It looked like Viseliane had intended to save him.
However, she was also the one who had poisoned him in the first place. Currently, Grin did not even have the strength to push her away. He knitted his brows but let out a sigh nonetheless.
He did not do anything to Viseliane. Instead, he moved her from his body to a corner and began to observe his surroundings. Looking up, he could no longer see the starry sky, and the corpses of monsters nearby had become sparse. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a hole about 50 meters above him.
He must have experienced another collapse after falling, which caused their position to shift further into the deeper layers of the underground. The entire Hollow was in an extremely unstable state. After all, the Seal had been what maintained these crumbling relics; now that the Seal was destroyed, the interference from the magic explosion made things worse.
Grin was no exception to the dangers of a secondary collapse, but panicking was useless now. Although he could stand and take one or two steps, the magic power required to release skills had not recovered at all.
It seemed it would be quite a while before Viseliane woke up. Grin took out a few bottles of healing potions and fed them to her. Having done that, he sat down next to her and began to sort out his situation.
This included his condition and… the System.
The [Punishment] memory of Dolores he had just experienced had entered a thirty-day cooldown. Along with the new memory, [Repentance], which he had obtained for completing the task, Grin now possessed two sets of memories regarding Dolores.
**[Dolores – “Punishment” Type Memory (2/3) (Cooldown: 1 day 21 hours)]**
**[Dolores – “Repentance” Type Memory (1/3) (Available)]**
According to what Dolores had said in the memory, the [Repentance] memory took place during the time after she had killed him in their past life. Perhaps if he entered it just once, Grin could hear the answer directly from her mouth.
But he had no desire to use it right now. After realizing that Dolores’s motive might have been some form of “doing it for his own good,” Grin no longer harbored much hatred.
Consequently, he had lost his urgent pursuit of the truth. After all, his starting point for seeking the truth was actually just to confirm whether Dolores really loved him and whether her betrayal was justified. He already knew the answer he wanted.
Moreover… these [Memories] were limited, and the Dolores within those [Memories] was completely alive. If possible, Grin hoped to speak with the Dolores in reality first before deciding how to use these [Memories].
Many seemingly difficult problems could become much simpler—even solved with ease—if one had advice from the future. These insights would not overlap with what Grin already knew, as Dolores clearly knew and understood far more than he did.
Moving his gaze downward, Grin looked at Dolores’s current Favorability. Suddenly, he noticed that strange things seemed to have been added to the Panel, such as [Strategy Character] and regions, along with some unusual information.
**[Strategy Characters]**
**[Dolores (Surand Region)]**
**Affection Level: 90 (Like)**
**Traits: Otherworld Visitor, Princess of Caitreisick, Elprecy Blood (Recessive), Magic Talent (Legendary), Wood Element Affinity (Legendary), Healing Magic Limit (Mythic)**
**[Hilberu (Surand Region)]**
**Affection Level: 68 (Familiarity)**
**Traits: Saintess, Saintess – Symbol of Sacrifice, Saintess – Symbol of Compassion, Saintess – Symbol of Courage, Holy Power Affinity (Legendary), ? (Hidden), ? (Hidden)**
**[Alberke (Hemulst Region)]**
**Affection Level: 79 (Trust)**
**Traits: Otherworld Visitor, Savior Claimant, ? (Hidden)**
**[Phil (Melisglen Region)]**
**[No contact in reality]**
Looking at the data for Dolores’s Favorability, Grin realized that he now viewed it as a mere number. He no longer felt the desperate urge to increase it as he had before.
He would not try to use the System to raise it anymore. Dolores understood this [System] better than he did, so he planned to discuss how to utilize it only after he had confessed everything to her.
Grin looked down at his hands and let out a long sigh.
‘I’ve been doing everything wrong,’ he thought. ‘I misunderstood her and placed terrible pressure on her.’
Grin did not know if his current thoughts went against what the Dolores in the memory had intended, considering she had always wanted him to bring her Affection Level to 100.
‘However, if she could orchestrate a plan spanning such a long period, she probably wouldn’t fail to foresee that I might lose the heart to be cruel.’
The [System] displayed Dolores’s hidden talents to Grin. He had no memory of some of these talents; Dolores must have hidden them very well.
But what was the reason for hiding them? Grin could not figure it out for now. More precisely, what he could not understand was—what reason would cause Dolores to hide these things from him?
Was it because a stronger existence forbade it? Was she worried he would deviate from her plan if he knew? Or was it because not knowing was safer?
Perhaps he could understand these questions by asking the current Dolores.
And… what did the [Otherworld Visitor] trait in the special columns for Dolores and Alberke mean? Did they come from another world? Furthermore, what were Caitreisick and Elprecy?
There were too many doubts.
Glancing at Viseliane and seeing that she was still unconscious, Grin chose to continue checking the System. After he completed the previous task, the System had popped up new tasks. However… these tasks were somewhat special.
**[Strategy Character Addition Task: Viseliane]**
**Task Requirements: Dolores’s Affection Level reaches the [Unswerving] stage; Viseliane’s Affection Level reaches 70 (Trust) (Affection Level is not displayed before task completion).**
**Task Reward: [Aihexie Region Elf Curse Removal] series tasks unlocked; additional opening of Viseliane’s Memories [Childhood] and [Hatred] and related series tasks; increase truth-seeking unlock progress for non-strategy character [Doroth] by 25%.**
**[Non-Strategy Character Series Task: Hagel]**
**Unlock Conditions: Any three Surand Region Strategy Characters reach the [Unswerving] stage; Doroth, Dolores, and Hagel must remain alive when the task is completed.**
**Task Reward: [Tombstone of the Snow-submerged Kingdom] series tasks unlocked (includes 25% truth-seeking unlock progress for Doroth).**
In addition to these, there was one more task that surprised Grin.
**[Dolores Special Task: Regret Pill]**
**Task Requirement: Meet Dolores.**
**Task Reward: Regret Pill (If a Strategy Character knows the effect and voluntarily consumes it, Affection Level increases by 10 points).**
10 points… it was a precise value, yet it came with such harsh conditions for use. Previously, the Favorability rewards given by the System had no physical form. Why was it different this time?
Grin shook his head.
He had made up his mind; he would not pressure Dolores anymore. Furthermore, he would not undertake that Strategy Character task for Viseliane, because the prerequisite was something he would not do.
Right at that moment, Viseliane finally stirred. She struggled to open her eyes. The first moment she saw Grin, she opened her mouth and murmured, “I’m sorry…”