Faced with Nia's counter-question, Luo Shu simply stared at her with deathly cold eyes, not uttering a word.
In response, Nia just giggled foolishly, even adopting a coquettish tone:
"Don't look at me like that~ It was Luo Shu who demanded both no harm to Eriri and Nature Spirit power fragments. With such high standards, how can you blame me?"
Hearing that sickeningly sweet tone, Luo Shu's facial muscles twitched slightly before he sighed:
"Don't tell me this is the only method."
"It's definitely the safest one, though admittedly not very efficient."
At this point, Nia stole a glance at Luo Shu before casually adding:
"Though if we increase the frequency... or even the number of participants... we might speed things up. Could potentially finish within a few months."
Increase frequency? And participants? Luo Shu froze momentarily before instinctively realising:
"Does Sayuri also have spirit power remnants?"
"I didn't say anything~ That was entirely your own thought, Luo Shu."
Nia covered her face with Raziel, hiding her mischievous smirk.
"..."
This left Luo Shu thoroughly awkward: "Are you absolutely certain you're not messing with me?"
Sayuri and Eriri... Alright, while it's certainly a combination worthy of wild fantasies, is this really not just Nia Honjo playing mind games with me?
Faced with Luo Shu's scepticism, Nia Honjo directly shoved Raziel towards him, indignantly declaring:
"You can doubt my character, but don't doubt my information retrieval skills!"
"This is clearly recorded in Raziel! I haven't lied one bit."
As she spoke, Luo Shu instantly snatched Raziel away and began flipping through it himself.
Seeing this, Nia Honjo froze: "You actually took it?"
"Heh." Luo Shu sneered but offered no explanation, instead scanning Raziel's contents immediately.
Upon reading, he confirmed that Nia Honjo had indeed told the truth—though with slight embellishments.
"Bodily fluids under intense emotions do emit soul-level power, but potent fluids aren't limited to just that. Blood, saliva, sweat, even urine contain varying degrees of power, with blood having the highest concentration—though at the risk of damaging hematopoietic functions... Tch, how did it come to this?"
Had Nia Honjo lied? Not exactly. She'd just omitted the other associated fluids, such as sweat, saliva, and urine.
But.
Wasn't this even more perverted?
Collecting urine, saliva, and sweat? What kind of deviant would do that?
Was the inventor of this method some kind of pervert?
Luo Shu's lips twitched repeatedly before he took a deep breath and tossed Raziel back to Nia Honjo.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't throw it! This is my Angel~~"
Nia Honjo fumbled to catch Raziel, sighing in relief once secured. She then looked up at Luo Shu with a grin:
"Well? I didn't lie, did I?"
"What do you think?" Luo Shu countered with a forced smile.
Unfazed, Nia Honjo chuckled:
"Don't be mad. Isn't this kind of thing exciting?"
"Besides, I didn't say this method was the most convenient without reason."
Her eyes sparkled as she added:
"Look, Luo Shu, your calamity allows you to absorb negative effects from others and repeatedly bestow them, right?"
Luo Shu instantly grew wary:
"...What twisted idea have you come up with now?"
"Twisted? Hardly."
Nia Honjo waved her hand dismissively:
"I was just thinking—hypothetically, of course!"
"What if I took a drug that forces arousal, then you absorbed that state from me and bestowed it onto, say, Eriri or Sayuri, forcing them to peak mentally? Then you'd absorb their negative effects and bestow them again."
"Wouldn't that create a perpetual motion machine of extraction?"
"Right?"
Luo Shu's eyes widened as if he'd seen a deity, his jaw slackening involuntarily.
"Why so shocked? Did I say something wrong?" Nia Honjo touched her cheek, feigning innocence.
"Nia Honjo."
Luo Shu inhaled deeply before speaking with utmost seriousness:
"Are you actually a demon Grand Duke who crawled out of True Hell?"
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Nia Honjo asked blankly.
'Because no living person could do something as unscrupulous as you...' Luo Shu's face twitched as he replied darkly:
"Alright, let's not discuss this for now. Wasn't my original request for you to research how to make Eriri and the others stronger? How did the topic drift here?"
"Prioritising Eriri's strength enhancement comes after your own promotion, doesn't it, Luo Shu?"
Nia muttered while flipping through Raziel, wearing an expression of regret that her opinion hadn't been accepted. After turning many pages, she finally said:
"According to Raziel's intelligence, the method for Eriri's rapid power progression is actually very close to the essence of her abilities."
"Although her power originates from the blood of the Spirit of Wind, the birth of life itself isn't predetermined."
"While Nature Spirit blood still remains within her, making her essence lean towards wind, it's more aligned with the concept of nature itself."
"The ability of Transformation is essentially a manifestation of natural evolution, and the power of replication is merely one of its characteristics."
"Following this origin, we can deduce the traits of the Class most suitable for Eriri."
"Shape-shifting, ability mimicry, modulation and combination capabilities, and ultimately - transcendence!"
"And the framework encompassing these abilities, as Raziel suggests, is the Soul Summoning Art unique to the Aldegia Kingdom!"
"Summon the power of mighty beings, transform their shapes, mimic their abilities, modulate and combine composite existences to form one's unique power, ultimately achieving transcendence!"
"And the most suitable beings for Eriri to summon would be the source of her bloodline - the power of spirits."
"Summon spirits, mimic spirits, and ultimately surpass spirits!"
"The Class derived from this, I currently name it Spirit Sorcerer!"
Hearing this, while Luo Shu was amazed that Nia had actually found a method, he also noticed a blind spot.
Aldegia Kingdom? Why does that name sound so familiar?