The Pitfall of Side Effects

The whispers in his ears slowly faded. Through the filter woven by White Horse is Not a Horse, Sno heard words from the True Creator's murmurs such as "Leodoro," "Herabogen," and "Osekhus"—words that clearly did not belong to the same language family as the earlier ones. Only when the True Creator's rap finally faded and his brain, stiffened by the true god's whispers, began functioning again did Sno remember that those seemed to be the names of the Three Gods.

"So the True Creator was cursing someone..." Sno pinched his aching brow and began sorting through his spirituality.

The boost brought by Sequence 8: Pavlov's Dog was simple. Aside from Consciousness Projection, the Beyonder Ability based on Listener whispers that he had been using all along, it also greatly enhanced his physical qualities. His dynamic vision and neural reflexes in particular had been raised beyond the limits of the human body.

Moreover, according to the information bestowed by the potion, he now possessed a powerful aptitude for skills that required developing "muscle memory," such as combat, shooting, and even cheating at gambling. With professional training, he could master a fighting style and apply it in actual combat within just two or three days.

And beyond Pavlov's Dog's own power, the bonuses attached to the Listener potion still remained. As a reward for listening to the True Creator curse, he had gained three forms of resistance and one Supernatural Ability.

The three resistances corresponded to fire, wind and lightning, and the mind. That Supernatural Ability was called Divine Profanity.

Sno guessed that the three resistances corresponded to the names of the Three Gods. As for Divine Profanity... well, better left unsaid.

As for the negative side effects brought by Pavlov's Dog...

It was rather difficult to put into words. This side effect should be called "Reactive Neurological Attack," or more plainly, mild sudden-onset insanity.

After drinking the potion, its unrestrained spirituality had established several "high-speed channels" between his mind and body. It was equivalent to directly building several conditioned reflexes into him: as long as a certain condition was met, he would instinctively respond.

These responses were beyond his control. Often, before his mind could even react, his body had already moved.

The most infuriating part was that before a certain conditioned reflex was triggered, he would not even know it existed.

In other words, someone could wave at him in greeting, only for him to reflexively slap them across the face.

The only consolation was that, whether because Mr. Fool always replied, "I know," after he prayed to him, because he had clearly understood the True Creator's whispers earlier, or simply because he had extensively overdrawn Pavlov's Dog's Beyonder Ability, he had already digested roughly two-fifths of the potion after drinking it. This allowed him to barely suppress the triggering of some known conditioned reflexes.

Though he did not even know what reflexes his body had gained...

Having roughly sorted out the effects of the potion, Sno slowly withdrew from his meditative state, opened his eyes in confusion, and then...

Whoosh!

Mr. A was very satisfied with Sno. Especially after Sno drank the Listener potion, the obvious changes in him were enough to prove that he had truly heard the Lord's voice and understood some of its meaning. Understanding the Lord's intent immediately after drinking the potion could no longer be described as mere talent. He was practically a naturally outstanding believer!

However, just as Mr. A was wondering what sort of enhancement Sno might receive, Sno opened his eyes.

Then Sno jumped...

Sno went up the wall...

Sno hung from the ceiling...

"What is going on?" Mr. A stared blankly at Sno, who was also staring blankly while hanging upside down from the ceiling, then activated Spirit Vision.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with Sno's Mental Body manifestation. His spirituality was somewhat scattered, but that was normal after drinking a potion. But why was he...

"Um, Mr. A... could you stand that test tube upright?" Sno awkwardly extended a hand from the ceiling and pointed at the test tube lying on the laboratory table. Though Mr. A was full of question marks, he still set the test tube upright.

Then Sno came down.

Was this an effect brought about by listening to the Lord's voice? The thought arose in Mr. A's mind, but until now, no Listener seemed to have ever displayed such an obvious stress reaction.

He had originally thought Sno was a loyal subject, but now a trace of doubt emerged in his heart. After thinking for a moment, he maintained Spirit Vision and quietly used the power of shadows to knock over a test tube.

Clink!

The soft sound of the test tube falling caught Sno's attention. Under Mr. A's Spirit Vision, as Sno turned his gaze, his spirituality almost instantly exploded. Then he sprang up in a bizarre posture and slammed into the ceiling again...

"So it really is spirituality..." Mr. A revealed an expression of twitching lips that he would never show under ordinary circumstances. He did not know how to describe Sno's reaction.

In truth, Sno himself was also completely bewildered, because he had finally figured out his first conditioned reflex—

Whenever he saw a long object fall over, he would instinctively jump...

Am I a cat?

Sno had a powerful urge to flip the table, but looking at the pile of test tubes on it, he wisely abandoned the idea.

Forcibly mobilizing his spirituality to suppress the impulse, Sno "carefully" "climbed" down from the ceiling and looked at Mr. A with lingering fear.

"I don't know why, but whenever I see something long lying horizontally on the ground, my body instinctively wants to get away from it..."

"It's all right. This is a side effect from having just consumed the potion. Once you digest it, you will no longer be troubled by this." Although he said that, it was also Mr. A's first time seeing such an intense and obvious mental effect. He could only offer reassurance based on past experience.

Sno nodded lightly, but inwardly assessed the situation. Judging by the activation of the "high-speed channels" within him whenever the conditioned reflex had triggered, he should have at least three forcibly fixed conditioned reflexes. Until he figured out what the remaining two were, he felt it would be best not to go outside casually.

Otherwise, if he happened to see a dark-skinned person and immediately pulled out a gun to shoot them, the trouble would be enormous.

"I'm going to rest. Meditate properly. In a few days, I'll need you to develop lambs in the Eastern District." Having seemingly confirmed that Sno had no further problems, Mr. A relaxed as well. Familiar with the place, he left the basement, chose a guest room, and made no further sound.

Sno looked at the table full of test tubes, his expression twitching slightly. After hesitating for a long while, he ultimately could not bring himself to clean them up and simply turned to leave the basement—

At least until he had fully digested the Pavlov's Dog potion, he had no intention of coming back down.