"We're here."
Coralie pointed to a silver-haired young woman battling a robot on the training field. She was currently fighting a Titan-class mech.
Although it was just a training projection, the opponent she had chosen wasn't ideal – an A-rank training-type mech.
Normally, Helia would find such a mech somewhat difficult to handle, let alone now, when she was fighting bare-handed.
Even though the Captain's white "reinforcement agent" had helped slightly improve her Honkai energy adaptability, this kind of improvement wasn't a qualitative change. An enemy that was already hard to defeat wouldn't suddenly become an easy victory.
After about five minutes, Helia was knocked down, and a "Defeat" notification appeared before her from the system.
"He—"
Seeing this, Jun An wanted to interrupt Helia and, while he was at it, teach her a few things. However, he was cut off by Coralie.
"Let's wait a bit."
Coralie led Jun An to a nearby seat to wait. "Her mood is a bit off right now. I can tell she's feeling really down."
Only then did Jun An notice Helia's frowning brow. This was different from the helplessness of defeat; it was more an expression of unwillingness to accept.
"Helia's probably very unwilling to accept this."
Coralie's eyebrows rose slightly, her tone somewhat sarcastic. "She probably set her sights too high, then started repeatedly failing. Still as stubborn as ever. And why isn't she using a weapon? It would be much easier if she had one."
"..."
Jun An also fell silent for a moment. The Captain roughly knew why Helia was fighting bare-handed.
After all, Helia was just that stubborn, one might even say obstinate, much like Jun An himself.
Jun An's obstinacy manifested as "no one can be sacrificed before me" – of course, that was during the Great Honkai period. As a transmigrator, Jun An had the confidence to back this up.
And Helia's obstinacy...
"She wants to deny the part of herself that has no talent, only D-rank Honkai energy resistance, and can never become like Senior Durandal no matter how much she trains."
Jun An explained faintly for Coralie, adding, "Her current goal is probably to imitate some strong person who can tear mechs apart by hand. Let's rule out Rita first."
Rita was S-rank, true, but her base stats were at the bottom among S-ranks. She managed to pull far ahead of most Schicksal Valkyries purely through combat skills, combat IQ, and tactics. But with insufficient stats, tearing mechs apart by hand was naturally impossible.
"How do you know Helia so well?" Coralie was surprised.
Those are things said in bed. Women generally can't keep secrets in bed.
Jun An thought to himself, but verbally explained, "Because, just like Big Sister Coralie, I'm also Big Sister Helia's friend."
Helia's social circle was very small, largely because she devoted most of her time to training. In class, she was the type of bookworm who buried her head in her studies, had no improper interests, and didn't cultivate her social connections.
Undoubtedly, she was the kind of girl no one would invite to go shopping.
And Coralie was likely similar due to various reasons. After all, she herself was essentially a transfer student. Not only had she not established a social circle, but she was also intentionally or unintentionally alienated because of her tail and ears.
"I-I'm not her friend!" Coralie's reaction, however, was quite vehement, her tail wagging nervously.
To this, Jun An merely thought it was tsundere behavior. After all, although the two didn't get along, in the game's plot, they quickly became close while training with Kiana on the moon.
And then should be the Mars storyline. Jun An had arrived before the subsequent plot was released, so he didn't know how the two developed later, but he guessed it was another traditional light yuri pairing from MiHoYo.
Too bad, though. Helia's first kiss wasn't yours, Coralie, it was mine, the Captain's!
Jun An thought, then glanced at the beast-eared Coralie, not exposing her tsundere act.
He looked again at Helia, fighting bare-handed on the platform, and asked, "By the way, when will Big Sister Helia be done?"
"Hmm..." Coralie feigned deep thought, remaining silent for a moment before saying, "Probably until she wins. So, it could be the next second, or tomorrow, or the day after, or even the day after that."
In Coralie's eyes, Helia was very stubborn and old-fashioned.
