"Kiana-chan, is this... is this right?"
After class, Lynelle, who'd finally escaped the swarm of girls, stared blankly as she asked Kiana-chan.
[Yes, yes, it is.]
"You... you're sure?"
A shiver ran down Lynelle's spine just remembering the post-class scene—it was like instantly falling into a den of over-enthusiastic fans.
If it were the genuine Elysia facing that situation, she might have handled every female student with effortless grace.
But unfortunately, while Lynelle could mimic Elysia's speech patterns, when actually being hugged and petted by a crowd of students like some adorable mascot... she folded without hesitation.
To put it simply: all offense (debatable), zero defense (undebatable), and not much HP to speak of either.
"Is this Elysia's Stigmata or some kind of succubus Stigmata?! Why is everyone acting like their affection meters are maxed out!"
[Well... just consider it a feature of Elysia's Stigmata, Host~]
Kiana-chan's voice carried a distinctly gleeful, almost teasing lilt.
Truth be told, Elysia's Manifest Stigmata did have somewhat similar effects, but not nearly as pronounced as what Lynelle was experiencing.
The real reason actually had to do with Lynelle herself.
To be precise, it was related to her rebirth.
After all, contrary to what Lynelle might assume, while she was indeed on her "second playthrough" in a physical sense, the true plan she'd devised originally wasn't just about speedrunning that second round.
It was... merging the save files.
Because of this, at St. Freya Academy, which had been her main base during the first playthrough, this natural sense of familiarity was most severe.
Lynelle hadn't had such favorable conditions back in her first run; a significant portion of her early reputation at the academy had been built on being endearing.
Of course, the current Lynelle couldn't possibly realize this.
And with Elysia conveniently providing the Origin Stigmata as cover, it was only natural for Kiana-chan to attribute the situation to the Stigmata's effects.
Yes, it was all the doing of the Origin Stigmata!
"Haah... Whatever, forget it. It's fine if you won't tell me. Having high affinity doesn't really cause any problems anyway..."
Lynelle couldn't suppress a yawn.
"Given that I have to hop between two worlds, being completely inconspicuous would actually hinder my plans... But hey, Kiana-chan, doesn't the system have some kind of auto-pilot or hosting function?"
"Otherwise, if I accidentally end up asleep for months again and wake up to find Theresa's expelled me... how am I supposed to manage then."
[Uh... well, theoretically, that function does exist. The principle involves the system performing simple offline actions based on the host's collected behavioral patterns, then compressing the events during the offline period and delivering them to the host via dreams.]
[But that function... doesn't seem to be online yet. The system needs one more update.]
"So what are the task conditions for the next system update?"
[Don't know.]
"If you don't know, then go touch grass!"
Fuming, Lynelle felt the overwhelming urge to charge into the system space and give Kiana-chan's white cat form a good, hard squeeze. But she managed to restrain herself with reason.
After all, according to Kiana-chan's past statements, she could assume a human form—she just preferred saving energy.
What if Lynelle bullied her too much, causing her to 'fly into a rage' and transform...
Then things would fast-forward straight to the 'Kiana-nee, please don't!' scenario.
And so, having mustered only a flash of anger, Lynelle promptly slipped back to her assigned staff dorm, intent on catching some sleep.
She'd crossed over yesterday morning, which meant she'd gone a full day without rest.
While the Herrscher core's boost could probably let her push through another day, considering she'd already finished all the necessary procedures yesterday, Lynelle saw no reason to linger on campus.
Better to go early and return early. If she triggered a cross-world jump during this nap, she could just come back sooner next time.
Last time she'd visited Herta, the other woman had straight up shoved a whole handful of those fake-death potions at her. Even with several jumps a day, she had enough to last a month.
As for after that month... she could only hope the auto-pilot function would be unlocked by then.
Carrying these expectations for a 'bright future', Lynelle drifted into dreamland.
--+--
"Haah, fully recharged!"
The next day, a refreshed Lynelle pushed open the door to Herta's office as usual, curious to see what her dear Herta was up to.
But before she even entered, she heard Herta and Stelle's voices.
"Hurry up and get in there for the test!"
"Herta, nooo!"
"Test? Testing what? I wanna test too!"
Lynelle immediately poked her head in. She saw Herta lounging comfortably to the side, while several Herta puppets were busy pushing Stelle into a large device.
"Lynelle!"
Stelle, who was just about to enter the Simulated Universe, immediately brightened. "Herta, Herta, can Lynelle come test with me?"
"No—" Herta drew the word out. "No one can account for Lynelle's situation. What if she gets swapped to another world the moment she enters the Simulated Universe? That would be a real mess."
"However," Herta added, "if Lynelle's willing, she could provide some external assistance for you."
"External assistance?"
Stelle's eyes sparkled, and she looked pleadingly at Lynelle. "Lynelle, Lynelle, please? Can you, can you?"
"Don't worry, of course I can."
Lynelle deftly took a seat next to Herta. "What do you need me to do?"
"Simple. Use your ability to crack this."
Herta casually pulled up a program interface. "It's a firewall I developed based on your previous corrosion ability. The higher your cracking progress on this end, the better the rewards Stelle will encounter at your designated node over there."
"Alright, I'll give it a shot."
Seeing that Stelle had already entered the Simulated Universe, Lynelle immediately focused her Herrscher core, channeling the power of Corruption into the new firewall Herta had created.
"Based on Lynelle's previous skill proficiency, by the time Stelle reaches that node, the cracking progress should be around 50%..."
Herta took a calm sip of coffee nearby. The beans were a gift from Miss Himeko, the Astral Express's navigator. If brewed properly, the flavor was quite excellent.
But the problem was, Miss Himeko herself, when making coffee, had a tendency to incorporate some rather... peculiar ideas, tirelessly exploring the 'path of coffee'.
"No, considering Lynelle's potential, 70% is probably more realistic. After all, it's an ability trait that even shocked Screwllum. Exceeding normal levels is perfectly understan—"
"Herta, Herta, this firewall's done. What's next?"
"Pfft— cough cough cough..."
Herta barely avoided choking on her coffee, whipping her head around to stare at Lynelle in astonishment.
"Y-you've improved your ability again?"
"Improved? Mmm... not really."
Lynelle shook her head. "It's just that I discovered in the other world—as long as I have Elysia's Stigmata active, all my abilities get a small, across-the-board boost."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, 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.