Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The room was pitch black, curtains drawn tightly, with only the terminal emitting a soft glow that illuminated part of the girl's face.

Eve sat cross-legged on the sofa, knitting her brows as she pondered Isabella's messages.

【Isabella: After I got back, I replayed and analyzed today's battle with you. Right before you sent me flying, it felt like something took over my mind, preventing me from reacting to your attack. Under normal circumstances, there's no way I wouldn't have been able to react at all when you were right in front of me.】

【Isabella: After giving it a lot of thought, I think the most likely explanation is your Luna Butterfly. After all, the academic community has always believed that the Luna Butterfly has more than one skill, and not just a common skill like stealth.】

【Eve: But I didn’t experience anything else at the time, except for wanting to defeat you.】

【Eve: …】

【Eve: My control over the Luna Butterfly isn't complete—it has a mind of its own.】

When she sent this message, Eve felt somewhat hesitant. No one would willingly admit their weakness in controlling their Spiritual State to others.

If Isabella were to become her enemy in the future, this would be like handing her weakness directly to her opponent.

But she really wanted to know what the Luna Butterfly's other skill was. The first time she deeply connected with it, Eve knew the Luna Butterfly was hiding something. After fighting alongside it for some time, she was also certain that there was no barrier between her and the Luna Butterfly.

Therefore, she believed there were only two reasons why the Luna Butterfly couldn't tell her about its other skill: first, her abilities weren't sufficient to use this skill, and revealing it would put her at significant risk, so the Luna Butterfly hid it to protect her; second, the skill was too complex, beyond the Luna Butterfly's capacity to describe, so it couldn't articulate it and thus couldn't tell her.

Eve had also tried asking Maria in the Holographic Simulation. The military's Holographic Simulation was essentially built on genetic fragments left behind by past great figures, so the simulated Maria could, to some extent, be seen as an extension of her actual self.

However, Maria merely glanced at her with a faint smile and said, "If you can ever pry me out of this system, I might just tell you this secret."

"......" Eve was both speechless and amused. "Senior, if I had the ability to extract your genes from the military's heavily guarded systems, I would have long since mastered even the 'tiny' Luna Butterfly."

"So you already know, don't you? It's because you're not strong enough yet."

Maria's lightsaber transformed into a whip, and she gave Eve a light flick. The whip struck a fresh wound, making Eve grimace in pain. Maria glanced at her sideways and said, "Since you know you're not strong enough, stop lying around. Get up and keep training. Strive to master that 'tiny Luna Butterfly' soon and rescue this senior who's been working overtime at the military for centuries. The future tasks are heavy indeed."

Could it really be like a level-gated game?

Eve's eyelids twitched violently. Please, no.

【Isabella: So the Luna Butterfly is a Spiritual State with its own consciousness? That's amazing.】

【Isabella: Then it's also possible that it activated the ability on its own, which is why you didn't sense it at all.】

【Eve: Bella, you have more combat experience than I do, and I'm willing to trust you. What do you think this ability might be?】

Based on the original work's description of Isabella, she had her own set of principles and a pure pursuit of strength. The reason she took a special interest in the female lead was because the female lead's qualities left a strong impression on this daughter of the Cavendish family, and coupled with the female lead's considerable strength, Isabella admired her even more.

Though Eve found it somewhat strange that she was now getting along harmoniously with this daughter from the righteous faction, she trusted Isabella's character. She felt that if she asked Isabella this question, she might gain some insights.

After all, she had defeated Isabella, so in Isabella's eyes, she should be someone with enough strength to be worth associating with, right?

Sure enough, Isabella immediately began thinking seriously about it and replied after a while.

【Isabella: I think it's probably a Mind Control type, and a high-level Mind Control skill at that.】

Huh?

Eve raised an eyebrow.

Mind Control skills were far fewer in number compared to other types of skills, and high-level Mind Control skills were even rarer—synchronization, dream invasion, and consciousness alteration.

Moreover, compared to other high-level abilities, they were incredibly overpowered and hard to defend against.

Synchronization involved forcibly transmitting one's own thoughts and feelings to the opponent, even assimilating them into a puppet under one's control.

Dream invasion meant infiltrating dreams, a skill related to prying and subconscious influence, but it had low offensive capability and was limited to when the target was asleep.

Consciousness alteration forcibly changed the opponent's cognition, and deep consciousness alteration could even be implemented on a large scale, turning someone's mind into a blank slate where one could freely impose their own rules.

The Empire had once experienced an extremely egregious rebellion. The rebel leader, who hailed from the Black Star, possessed a Spiritual State with incredibly powerful consciousness alteration abilities. He easily tamed his scattered followers into a loyal and disciplined army, with a level of control no less than that of the mother worm over the insectoids.

If it weren't for Commander Maria's forceful suppression, it was uncertain whether the Empire would have undergone a change in dynasty.

Speaking of which, the female lead Alice's Spiritual State was the same as that rebel leader from centuries ago, and the two seemed to share a blood connection.

Eve thought wryly, wasn't this a case of history repeating itself? Centuries ago, Maria defeated that rebel leader, and centuries later, their descendants became adversaries.

Well, actually, her blood relation to Maria was quite distant, so thinking this way was somewhat inflating her own importance.

She rubbed her eyes, thanked Isabella under the pretext of "needing to think it over further," and closed the communication window, feeling somewhat like a user who discards others after getting what she wants. Fortunately, Isabella thought Eve was also troubled by her own Spiritual State and, being magnanimous, didn't hold it against her.

