"Price?"
Helia swallowed hard, then her eyes firmed with determination. "As long as I can get stronger, then no matter the price, it doesn't matter!"
"Excellent. You fail."
Jun An spoke helplessly, "I know you desperately want to catch up to the geniuses, but seeking strength without considering the consequences will bring disaster to many people. For example, a certain blonde mother of mine almost suffered centuries of imprisonment because of it."
Jun An was, of course, referring to Cocolia. In the original storyline, she was undoubtedly a major antagonist in the early stages. To become stronger, she could directly rip out Wendy's Herrscher Core and even use her own daughter as a tool.
The Cocolia of the original storyline was practically a patient suffering from PTSD induced by the Second Honkai War. In her desperation to fight the Herrschers, she became somewhat unhinged, leading to moronic actions like experimenting on her daughter and forcing her daughter into battle.
Of course, the Cocolia of this timeline had Jun An helping to share the burden and supervise, so some of those idiotic actions were reduced. But even so, she still nearly destroyed Nagazora City.
Unlike Himeko, who committed minor offenses constantly but avoided major ones, Cocolia, among Jun An's three mothers, was the type you usually didn't need to worry about, but when you did, it was guaranteed to be something huge.
"In short, although I said using cheats can help you grow rapidly, you must also understand that cheating comes with a price."
"Like Theresa, whose physical form is fixed at 12 years old; it'll probably take ten thousand years for her to grow into the adult Theresa. And me, due to side effects, I'm practically infertile, and whether my body is still growing remains to be seen."
"Or consider Mei and Kiana, who grew stronger using Herrscher Cores. While the Cores granted them power, that power was invariably used to solve the problems the Cores themselves created. I'm actually one of the luckier ones; Mei and the others were forced to accept this kind of trouble."
Jun An sighed helplessly. "And from my personal standpoint, unless there's an absolutely necessary reason, like fulfilling one's ideals or something similar, I absolutely do not recommend becoming a MANTIS to solve problems."
Hearing Jun An's words, the hope Helia had been holding onto finally died.
Helia's mood plummeted. "I'm sorry, Captain. I oversimplified things."
"It's not your fault. I was the one who suggested getting stronger through cheats."
Jun An looked at the troubled expression on Helia's face and comforted her, "Although the paths of MANTISes and Herrschers are closed to you, the world is vast. There are always shortcuts that don't require paying an enormous price."
"Then, Captain, you're knowledgeable and experienced. Do you have any ideas?" Helia looked at Jun An with expectant eyes, as if placing her last straw of hope on him.
"Well, there is one..."
Jun An couldn't help but shift back slightly as Helia leaned closer. Although she was covered in sweat, there was an indescribable, pleasant body fragrance.
"But that method is still in the experimental phase, and the method itself, well, it's not available."
Jun An was, of course, referring to the "Feedback" ability.
Through testing, Jun An discovered that as long as he had sufficient Honkai energy, he could strengthen individuals who ingested his cells. Naturally, there were many ways to ingest them: drinking, the front door, and the back door all worked.
Of course, since the back door connects to the digestive tract, the effects take place slightly faster.
However, there were exceptions. Misteln couldn't be strengthened. It was speculated that this might be because Misteln was already too strong, making the enhancement negligible, or perhaps because she was an Ideal.
In short, this ability was still in the testing phase. Only by continuously increasing the number of experimental subjects could its potential be more quickly uncovered.
Naturally, Jun An could certainly use the pretext of helping Helia get stronger to trick her into bed, but... after a seven-hour, three-person battle, Jun An was currently in Sage Mode. He had no such desire.
"There definitely is one, right?!"
Helia saw the guarded expression Jun An was trying to hide and said seriously, "Tell me! As long as I can catch up to the Captain and Lady Durandal, I'll do anything!"
"No means no."
Jun An turned his face away. His ammunition depot had already been squeezed dry by Susannah and Misteln, almost pruned from overuse. Jun An had no intention of opening up a new cave right now.
