The day after helping strengthen Helia, Jun An took both her and the largely un-enhanced Susannah back to the training grounds to continue testing the effects of "Feedback".
It was just as Jun An had expected.
Jun An's "Feedback" was a combination of two buffs: a permanent slight power increase and a temporary stimulant effect. The former permanently boosted strength a little, while the latter acted like a stimulant, providing another temporary boost on top of the base power.
Take Susannah, who had received almost no enhancement. Her stimulated state had already worn off, returning her to her usual jittery condition. Facing the A-rank training mech she could beat yesterday, she was now unable to win.
But even so, her strength still showed a significant improvement. It's just that her becoming stronger didn't automatically mean she could beat an A-rank training mech; after all, the term "strength" fluctuated wildly when applied to Susannah.
Sometimes, she could pass Durandal's warm-up training, while other times, just fighting a few Honkai beasts left her gasping for breath.
As for Helia, after a night's rest and having the Captain use the power of the Herrscher of Rebirth to heal the pain from losing her virginity yesterday, the "stimulant buff" on her had clearly disappeared, and her internal injuries were gone. In its place, however, was the joy of her strength increase.
The most noticeable feeling was that the Xuanyuan Sword, which had originally felt very heavy, was now much lighter in her hands. Using it for combat was no longer a problem at all.
As someone who trained diligently, she knew this was definitely not the kind of change in physical strength that could happen overnight.
"Is this... the power the Captain bestowed upon me..."
Helia couldn't help but feel somewhat bewildered. Yes, bewildered.
"What's wrong, Helia?" Jun An noticed her complex emotions. "Feel like the money wasn't worth it?"
Jun An had accepted the money, but he only intended to take payment from Helia this one time, mainly because she herself had insisted on giving it.
And although Jun An felt bad taking money from a teenage high school girl, the thought of the one hundred million debt owed to Eden instantly forced him to accept it. Oh well, take from the people, use for the people, right?
Hearing Jun An's words, Helia quickly shook her head. "Not at all! Being able to have such deep interaction with the Captain is worth paying double, even though what I gave last night was all my savings..."
"Then why the complicated look?"
"It's just that, after calming down, this kind of power feels a little... unreal."
Helia was, after all, an honors student and a representative figure among the down-to-earth students in her year at St. Freya High School. This was naturally attributed to her practical, grounded personality.
"Power not gained through training... Although it certainly lets you experience a real boost in strength for a time, it still feels somewhat unreal in the end."
"Is that so? I personally don't see anything wrong with it."
Jun An, being a prime example of leveling up through cheats, naturally preferred freebies over hard work when it came to power. That's why Jun An loved his System; it always managed to issue various tasks just right to allow him a certain degree of free power-ups.
"But if you don't like it, I can provide some after-sales service."
"After-sales?"
Hearing these words, Helia couldn't help but recall the images of her passionate night with the Captain. Could that kind of thing have after-sales service?
"Since you feel that directly boosting stats isn't grounded, I'll teach you something more concrete."
"Something concrete?"
Jun An walked into the training area and said to Helia, "I've observed your fighting. Your low stats are your biggest weakness. Yesterday's exchange boosted your stats even more than Susannah's, which shows you have talent."
"But beyond stats, there's technique. Using Honkai energy is like cultivation. I can teach you some offensive methods I commonly use to increase power, and defensive methods for when you're hit."
"The Captain's way of using Honkai energy? Is it different from what St. Freya teaches?"
Helia was somewhat surprised. Regarding Honkai energy usage, she had always thought it was just about increasing kinetic energy or infusing weapons.
"That's just the most common method the school teaches you. What I'm teaching is the advanced version. The difficulty increases, but the effect also increases."
Jun An explained, "Of course, the efficiency will definitely be a bit lower. With the method the school teaches, you use 1 Honkai energy to deal 1 damage. But with my method, using 2 Honkai energy deals about 1.8 damage. It's an output method designed to finish off opponents quickly."
For Jun An, Honkai energy wasn't an issue, so consumption wasn't a big deal. The biggest problem was how to increase output.
And Jun An's teaching was simple: just adjusting her Honkai energy output. This was easy for her, aided by the Taixu Sword Qi's Heart Tempering and the Xuanyuan Sword.
Soon, Jun An had taught her the more advanced application of Honkai energy.
Offense and defense. Teaching her these two basics would essentially allow Helia to hold her own in low-to-mid-tier battles.
After all, excluding occasional fights involving Herrscher-level rule-based abilities, the combat scenarios Helia would likely encounter consisted, in Jun An's eyes, of only three elements: attack, defense, and evasion.
