The next morning, Bell woke from his sleep.
He glanced at Hestia and Hephaestus lying beside him, their sleeping faces showing clear signs of exhaustion. The sight made Bell feel a bit guilty.
After all, it had been half a month since they last saw each other, and their reunion hadn't exactly been restrained.
That overwhelming excitement led to a sleepless night, and all that activity had left both Hestia and Hephaestus, who stayed with him the entire time, too tired to even open their eyes.
Even goddesses, once stripped of their divine powers, were no different from ordinary girls in Genkai. Especially after such an... intense night.
The warped space around Bell shimmered, quietly transporting him to the edge of the bed.
This time, he was certain he hadn't disturbed either Hestia or Hephaestus.
After slipping out of the room, Bell instinctively expanded his senses—and found Loki still in her room, lying in a corner of the second floor.
'She didn't go back to prepare?'
The thought made Bell pause for a few seconds.
'Oh, right. Right now, it's safest for Loki-sama not to show up inside her Familia's base.'
He hadn't gone to Orario to confirm the situation firsthand, but from the way the three goddesses spoke, Bell could already feel the tense atmosphere thick in the air.
Loki hadn't returned to her Familia to prepare for the expedition's welcome ceremony—just in case.
As long as she didn't show up at the Familia's base, Evilus wouldn't have a chance to make a move.
And those guys probably wouldn't act rashly under the current circumstances either.
After thinking it over, Bell turned and made his way to the bath on the first floor.
Once he had carefully scrubbed away the sweat and lingering scent from his body, he slowly sank into the hot water filling the tub.
"Phew..."
Gazing at the empty bath, Bell felt a strange but calming peace settle over him.
He opened the system menu and pulled up the list under "3-Star Craft Essences." Now was the time to absorb them.
'Aside from one 5-star Heroic Spirit card and one 4-star Craft Essence, everything else is 3-star...'
There was no guarantee system here, but pulling that many "blue sky and white clouds" in a ten-roll still made his heart ache.
Especially when he had used a "High-Rank Gacha"—at a million Valis per roll.
'Ouch.'
'Why did drawing cards hurt back then, and now that I've reincarnated, it hurts even more?'
Even though money came in faster now, Bell couldn't help but feel that sting.
With a soft sigh, he finally turned his focus to the Craft Essences.
'First is Yggdmillennia's Pedigree—boosts resistance to poison, curses, and burns.'
Bell remembered this Craft Essence originally provided weakened resistance, but here it had been translated into actual resistance—improving its usefulness across multiple aspects.
The effect had definitely been upgraded, though for Bell, it was more of a nice bonus than a game-changer.
Its effect was similar to the Development Ability "Abnormal Resistance."
If someone had 100% immunity to poison, then regardless of how much this increased resistance, it would still benefit those who didn't have "Abnormal Resistance" innately.
While Bell usually kept countermeasures ready for poison, burn, and curse-type threats, gaining an extra layer of resistance through a Craft Essence certainly didn't hurt.
[Cost: 1,000,000 Valis.]
Bell mentally selected "Yes."
The five Craft Essences in front of him began to merge, and the description started to change slightly.
'Yggdmillennia's Pedigree: Increases resistance to poison, curse, and burn by 50%.'
'Fifty percent? That high?'
Even Bell was a little surprised. He had expected it to be like the original version with a 30% boost, so this was a pleasant surprise.
'I'll test it later and see just how effective 50% resistance really is.'
That could wait, though. For now, it was time to absorb it.
"Absorb."
The fully enhanced Craft Essence dissolved into white light, slowly merging into Bell's body.
His blood began to boil, making his brow tighten slightly. His fair skin turned pink, then deepened into a rich red as the heat intensified.
"Haa..."
Even in the hot bath, his breath turned into a faint white mist.
After thirty minutes, Bell's flushed skin gradually cooled from burning red back to a healthy pink.
'Absorbing a resistance-boosting Craft Essence has more of an impact than I expected.'
'Since it increases resistance to poison, curses, and burns, it must be enhancing genetic-level potential. That's probably why it hurt so much during the process.'
'Then anything that boosts recovery for mana or stamina must be directly tied to cellular vitality... looks like there's no avoiding a bit of pain there either.'
Still, Bell could handle it if this was the extent of the pain.
He also felt glad he'd been cautious with his approach. If he had tried to absorb a dozen Craft Essences at once like the first time, he might've actually died.
Now that he understood the importance of pacing and preparation, Bell decided not to rush the process.
There was no way he could absorb four per day.
Based on how things felt now, two a day was the absolute limit—any more would put too much strain on his body.
With that in mind, Bell wasn't in a hurry to absorb the remaining Craft Essences.
'Let's just enhance the others for now.'
He didn't need to absorb them yet, but enhancing them was fine.
Bell skimmed over the rest of his Craft Essences.
'All the others doubled in effect.'
From 1% to 2%—technically a 100% increase.
The percentage might not seem high, but considering this was per Craft Essence, the value added up quickly.
Just from the Craft Essences Bell had drawn so far, he'd already gained 4% stamina recovery and 6% mana recovery per minute. That wasn't a small amount.
Even without factoring in Bell's natural recovery rate, those numbers alone were impressive.
At that rate, his stamina would fully recover in 25 minutes, and his mana in 17.
And if you included his natural regeneration, he might only need 6 or 7 minutes to go from empty to full in both stamina and mana.
That was a huge boost to his sustained combat capabilities.
Plus, most of Bell's magic spells didn't consume much mana to begin with. Without increasing his mana output, this kind of recovery speed would allow him to maintain combat readiness for an incredibly long time.
In short, these Craft Essences were definitely worth having.