After Flat's previous act of modifying her Saint Graph parameters with just a touch, Olga Marie was now extremely wary of any physical proximity from him. Unless absolutely necessary, she would never allow this guy to have any physical contact with her again.
Flat was in so much pain that tears were almost welling up.
He looked at Olga Marie pitifully, then at his gripped wrist, conveying the message 'I'm innocent, I just wanted to help, let go quickly or I'm going to die' with his eyes.
Olga Marie stared at him for three seconds, clicked her tongue, and released her grip.
The moment the force was withdrawn, Flat went limp, curling into a ball as he clutched his wrist and let out a 'wuwuwu' whimper.
"It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts..."
Rubbing his already reddened wrist, he looked up with teary eyes.
"Miss Olga Marie, you're being way too heavy-handed..."
"You deserved it."
Olga Marie withdrew her hand and leaned back against the chair. Resting one hand on the armrest, her fingertips caught a strand of silvery-white hair and slowly twirled it.
She glanced to the side, her tone cold.
"Who told you to suddenly reach out?"
"I just wanted to help..."
Flat muttered aggrievedly, his voice growing smaller as Olga Marie's gaze swept over him.
That look was filled with the words 'if you say one more word of nonsense, I'll throw you out the window'.
Flat tactfully shut his mouth, but after a few seconds, he couldn't help but speak up again.
"I really just wanted to help!"
He held up three fingers as if making an oath.
"I was just observing the process of your Saint Graph repair, and I found that the Magical Energy flow has a pattern, and the repair fluctuations have a fixed frequency!"
"So I thought, if I could intervene and use my Magical Energy to guide and accelerate it, maybe I could shorten the repair time directly to—"
"Impossible."
Olga Marie interrupted him.
"But—"
"No 'buts'."
Olga Marie turned her head to face him directly.
"Flat, I admit your talent in Magecraft is anomalous—anomalous enough to make me doubt whether you're even human."
"But Saint Graph repair is not Magecraft; it is the fundamental essence of a Heroic Spirit's existence. It is not something you can interfere with."
"So."
Olga Marie looked away.
"Give up. Don't waste your effort on something futile."
The room fell silent.
After about a minute, Flat suddenly spoke.
"Miss Olga Marie."
"Hmm?"
"You really want to recover quickly, right?"
Olga Marie didn't answer, but her fingers tightened unconsciously.
Flat noticed this small movement.
"Even though you say things like 'it doesn't matter' or 'just take it slow', you're actually in quite a hurry, aren't you?"
"Shut up."
Olga Marie's voice turned cold.
Flat didn't shut up.
Instead, he leaned in a bit closer and lowered his voice.
"What if I told you I could actually do it?"
"..."
"Not just accelerate it, but complete it directly."
"Let me try, okay?"
"Just once."
"If it fails, I'm at your mercy."
"If it succeeds—"
He paused, his smile widening.
"You'll owe me a favor."
Olga Marie said nothing.
She stared at Flat, into those blue eyes that were filled with the plea of 'trust me, trust me'.
A long time passed.
Just as Flat thought she was going to refuse again—
"If anything feels wrong."
Olga Marie's voice rang out.
"I will kill you instantly."
Flat was stunned for a moment, then he smiled.
"No problem!"
Olga Marie glanced at him.
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"I am," Flat said. "But I'm more afraid of being bored."
"..."
Olga Marie stared at him for two seconds and sighed.
"...How do we try?"
"It's simple! Just reach out your hand!"
Olga Marie stared at him for three seconds, then slowly raised her right hand, palm up, and held it out before him.
That hand was very pale, with slender fingers and neatly trimmed, clean nails.
Flat also reached out his right hand and gripped her palm.
"And then?" Olga Marie asked.
"And then—"
Flat closed his eyes.
Magical Energy surged from his palm, flowing through the contact of their skin and into Olga Marie's body.
At that moment, Olga Marie's body stiffened.
She felt Flat's Magical Energy like tiny feelers, probing into her Saint Graph, wandering along those cracks, scanning and recording.
The sensation was very strange.
It didn't hurt or itch, but there was a discomfort of being pried into and dissected.
It felt like lying on an operating table, allowing a doctor to cut open your body and inspect your internal organs.
For a moment, Olga Marie even felt the urge to kill the person in front of her.
She bit her lower lip, forcing herself to relax.
If asked whether she trusted Flat...
No, not at all.
But she needed power; she needed to recover as quickly as possible, regain her memories, and complete her mission.
Therefore, even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, she was willing to take the gamble.
Flat's Magical Energy feelers had finished the scan.
Next came the actual operation.
Flat took a deep breath and concentrated his mind.
His Magical Energy began to change, shifting from probing to intervening.
Olga Marie's Saint Graph was displayed before him completely and without reservation.
It was a structure so massive it was suffocating.
Complex, precise, and nested in layers, like a star that had been infinitely folded and then unfolded.
The damaged parts spread like cobwebs, but the core remained stable, emitting a certain... indescribable aura.
Flat held his breath, his entire mind sinking into the perception.
He just thought.
Thinking of the trajectories of those Magical Energy flows.
Thinking of the distribution of those damaged areas.
Thinking of how to optimize the paths, how to accelerate the repair.
Then, the Magical Energy followed his thoughts and began to form new incantations.
—
Repairing a Saint Graph is an extremely dangerous operation; the slightest mistake could lead to eternal damnation.
Olga Marie was confident, but she wasn't stupid.
Allowing Flat to try didn't mean she fully trusted him.
So when he began the operation, her every nerve was tensed.
She was ready to strike back at any moment.
Then, she froze.
The Magical Energy that was originally flowing slowly suddenly accelerated.
It was an exponential surge.
The damaged areas were being repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The cracks closed.
The shattered pieces reorganized.
The entire process was incredibly fast.
There wasn't a single hint of disorder, not a shred of loss of control.
How was this possible?
Olga Marie snapped her eyes open.
She looked at Flat.
Flat still had his eyes closed, his brow slightly furrowed in deep concentration.
Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, but the hand gripping hers was steady, without a single tremor.
"You..."
Olga Marie opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Shock.
That was her only feeling at this moment.
Last time, when Flat modified the parameters of her horns, she was surprised but could still understand it.
That was, after all, just a surface-level operation with limited difficulty.
But this time...
This was Saint Graph repair, an operation involving the very essence.
Flat was nothing more than a somewhat special human—how could he possibly achieve this level?