The status screen flickered into existence before Kyle’s eyes.

[Name: Lilian]

[Strength: ? | Intelligence: ? | Endurance: ? | Agility: ? | Magic: ?]

[Affection: ?%]

For a brief moment, Kyle’s mind went completely blank. He just kept staring at her status screen.

Lilian tilted her head slightly, then noticed that he was staring at her chest.

"Didn’t think you were a pervert."

Kyle snapped back to reality the moment he heard her and realized what he had been doing.

"S-sorry..."

He didn’t even bother making excuses. He’d been caught red-handed. He couldn’t just tell her he had been staring at a screen that let him see her stats and it just happened to be right in front of her chest.

At the same time, Kyle noticed several kids peeking from behind the door.

Lilian noticed them too. "It’s alright, kids. You can come in."

The moment they heard that, several kids rushed into the room. Some stood behind Lilian, while others walked up to the bed without any fear.

They were young—between seven and fourteen—but what Kyle noticed about all of them was that every single one had a certain symbol inside their pupils.

`Those symbols... are these zodiac signs?`

He knew them a little, after all, they were famous on earth.

"Hey, you. What’s your name?"

An excited girl pushed closer to the bed, asking. She had long black hair and a scorpion symbol in her violet eyes.

Kyle was surprised by the girl, but he answered anyway. "Call me Kyle."

"Kyle? such a boring name... I’m Scorpio, but you can call me little Scorpio!"

`Scorpio? So these really are zodiac symbols... but why is her name like that?` Kyle thought.

"Kyle, is it? You can call me Lilian." The blind woman stepped forward.

"Thanks for your help, Lady Lilian." Kyle nodded gratefully.

Lilian laughed lightly. "Lady? No need for that. Just call me Lilian."

Kyle smiled. "Can I ask how long I was unconscious?"

Before Lilian could answer, a small boy with a lion symbol in his eyes spoke up, his voice slightly excited.

"You were asleep for three days."

`Three days?!` Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise. `The campaign must be over by now.`

"You must be really tired after waking up," Lilian said, turning toward the door. "We’ll leave you to rest."

They went out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Kyle lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Then, gritting his teeth against the pain, he pushed himself up.

"Agh, damn..."

His chest screamed at him. The wound pulled tight under the bandages. But he forced himself upright anyway, leaning back against the headboard.

`Lying down like a corpse... not my style.`

He took a slow breath, then another. The pain settled into something manageable.

And his mind went straight back to what he’d seen.

`All her stats were hidden.`

He’d only seen that once before — with the guildmaster. But even then, only some of his stats were hidden. Strength was "?" while the rest showed numbers.

But Lilian? Every single one.

`Strength, Intelligence, Endurance, Agility, Magic... all of them.`

Kyle’s eyes narrowed.

`That means... the "?" appears when my own stats aren’t high enough to measure the target’s.`

So if his Intelligence was 34 back then, and the guildmaster’s Intelligence showed as 64... then the "?" must start appearing above a certain threshold.

`Maybe above 100?`

It made sense. The Endurance stats were shown, which were 91. And certainly, the Strength stats should be close to that.

But Lilian?

`All of them over 100... at least.`

His jaw tightened.

And she knew about Nightmare. Called it a "dream monster" like it was nothing. Like everyone just knows that.

`She’s not normal.`

Kyle’s fingers drummed lightly against the blanket.

`So why did she save me?`

He didn’t believe in coincidence. A woman this powerful, with this much knowledge, just happened to find him bleeding out on a monster’s back?

`Maybe she wants something from me.`

He had no proof. Just a gut feeling — the same one that the protagonists in the novels he read had... or at least he thinks so.

Kyle sighed. `But I can’t do anything about it right now.`

He pushed the thought aside. For now. Instead, his mind drifted to the campaign.

`I killed so many of those bastards...`

He hadn’t had time to check. Everything happened too fast — Weston getting burned, the dragon turning, the cave, Arthur’s blade.

But now...

Kyle took a breath and summoned his status screen.

[Name: Kyle]

[Class: Mind Controller]

[Strength: 25 | Intelligence: 34 | Endurance: 23 | Agility: 19 | Mana: 0]

[Unused Stat Points: 47]

[Skills: Mind Control - Thought Reading]

His eyes widened.

"Forty-seven?!"

He blinked. Stared at the number. Then blinked again.

`That’s... way more than I expected.`

The basalt crawlers and the valley hawks—Although he could not kill the dragon, he got a lot.

A grin spread across his face.

`Alright. Let’s put these to work.`

He didn’t hesitate.

`Intelligence first. Always Intelligence.`

He dumped 20 points into it. Then distributed the rest:

+7 Strength, +7 Endurance, +7 Agility.

The remaining 6 points? Back into Intelligence!

The moment he finished allocating, warmth spread through his body.

Not the painful kind. The good kind—like sinking into a hot bath after freezing all day.

His muscles loosened. The ache in his chest eased, just a little. The wound still hurt, but his body felt... stronger. More capable.

`I could probably stand now.`

He didn’t try. Not yet.

But he felt it. The stats were already helping him heal.

`A few days, maybe. Then I’m moving.`

He stared at the new numbers.

[Strength: 32 | Intelligence: 60 | Endurance: 30 | Agility: 26 | Mana: 0]

`Sixty... not bad. Not bad at all.`

He glanced at Mana. Still zero.

He had been ignoring it deliberately. After all, he didn’t have any magical skills.

Moreover, he didn’t exactly know how that "Mana" worked — maybe increasing it without a certain skill or a specific way to use it would have a negative effect.

He had seen many of these events in novels — a person exploding or dying due to an increase in mana without a way to control it.

Even though he thought the system would protect him from any negative consequences, he didn’t want to take the risk — especially after what happened to him last time with Arthur.

He glanced back at his status screen, and that’s when he noticed it.

Another screen. Hovering behind his status window.

He’d been so focused on his stats that he hadn’t seen it until now.

`What the...`

He dismissed his status screen with a thought.

And there it was.

[Congratulations. You have fulfilled the hidden requirement for the "Mind Controller" class. The full abilities of your class have been unlocked.]