The sun beat down from above and Arlott was on the move again.
With the new destination set to Paxley's capital town Plethora, Arlott walked in that direction with great enthusiasm.
In his mind, he was already planning the countless ways in which he would torment the Paxleys after spending 3 peaceful days in the capital.
'Hmm, who is my biggest enemy in the Paxleys tho?' he frowned.
There was Miss Valentina who was the assassin of Paxleys and founder of the Red Flower Clan. Then there was the duke's butler who used to visit the clan multiple times and used to treat all the kids nicely.
Arlott still remembered what he used to say, "Eat, my lambs, eat. Get stronger and assassinate the Duke Zordian."
At that time, Arlott believed 'lamb' was a mere endearing nickname given to them by the butler.
After all, they were still just 10 years old and orphans with little to no parent figure in their lives. By the warmth provided by the butler, it was hard to think of him as a bad person.
"Lambs, huh?" Arlott narrowed his eyes with a cold scoff, "Sacrificial lambs. You feed them till they are fat, and then you slice their neck and eat them. Is that what we were to you too, Johnson?"
And just like that, two new names were added to Arlott's list of vengeance.
Johnson and Valentina.
Two names were also scratched off the list, Lady Zordian and Xavier.
Though Lady Zordian aka Emily was still alive, her life was worse than death. By now, Arlott had no hard feelings left for her, but he tormented her anyway for fun.
The way she cried and begged him to kill her was strangely satisfying.
"But dragging you is a pain in the ass, Emily." Arlott sighed, looking at the feminine body on the floor.
Her side cheek, her back and her legs appeared to be burnt while her body bled due to being dragged on a stony path.
"Can't you walk?" he asked.
"No," she replied and buried her head back in the sand, her eyes dark and lifeless.
Arlott glared at her and a chill ran down her spine, making her shiver.
"I can't…" she gritted her teeth, replying, "You broke my bones. I can't stand up."
"Oh." Arlott nodded in understanding and turned around, walking forward while dragging her.
After walking for 10 more miles, he sighed.
'Damn, I feel tired. Should I cut off her arms and legs to reduce the weight?' He thought with a serious expression on his face.
He looked at his IP gain, and it was pretty slow.
On the last day, he had managed to outdo himself and slept for 12 hours, which accounted for 240 extra IP.
The rest of the time was spent walking or working, so it gave barely 10 IPs.
'250 IP a day. Slow, I need to sleep more.' he hummed with a serious expression as if he was thinking of a matter of life and death.
But well, ever since he heard the strange message of becoming the Chosen Of Sloth, Arlott's life had changed. Sleep and rest became much more important to him, and he started to become lethargic.
Luckily Arlott used to be a very hardworking person, and even with lethargy added to the mix, he balanced it out.
'Thinking about it, what is this Sloth stuff?' Arlott frowned, he had this 'system' for days but only now did it occur to him, he knew nothing about it.
He farmed the points, bought the potions, bought the weapon, escaped and then farmed more for revenge.
But did he know even S about this 'Sloth'?
No, he didn't.
'Let's start from the starting, the blue rectangle's name is the Idle Cultivation System. I am some 'Chosen of the Sloth' and it happened after I killed Duke Zordian.'
Remembering about Duke Zordian, Arlott turned to look at his lovely prisoner, Emily Zordian.
"What do I and Duke have in common that you have noticed?"
The question was too abrupt, and Emily wasn't able to process it. "Huh?"
"Similarity between me and Duke Zordian?" Arlott repeated.
"You both beat me. But you are worse." she spat, earning a kick to her face.
"I take pride in that, Emily Zordian." he crouched and grabbed her hair, pulling it till she felt like it might get torn out of her scalp,
"Give me the answer I want to hear, or…"
Emily gulped, her pupils dilating in fear.
"Y-You… You both space out sometimes… Looking in the air for many minutes." she replied.
"Oh?" Arlott smirked slightly, 'System. That bastard had a system, and the sloth system at that. Now it makes sense why he was sleeping when we invaded his castle. He was sleep cultivating, probably.'
"Tell me more," Arlott asked, intrigued.
"Hair hurts…" Emily complained, but it only made Arlott tighten his grasp.
He repeated his question with a death stare.
"I don't know…"
"What do you know about… sin of sloth?" Arlott changed the question, asking in a grave tone.
Emily gasped.
"Sin… It's a taboo to talk about it…"
"Hah! It will be a bigger taboo if you don't tell me everything you know."
Arlott's curiosity was piqued. He knew that this sloth system was overpowered if farmed smartly, but a Taboo? Was it that big a deal?
Why did the Duke of the Empire possess the sin system if the sins were considered taboo?
Emily gulped hearing the threat in his tone, and then with a slow and unsure voice, she whispered in a voice akin to a mosquito.
"Sloth is one of the seven cardinal sins. The sins are brought by the demons, any human who is entangled with the sins is dealt with."
'Duke Zordian had the sin system with him though, why wasn't he dealt with? But I doubt she is lying.' Arlott thought, confused.
But just then some gears in his mind churned and a shocking realization dawned upon him.
'Did… Did she just say 'one of the seven'? SEVEN?'
Eyes widening and a grin appearing on his face, Arlott chuckled dryly.
'Seven duchies in the empire and the duke of the duchy had a sin system.
Coincidence? Nah.'
'I guess there are a lot of names to be added to the list now!'