“Lord Ciel, the letter has been sent, but Percy will likely take two to three days to arrive…”

Tara, who had rushed out to send the letter, returned to Ciel’s side.

She wasn’t surprised at all that Lord Ciel knew Percy’s name and also knew about her relationship with Percy, even though she had never mentioned it.

Whatever Lord Mother Goddess did was normal. Tara had long been able to calmly accept it.

However, Tara’s words did not receive a reply from Ciel.

“Lord Ciel?”

Tara’s gaze shifted away from Ciel’s feet and slowly moved upwards, looking at Ciel’s face.

Ciel was sitting in her seat at this moment, looking at the notebook before her without moving. Moreover, because Lord Ciel intentionally concealed her aura, Tara always felt that the person sitting before her was just a statue.

Could it be that Lord Mother Goddess’s consciousness had returned to the Divine Kingdom again?

“Lord Ciel? Can you hear me?”

Tara slowly spoke. Only after confirming that Ciel was truly unresponsive did she slowly extend her left hand and gently wave it in front of Ciel’s eyes.

“Uh… Hmm? What is it? Tara.”

Ciel at this moment, as if waking from a deep dream, turned her gaze and looked in Tara’s direction.

In her sight, Tara’s mouth was constantly opening and closing, but Ciel couldn’t hear any sound.

Ciel wasn’t deaf.

At this moment, a buzzing sound was resounding in her mind. It was a grating sound like steel rubbing against each other, even making Ciel hallucinate seeing a large amount of sparks generated by the friction.

These sounds were illusory and layered, very similar to the sound emitted by the platinum armor Other Side creature that Ciel had heard. From being barely audible at first, they gradually amplified to the current deafening volume.

Moreover, this sound in Ciel’s mind was getting louder and louder, already causing a throbbing pain in her eardrums. Her eardrums felt as if they were about to burst from the pressure.

This situation was not the first time Ciel had encountered it. She had had similar sensations when entering the Other Side before, although the type of whispers was different.

This situation had not occurred during her communication with the Grim Worm. Why was she experiencing such severe side effects after communicating with that armor…?

She had to solve this problem, otherwise her mental state would continue to deteriorate…

Ciel waved her hand, signaling Tara to stop talking for a moment.

At this moment, Ciel directly opened the system interface and looked at the system screen before her.

【Simulation】

【Character Archive】

【Skills】

【Inventory】

【Points Store】

Ciel opened the Points Store and scanned it. Many new things had been added to the basic subjects that could be learned, but none of them could resolve Ciel’s current situation.

She directly exited the Points Store and opened the Skills interface.

All the skills Ciel had acquired before were displayed before her.

Next to the skill list, there were also golden “+” symbols.

These were the options for upgrading skills. Because points were very precious before, Ciel had basically never used Fate Points to upgrade skills.

Upgrading a Lv.1 skill to Lv.2 required 10 Fate Points. This was too expensive for Ciel at the beginning and could even cause her to get stuck. But for the current Ciel, 10 Fate Points was no longer a significant amount.

Ciel directly shifted her gaze to Lv.4 Calm Mind.

Upgrading from Lv.1 to Lv.2 required 10 points, from Lv.2 to Lv.3 required 50 points, and from Lv.3 to Lv.4 required 100 points.

And upgrading from Lv.4 to Lv.5 actually required a staggering 500 Fate Points…

The system’s items are usually worth their price. Requiring a full 500 points meant that upgrading it would definitely bring a huge improvement… But it was too expensive.

Originally, Ciel just wanted to upgrade 【Calm Mind】 to see if increasing her mental power could help her resist the whispers in her mind. But now, she had to consider if there were any other alternative options.

Her Fate Points balance was only 581. She had to ensure she had at least 100 Fate Points left to deal with unexpected situations or run simulations… Spending it all down to only 81 would be a little dangerous for Ciel.

But at this moment, Ciel noticed that Tara’s hand, flickering with white hot flames, was once again shielding her eyes. She directly pressed the white flames onto her eyes.

Ciel only felt a flash of white light before her eyes. By the time she recovered, it was as if a layer of blurry white gauze covered her vision, and the whispers in her mind instantly subsided.

This is…

Ciel was very familiar with this ability, as she had experienced it once before, a long time ago.

Before, in Berren City, in a simulation, Hugh had used this ability on Ciel when Ciel became mentally unstable after first viewing the Other Side pages.

Transcendents of the “Ascetic” path could not only help share physical pain but also share mental whispers.

Ciel’s ears instantly felt relieved, and she could hear sounds from the outside world again.

She turned to look at Tara, who was looking pained beside her, and their eyes met.

Tara, at this moment, after seeing Ciel’s gaze, gasped for a while and said:

“Lord Ciel… the body you are currently using… both your mind and body are very frail. They cannot support your power or the pressure of going to the Divine Kingdom… Tara can share some of the burden for you…”

“Tara…”

Ciel spoke. After a long time, she sighed softly.

She felt a little guilty for her previous distrust of Tara… Except for occasional small actions, Tara was truly wholeheartedly considering her. She shouldn’t have picked on Tara for those minor details.

Ciel stood up, looked down at Tara before her, and asked gently, “Are you alright? Don’t push yourself.”