"Senpai! Did you see? Did you see?!"
Just then, Susannah jumped down from the platform, beaming. "Did you see me defeat the A-rank difficulty training mech just now? It was a bit tough, but normally, I'd be covered in injuries just trying to last until the time ran out. This is the first time I've actually won like this!"
"Yes, you performed very well."
Jun An praised Susannah with a guilty conscience, as he hadn't watched her fight at all while talking to Helia. Nevertheless, he subjectively stood on the stool and patted her head in approval.
Susannah giggled foolishly, visibly happy from the bottom of her heart about her tangible growth. This made Helia incredibly envious, but those last two sentences also gave Helia some basic information.
Helia asked, "Senior Susannah, have you only started improving this quickly recently?"
"Yeah!"
Susannah nodded. "I've never felt this strong before! In the past, I definitely would have been chased all over the place."
Helia pressed on, "So, do you have some kind of method?!"
"Wait, Su—"
Jun An instantly sensed trouble, but just as he tried to cover Susannah's mouth, Helia swiftly grabbed him, pinning his head firmly between her enormous breasts.
"Senior Susannah, don't mind me, keep talking!"
"Oh."
Susannah didn't seem jealous seeing Jun An in contact with another girl. Fueled by an unprecedented sense of excitement, she continued, "It's all thanks to the Captain! As expected, ten thousand US dollars a minute – totally worth it!"
Not only could she play with the Captain's body as she pleased, but it also helped her increase her strength. It was just like the male protagonist in one of those lewd games – just letting the Captain lewd her made her stronger.
And coincidentally, the one thing Susannah didn't lack was money. She truly experienced the joy of a pay-to-win player!
Although the process involved being ravaged to the point of near-death, if her belly hadn't been filled and her body hadn't been pounded senseless, she honestly would have just become the Captain's exclusive scabbard, constantly treasuring his sword.
"One minute, ten thousand?!"
Helia froze instantly. As a fairly experienced A-rank Valkyrie, her monthly salary already exceeded that of ninety percent of the world's population, yet just hearing this number stunned her.
After taking a deep breath of Helia's milky fragrance, Jun An immediately broke free, then flicked Susannah's forehead to calm her down.
"Senpai, why did you hit me?" Susannah asked, aggrieved.
"If I didn't hit you, were you going to spill all the details too?"
Jun An looked helplessly at Susannah. Recalling the "details" of how she got stronger and the sweat that sprayed out multiple times during the process, Susannah immediately blushed red enough to squeeze water out.
"S-Sorry..."
"Alright, knowing you can get stronger is enough for now."
Jun An jumped off the stool, preparing to leave with Susannah. "Okay, I'll take you back."
"Okay!"
Susannah nodded emphatically, her eyes shining. "Back for extra training, right?!"
She was already getting addicted – not just to the Captain's taste, but also addicted to this mode of getting visibly stronger just by spending money!
After all, the improvement was huge for her! She could actually pass an A-rank training battle!
"No. Have you forgotten the purpose of the test? You can't have extra training for 48 hours until you've fully digested it. We need to observe the effects of this ability first."
Jun An glanced at Susannah's still slightly bulging abdomen, which probably still contained quite a few of his cells. He didn't know if it was the "digested" cells taking effect or the still-present cells doing the work.
"If a misjudgment leads you to become blindly confident in your strength in the future, you'll suffer quite a bit. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."
"Mmm~"
Susannah nodded gently, clearly susceptible to this kind of reasoning.
Just as Jun An was about to leave, Helia immediately grabbed his hand. "One minute, ten thousand, right?!"
Helia bit her lip, then took out her bank card. "It's not much, but this is all the savings I've accumulated over the past few years from missions and my Valkyrie salary!"
"Please, Captain, let me become stronger! As long as you can make me stronger, I'll do anything!"