After completing the battle to kill the Third Sequence Chimera Amalgam, Su Yuzu obtained two rewards in total.
One was the reward for saving Kujou Katora, the holy relic—[Godmother's Laurel].
The other was the compensation obtained after killing the Third Sequence Chimera Amalgam and experiencing an experience overflow: [Primary Combat Records].
Among them, the holy relic [Godmother's Laurel] was a crown woven from pure white, soft flowering branches.
And the icon's background... was the illusory image of a girl with her eyes closed, hands clasped in prayer before her chest.
Su Yuzu always felt that the girl looked somewhat familiar.
Just like... the girl in the movie 「The Flowers of Evil」 that Kujou Katora watched, the one who wore a wedding dress for the 「Seat of Evil」.
Associating it with the origin of those movie tickets, Su Yuzu suddenly had a bold idea in her heart.
Is it possible... that it wasn't actually a movie, but a documentary?
Whether in the game or reality, holy relics are extremely precious and unique existences.
They are the crystallization of lingering thoughts left behind by Sixth Sequence... or even Seventh Sequence and above Espers or Aberrants upon their death.
Each holy relic possesses a one-of-a-kind effect.
Just like the holy relic Su Yuzu obtained yesterday—[Godmother's Laurel].
In the game, the effect of [Godmother's Laurel] is once per battle: forcibly control all enemies for three seconds.
"She said—"
"Kneel."
Besides that, [Godmother's Laurel] also has a considerably long additional cooldown time.
Undoubtedly.
Every holy relic possesses the power to reverse the outcome.
And among the many holy relics, [Godmother's Laurel] is one of the standout ones.
Su Yuzu even began to doubt her life a little. Someone like her, who wasn't a gacha king...
Cough cough cough, someone like her, who was a gacha king.
It was only natural to obtain such a powerful holy relic in the early game.
However, right now—
Su Yuzu was more concerned about the other reward.
「Primary Combat Records」.
It differed by just one word from the 「Basic Combat Records」 she had stockpiled before.
Clearly, it was higher-grade 'dog food'.
Based on Su Yuzu's experience in the game, and... the practical summary after multiple instances of 「Operator Development」 on girls in reality.
「Basic Combat Records」 were only suitable for apprentice-level Espers who had yet to break through the First Sequence.
Using 「Basic Combat Records」 on a Second Sequence Esper like Ms. Unohana Chiyo would yield negligible improvement.
A single 「Basic Combat Records」 provided only 4% experience. Ms. Unohana Chiyo would need to enjoy it over twenty times to advance from Level 22 to Level 23.
As for... Third Sequence Espers like Kujou Katora or Soga Yura.
「Basic Combat Records」 might truly only have the value of Su Yuzu using them to tease the girls.
By that logic... 「Primary Combat Records」 should be suitable for First Sequence Espers.
In other words, the 「Combat Records」 needed after Su Yuzu's breakthrough.
So... what if she forcibly used 「Primary Combat Records」 on the little rabbit, who was still an apprentice?
Holding Saotome Yukina's shoulders, looking at the girl in her arms who was already so shy she seemed about to melt.
Su Yuzu swiped open the 「Operator Development」 interface.
The little rabbit Q-version figure leaning in her chibi's arms... was constantly bubbling with pink bubbles.
Her expression was a complete (´口`) as if she was about to ascend.
Su Yuzu skillfully tapped [Develop], gently dragging that black-edged, dark gold card onto it.
Then she tapped Confirm.
There was no warning prompt box, indicating that even an apprentice-level little rabbit could fully use 「Primary Combat Records」.
However... just as Su Yuzu was still checking and pondering.
She suddenly felt the little rabbit's small hands, which had been weakly supporting her shoulders, curl up all at once.
Su Yuzu looked down at Saotome Yukina in her arms.
And caught sight of... the little rabbit's sky-blue ahoge, which had been swaying on her forehead as if it had a mind of its own, suddenly standing straight up like a sheathed sword. But it couldn't hold for two seconds before it completely wilted, returning to the girl's soft hair tips.
The pitiful little rabbit's shoulders trembled lightly, spasming.
She looked utterly miserable, as if she couldn't even lift her head to look up at Su Yuzu.
Her quivering lips couldn't hold back; Su Yuzu even saw the girl's playful tongue tip peeking out.
The 「Blessing」 from Lady Fate, dozens of times more powerful than before... had joyfully descended.
[Ding—]
[Operator Development: Saotome Yukina successful.]
[Saotome Yukina Combat Experience increased.]
[Level 6 - Hydrokinetic → Level 7 - Hydrokinetic Experience: 57%.]
Su Yuzu had spent over half a month rigorously training and developing the little rabbit to raise her from Level 2 - Hydrokinetic to Level 6.
And in this brief instant.
She had directly gained one and a half tubes of experience.
At the same time...
[Develop: Saotome Yukina Favorability +1.]
[Develop: Saotome Yukina Favorability +1.]
[...]
[Favorability Increase Reward Obtained: Four-Leaf Clover Earrings.]
[Compensation for development materials consumed acquired.]
[「Primary Combat Records」 *2.]
[Ding—]
[Your Operator: Saotome Yukina, 「Talent: Dragon King」 has been upgraded.]
[...]
In the Operator Development interface, the little rabbit's Q-version figure directly collapsed there.
(×﹏×)
「----The girl is resting----」
The girl's talent 「Dragon King」 had even been upgraded.
The current 「Dragon King」 could now bring Saotome Yukina the 「Lucky」 attribute.
A floral fragrance slowly permeated the air.
Su Yuzu silently got up and tucked the blanket over Saotome Yukina.
The air in the hospital room suddenly became very quiet.
The little rabbit, who had finally slowly regained her senses bit by bit, had misty aqua-blue eyes that truly looked on the verge of tears, utterly miserable.
A face full of 'life is meaningless'.
"Guh—"
"Just kill me!"
"There's nothing left in this world worth lingering for."
In the end... she caught a whiff of... the familiar, pleasant citrus fruit fragrance in the blanket that still seemed to carry senpai's body warmth.
"But there's still someone worth lingering for."
She wanted to die.
But suddenly... she didn't want to anymore.
The little rabbit's entire small head slowly 'sank' into the blanket, until only a strand of sky-blue ahoge remained trembling unsteadily in the air.
Even now... the little rabbit's ahoge was still wilted by eight degrees.
Su Yuzu watched as Saotome Yukina's ahoge finally perked up after a while, and let out a long sigh of relief.
This was too terrifying.
The ahoge attribute... was a seal in some sense.
The instant Su Yuzu saw the little rabbit's ahoge disappear.
She truly... suddenly felt a bit afraid.
However... looking at the series of prompts in the 「Operator Log」.
「Primary Combat Records」 lived up to being Combat Records for First Sequence Espers.
Just one card had successfully boosted the little rabbit by one and a half levels of experience.
It even unlocked the higher-grade 「Dragon King」 talent.
This way... Su Yuzu no longer had to worry about the girls' levels falling too far behind in the future.
The only issue was... the more powerful the 「Blessing」, the greater the 'cost' seemed to be.
Su Yuzu straightened the little rabbit's blanket, then got up, draped her coat, and looked toward Kujou Katora and the others.
"How about..."
"...we go for a walk outside?"
The rustling footsteps all vanished, accompanied by the hospital room door slamming shut.
"Woo..."
The sky-blue ahoge shook as the little rabbit clutched the blanket tightly, finally daring to let out a soft, sobbing.
Tears soaked through the blanket.
________________________________________
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