Before leaving, Isabella left one last message.

【Isabella: Once you figure out your Spiritual State Ability, remember to have another battle with me.】

【Eve: ......Okay.】

Forget about this battle maniac for now; she needed to focus on researching her own Spiritual State. Eve massaged her forehead.

Among the high-level Mind Control skills, dream invasion could be ruled out first because Isabella was in a conscious combat state when she was suspected of being attacked by the skill.

Both synchronization and consciousness alteration were possible. If the Luna Butterfly had indeed activated it autonomously while Eve was unconscious, then rudimentary synchronization or consciousness alteration would only preliminarily affect the opponent's thoughts and consciousness, which matched Isabella's description.

It could also be hypnosis, a mid-level Mind Control skill and a lesser version of consciousness alteration. However, Eve felt that if it were the Luna Butterfly, its ability shouldn't be limited to just mid-level.

Its other skill, stealth, had reached a conceptual level. The two skills of the same Spiritual State shouldn't have too large a gap.

Eve privately hoped it was consciousness alteration. In the original work, the female lead used this ability to dominate left and right, and due to the ability's influence, even if she didn't actively alter others' consciousness, it made them subconsciously more favorable toward her. Eve, who struggled with social interactions, was quite envious.

However, she also knew that high-level abilities weren't like cabbages sold at a market—maybe only two or three people could awaken them in the same period. Since this spot was already occupied by the female lead, the likelihood of another "carrot" squeezing in was slim.

What major use did synchronization have anyway?

The ability sounded taboo, but Eve had no need for something as high-end as raising puppets. Thank goodness, she just wanted to focus on taking care of herself.

The Luna Butterfly fluttered into appearance and landed on Eve's shoulder. She asked casually, "What exactly is your second ability, besides stealth? You used it on Isabella too—can't you tell me now?"

"……"

The Luna Butterfly remained as still as a mounted fake butterfly.

"Playing dead again?" Eve turned to look at it. Its small, black beady eyes were clear and innocent, and she felt a bit helpless. "Forget it, I'll try to figure it out on my own."

She touched the butterfly's antennae with her fingertip and whispered, "You bad butterfly, keeping secrets from me."

The Luna Butterfly shyly curled its antennae.

It wasn't intentionally keeping secrets, but this ability had to be realized through personal experience. Mere description would never allow its master to truly understand how to use this ability or fully control it.

It believed in its master's insight, which was why it resolutely refused to tell her. Only last time did it couldn’t help but actively pull Isabella's consciousness into sync with its master's.

What ill intentions could a little butterfly possibly have?

It only wishes for its master to get better and stronger each day, and no one would be happier than it to see Eve firmly walking the path of becoming stronger.

"Sigh..."

Eve let out a soft sigh, leaning back onto the sofa as she replayed the feel of the fight during the day.

At the final strike, her conviction had been exceptionally firm.

Huh?

It seemed that, in that moment, there was indeed something overflowing within her headspace—though it was too subtle, lost in the adrenaline rush.

Eve felt this wouldn't do; she needed to find something to give it another shot.

She crooked her finger, and the Luna Butterfly gracefully drifted right over, the extraordinarily beautiful butterfly settling obediently on the young girl's slender finger. Eve looked it in the eyes, then consciously controlled her thoughts.

What should she think about?

Perhaps focus on "curiosity."

The Luna Butterfly had no clue what it was in for. Even if a Spiritual State had its own thoughts, it was no match for the sneaky ways of humans. It thought Eve was just tired and wanted to continue playing with it, its antennae quivering happily.

Then Eve's fingertip drew closer and closer until it touched the center of the Luna Butterfly's head.

After all, they were lives sharing the same origin—shouldn't it be natural to synchronize with one's own Spiritual State?

*Bzzzz————bzzz!*

A silent hum spread out from the point of contact between the girl and the butterfly, ancient and lingering, like the morning bells and evening drums of an old temple. It resonated from the peak of the spirit, swiftly spreading throughout the entire domain. A surge of excitement rippled in the sea of consciousness. Eve had never expected such an intense reaction; she felt like a small boat tossed upon hidden currents and tides, with depths too deep and strange to name lurking beneath the surface.

Dizzily, she fell back onto the sofa, while the Luna Butterfly uncontrollably shifted back to its huge true form. Its white-gold wings nearly covered Eve's upper body, and the two antennae on its head swayed like it was drunk.

It let out a silent cry, filled with disbelief and the hurt of betrayed trust.

"Stop crying," Eve managed to regain her composure, placing her hand on the Luna Butterfly's head to soothe the freaking-out butterfly.

I mean, wasn't the connection between the master and the Spiritual State inherently too profound? In that instant, she even got a look at the memories buried deep within the Luna Butterfly's consciousness. It was astonishing enough that a Spiritual State could hold so many memories, but even more shocking was that, in those memories, she spotted things that should not exist at all.

For example, a "herself" smiling as she walked into the academy, or a "herself" lying in a crystal coffin.

Eve was truly stunned—what was this stuff doing there in the Luna Butterfly's sea of consciousness?

An intense, serious bad feeling gripped her heart. In that moment, she even felt the urge to immediately leave the Medici family and the capital planet.

Fortunately, Eve managed to suppress this inexplicable impulse in the end, but she no longer hesitated, resolving to leave using the excuse of a practical project next month.

She had a premonition that if she didn't leave soon, she would likely miss her chance to break free of the story.

And she herself would once again become the tragic villainess from the story.