Irene struggled to lift her heavy eyelids. Her field of vision was filled with a blurry, swaying white ceiling, and the faint scent of disinfectant lingered at the tip of her nose.
Hmm, a common phenomenon after waking up from a coma. Wait, is that really a ceiling? It seemed she had been sent to the infirmary by the other Valkyries who were doing morning exercises.
"Urgh..." She tried to make a sound to tell the doctor here that she had woken up, but her throat only squeezed out a few broken gasps.
"You're awake." A calm, rippleless voice sounded from the bedside, carrying a reassuring steadiness. Irene turned her head with some difficulty and met a pair of azure blue eyes.
Fu Hua was sitting on a chair by the bed. Seeing Irene wake up, she stood, helped Irene sit up, and adjusted the bed's posture to make Irene more comfortable.
"This is the infirmary. You overexerted yourself during morning training and fainted." Fu Hua's voice had no fluctuations. She handed a prepared cup of water with a straw to Irene's cracked lips. "Drink slowly, don't rush."
The cool water soothed her burning throat. Irene greedily sucked a few mouthfuls, finally feeling a bit more alive.
[ Sorry, it's all my fault. ] Kallen's voice echoed in Irene's mind. [ I still overlooked the issue of physical constitution. It seems the training method needs to be weakened further. ]
Irene responded to Kallen in her consciousness: [ It's fine. Didn't you already apologize once? Besides, I feel like it was actually effective. ]
Irene tentatively raised her hand, sensing the Honkai energy flowing within her body. She could clearly feel that her body was gradually adapting to the Honkai energy inside her.
Just as Irene's system panel had hinted, humans have two most important attributes regarding Honkai energy: Adaptability and Resistance.
The latter is very important and is the most basic. After all, the level of this value determines how strong of a Honkai energy environment a person can survive in.
It is the crucial data that decides how long a person can survive on the Honkai battlefield or how much Honkai energy they can withstand.
So what about the former? For a Valkyrie, the importance of the former is not a bit less than the latter, because this represents how much benefit a person can derive from Honkai energy.
The stronger a person's Honkai Adaptability, provided they have sufficient Resistance, the more benefits they can obtain from Honkai energy. The most obvious benefit is the enhancement of physical constitution.
This is why Valkyries can contend with Honkai Beasts or Titans. One must know that in the past, apart from Artificial Stigmata, Valkyries did not have the assistance of Valkyrie armor.
Of course, this requires Honkai Resistance as support. Otherwise, before the Honkai energy can strengthen your body, you would first turn into a pile of ash or a Deadwalker.
And what is Irene's Honkai Adaptability like? It is 'Excellent.' One must remember that as a MANTIS, Pardo's Honkai Adaptability was also Excellent.
A MANTIS fuses with the genes of a Honkai Beast. As long as they can adapt to or awaken the Honkai genes, a MANTIS's Honkai Adaptability is almost second only to the Herrschers, who are the Chosen of the Honkai, and the Honkai Beasts, who are Honkai creations themselves.
And this was Irene's starting point. Of course, this wasn't necessarily a good thing. Without sufficient Honkai Resistance as support, the outcome would be like when Irene first arrived in Nagazora City. If not for the System, Irene would have died on the spot.
But now, after undergoing some enhancement and bringing her Honkai Resistance to 'Good,' Irene finally had the right to enjoy the benefits of her extremely strong Honkai Adaptability.
Of course. After all, she had only just begun. Irene's physical constitution was still at the level of an ordinary person. Using the Kaslana Family's training method, even a weakened version, still drilled her miserably.
In reality, Irene finished the water and gained a little strength to speak: "Th... thank you, Classmate Fu Hua. How... how long was I out?"
"About two hours." Fu Hua took back the water cup and placed it on the bedside table, her gaze falling on Irene's pale face. "The school doctor checked you. There is no organic damage, mostly excessive fatigue and mild dehydration. Rest and rehydrate, and you'll be fine."
Fu Hua paused after speaking. "But Teacher Irene, pardon me for speaking bluntly, but I am quite certain you seemed to be performing some kind of... training method imitating the limit-break development of Valkyries?"