Now that Jun An had taught her two of them, that was basically enough for a typical A-rank Valkyrie. She didn't need to fight Herrschers anyway; Jun An would handle enemies like that himself.
"Remember, your Honkai energy reserves are inherently low. Treat this as a burst skill, use it only when you're certain it will hit."
"Yes, I understand."
Helia could also feel that the method Jun An gave her consumed a lot of Honkai energy. With her D-rank adaptability, she couldn't sustain it for more than a few minutes.
Of course, in a direct confrontation, a few minutes could decide the entire outcome. But the battlefield wasn't always so ideal.
Even so, she had to admit the Captain's earlier claim of using 2 energy for 1.8 damage was definitely humble. Based on the effect, she thought the value could be adjusted to 2.2.
"Is this... the Honkai energy training method of an S-rank Knight..."
That trace of groundedness finally returned to Helia's heart. "I thought you really only relied on various external aids to get stronger, Captain. It seems I was wrong."
"Hm? Why are you suddenly telling me this?"
"No, it's just a simple observation."
Helia said, "I just feel that your movements, your teaching, all seem very practiced. Not something a person skilled only at 'cheating' would possess."
Jun An lifted his head with some confidence. "Of course. I am one of the few S-ranks, after all, and the one with the strongest overall combat power! Naturally, I can't rely solely on stats to crush enemies."
Of course, while his overall power was number one, Jun An's technique was undoubtedly dead last among the four S-ranks. In terms of pure combat skill, even Rita was slightly better than Jun An, since she became an S-rank through abilities like assassination techniques.
But even so, Jun An's current strength was still leagues ahead of everyone below Kiana. After him came Vita, the Herrscher of Sentience, Durandal, Li Sushang, and others.
It was simply because Jun An was the biggest stat-stick and mechanics-monster on Earth, so the skill gap didn't seem that important.
"So, what should I practice next?"
Helia asked humbly while practicing the Honkai energy method Jun An had taught her, "Should I continue repeatedly using the method you taught me, Captain, or something else?"
As she spoke, Helia's gaze drifted towards Jun An's crotch, her face slightly red.
Even if it wasn't for boosting stats, that sensation alone was enough to make an inexperienced girl like her develop a taste for it, unable to stop fantasizing about last night's events.
Thanks to the reliable guidance of Senior Susannah, plus the affection from the idol she admired most, it could be said that her first experience had already surpassed most people's.
"What? Didn't you feel this method wasn't grounded?"
Jun An naturally understood her thoughts and couldn't resist teasing Helia.
Honestly, watching Helia's huge front armor jiggle along with her movements as she swung her sword, its size was in no way smaller than Himeko's, Vita's, or Big Griseo's.
Jun An was indeed a bit reluctant if she was only going to be his girlfriend for one night.
Hearing this, Helia immediately blushed. "That's true, but this also counts as a form of effort and contribution, right?"
"I don't deny that."
Jun An shrugged. For him, as long as the result was good, the process didn't matter much. But Helia seemed to prefer being down-to-earth, so Jun An naturally didn't want to spoil her mood.
Besides, she had taken the initiative to extend an olive branch to him, so Jun An naturally had no intention of refusing.
"Then, Captain, you should have some free time recently, right?"
In Helia's impression, Jun An was extremely busy, so she wanted to seize his recent free time to interact more.
She swallowed, looking slightly embarrassed. "Although I don't have that much money right now, can I owe you for now? Don't worry, I'll definitely pay it back."
"Pfft."
Jun An couldn't help but cover his face and chuckle wryly. As expected of an honors student with zero dating experience, her thinking was indeed quite rigid.
"You don't need to pay when you come find me. What happened with Susannah was just a bit of fun between the two of us. Honestly, if you have time and want to do anything, feel free."
Ahem, of course, sometimes he hoped she'd show some mercy.
Although Jun An quite liked Helia's studious spirit, he couldn't be a pile driver twenty-four hours a day.
Speaking of which, it seemed he hadn't had a proper night's rest during this period. Since his current bed partners were Helia and Susannah, why not drain their stamina first?
Just then, Jun An happened to see a chestnut-haired girl looking around the training ground, seemingly searching for someone.
Anna? Isn't she from Headquarters? What's she doing here?
While Jun An was wondering, Anna's face bloomed into a smile like a snow lotus upon seeing him.
"Jun An!"
Looking at Anna walking towards him, then looking back at Helia, Jun An suddenly had an idea.
"Helia, you've already learned attack and defense. Later, I'll introduce you to a Herrscher-level opponent. Defeating her will be your next assignment. Good luck!"
Jun An planned to sleep alone tonight, to recuperate for a change.