-----

Elena nodded. "Yeah, they came to slay that monster and stop it from invading this world. Why is it using this country, though? Maybe because of that monster we saw."

"Lord Chaos?" Elayne asked. "Hm, he’ll certainly get in our way... We have to handle our problems systematically, one after another, instead of getting overwhelmed trying to solve everything at once. Let’s take our time and do this slowly. Our first challenge is strength. All of you need to grow stronger, and I... well, I need to figure out how to use my powers properly, along with this new system..."

"System?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, I got one too. Did you gift it to me?" Elayne asked. "Thank you for that. It was very kind of you."

"W-What?! I would never have considered that," Frank said.

"Frank, be nicer to your sensei," Olivia hissed.

"S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend her. I mean, she’s a Heroic Spirit," Frank said. "Heroic Spirits with Systems sound... crazy. It would never work. The system seed would explode and die, unable to assimilate with such a powerful being... right?"

"But it worked!" Elayne said. "It’s just having some processing delays, I believe."

"R-Really?!" Frank, Harumi, and even Matsuo looked shaken.

"Hm!" Elayne nodded. "I think... it might need some help, though. Do you think you could teach me a little about how to manipulate a System, Frank?"

"I... well, I don’t know if that can be taught. I learned what I know automatically once mine awakened," Frank said, rubbing his chin. "Hmm... Would you let me see it?"

"Sure," Elayne nodded.

Frank approached her and examined her glitching, loading status. "I see. There’s a huge load of information because, as expected, your soul is immense..."

"Is there a way to solve it, or is there no hope for me?" Elayne asked.

"No... maybe we can make it work, but we’ll need a lot of materials," Frank said. "Potent materials rich in Soul Essence..."

"Oh!" Elayne opened a portal to her Spiritual Realm and retrieved the large Nightmare Cores she had collected—over sixty of them. "Would these do?"

"The cores of the Nightmares?!" Olivia gasped.

"Wow, you got so many, sensei!" Emily said. "Where did you get them?"

"She obviously looted them after killing all the Nightmares," Sofia said.

"Does she have a subspace skill? Wow, to be expected of a Heroic Spirit!" Alma said.

"Don’t you all think it’s weird that we have a Heroic Spirit as a sensei, though?" Maria wondered, sighing. "Well, whatever the case, it’s her loot. We can’t just ask her to give it to us. Leave her be."

"Hmm..." Frank nodded. "I’ve never seen this item before, but it exudes corrupted Soul Energy. If it can be cleansed... maybe."

"Alright, that’s better than nothing," Elayne said. "Here! I’ve recently recovered my Halo, so... Purification."

FLASH!

The black stone transformed into a beautiful pink stone, gleaming with dreamy pink and cloudy essence.

"Wooohhh!"

Everyone was stunned. Even Maria and her three friends stood flabbergasted, mouths wide open.

"D-Did you see that?!" Emily asked.

"S-She... she purified a Nightmare Core?!" Alma asked. "I-It’s pink! Like our Dream Hearts!"

"She... she used an Angelic Blessing to purify all the darkness within it," Maria said. "T-Then... she created a Dream Core?"

"Usually, it takes a long time inside specialized alchemy laboratories to do what she just did in seconds...!" Sofia said. "She’s incredible..."

"Huh? Really? Is that special?" Elayne wondered. "Well, whatever the case... Frank, here. I’ll purify more for you."

"Okay, this can work," Frank nodded.

He took the pink stones and began refining them into pure Soul Essence, which proved surprisingly easy. He then injected the essence into the system at a rapid pace.

Elayne felt the dream essence of each stone surge through her veins, fusing with her very Soul Sea and accelerating the System’s expansion and loading.

Until finally, after she ran out of Dream Stones...

It hit 100%!

"I think it can work now!" Frank said. "But wow, we just spent a fortune. Each of those stones must be worth millions... Definitely not something I could do for just anyone, but... okay, it might be functioning properly now."

"Let me see," Elayne said. She looked into the circuits, and then—"Ooh? Waahh!" She panicked as digital energies coursed through her body, expanding outward into images, numbers, and letters. "This familiar feeling... This System is indeed not the same, but... not too different either. It has its own little quirks, though. Heheh, hello, little one. I am quite experienced at handling your kind, so let’s get along, shall we?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Is she speaking to the System?" Harumi asked, her eyebrows twitching.

"I-I think so..." Matsuo nodded.

"Systems are living beings, after all..." Frank said. "Their true purpose is still mostly unknown beyond ’helping,’ but they’re definitely more than that."

As they spoke, Elayne’s eyes gleamed brightly. New notifications popped up before her, though her System—unlike the others—shone with a yellow-gold color instead of the usual blue.

Ding!

[Andromeda System Initialization has reached 100% completion.]

[All Systems have been loaded and adapted to host’s large soul.]

[Displaying System...]

-----

[Player Name]: [Elayne] [Gaia] [Tartarus]

[Titles]: [None]

[Race]: [Divine Spirit: Gaia Mater] [Corrupted Divine Spirit: Tartarus] [Primogenitor Vampire]

[Class]: [None]

[Subclass]: [None]

[Level]: [0/100]

[Talent]: [Dual Divine Spirit Core (EX+)] [Vampire True Ancestor (EX)]

[Health]: [250,000]

[Mana]: [450,000]

[Strength]: [90,000]

[Defense]: [70,000]

[Magic]: [170,000]

[Resistance]: [120,000]

[Agility]: [70,000]

[Luck]: [40,000]

[Charm]: [40,000]

[Stat Points]: [0]

[Skill Points]: [0]

[System Points]: [1,000]

[Skills]:

[None]

[System Special Functions]:

[Inventory] (Unlocked)

[Quest Board] (Unlocked)

[Gacha] (Unlocked)

[Store] (Unlocked)

-----

Elayne’s status was both shocking and disappointing at the same time.

Her stats were incredibly high, leaving her amazed by how strong she truly was. Compared to the stats of her Avatar, she was at least five times stronger.

It showed. She had never been this powerful before. Even at Planta’s peak, she was fairly certain she had been unable to reach these levels.

Though she had come very close, and with Plant’s Time Dragon powers, her transformations, skills, equipment, and buffs, she could get near them—she was still vastly superior now.

Truly, this only made her wonder how differently things might have turned out if Elayne had fought as Planta instead, using her Avatar...

However, Elayne shook her head and chose to focus on what lay before her. Even if her System Status felt rather empty, it simply meant she had a vast, blank canvas where she could once more paint something beautiful.

-----