Irene's heart skipped a beat. As expected of the Celestial, Fu Hua, her eyesight was indeed sharp. Irene barely managed to pull a smile onto her lips. "Cough... was it that obvious? I just... wanted to improve my physical fitness as soon as possible."
"Mn, I understand." Fu Hua nodded. "Teacher Irene, that kind of training method is absolutely incorrect for you, even if your Honkai Adaptability is very high."
"Eh?" Irene was stunned for a moment. "How did Classmate Fu Hua know my Honkai Adaptability is very high? I only just had a physical exam not long ago."
"I don't need a physical exam report." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses. Under the light of the infirmary, the lenses flashed with a glint, obscuring her eyes.
"Oh, as expected of the 'most reliable Class Monitor' that Teacher Himeko mentioned before." Irene raised her hands and clapped lightly. As her body gradually recovered, she could feel the fatigue fading away.
"I heard Classmate Fu Hua comes from Shenzhou. Is that method of directly judging a person's Honkai Adaptability also a unique method from Shenzhou?"
"You could say that." Fu Hua nodded, attempting to gloss over the topic. Before supporting Irene to the school doctor's office, she had simply used the Taixuan Sword Qi to perform a simple diagnosis.
The result of the diagnosis was that the training Irene was doing was a relatively primitive method—one that forced the development of physical limits and utilized Honkai energy to strengthen the body faster during that process.
And in this process, she discovered that Irene's Honkai Adaptability was surprisingly good. Yet, Irene was not a Stigmata Awakened, which was somewhat surprising.
"Teacher Irene, pardon my frankness, but the set of training methods you just performed does not match your physical conditions at all." Fu Hua pushed her glasses again. "It excessively squeezes your body's functions and uses Honkai energy to supplement them, but this process places a heavy burden on your Honkai Resistance and your body's recovery ability."
"Can I ask Teacher Irene for the reason behind adopting this training method? As far as I know, you are not a combat-related teacher, let alone a Valkyrie."
"Because I need power. How is that for an answer?" Irene looked at Fu Hua with a smile. "I have many things I need to do, and those things require stronger power."
"Also, a slight correction. Monitor Fu Hua made a small mistake just now."
"What?"
"I am a Valkyrie, and an A-Rank one at that." A smile played on Irene's face as she looked at Fu Hua. "If nothing unexpected happens—although the formal notification hasn't come down yet."
"A-Rank Valkyrie?" Fu Hua frowned. "Teacher Irene, please do not joke. Your physical constitution does not reach the standard of an A-Rank Valkyrie at all, not even that of a C-Rank logistics Valkyrie."
"I'm not joking." Irene shook her head. "Actually, the way I use power is rather special. In this state, I am indeed this weak."
"But if I borrow power, I can achieve the capabilities of an A-Rank Valkyrie."
Since Pardo had already been exposed, Irene didn't mind revealing it to more people. Her involvement in upcoming events was inevitable, and she would need to interact with others.
When that time came, her transformation ability would only be exposed to more people. Since that was the case, it was better to be a bit more candid now.
Of course, by exposing this to Fu Hua, Irene had another objective.
Meanwhile, in the Palace of Consciousness, a certain little cat had been making a racket for a while.
[ Irene-nee, Irene-nee, hurry up and change into my appearance! ] Pardo looked at Fu Hua through Irene's eyes with some excitement. Although from her senses, Sister Hua's Honkai energy state seemed extremely weak...
But that aura of Honkai energy was simply too familiar. That was definitely A-Hua! Although it wasn't her A-Hua, the fact that an A-Hua could live until now was a fortunate thing in itself.
[ Don't rush, Little Pardo. ] Irene's spiritual entity patted the head of the somewhat excited Pardo. [ And don't be too happy. It's Fu Hua... oh, no, you should be clear about Hua's abilities. In her current state, she might not necessarily remember you. ]
Hearing Irene pour cold water on her, Pardo gradually regained her calm. [ I know, but what if? I'm very lucky, right? So Hua-nee should still remember me. ]
[ Uh, your luck shouldn't have anything to do with Hua's memory, right? ] Irene laughed dryly twice. Even with Pardo's luck, it shouldn't reach that extent.
