard of such a thing as a time-reversing worm, but that didn't matter. He only knew one thing: a strange creature that shouldn't have been resurrected. No matter what it was like in life or whether it had any malicious intent, it shouldn't have been resurrected after death, let alone resurrected in Lu Yuan's body.

"I absolutely will not allow you to make direct contact with this new consciousness," Oden's voice was firm and unquestionable. "You may not fully understand how terrifying it is to be able to retain one's consciousness after dying and being divided into several pieces, and to be resurrected simply by consuming reason."

"If I hadn't come from a forbidden background, hadn't once reached the fifth level, and hadn't been to that special Hall of Knowledge, plus the statue made by the student who reached the fifth level before us, my consciousness would have long since vanished. But even so, we dare not easily step out of the Hall of Knowledge."

"If it weren't for the Drowning Being's shell, I wouldn't have been able to come to reality with you. So don't you understand? You actually dared to directly contact the newly formed consciousness of an existence that can survive for who knows how long on mere fragments of a corpse? Don't you want to live?"

Auden's words strictly forbade Lu Yuan from approaching that consciousness.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan realized that he might have oversimplified the situation.

Yes, this time-giving object resided in his body, surviving by devouring his sanity. It hadn't shown any signs of consciousness until the Grand Knight Commander of Rock handed it over, at which point it began to react instinctively.

So Lu Yuan should have realized earlier that there was a possibility that the timing system could be further improved. At the time, he only regarded it as an improvement in the weapon level. Now, it seems that it is not a further improvement at all, but rather that it is gradually awakening and taking control of its own body.