"Nope!"
Early the next morning—or to be precise, closer to noon—Lynelle groggily opened her eyes, feeling utterly miserable.
As she became aware of the soreness all over her body, the numerous strange damp patches on her skin, and the… well, the fact that she could barely close her…anyway, Lynelle buried her face in her hands.
It was painfully clear she had miscalculated yet again.
Poor Lynelle had only known that Kiana and Sirin were completely inexperienced.
Little did she expect that those two troublemakers had secretly been studying plenty of "educational materials."
To make matters worse, the two of them could take turns controlling the same body, tag-teaming her in a relentless battle of attrition—a disastrous scenario for someone like Lynelle, whose stamina was far from impressive.
In the end, after barely holding out for an hour, Lynelle had completely run out of steam.
She could only lie there, limp and helpless, as the two excited girls toyed with her all night long, leaving her to sleep straight through till now.
"Dammit… When is my Abundance power going to kick in!"
[Ahem, not to burst your bubble, Lynelle, but I feel obliged to point out—even if you could bring the Abundance blessing here, a bottom is still a bottom, you know?]
The voice of Customer Service Kiana-chan chirped cheerfully in Lynelle's mind.
[Heck, the Abundance blessing might even make you more sensitive… After all, a newly formed body tends to react more intensely to external stimuli, right?]
"Damn you, Kiana-chan, I'm gonna pound you!"
[You'll have to get through the past version of me first~]
After teasing Lynelle for a bit, a refreshed and cheerful Kiana-chan finally got down to business.
[Actually, the reason I reached out so suddenly is to give you a heads-up: over in the Star Rail world, it seems Ruan Mei has made some kind of breakthrough.]
[Once you head back this time, you'll probably get to experience your new body's capabilities firsthand.]
"For real?"
Suddenly, Lynelle felt the weakness in her legs vanish, the soreness in her waist disappear—as if she could take on a hundred Kianas in one go.
[Yes, really. I'm not entirely sure why, but it probably has something to do with a certain mysterious blonde guy with a coffin… Oh, and here's something you might find interesting: the Astral Express crew seems to have noticed him too.]
"That eventful? I can't wait any longer!"
Seeing how Lynelle seemed ready to self-destruct on the spot just to warp back to the Star Rail universe immediately, Customer Service Kiana-chan let out a helpless sigh.
[But there's no need to rush like that… Besides, you still have unfinished business here. Did last night's… activities get so intense that you forgot what day it is today?]
The radiant energy around Lynelle instantly faded into radioactive decay.
"Wh-what is it…?"
[Dummy, didn't Himeko tell you yesterday? Because the Schicksal delegation arrived early, the Valkyrie exams have been moved up… Where did you think Kiana and the others ran off to?]
"Yikes… I really did forget about that."
Lynelle's expression suddenly turned awkward: "Wait, then… Kiana didn't overexert herself last night and end up underperforming, did she?"
[Judging by how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed she looked when she got up this morning, I'd say you only had a positive effect on her.]
Kiana-chan's tone carried a hint of curiosity.
[But, how come? Do you actually have some kind of weird mana-replenishing talent or something?]
"You're crossing genres here, hey!"
[Anyway, just to be safe, you'd better get over there quickly. If I remember right, back when we took our exams, there was a little incident—I think Rita personally stepped in to spar with me? If you hurry, you might even catch that scene.]
--+--
Meanwhile, at St. Freya Academy, Valkyrie Exam venue.
"Lady Theresa, the students you've taught are truly brimming with talent."
Theresa was sitting stiffly upright in the spectator stands. On either side of her sat two beautiful young women wearing nearly identical maid outfits. The one who had just spoken was seated to Theresa's left, with chestnut-brown hair strands draped over her left eye.
"It makes me… unable to resist the urge to exchange a few pointers with them."
"Little Rita, since when did you adopt Bianka's temperament?" Ragna tilted her head, unable to resist teasing. "You're not usually this eager for a fight, you know?"
"It's just a passing whim. But you're right, Instructor Ragna."
Rita replied with a slightly troubled expression. "Lady Theresa's students are so strong that even I can't be absolutely confident of winning. If I succeed, all is well, but if I lose… I'm afraid I'd embarrass the headquarters."
"So… how about this, Instructor Ragna: why don't you send one of your students to give these girls some extra training?"
"Send one of my students? Oh… so you're curious about Wendy's abilities too, little Rita."
With that, Ragna understood completely.
After all, among the entourage from the Oceania branch, Wendy was the only one who could truly be considered her personally trained student.
"However, that child Wendy's capabilities are a bit… specialized. If we were in Shenzhou, even all of us here combined probably wouldn't be enough to handle her. But in close combat… she'd be fairly evenly matched with these students."
"All of us combined wouldn't be enough? Is Miss Wendy really that strong?"
Rita lightly covered her mouth.
"Yeah, it's not like I haven't sparred with her back in Oceania."
Ragna coughed awkwardly. "Based on our current track record, I'd say it's about a ninety-ten split between us."
"If we're up close, it's ninety for me, ten for Wendy; if the distance exceeds ten kilometers, Wendy gets one magazine, and I become nine pieces of Ragna."
"As expected of Instructor Ragna."
Rita skimmed through the student roster Theresa handed her. "Then… let's have this student named Kiana Kaslana, along with her two companions, engage in a mock battle with Miss Wendy."
"However, to avoid any hard feelings, it's best to set a time limit… How about three minutes?"
"That timing is just about right…"
Theresa murmured thoughtfully.
Although headquarters might indeed be specifically testing Kiana, a three-minute match probably wouldn't reveal too much… Besides, if she tried to evade or refuse, it would only look more suspicious.
Thinking this, Theresa decisively opened her comms.
"Kiana, headquarters has arranged an impromptu additional test for you. Rest up for a moment with Mei and Bronya, then report to Training Ground One immediately."
--+--
"What? Rita set up an extra training session for you with Kiana and the others?"
Before she could even reach the training ground, Lynelle received a call from Wendy.
"Yeah. Didn't you say I should inform you anytime Rita makes a move while we're at St. Freya?"
Wendy's voice chuckled from the other end. "So, what should I do now?"
"Just go with the flow. No need to hold back—fight as you normally would. If Rita wants to probe Kiana's condition, let her."
Lynelle thought for a moment, then added:
"After all… Rita has no mental resistance, doesn't she?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 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.