The issue of Uniqueness was quite important, and based on Ren's judgment, that clay slime's personality was definitely on the lively side, most likely a mischief expert.
If it was that lively, he would just let it out for some fresh air often in the future.
Ren made up his mind.
Then he turned his gaze to Akemi. The younger sister's matter was resolved, so what about the older sister?
Noticing Ren's gaze, Akemi smiled sheepishly, then took out a bottle of potion.
"I'll have to trouble god for a bit too. This time, I also obtained the potion for advancement."
Akemi didn't gain much, but for her, this gain truly and substantially enhanced her current abilities.
Sequence 8 Listener, compared to Sequence 9 Secrets Suppliant, had a significant increase in spirituality, and the number of ritual spells that could be used also increased considerably.
Of course, the probability of a Listener going mad also increased significantly compared to a Secrets Suppliant.
It was just that there were no high-level and completely insane True Gods in this world. Otherwise, Akemi would have had to consider how to digest the potion and advance faster before her promotion.
"Hmm, that's a good thing. Listener has a significant increase in ability compared to Secrets Suppliant."
Listener was much stronger compared to Secrets Suppliant.
Some ritual spells also started to become offensive, and one could even obtain magical abilities by listening to the whispers of higher existences.
It was just that this ability wasn't very applicable in this world.
Ren really couldn't imagine when Akemi would need to listen to whispers to gain abilities. If it came to that, just make a phone call—it was much more convenient than listening to whispers.
"Are you mentally prepared?"
"I am."
When she touched the Sequence 8 potion, Akemi had already prepared herself mentally.
"Hmm, then let's begin."
"Calm your mind. Drink the potion only after your spirituality is stable. Just like the first time, you need to feel the reaction of drinking the potion yourself. I guarantee you won't experience corruption or madness."
"Okay."
Akemi slowly regulated her breathing. After feeling her spirituality sufficiently stable, she picked up the potion bottle, pulled out the cork, and drank it in one gulp.
The moment the potion entered her throat, everything in her sight twisted.
"Hoo..."
Akemi already had one experience, so she naturally wasn't as nervous this time.
In a completely chaotic world, she needed to stabilize her spirituality again and bring her consciousness back to normal. This was what she had to do.
The current situation was a normal reaction after drinking the potion.
She tried hard to construct an image in her mind, then used her spirituality to stabilize it repeatedly, and the distorted parts in her vision gradually began to recover.
However, during this process, Akemi clearly felt herself growing increasingly tired, and her mental state worsening.
But this was not an unbearable situation.
In fact, as her spirituality was consumed and her mental state gradually deteriorated, her focus became even more concentrated, and images of the god kept flashing through her mind.
With each breath, the images in her mind became clearer, and the excessively consumed energy and spirituality slowly began to stop.
Slowly, Akemi finally allowed her eyes to refocus, and the first thing she saw was the god standing before her.
"Oh, my god…"
Just as Akemi was about to get up, a wave of dizziness made her lose her balance.
A pair of hands suddenly reached out, steadying the unbalanced Akemi.
"You've worked hard. You've successfully advanced to Sequence 8 Listener."
The gentle voice in her ear brought an inexplicable sense of security, stabilizing her condition. She only managed to stand up again with the help of the god.
However, Akemi still felt the world spinning.
She knew this wasn't an error in her consciousness, but rather that the advancement process had consumed too much energy, leaving her feeling very drowsy and her spirituality correspondingly weak.
Ren, who was supporting Akemi, could see the languid state of her spiritual body.
Advancement really does require a more stable state. Next time others advance, it's best to do so when their mental state is full.
However, without the stimulation of corruption and madness, advancement is much easier than under normal circumstances.
"Akemi, please go back to your room and rest for a while."
"Don't talk about anything else today. Your advancement speed was too fast, and your mental state isn't particularly stable, which is why your current condition is so terrible."
In that case, it was a good thing that Miwako didn't get the Sequence 8 Constable potion. She also needed some time to stabilize her condition.
But seeing Akemi wobbling, unable to even stand steadily, he shook his head slightly, took a step forward, and directly picked her up.
"After this, advancement still needs to consider time and the body's adaptive state."
Akemi, who was suddenly picked up, was clearly a bit dazed.
By the time her brain quickly registered what was happening, she saw that the god had already carried her back to the room she shared with Shiho.
She then saw Ren place her on the bed in the room.
As her mind processed everything, she saw that Ren had already walked to the door and was talking to her sister.
She subconsciously pricked up her ears to listen.
"Shiho, your sister needs time to recover her state now. The rest is up to you."
After the instruction, Akemi saw Ren leave the room, leaving only her sister still inside.
It took a while for Akemi to recover from her groggy state.
And when her mind registered, she saw her sister lying by the bed, looking as if she was watching a good show.
"Oh dear~ Is big sister's brain feeling hazy?"
Her voice was full of teasing, and she clearly saw her sister's lips, which she could barely keep from curving into a smile.
A strange sense of shame welled up in Akemi's heart.
"When the god picked you up, did your brain lose the ability to think?"
Indeed.
When she was picked up just now, perhaps because she had just finished advancing, her mind was still blank, and all her thinking abilities had stopped.
Akemi admitted that her thinking ability was usually not as good as her sister's, but this temporary shutdown was a first.
"Is it because of the god?"
It must be.
Akemi almost blurted it out, but seeing her sister's teasing smile on her face, she instantly pulled the blanket over her head.
"I don't know, I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep now."
Unsure how to answer, she simply chose not to answer.
Looking at her sister acting like an ostrich, Shiho shook her head slightly. She knew her sister hadn't given a direct answer.
The weight of gratitude was great, but the charm of Ren was not small either.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)