Her old-fashioned nature wasn't too bad; it was just that her thinking wasn't very flexible, and her actions weren't very adaptable. But her stubbornness sometimes manifested in small things – she wouldn't give up until something was accomplished, not even considering changing her approach to clear the stage.
"She could clearly defeat these enemies quickly if she just used a weapon. She's so pig-headed."
Coralie criticized, yet there wasn't a trace of impatience. Her eyes were fixed on Helia's fight, unblinking, and she hadn't picked up her game console again.
"Then let her be for now."
Jun An maintained a neutral stance on this, as he had already discussed related matters with Helia.
Regarding how to improve her strength when her Honkai energy adaptability was only D-rank, Jun An's answer was to use cheats.
Whether it was the Xuanyuan Sword Jun An gave her or helping her improve her Honkai energy resistance, these were all cheats – cheats that ordinary people couldn't enjoy.
But since Helia, having listened, still chose her previous fighting style, it meant she herself found meaning in it, and that was enough.
Moreover, in Jun An's opinion, he also strongly approved of practicing more under safe conditions. This could prevent many "why didn't I try a little harder" situations from occurring. Kiana, after being tricked by Otto, was a prime example.
And according to MiHoYo's tradition and this world's tendency to deliberately increase the difficulty for the protagonist group, Jun An had no doubt that one of them would have to die, or at least experience a fake death like Fu Hua or Walter.
And those two lacked the miraculous nature of Herrschers or Divine Keys; they didn't have the conditions for doing sit-ups and push-ups (i.e., resurrection).
"Then let her train. This is fine too."
Jun An didn't intend to disturb Helia any further. He casually used the Herrscher of Reason's authority to conjure two sports drinks, placing them where he had just been sitting. "This bottle is a thank-you gift for Big Sister Coralie. Please help me pass the other bottle to Big Sister Helia. Tell her that this is a drink that grants power upon consumption."
Jun An had added a bit of his own blood to these two drinks and infused them with the Feedback authority. Drinking them would help slightly improve Honkai energy adaptability.
Of course, the effect ratio couldn't compare to what he gave Helia directly while it was "fresh," but it counted as continuing to send her cheats. As long as it reached her, the trip wouldn't be in vain.
Having said his piece, Jun An stood up to leave. He still had things to do, so he couldn't really wait until Helia tore a mech apart by hand.
"You're leaving already?"
Coralie looked at the child getting up to leave, feeling a bit regretful. Such a good-looking little boy was too rare, and he even accurately called her "Big Sister" upon their first meeting, cuter than Xiao Qiao.
Jun An nodded and turned to leave without lingering.
Coralie, seeing no one to accompany her, looked at the two sports drinks and was suddenly puzzled. When were these drinks bought? Was she too engrossed in her game?
Besides, she and Helia weren't close. Why did she have to deliver a drink to Helia for her brother?
Coralie thought for a moment, then looked at Helia, who was still struggling against the mech projection on the platform. She saw Helia's delicate, fair skin, slightly flushed and fatigued, her combat suit soaked with sweat, clinging to her enviable figure – curvaceous, tall, especially the two mounds on her chest that were clearly detrimental to combat, swaying precariously.
Coralie looked at her, then at her own pitiable frame. She and Helia were Valkyries of the same cohort, so why was it like this?
Suppressing the urge to just walk away, Coralie waited until the moment Helia defeated the mech.
Fortunately, Helia was stronger than Coralie had imagined. It only took about twenty tries, around two hours, before she stopped.
"I won! I did it!"
Helia lay sprawled on the ground, exhilarated, looking at the victory message displayed by the training system. Her mood instantly brightened considerably.
Although it wasn't like the Captain, who, according to records, could effortlessly tear mechs apart by hand without weapons, she had at least achieved the prerequisite step: defeating a mech bare-handed.
This should have been very difficult, but ever since her Honkai energy adaptability had improved thanks to the Captain's "generous instruction," her control over Honkai energy had also grown stronger.
