Eric's tone shifted to seriousness. "Do you girls trust me? Well, I know you do, so right now I need you to allow me to send my mana inside you—to every corner of your body—as I want to scan you both. We... ahem, I have plans and methods to make us stronger quickly."
Riya had informed him previously that he needed to scan Lyria and Livy completely—or rather, she would do it, as only she could truly "observe" using his mana. She was also the only one who would understand the tiniest, most important details in depth. He just needed to touch each girl and not be disturbed in between; the rest, Riya would handle.
Lyria and Livy were confused, but they had their whole lives and souls ready for Eric. Even if he killed them, they would die with smiles. Their only regret would be not being able to stay with him or travel everywhere with him.
They immediately stopped their nonsensical, depressing thoughts and nodded in agreement.
Eric considered it briefly and decided it was better to inform them now rather than on the island.
Originally, he had planned to tell them about the stat-increasing method after arriving at the island, but... though he trusted Lysandra, he didn't want to discuss such life-hacks there. If Lysandra was listening or recording through some arrays—just for fun—it could become troublesome.
If Lysandra was observing closely in island, it would inevitably expose everything—how he was increasing his, Lyria's, and Livy's stats in such strange, unbelievable ways. Even so, he didn't wish to explain these things openly while on the island as a precaution.
Eric's expression turned solemn. He asked Lyria to check for eavesdroppers outside their room while he inspected the window.
Seeing nothing amiss, he closed it again.
Lyria and Livy grew more confused but mirrored Eric's seriousness.
After Eric sat on his chair, he muttered in a low tone just enough for only Lyria and Livy to hear, "Ly, Liv, I will now speak about my inborn ability that I've awakened, but you must never speak of anything related to it outside. At most, you can talk around it but not be direct, understand?"
Lyria and Livy gulped and nodded, wondering what inborn ability Eric had awakened that required such secrecy.
"Hm… You girls know of the four Basic stats that everyone shares—mortals or not. Normally, there are various ways to train them, like we've been doing since childhood. Well, we've done far more than just increasing stats; let's leave that aside for now. What I want to tell you is that I have a way to increase our Training Stats without such strenuous effort—more directly, through resources."
Lyria and Livy tilted their heads in confusion. Soon, their eyes and mouths widened in disbelief as they grasped the magnitude of this revelation.
They knew about Training Stats from Bella Noll, though not in depth. Even so, it wasn't hard to understand the implications.
Livy spoke in disbelief, "Brother Eric, you mean we don't need to train to increase our Basic stats but can simply use resources to enhance them—all stats?" It was truly hard to believe.
"Yes." Eric nodded. "What you both must do is have utmost faith in what I'll do with your bodies through my Mana. Be completely open to any changes, and never resist—even if it's painful or pleasurable."
"Right now, I'll only take a recording of both your bodies. Remember, never speak openly about this after today. Even among yourselves, if you truly need to, then talk around it so even the insects crawling on the ground can only guess—never confirm."
Lyria and Livy nodded solemnly. They didn't even need to discuss it among themselves; Eric's warning was clear.
They understood perfectly: if the world learned of this, it would spell disaster. What Eric could achieve seemed simple, yet in reality, it defied imagination. Decades of hard training could be replaced with mere resources.
It was mind-boggling.
They decided not to dwell on it further, and just follow Eric's instructions. Their faith in him was absolute, even if he were dissecting them piece by piece.
Eric smiled, satisfied with their solemn understanding.
"Let's begin. Liv, show me your back. Ly, ensure no one interrupts."
Riya had originally demanded Lyria and Livy be naked for the check-up, so Eric—without hesitation—punched her into the empty ground of the Mind Space.
He had no doubt he'd lose his apocalyptic war against his hormones if he ever tried that.
It would be like handing nuclear missiles to his libido—a hopeless battle, especially after Lyria and Livy's recent transformations.
Even Eric wouldn't be able to resist taking a few… handfuls, like he had during his teens on Earth.
"It might be uncomfortable, but hang on. This should take an hour." Eric placed his right palm on Livy's back, just below her neck.
Riya swiftly began her work.
She channeled Eric's Mana into Livy's body, mapping from her upper torso to her arms, neck, and beyond.
Eric wasn't really able to "see," but he could feel and sense where his Mana was.
When he placed objects inside his ring, he had to spread Mana across them. It had a similar sensation to physically touching the object everywhere. From that, he learned that the pure Mana emanating from his body functioned like an extended sense.
Currently, it felt as if he was touching Livy everywhere—both inside and out. Most of the time, he couldn't distinguish clearly, as many areas felt confusing, but he knew where his Mana lingered. And when it brushed against certain... 'sensitive' spots, even he grew deeply embarrassed. Worse, Riya was taking extra time "documenting" those regions.
