Thanks to the efforts of Lynelle and the others, the smoke and chaos brought by Otto were quickly smoothed over through everyone's combined efforts.
Just three days after the Herrscher of Ice's descent, the basic cleanup operations were fully completed.
And under Lynelle's "meticulous care," Ana—through a rather blush-inducing, heart-racing sealing process—successfully sealed away a portion of her core's authority.
Don't ask why it was blush-inducing and heart-racing.
After all, while Lynelle often used her power of Corruption to slip in and out of the bodies of Mei, Kiana, and Seele, that was built on the foundation of her being very familiar with them in the first place.
But with Ana, whom she hadn't interacted with much before, such an act was basically no different from fully "exposing one's entire self."
After all, having Lynelle's Corruption energy circulate through every part of her body—forget sensitive details like measurements or, well, "layout"—Lynelle could even tell exactly how full Ana was from breakfast that morning.
So, at the very beginning of the "treatment," even with the affinity boost from Lynelle's Origin powers, Ana's core proved extremely difficult to breach.
To help Ana relax, Lynelle had no choice but to share some gossipy, off-the-record stories that girls her age tended to find most interesting.
Only then did this single-minded little airhead get sufficiently distracted, allowing Lynelle to successfully break through the core's defenses.
As for what kind of stories had Ana so enthralled… well, it was probably because the various past exploits of Madame Green Lily were rather captivating.
Even though, as a Valkyrie personally promoted by the Overseer, listening to such tales was somewhat improper… but within a minute of Lynelle starting, Ana, who had initially been a bit resistant, was soon listening with a critically engaged ear.
And with Ana's core successfully sealed by Lynelle, the team's mission in Nagazora City could basically be considered wrapped up.
This meant that, before Lixue finished her own tasks and came to Nagazora to regroup, Lynelle and the others were granted a rare few days of vacation.
As for why Lixue, who originally said she'd arrive in six hours, suddenly needed six days instead… it was probably because the kind-hearted Kiana secretly tipped Lixue off: once she reached Nagazora, it would mean the mission's end, and Seele would likely have to head back to World Serpent soon.
So, to allow Bronya and her dearly missed little sister Seele a bit more quality time together, Lixue resolutely made a decision—to tough it out herself and spend a few more days with her Master.
After all, the experience of squeezing in together with Fu Hua these past days… well, only Lixue herself could truly know its flavor.
Hmm, she nearly got sweetened to death by it.
Of course, Lynelle could more or less guess these little calculations in Lixue's heart.
I mean, even Kiana could tell that after the matters with Fu Hua and Little Senti were settled, Lixue would probably find it hard to experience that peculiar sensation of being "entered" by Fu Hua again.
So, everyone tacitly agreed not to expose each other, granting one another a few extra days off.
However, this led to another question: In Nagazora at that moment, Lynelle was sticking close with Kiana at "negative distance," Bronya was sticking zero-distance close with Seele… so what was the remaining girl, Mei, up to?
The answer was… she was grinding in the Elysian Realm, sticking close with Elysia—though in a combat sort of way.
As mentioned earlier, under normal circumstances, Mei entering the Elysian Realm required waiting for the weekly Stigmata to recharge automatically.
But with Lynelle right by Mei's side, this was clearly not a normal situation.
Through the method of "mana transfer," Lynelle could quickly recharge the energy in Mei's core, turning her Elysian Realm visits from a weekly routine into a daily one.
For Mei, who was eager to improve her own strength, this was undoubtedly a tempting option.
After all, Kiana's abilities were being taught by Sirin (with teaching materials kindly sponsored by Herta) and Cecilia, Bronya was getting one-on-one tutoring from Welt… only Mei…
She couldn't exactly go learn about alternating current from Tesla, could she?
This was also why Lynelle specifically chose to leave a Stigmata on Mei.
Compared to the other two, Mei clearly lacked avenues for self-improvement, so having her visit the Elysian Realm for some exchange and learning was the best choice.
Thus, to rapidly boost her strength and enter the Realm more often, Mei—with great bashfulness—agreed to the "mana transfer" setup with Lynelle.
Actually, at first, seeing Mei so shy, Lynelle considered using blood for the bodily fluid exchange activity, but Mei firmly opposed this.
She declared with confidence that a mere kiss was nothing compared to the sensation of having her horns touched, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Then, Mei ended up with Lynelle touching her horns while conducting the bodily fluid exchange, and a few minutes later, she was so physically weakened and limp that she had to postpone entering the Elysian Realm for half an hour.
By the way, perhaps because she'd been sticking a bit too close with Mei lately, Kiana had been oddly mentioning the past couple days that Lynelle smelled like Mei—though she hadn't figured out why.
Not that it would be a big deal if she did.
On the other side, Mei, who had paid a "significant price" to enter the Elysian Realm daily, naturally did not let her efforts go to waste.
In just a few days, she passed the Realm's basic trials and could hold her own in fights against an Elysia who was obviously holding back.
And so, on the fifth day of the Elysian Realm trials—the day before Lixue's arrival in Nagazora—Elysia cheerfully announced some good news to Mei.
"Huh? Taking me to a new area tomorrow?"
Mei, having just finished a battle, looked somewhat puzzled. "Just like that… is it really okay?"
"Of course~ In my area here, your exploration progress has already reached 100%!"
"Or perhaps… you wish to delve further into a cute girl's heart? My, Mei, such bold ideas you have~"
"Uh…" Mei, long accustomed to Elysia's way of speaking, expressionlessly ignored the teasing and got to the point. "So, who's the next Flame-Chaser?"
"It's the one mentioned to you earlier, the one you most wanted to meet…" Elysia drew out her words. "Lynelle's mother, and also the one Lynelle likes second best, Dr. Mobius~"
"After all, I just introduced her to you recently. Lynelle will be leaving the day after tomorrow, and your Elysian Realm trials will go back to once a week."
"If you didn't get to meet Mobius before parting, wouldn't you be sad, Mei? So, this is what you call… tying up loose ends~"
"Putting aside whether I'd be sad or not…" Mei asked curiously. "Why 'second best'? Then who's the first?"
"Mhm~ You'll find out when the time comes, okay?"
"Alright then…" Mei shook her head helplessly. "But according to the customs where I'm from, when visiting the elder of a friend, one should bring a gift. I tried before though—I don't seem to be able to bring things from the outside into the Elysian Realm…"
"That's easy. I've already prepared it for you~"
Elysia snapped her fingers, and an exquisitely wrapped, very Lynelle-esque pink gift box appeared in her hands.
"Just give this to Mobius, and she'll definitely be very happy~"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.