In the corridor leading to the garden, Emilia and Subaru walked side by side.
Since Subaru was to stay at the mansion for the long term, familiarizing himself with the environment became the top priority.
Subaru asked softly, "By the way, Lia, can we talk about your appearance?"
Tsukasa, who was walking beside them, was no longer floating. Instead, he walked with his hands in his pockets, leaning forward slightly. Upon hearing this topic, he immediately pricked up his ears.
Emilia, who had a smile just a moment ago, instantly became dejected.
In an increasingly faint voice, she began to recount the past of this continent, "Do you know, Subaru? This continent once experienced a massive disaster."
Subaru and Tsukasa's attention was drawn simultaneously.
Subaru shook her head. "To be honest, I still know nothing about this world."
Emilia forced a smile and continued, "Four hundred years ago, a forbidden existence appeared—the Witch of Envy Satella. She could be said to be the enemy of the entire world, she devoured half the world single-handedly. Later, under the combined efforts of the Divine Dragon, the Great Sage, and the First Sword Saint, she was finally sealed."
Her voice trembled slightly. "And the Satella I'm talking about... looks exactly like me."
Hearing this, Subaru and Tsukasa finally understood why Emilia lacked supporters.
At that moment, Subaru gently took the Emilia's hand, a firm light flickering in her eyes. "No matter who you look like, you are just Emilia, and you will always just be Emilia. The ones who should be sad are those who hate you, because they have lost such a cute and strong Emilia—it's their loss."
Emilia couldn't help but sob softly. As someone who wanted to be a leader, having the appearance of the Witch who had nearly destroyed the world was simply a disaster.
Because of this, no matter where she went, she was always greeted by the same words: Monster, get out!
While the two girls were comforting each other, Tsukasa suddenly froze in place, as if blocking out all sound. The long-awaited system notification sounds rang out one after another.
[Ding! Special mission completed: Take the first step toward tomorrow. Reward obtained: Cursed Technique Power +5%]
[Congratulations to the host for reaching 65% roleplay completion. Skills obtained: Reverse Cursed Technique, Cursed Technique Reversal: Red]
[Ding! System update in progress. New features will be available in 24 hours]
After the three mechanical voices, a massive amount of knowledge flooded into Tsukasa's mind.
Under the rapid operation of the Six Eyes, he quickly mastered Reverse Cursed Technique and Cursed Technique Reversal: Red. What excited him most was that his Reverse Cursed Technique could not only treat himself but also heal others.
Subsequently, the vast knowledge was gradually smoothed out under the rapid operation of the Six Eyes.
Feeling the increased power and technical application throughout his body, Tsukasa couldn't help but get excited.
The minimum damage of Red is twice that of Blue. It is a new technique generated by infusing positive energy produced by Reverse Cursed Technique into Limitless.
Its manifestation is a repulsive force generated at the center of Red. It can even achieve what Pain's Shinra Tensei does, with a maximum output reaching positive infinity.
Reverse Cursed Technique is even simpler, it's equivalent to converting mana into positive energy that can heal the body. This positive energy is highly toxic to all magical beasts, injecting it into any Magical Beast can force its death.
Additionally, the consumption of Reverse Cursed Technique is immense. However, with Tsukasa's powerful mana and control, even simple operations like regenerating limbs or detoxifying can be easily achieved.
When he saw a line of small text at the bottom of the skill bar, he couldn't help but smile bitterly: [Hollow Purple cannot be used until the skill is unlocked].
It seemed that trying to use a bug to directly use Purple was not going to work.
'If I were to face Reinhard again now...'
The fighting spirit in his heart ignited once more. Only a powerhouse like that could allow him to fully display his strength.
While Tsukasa was rapidly mastering his new abilities, Subaru had already finished comforting Emilia.
The two continued down the corridor.
Emilia's steps were noticeably lighter, and laughter echoed in the hallway once again.
"Coaxed her that quickly?" At this moment, Tsukasa had reappeared, and his voice sounded in Subaru's ear.
Looking at this guy who had suddenly disappeared just now, Subaru couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you have something you wanted to say to Lia earlier? Why did you suddenly go back to the Consciousness Space?"
This question left Tsukasa momentarily speechless, so he had to prevaricate vaguely, "Well... I went back to try out some new moves. Besides, I'm not very good at comforting girls."
Subaru questioned, "But when you were patting my head, your technique seemed quite practiced?"
"The feel was indeed not bad."
The two's 'otherworldly conversation' was soon noticed by Emilia, who was walking ahead.
She turned back, tapping her cheek with her finger and asking curiously, "Is Subaru talking to Tsukasa-san?"
Subaru, caught being distracted, immediately looked embarrassed. "Sorry, Lia... I didn't mean to ignore you."
Emilia smiled gently. "It's okay. Actually, the introduction to the mansion is mostly finished. I should go find Puck to study magic. You two can wander around as you like. If you need anything, just come to the garden to find me. However..."
She warned seriously, "Whatever you do, don't go into the forest. There might be Magical Beasts there."
After giving the precautions, Emilia waved goodbye to the two and turned to leave.
"The more a place is emphasized as off-limits, the more it makes one want to go."
Upon hearing the words 'Magical Beasts,' Tsukasa immediately became interested.
But Subaru cut off Tsukasa's thought in time and proposed something that more urgently needed to be done, "Stop right there. I think we need to understand the history of this continent first, otherwise we'll always be in the dark."
That made sense. Just the legend of the Witch that Emilia mentioned earlier made them realize there was too much unknown in this world. However...
"You seem to have overlooked a key issue, Subaru."
"What issue?"
"We don't recognize the writing of this world at all."
Now the problem was serious. Although spoken communication was no problem, reading was a complete obstacle. Thinking of this, Subaru began to feel a headache.
"Tsukasa, can you teach me the writing here?"
Hearing Subaru's question, Tsukasa could only shrug helplessly, "My language system isn't compatible with this place either. Even if there were textbooks, they would use the most basic language to explain things. For people like us with zero foundation, we can only rely on someone's verbal teaching."
These words left Subaru in deep thought. Speaking of the best candidate to teach them...
"Subaru-sama, do you need help?"
Speak of the devil.
Rem appeared out of nowhere, holding a rag in one hand and a bucket in the other, tilting her head as she looked at Subaru.
Subaru immediately looked delighted. She went straight to the point, grabbing Rem's shoulders and saying, "Rem... I have a small favor to ask."