Had he not known Riya was dead serious, Eric would've barged into her home and slapped her curvy ass.
Riya was, in truth, 120% focused. She couldn't afford errors with Livy or Lyria's stat adjustments.
Some areas stumped her as those parts differed starkly from Eric's or any male's physiology.
Everyone was unique, especially their Mana Bodies—or souls. No two individuals shared identical structures, even if externally looked similar.
Riya couldn't fully read a Mana Body yet, nor did she need to. Her priority was the Physical Body, which would indirectly reveal Livy's Mana Body quirks.
During stat increases, Mana Bodies self-adjusted. Riya wasn't manually altering them unless necessary—but her oversight wasn't any less critical.
After Eric had become a Mana Wielder, Riya had noticed that most of the Stats had actually disappeared into his still nonexistent Mana Body, and that was why the physical body doesn't need to bulge with the increase of Stats. But even then, a large portion of Physical Stats increase also happens in the physical body, like Eric's current bones and so on, which were now ridiculously tough compared to a mortal human.
Riya was currently, with extreme seriousness, taking notes on every minute detail of Livy's body.
She would later 'recreate' Livy and Lyria in Mind Space for more experiments and checkups, and then troubleshoot, even think of methods to fix problems, and so on.
Riya wouldn't tolerate even a small percentage of error, as it could become very dangerous for either of the girls. Even if Eric doesn't blame her for problems, she herself wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anything went wrong.
What Riya had previously informed Eric wasn't a lie—the amount of work she needs to do was so massive that it cannot be described with few words.
Thankfully, Eric had become a Mana Wielder and his Intelligence was high enough; otherwise, the same work would have taken Riya months to a year to complete. And now she could also speed up time massively to complete the project in a single day, hopefully.
Riya was taking massive responsibility, and she was doing so without anyone to share her burden. She was completely fine with it, as she had taken this decision by herself, and she was very determined not to take a single step back from what she had promised herself the day Eric fell off the cliff.
Livy, meanwhile, was completely red from head to toe.
At first, she was a little uncomfortable. It was like someone or something was touching her from inside directly, even in some places that she didn't have any sensation or knowledge of.
Livy made sure that her body didn't subconsciously reject Eric's 'intrusion.' It took quite some focus, but even so, she couldn't help but feel extremely shy.
Eric's Mana was touching her in various embarrassing places, and it even stayed around for quite a while. It honestly felt… nice, almost as if Eric was doing something naughty with her, but… The problem was… she liked it, and she was turning horny…
Livy was totally embarrassed, and something more too.
She tried her best to hold herself back from turning around and initiating some deep, ancient kiss with Eric, which she had no idea how to do. Though theoretically, she had learned many things from Hannah and wasn't completely naive about these things.
Lyria was confused about what was happening. It had already been over an hour, and Livy was weirdly, completely red—almost as if she had been cooked internally.
An hour or so later, since it began, the inspection was finally over.
Eric was extremely tired. His Mana was completely dried out; it had only lasted that long because Riya was not wasting it and was actively using it before it dispersed. Even so, his Mana pool was now completely empty.
Riya's tired voice also informed Eric that the check-up and recording were complete, and she would work in Mind Space later at night.
Eric was no longer in the state to check on Lyria's body too, so he decided he would do so after dinner. According to Riya, Lyria wouldn't take that long, as she had already grasped most of the main framework from Livy.
Eric sat on the bed tiredly. Livy, who was beside him, for some unknown reason—her lavender smell—seemed to have bloomed, as the entire room seemed to be filled with its scent.
Even Lyria was confused. Just as she was about to ask, Livy stood up and bolted out of the room while covering her face.
Eric was too tired to ask if Livy was okay. He wasn't physically tired but rather mentally—motivation-wise and even emotionally-wise. It seems being out of Mana had its own side effects.
Eric turned toward Lyria and conveyed, "Ly, after dinner, I will check yours. Go and see if Liv is alright. Also, if you girls are hungry, then have your dinner first."
Lyria shook her head. "We are not that hungry, especially after turning into Mana Wielders. We will wait for you."
"Alright, wait for half an hour. Oh, just curious—did Hannah or Wilburn awaken any Elements?"
"…Both are Fire Element Warriors."
Eric was speechless. Hannah and Wilburn not only have an Element, but they have also taken away his Fire Element!
This betrayal was no less than his backstabbing dagger!
"Right, also tell Liv that I have a mission for her—that she must finish before sleeping. You can go now, Ly."
Lyria was confused as to why only Livy had a mission.
She didn't ask anything as she could see Eric was very tired, so she silently left his room while closing the door behind her.