Just sleeping together for one night had brought such progress; Helia couldn't help but feel an even greater yearning for that white reinforcement agent.
"For you."
Suddenly, a drink bottle appeared before Helia's eyes, startling her. "Coralie?"
"Don't look at me. Your brother asked me to give this to you."
Coralie deliberately omitted the fact that she had waited there for her for two hours. After all, she could have interrupted Helia's rhythm at any time and given it to her directly.
But when Coralie saw Helia working so hard, she somehow couldn't bring herself to disturb her.
"Brother?" Helia was puzzled.
"That red-haired boy, the really cute one with a sweet mouth," Coralie explained, and asked, "He also said drinking this will give you power."
Of course, this was what the little boy had asked Coralie to tell Helia, and Coralie just took it as a child cheering on his older sister.
Grants power upon drinking, red hair... Captain!
Coralie saw Helia's expression turn to shock, then she frantically looked around, followed by regret, and finally, surprisingly, a happy smile.
Coralie watched the expressive Helia, shook the drink in her hand, and asked, "I drank one while waiting for you. It tasted pretty good. Do you want it? If not, I'll drink it."
The taste was somewhat fishy and sweet. Coralie found it a bit bizarre and decided to coax her into trying it too.
"You... drank it?" Helia's expression became apprehensive again as she took the drink, receiving Coralie's affirmative reply.
After all, Helia's knowledge of the Captain's abilities was limited. In her understanding, there was only one thing the Captain used to strengthen her. Could it be that the Captain had added his se—
After leaving the training grounds, Jun An planned to find a place to sleep first. After all, Bronya was far too clingy. Jun An had slept with Bronya for three or four hours yesterday, and after waking up early in the morning, he had to exert himself for another hour or two to comfort Bronya, whom he had bullied to tears. Now, Jun An needed to catch up on sleep.
Although sleep wasn't very significant for someone with Jun An's mental fortitude, it was already approaching noon. Coupled with his good habit of napping with Theresa, Jun An didn't plan to change his biological clock.
Since it was a holiday, just like Coralie had time to wander, if Himeko was around, Jun An wouldn't mind letting Himeko be his bolster pillow for a bit.
With such thoughts, Jun An walked back to the dormitory he shared with Himeko.
However, upon returning to the dorm, he found two pairs of shoes on the floor, both adult women's sizes. They definitely didn't belong to Theresa, Himeko, or Anna.
Jun An knew Anna's foot size; it wasn't these. Himeko's shoe rack didn't have these two pairs either; most of her money was spent on alcohol.
But the entire room was quiet. As a MANTIS, his instincts told Jun An that something was very wrong.
Jun An slowly walked towards the source of the unsettling atmosphere – his own room.
A chill ran down Jun An's spine. Could it be Susannah and Misteln?
Those were the only adult women he knew well enough who might show up. Unfortunately, he had been too preoccupied with their threesome at the time and hadn't paid attention to their shoe sizes; otherwise, he could have confirmed if it was them.
With these thoughts, Jun An quietly crept forward. The door was ajar; someone had indeed come.
Peeking inside, Jun An saw two women staring at each other. One was sitting on his newly bought bed, the other on the kotatsu he used for guests.
Their eyes seemed to be fixed on each other warily, sparks flying between them. The atmosphere was scorching, like a green peacock confronting a purple female demon.
Neither spoke, looking as if they might start fighting at any moment, until the presence of a third party intruded upon the space.
The moment Mei, with her long black hair, purple eyes, still exuding the air of a well-bred young lady from a noble family, saw the Captain, surprise flashed in her eyes, her expression freezing for a second.
Meanwhile, Vita, with her chestnut-brown hair, alluring pink eyes, and a nonchalant demeanor, sat on his bed and greeted him with a beaming smile.
"Hi, Captain. Surprise, surprise?"