Inside Jade's room...

"So this is what a bed looks like in real life? I wish I had one" Althea spoke while looking around Jade's room.

"You can ask Muku for one if you want" Jade replied.

"You know what, I think I will. Thanks. Now let's sit in a meditative position. We must face each other while doing this. Oh. And remove your top. You can keep your bra on though" Althea directed.

"Okay," Jade did what she was told without asking anything.

Something Althea appreciated a lot after interacting with Muku who was always asking things left and right.

After that, the two sat on Jade's bed. Althea took a moment to appreciate the softness before focusing on the task at hand.

She pointed forward then touched Jade's lower abdomen with her finger. Which was where the Mana Core/Beast Aura Core was.

"Now relax and get ready to absorb the energy I'll feed you. Use it to refine yours while absorbing it at the same time. It's somewhat similar to what you did when you were advancing to R4. So it shouldn't be a problem. Oh, and brace for pain because it definitely will be painful. But don't lose control or you might cripple yourself" Althea gave the instructions.

"Umm. These are all things I would have liked to learn before you put your finger on my stomach and we're about to start. But okay..." Jade couldn't help but comment.

"Cough. Well, I believe in you so. Anyway, are you ready?" Althea replied awkwardly.

"Yes. Let's do it before I change my mind" Jade replied.

Althea pushed her finger forward slightly to signal to Jade that she was about to start.

Jade closed her eyes and prepared for the pain.

In that moment she felt a violent yet tame energy invade her body and go straight into her core. She expected a world of pain like anyone would expect when a foreign energy invades their body.

But nothing came.

She didn't immediately react thinking that maybe it had a delayed effect. She then focused harder and did exactly what Althea told her to do. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She could already feel herself getting stronger. Yet there was no pain at all. Confusion hit her instantly, however, that didn't make her lose focus. She was professional like that.

"Huh?" Althea made a confused sound after noticing that Jade was clearly not in pain like she had been back then.

"What's going on?" Jade couldn't help it anymore so she asked.

"You're asking me but whom should I ask?" Althea used a classic human line.

"I feel no pain at all. In fact, it kinda tickles a little" Jade added.

"I noticed... I was expecting grimaces but I'm getting grins... Let me think for a moment" Althea replied as she stopped the whole process. They needed to understand what the heck was happening before they could continue otherwise who knew if it was good or bad.

"Should I call the others over? It might be easier to figure out as a group" Jade asked.

"Hmm. Let me think for a moment. I think I was told about this a long time ago. The memory is so obscure I have to think about it a bit" Althea replied then retreated into her mindscape... Of course, she had one, she was a Monarch after all.

Anyway, Jade just sat there thinking about the pleasant feeling while waiting.

A minute or two later, Althea opened her eyes.

"I've got it. My master told me about this. It seems our Beast Auras are the same in nature. Like identical, not somewhat alike... Something almost impossible. Like two humans having the same fingerprints. Anyway, from what I was told, because of that, our Beast Auras sync. For that reason, when I inject it into your core, it recognises it as your own. Just a much stronger version. Though I had to weaken it a lot to match your rank..." Althea explained.

"Ah... So that's how it is. That's great news for me then. The others are going to be so jealous" Jade celebrated.

Althea smiled wryly. At the same time, she couldn't help but be reminded of her younger days when she looked at Jade. So carefree.

Sure she was still carefree, but she had seen and experienced so much that she was nowhere near as pure as Jade in just living in the moment.

"Yeah... Can we continue now?" Althea replied.

"Sure. But can we speed it up a bit and still take as long as we would have taken initially? I mean, the pain was the limiter right?" Jade asked expectantly.

"Sure. We can speed it up. But we can't last as long since it will be faster. The pain was a limiter, but not the only one. I can help you get to the peak, but after that, it's up to you. So we'll have to stop there no matter what" Althea explained.

"Oh... What a shame. But I guess that means sense. It would suck to completely rely on someone else to advance anyway," Jade replied understandingly.

After that, the two continued. Althea increased the amount and purity to the highest level Jade can take without her body breaking down.

Red and purple hues appeared and danced around the two as they focused deeply with their eyes closed and unmoving...

.....

Downstairs...

"So what do we do while waiting?" Chloe asked.

"Hmm. We can have a tourn..." Muku was about to pitch that one thing he is always pitching when he was interrupted.

"No. We can't do that without Jade" Audrey spoke over Muku.

She loved him but she had to stop him sometimes before he got too excited.

"Sigh. Fine. I was just suggesting something since someone asked" Muku replied in a fake wronged expression that made the girls roll their eyes.

"Any other ideas?" Audrey asked the others completely ignoring the drama king.

"Why not go farming?" Freya suggested.

While they ran a mini world that supported normal human life, they never tried it themselves. And they just happened to have the time now, so why not try right?

"Great idea! Speaking of which, I just remembered something. Sarah was never told the name of her son. The poor child is really growing without a name" Audrey spoke.

"No, don't worry. I told her months ago when I can in my soul state" Muku corrected her.

"Oh really? That's good. Which one did you decide on again?" Audrey asked.

"Jason. I took inspiration from your Jackson. It's almost as simple but not too direct like yours" Muku replied.

"Yeah, that does sound better. I'm sure your friend Jack would have liked it too. What about Sarah?" Audrey commented.

"Hopefully... She loved it. At least that's what I think from how she cried. In fact, there she comes now, you can ask her" Muku answered.

"Greetings Master and Mistresses" Sarah greeted everyone respectfully.

Fortunately, they could now control whether to be seen or not thanks to Althea's training or Sarah would have looked weird bowing to empty chairs from her perspective.

"Oh hello, Sarah. I told you already. You don't have to call us that. Just call us by our names. We're all equals here" Audrey replied in a friendly tone as she got up and walked over to Sarah then brought her over for a seat.

Sarah wanted to refuse but it was hard to refuse a gentle person like Audrey especially when one could feel her genuineness.

"O..okay. Mistr... Ms Audrey" Sarah replied as she sat down beside Audrey while looking down.

Honestly, it wasn't this bad initially. Back then she could speak to them without feeling nervous.

But that all changed when they became divine beings. Even when they were completely suppressing themselves in front of her. Their natural states alone were enough to make Sarah feel like kow-towing herself in front of them.

Like how a human will always seem larger than life to an ant no matter how nice and gentle they are...

"Better.

We were just talking about you. Muku told me that you liked the name he gave to little Jason. But I wanted to hear it from you in case he exaggerated. Did you really like it? We can change it if you want" Audrey continued in her gentle voice.

"No, no. There's no need. It's a perfect name. He didn't exaggerate. I really loved it. And I am grateful. I'm sure Jack would have loved it too" Sarah defended Muku.

"Oh, that's great then. How is he doing now? Where is he?" Audrey accepted and moved on.

"He's doing great. He's sleeping" Sarah replied.

"Okay. Let him sleep and grow big and strong like his uncle here" Audrey commented.

"I'd want nothing more for him" Sarah replied with a small smile on her face.

If her son turned out like Muku then she would be the happiest mother in the world. Out of all the men she knew, none even came close to Muku's greatness and looks. At least that's how she saw it.

"Now, we would like to help in the fields. Is there anything we can do?" Audrey asked.

"Umm. People should be picking apples right now. But I don't think you should bother yourself with such small tasks" Sarah replied.

"Nonsense. Why can't we do it when they can? In fact, go tell them to rest for the day, we'll pick clean the whole orchard!" Audrey declared something that made everyone's eyes almost pop out.

And the reason why was pretty simple...