"…A whole vial this time? What exactly are you trying to prove?"
"You're the one blaming me, Soltir?" Renara's lips curved into a faint, tired smile, exhaustion still etched across her features. Her chest rose and fell with heavy, uneven breaths. "Wasn't it you who drank from this pool like a sponge, absorbing every last drop you could until your ninth tail finally stabilized and you broke through as the second Nexus State within the Wing of the Nine Paths?"
"That's not the same," Soltir replied, waving her hand with a mixture of embarrassment and exasperation. "First, I always kept extra Affinity-Enhancement Elixirs from Headquarters beside me every time I approached the pool. I was never alone in that process. Second, the amount I consumed from the pool, even over hours, doesn't equal a single drop of the vial you swallowed all at once!"