Moreover, given Fu Hua's state, she had almost burned herself completely dry. No matter how lucky one was, in this situation, she shouldn't remember.
If she could still remember this, then one could only say the Cat's luck was truly terrifying.
"..." Fu Hua frowned. "Transformation ability? Teacher Irene, please do not joke."
"How can you think I'm joking?" Irene pretended to be a bit angry. "If you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you right now."
As she spoke, Irene took the opportunity to take out Pardo's card and stick it to her body. Light converged on Irene, and the bright spots of light shining at close range made Fu Hua squint her eyes involuntarily.
When the light dissipated, what appeared on the hospital bed was a yellow-haired catgirl. Looking at that yellow catgirl, Fu Hua's body went stiff for an instant.
The remnants of empty memories in her mind began to churn in that instant. She felt she recognized this appearance... No! She definitely recognized this person.
And her impression was deep, deep enough that even if she had almost forgotten, she could still clearly understand that she knew her. She definitely knew her. What was her name? What was it?
Such questions swept through Fu Hua's mind like a storm. Within the ashes of memory burned away by Fenghuang Down, dust-like silhouettes flashed through Fu Hua's mind.
In that scene, she saw a fair, tender hand hand her a... coin. Beside her ear were words filled with blessing.
[ Hehe, A-Hua... I hope my coin can bless you with luck. ]
'Coin? Coin...' The memory Fu Hua recalled, resembling residual ash, returned to the cinders burnt by Fenghuang Down in the next instant, as if blown away by the wind.
And afterwards, there was no further reaction from those residual ashes. No matter how Fu Hua tried to recall, it was to no avail.
Exactly how many things had she forgotten? Exactly what things did she still remember? Fu Hua didn't know. She had already forgotten too, too, too many things.
"A-Hua, what are you thinking about?" Just as Fu Hua was deep in thought, Irene suddenly spoke up to interrupt. Hearing Irene's form of address, Fu Hua was stunned again.
"You... what did you just call me?" Fu Hua suddenly raised her head, looking straight into Irene's eyes. "Why did you call me... A-Hua?"
"Mm, can I not call you that?" Irene tilted her head. "Because Fu Hua, you promoted to A-Rank Valkyrie earlier than me, so naturally you are my senior. I wanted to call you something more intimate."
Although Irene wanted to clarify the situation with Fu Hua now, this was the school infirmary, after all, and there were surveillance cameras. Moreover, according to Otto's personality, since she hadn't yet shown signs of interfering with his plans, he likely held some goodwill toward her.
At the very least, he would maintain a certain degree of friendly attention toward the Pardo form she displayed, until he completely confirmed Irene's attitude.
And this friendly attitude would definitely prompt Otto to let Fu Hua meet with her—preferably in her Pardo state—and keep an eye on the state of their interaction to judge whether she was transforming or if it was some other situation.
So she couldn't speak too plainly. And now was far from the time to reveal her identity. What she needed to do now was to plan for future events as much as possible, rather than exposing herself too much to Otto's line of sight.
Fu Hua fell silent for a while. Looking at Irene's face, she unexpectedly didn't think of any words of objection and simply nodded. "It's not that you can't..."
"However, Teacher Irene, you should still call me Fu Hua. Also, your original training method is absolutely unacceptable. It places a great burden on your body. If you really wish..."
Fu Hua pondered for a moment, seeming to make a decision before looking at Irene. "You can train with me every morning. I can help you train better. Not only will it be more efficient, but you also won't faint directly after exercising like today."
"Hmm?" Irene raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then immediately nodded in agreement. This was instruction from the Celestial, Fu Hua! And looking at Fu Hua's manner, she probably wouldn't just be teaching simple physical exercise techniques.
And no matter what, it had to be better than Kallen's 'Kaslana Family Special Training Method.' That thing really wasn't something humans could practice.
"If it's convenient for A-Hua, then naturally that's fine. I'll be counting on you then, Sister Hua."
"Mn." Fu Hua nodded, putting away her somewhat chaotic thoughts. "Then, in that case, come to the playground at 5:30 every day. I will begin training at that time."
"Okay, see you there!"
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 100 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 10 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