"What exactly is Awakening? Is it an Awakened Demon Lord?" Jean was curious. Awakening was a significant term in Milim's world, one of the ways Demon Lords and Heroes gained ultimate abilities.
However, it also involved strange things like the Voice of the World, Demon Lord Seeds, and Hero Eggs.
"Yes, that's it! When a qualified being absorbs enough quantity and causes a qualitative change, it's called Awakening in my world. They say it requires 10,000 souls to awaken."
Although Milim was also an Awakened Demon Lord, her situation was different; she hadn't gone through the process of devouring souls.
"In the Underworld, there's also something called 'Crossing the Threshold,' which seems similar."
The term 'Crossing the Threshold' appeared frequently in the files Jean handled, and there were even lists tracking members who possessed the potential for it.
Apparently, it came with a raise.
"Crossing the Threshold? I don't know about that. But while Demon Lord Seeds often crash, once they've Awakened, it's very hard to defeat them by crossing ranks. Even that, uh, oh right, the one Leon defeated, uh..."
"The Curse Lord Cazalim?"
"Right, right, that's him! He died at the hands of the Pure King that Leon had just Awakened."
"And since when do you use slang like 'crash'?"
"I'm always absorbing the latest knowledge, too! I can't be someone left behind by the times, that's what Rimuru said."
"Don't make it sound like... uh, fine." Jean originally wanted to say, "Don't sound like an old granny," but suddenly remembered that the 'young girl' in front of her was someone even older than Yukari.
Regarding what Milim said, Jean had actually conducted some research. Terms like Awakening and Threshold were essentially about a being's total controllable energy exceeding a certain boundary.
Before this boundary, one could rely on quantity to make up for a gap in quality, but once the total amount crossed this line, quantity could no longer bridge the gap.
For example, if 10 units of Energy A were equivalent to 1 unit of Energy B, then if both sides clashed with 10 A against 1 B, the result might have some deviation, but it would be roughly equal.
In this situation, A's quantity was sufficient, so it could naturally keep up with B, even if B's quality was higher.
However, there was a problem here: energy had density, and the range of energy that consciousness could constrain was limited. The amount of energy that could be stored in a finite space was capped.
This was the limit of the total amount, and beyond this, the gap in total energy between the two would be an uncrossable chasm.
The solution was already obvious: compress the energy or replace it with higher-density energy.
Jean had been researching this; the Cthugha crystal left in her possession was the best template.
She had been using it as a vitality replenishment potion, but the more she used it, the more she realized how OP it was.
Just a small piece could replenish her entire vitality, meaning it compressed vitality density by more than a thousand times.
However, Jean's own stardust crystal was of the same level, with no other drawbacks besides the quantity being too small.
Yes, despite saying so much, what Jean was actually worried about was that her quantity wasn't enough. In terms of density, Stardust Wind was not inferior at all, but the limitation on quantity meant Jean could only keep using basic energy like vitality, magic power, and mental energy, which was simply embarrassing.
Then there was the second problem: the issue of output size.
At the end of the FATE/HF route, Rin with the Gem Sword and Sakura with the Third Magic staged the most luxurious sister battle. Rin with unlimited magic power and Sakura with near-infinite reserves should have been an extremely exaggerated war.
As a result, the scene didn't even compare to an ordinary Excalibur blast, let alone an infinite ether energy cannon capable of destroying the moon.
This was the issue of output size. Even if you had a high quantity and a lot of power, if a single shot was like a small water gun, it was useless.
So what about Jean's current output? A breath attack to give the snake scales a tan? A sword draw that caused a wound at most 3 meters long? Absorbing massive amounts of vitality? She wasn't one of those tentacle monsters without subjective consciousness.
As for Dragon Slave, if the opponent wasn't the Red Dragon God, there wouldn't even be a reaction.
Although Jean eventually used a soul-precision method to almost perfectly deal with the Great Snake that far exceeded her, such brainless, brute-force opponents were very rare.
Just as she was chatting casually with Milim while reflecting on her shortcomings in her mind, a familiar with Medea's magic power flew over.
Unexpectedly, it wasn't a crow or bat, but a very beautiful macaw.
She didn't know how Medea, a Greek, managed to get such a bird native to the Americas as a familiar.
Then, a wave of magic power came, and a super familiar teleportation effect lit up. It felt like the feeling of infinite base-swapping starting from AM to 6.
After two magic circles floated up and down for several minutes, white light flashed, and Medea brought Rin and the others here.
"Whew, first time teleporting with so many people. This magic is really difficult."
"It's fine, it's fine. This is already a skill on the same level as Mass Resurrection and Vengeance."
"?" Completely failing to understand the examples Jean gave, Medea looked confused.
Rin was directly shocked by the black snake as huge as a mountain in front of her.
"w(ﾟДﾟ)w Whoa."
"I didn't expect it to be possible to reach this level."
Sakura's expression was grave. She hadn't participated in the battle against Nyarlathotep, so she hadn't intuitively felt the gap in power.
And with her strengthening over this period, and the attachment of immortality, in her heart, although she couldn't compare to Jean, at least there shouldn't be too big a gap.
But this monster, whose lingering power after death still made her heart palpitate, had actually been defeated by Jean so easily, without even a scratch on her.
"Jean, this outfit is very pretty."
There were also people whose focus wasn't there. FrostNova, who had no doubts about Jean's victory, was looking at Jean's outfit with appreciation.
"Ah, this." Jean's face suddenly felt a little hot. After all, she only just remembered that she had been flying around in the sky wearing a small skirt. Although she wore safety shorts, it was still very embarrassing.
Fortunately, only Milim should have seen this scene; the others should have been at the base.
Turning her gaze to Milim on the side, looking at the cool equipment on her, well, she guessed that in Milim's eyes, nothing was wrong with this.
Hearing FrostNova's words, Rin and Sakura both looked over. The situation had been critical just now, so no one noticed these details, but now everyone noticed Jean's difference for the first time.
"Please marry me!!!" Rin felt as if a string in her heart had snapped, and she lunged forward, blurting out her true feelings.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"