Mitsuki turned his gaze back to the ceiling.

"Someone different, huh... I guess you’re right. Lately, I’ve been doing things I wouldn’t have even imagined in a million years."

She shook her head.

"That’s not the kind of difference I mean."

"Uh... then I don’t get it."

Even though the change over the past couple of months had been huge, Mitsuki was still the same on the inside—or at least he had been until he used Limit Break. His mind and soul were now damaged; no one but him knew it, and that was exactly the problem, because how do you fix something when you don’t even know how?

Jeanne rested her head on the mattress at the level of Mitsuki’s eyes. They looked at each other in silence for a moment before she responded.

"Your personality... it’s like it completely flipped. Or at least, it feels like nothing matters to you anymore."

"Oh, that... Well, it’s not that nothing matters or that my personality did a complete turnaround. Honestly, during the fight, my mind took a pretty heavy hit. That’s probably why."

"I see. That must be hard. I hope you recover soon, so I can test how strong you’ve gotten all this time we haven’t talked."

Mitsuki let out a small laugh—a brief exhale.

"I’ve gotten stronger, but it’s still not enough. I’m sure you could beat me in a single hit."

"Can’t be helped, I’m too strong—the strongest in my kingdom. Or, well, the strongest after Aslan. He trained me, after all."

"So the student still hasn’t surpassed the master, huh..."

"Yeah. I still have a lot to learn," she said, standing up and stretching her arms. "Anyway, I think I should let you rest. You need to recover, and I can’t bother you until you’re better."

"So you do enjoy bothering me."

"See you later, Mitsuki," Jeanne said, avoiding his remark and giving him a playful smile.

After that, she left the room, adjusting the branch-made door so it wouldn’t fall. The room fell silent once she was gone, allowing Mitsuki to relax away from the noise of others.

He stared at the ceiling, accompanied by that silence for the next five minutes.

His mind still felt heavy and strange. He tried to think of something, but nothing came. It was like feeling an emptiness in his chest that couldn’t be filled.

There was nothing there; you knew there was nothing there, and you couldn’t feel anything there, yet that sensation dragged you deep into a cycle of inevitability where emotions blurred into the vast ocean that was your mind.

He should be scared because he lost his arm.

He should be groaning in pain from the stitches in his abdomen.

He should be thinking about the problems his revealed identity would cause.

He should be worried about the companions who fought alongside him.

He should be acting like a normal person.

And yet, he couldn’t do any of that, no matter how hard he tried. That was when the system activated, displaying all the information that had accumulated since the battle against Cinderella began.

Mitsuki blinked a couple of times, looking at the translucent screen in front of his eyes. Its ethereal purple color was so distinctive that it almost looked cool layered over everything behind it.

’I haven’t seen this thing in a while.’

[ You have pending notifications. ]

’The update I couldn’t check before...’

An entire section where unseen notifications were stacked in a straight column of distorted words.

[ Patch Notes. ]

[ You have received rewards. ]

[ Some skills have leveled up. ]

[ You have leveled up. ]

[ You have learned a skill. ]

[ You have claimed your power. ]

’I’ll go in order so I don’t get lost.’

The Patch Notes opened in a new tab, displaying the updated information.

[ Patch Notes:

— Based on your experiences, new features have been added.

❖ Enemy Analysis: You can now view certain data about enemies you face in a spectral HUD above them, such as their names, ranks, and level.

❖ The "Physical Status" section has been changed to "General Status." You can now view your physical, mental, and spiritual condition.

❖ General Improvement: System descriptions will now be more detailed for the Player’s convenience, and anything not considered a priority will be summarized.

❖ Skill Tags: Skills have been categorized as Active, Passive, and Active/Passive respectively.

— That is all. The system will continue updating as the Player grows stronger. ]

’Now this is actually good stuff. I’ll figure out how to make the most of it later. Now, the rewards.’

The Patch Notes tab closed, disappearing from the system a moment later. Then, the rewards tab opened in the same way.

[ Due to an error with your biology, you were unable to obtain the titles "Warrior Princess" and "Lady of Cinder." ]

’Not everything can be good news.’

[ You have obtained the following skills:

Song of Despair.

Crystallization Lv. 1 ]

Mitsuki frowned.

’For everything I had to go through, don’t you think this is too little? It almost feels like a bad joke.’

He shook his head and sighed, continuing to read what was on the screen.

[ You have obtained the following items:

Sealed Letter ]

’...This has to be a joke.’

It wasn’t.

’Seriously, this is all I get for killing such a powerful specter? Even the Lover of Flowers Among Blood gave me more. And that one was way weaker than Cinderella...’

He couldn’t even feel angry. His mental state was too deteriorated.

’Well, I guess there’ll be times when I get nothing.’

After that, he checked the section for skills that had leveled up. To his surprise, all combat-related skills had reached level 4, except for the ones he hadn’t used during the battle against Cinderella.

’I still don’t know what the level cap is, but I guess skill levels depend on how well I use them rather than their raw power. For now, most of the ones I used during the fight have reached level four. I’ll keep experimenting with that in the future.’

He closed the skills tab and moved on to the next one. To his surprise, his overall level had increased significantly thanks to the battle against Cinderella.

"Level 20... It almost feels like a dream."

This also meant his stats had increased greatly as a result.

As for the second-to-last section, this was the most unexpected one. Mitsuki raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise.

’So I learned a skill. What could it be? I don’t remember doing anything new to learn one.’

Curiosity led him to open the tab, but he sighed, tired, when he saw what it was. Now, much of what he was experiencing made sense.

[ You have learned the passive skill "Emotional Anesthesia." ]

[ Description: When the mind experiences excessive emotional burden or states that affect the Player’s psyche, the skill will automatically activate to preserve their Sanity. Activation rate: 50%. ]