After saying everything she needed to, Namia left us alone. Threya and her pug, too, left for somewhere, moving away from our group. Now that we’re left alone, I turn around, facing the girls, and smile.
“Alright, starting now, we’ll be doing evolution for everyone!”
As soon as I declared this, everyone’s faces beamed with a mix of expectation and anxiety. After all, there are chances that they fail to evolve further, though it’s a pretty rare occurrence.
“Don’t worry, I’m here to help you in case you have troubles. And we’ll be doing evolution one at a time!”
If they evolve at the same time, even though more than half of them are below the 5th stage, I could guess that it’ll still lead to an Energy Overload for me. We have the entire day to finish evolution, after all.
“First, let’s start with the highest-ranking one, Igni!”
“Yes, My Lord!”
Igni took a step forward without any hesitation.
Right now, she was at the 7th stage, which was two stages above the ones behind her. However, since she was the most powerful, she was also the biggest consumer of the essence crystals we gained from hunting the demons.
“Take this.”
I muttered before passing three pieces of 9th-stage essence crystals to her, each one as large as my entire arm. From my estimates, it should be enough to bring her over the edge, attaining evolution and reaching the 8th stage.
Igni took the crystals with trepidation, staring at them with a serious gaze. One after another, she used her own energy to “melt” the crystals and absorb their energy.
“…”
However, as usual, Igni’s energy control was lopsided. From what I could see, only about a tenth of the total energy in the crystals was absorbed inside her, while the rest ended up floating around her, drifting in space.
Not wanting to waste such thick amounts of energy, I raised my finger and emulated the “energy pulling” function of the Flames of Regression. As soon as I did, like a whirlpool, the energy that was drifting around her without anywhere to go started circulating above my index finger.
Soon, Igni used up all three essence crystals, but her energy level was still far from reaching the saturation point. That was pretty obvious, though, since most of the energy ended up being gathered around my raised finger. The girls, although unable to see it, were able to feel the unfathomable level of energy that I was wielding.
“Igni, I’ll be using this energy and circulating it inside you. Do your best and claim it for yourself!”
Igni was a little disheartened after seeing that her efficiency in absorbing the essence crystals dropped even more than before. However, as soon as she heard my words, a stiff smile appeared on her face as she sat down on the ground as is, cross-legged.
“A-Alright! I’m ready, My Lord!”
I watched as she slowly circulated the newly extracted energy inside her. Slowly, I matched her pace and “poured” my gathered energy into her.
“Ugh!”
A painful expression quickly covered her face as her body trembled. The energy I passed to her started mingling with her latent energy and activated, moving chaotically across her energy pathways, causing the pain she was feeling.
“Endure it.”
That was all I could say. I could stop it if Igni was at her limit, but her eyes and the information from our link were telling me to continue. Respecting her resolve, I only reduced the rate at which I was letting energy enter her system to lessen the pain, even by a small margin.
The situation continued for a while. It had been going on for an hour already, and Igni had absorbed all of the energy I had gathered earlier. Now, she only needs to make it her own and reach the tipping point of evolution.
“…! It’s here!”
Finally, Igni’s body started releasing a bright light. Unlike normal evolution, where the light only lasts for an instant, this time it lasted for a long while. Slowly, the light was “eaten” by raging flames, increasing the temperature around us by a few degrees instantly.
A minute or two later, her evolution finally ended. Igni stood up and scanned her body, but other than her tail completely vanishing, nothing else changed. She still had her horns, the halo-like thing floating on top of her head, and her wings.
Her energy level increased by twofold right after evolution. The upper limit increased even further beyond that, probably dozens of times more than before.
Just as I was examining her, the feedback started reaching me. However, since I limited the energy she had before evolution, I didn’t receive much from the feedback. There was not even a single new skill, so it ended pretty quickly. ．
“Congrats, Igni, for reaching the 8th stage.”
I praised her lightly, offering a hand to pull her up. Now, she was the Duchess of Raging Flames, just a step away from attaining the 9th stage.
“Thank you, My Lord. But I definitely couldn’t do it without your help.”
She smiled lightly, fatigue still apparent on her face. As soon as she stood up, her legs fumbled and fell forward, landing against my chest. I wasn’t sure if that was an accident or intentional, but due to bumping into her, I realized that there was one more place that changed on her.
Although slightly reluctant, Igni pushed herself away, her face turning a little redder from blushing. After telling her to move to one side and stabilize her energy, I turned to Ember next.
“Ember, next is your turn.”
Among all the girls, Ember had the highest upper limit in terms of energy. I guess it’s related to her having the ability to create clones, but for now, I passed her two 9th-stage essence crystals for usage.
Ember took it from me and closed her eyes, standing still. Soon, the two crystals on each hand started to melt into her body. The energy merged with her own as if it were the most natural thing to occur.
There were no violent reactions, nor were there any disruptions to the flow. It was an excellent display of her transcendent energy control techniques, enough to make me clap at her performance.
A few seconds later, the energy had already molded into her own color, but I noticed that she was still a bit short of reaching the saturation point. I passed one 6th-stage essence crystal in addition, and Ember absorbed it before I could even say anything.
As soon as she did, a bright light covered her body for a moment. It faded soon enough, revealing her body, which literally remained unchanged. I guess her physical form was already in its optimal state.
The feedback to me started without any delay, but similar to Igni’s, there wasn’t much improvement.
“Hmm?”
However, I noticed that my mental capacity suddenly had enough space for one more tamed beast. Is it due to Ember’s evolution, or was it just a coincidence? Either way, now I can finally fulfill my promise to Minerva.
“Hekate, come here.”
I called the only one present who wasn’t my tamed monster. Hekate straightened her body in surprise before breathing out. She walked forward until right before me, her eyes displaying a burning resolve.
“I will now be forming a contract with you. Are you fine with it?”
“Y-Yes, Sir Will!”
Her voice trembled lightly, but I can’t guess the emotions behind it. Was it out of excitement, fear, or maybe sadness? Either way, I quickly formed the contract inside my head and sent it to her without much modification.
A few seconds later, her body released a bright flash of light, a sign of a successful contract. I smiled lightly before the feedback started. Other than the minuscule increase in my energy level, I was more surprised to see her myriad of skills available. This girl’s completely dedicated to mastering support skills like buffs and debuffs!
I wasn’t sure how long I was out of sorts, but when I returned to my senses, Hekate was staring at my face with a wry smile.
“Please take care of me and Minerva, just as you do with the others, Maestro.”
“Maestro?”
The term made me tilt my head a little. From the little bits of her memory that were passed to me, the word was tied to her previous master too. It was the nickname she used to address him.
‘Does this mean she’s willing to accept me fully as her master?’
I felt slightly conflicted about what to feel regarding her resolve. I turned to Minerva, but she was just smiling lightly, as if feeling touched to see Hekate trying to take a step forward and move on from their previous master’s death.
“Alright. Don’t worry, as now that you’re a part of the team, we’ll never let you feel alone.”
I nodded my head, smiling at her. I extended my hand, patting her head lightly between her two antennas. Her hair feels soft, just as its appearance suggests.
Now that she’s contracted with me, she, too, can now get the benefits whenever I gain more power. After letting her return to the group, I turned to the next one in line, Fang.