Elysia, Elena, and Rhea were inside a large magic circle consisting of several small magic circles and many complicated runes.
Various kinds of materials at several central points would be used as resources to generate magic energy for Rhea's recovery.
'Two hundred kilograms, we used two hundred kilograms of high-grade resources, which must be very hard to find in the world.' Elysia muttered as she thought the current event was quite extravagant.
'Fret not, Ely. We have far more than what we could possibly spend in the Nature Palace Treasury. But, if we run out, that's the price to pay for taking care of several Goddesses, fufu... Goddess Tamer, is it?' Elena chuckled as she recalled the presupposition that Sylvia had made a while ago.
'Ehm... To be honest, that's a rather strange nickname to hear. Sylvi just said that on a whim.' Elysia shook her head and took out two cushion seats from her Space Bag. She sat there and put Rhea on her lap.
"Now the formation is ready to be activated. Elena, Elysia, please help my daughter to recover her magic." Lifa announced as she was preparing the formation to activate.
"You can leave that to us. But, it looks like it's Elysia who will work a lot. You used the wrong order." Elena shook her head because Lifa should mention Elysia first, not her.
"Elysia, my daughter really counts on you. I leave her to you." Lifa added to give a special appreciation.
"Mm, understood, Madam Lifa. We are ready any time. Master, please help me stabilize the magic energy before I use it for Rhea to absorb." Elysia patted the empty cushion seat for Elena to sit down.
"With pleasure." Elena sat in front of Elysia. The two of them faced each other now, with Rhea between them.
"Alright, I'll activate the recovery formation right now." After saying that, Lifa triggered all the magic circles to work at the same time.
A golden and green light shone from the magic circles. Hundreds of thin fibers moved towards the central point where Elysia, Elena, and Rhea were.
At that moment, Elysia felt a slight pressure from the magic energy of perfect purity. She could even see the sparkling golden and green auras with the naked eye as if they were in a shimmering mist.
"Now is the time. Rhea." Elysia announced that she would start to help.
"Understood." Rhea immediately closed her eyes and began to focus on receiving the magic energy injection that Elysia gave her.
Meanwhile, Elena just took a breath and started helping Elysia with whatever she could. She made Elysia's job easier by gathering the surrounding magic energy and adjusting the quantity before Elysia injected it into Rhea's body using spirit connections.
The magic energy recovery formation lasted for several minutes over three hours. Rhea could not continue for the second stage because the severe drowsiness assaulted her like an inevitable storm.
In the end, Rhea fell into a deep sleep using Elysia's lap as a pillow.
"Well, we can't proceed to the second stage at this rate." Elena stroked the cute little girl's head with a weak smile on her face.
"What can we do? Rhea is still a little girl who needs a lot of rest, more than us big girls." Elysia threw a light joke. She looked at the surrounding magic circles. Everything was slowly extinguished, and the resource materials had disappeared without a trace.
"That's true, Ely. But what are we going to do now?" Elena nodded in understanding and immediately racked her brain to decide what she needed to do now.
"I remember you wanted to have a warm conversation with Madam Lifa, right, master? Something about the Private Realm, divine domain, or something like that?" Elysia reiterated what Elena had said three to four hours ago. She smiled faintly not only at Elena but at Lifa as well.
"Oh! I almost forgot about it. Luckily you reminded me, Ely. Ehehe..." Elena dropped her fist onto her open palm. She immediately got up from her seat and walked over to the Tree of Life. "Li-fa~ Let's talk over a cup of tea."
For so many reasons, Lifa felt a somewhat unfavorable foreboding. She broke out in a cold sweat to see Elena's excited smile. One reason that overwhelmed her the most was Elena. After all, this girl once again would definitely dig deep to understand or learn something from her. No mercy or exception, although sometimes coercion was used to corner her.
"Ely, why don't you go back to the outside world and be with our Little Goddess? I'm sure she's lonely right now. Please take Rhea with you too because our little girl should sleep on a comfortable bed rather than on that grassy ground." Elena suggested while pouring two cups of warm tea for herself and Lifa. She put the tea near the trunk of the Tree of Life.
"Hmm, fine. See you later, Madam Lifa." Elysia stood up while holding the sleeping little girl.
"Ah, um, okay. By morning, my daughter might have grown into a twelve-year-old girl." Lifa did not forget to remind. Even though there was an intention in her mind for Elysia to stay, she didn't have any reason to hold Elysia any longer.
"Okay, I've prepared some cute dresses for Rhea. Let's go first." Elysia waved her hand and went towards the mini-portal. She told Nell about her return, and the latter immediately brought the necklace closer to the mini-portal.
With a finger touch to the green gem, Elysia sent her order to widen the portal for herself to come out. Then, the portal was closed right after because of Elena's request.
"Welcome back, Elysia. Has the recovery formation ended? It was faster than I thought. How about my big sister's circumstances?" Nell floated around to examine the little girl in Elysia's arms.
"Rhea was unable to proceed to the second stage. To be honest, I didn't expect that the recovery formation would be that effective. Good news for your big sister, Nell. My master and I have managed to help Rhea recover her magic energy to more than sixty percent!" Elysia conveyed the good news with a gentle smile.
"Wow, that's amazing! So, my big sister's body will grow up tomorrow?" Nell clapped her hands. A sense of joy and enthusiasm overflowed from within to hear that her big sister was almost fully recovered.
"Let's see tomorrow morning. Allow me to put Rhea on the bed first." Elysia went to bed and put Rhea there. She also put a blanket for the little princess.
But, it seemed the little princess didn't want to be left alone. Rhea still gripped Elysia's dress tightly as if she wouldn't let go even in her sleep.
"My big sister doesn't seem to want to be separated from you, Ely." Nell landed on Elysia's shoulder and shook her head with a weak smile.
"It seems so." Elysia replied with a subtle nod.
"Elysia, why do you still love playing the 'master-disciple relationship' role with Elena, your other half?" Nell tried to ask the one thing she didn't understand. It always poked her curiosity whenever she saw Elena and Elysia come out as master and disciple.
"It's nothing and no reason. We love to do that, and that's what we do, just like you and your big sister, Nell. Please don't overthink it. Also, please roll your eyes when my master and I introduce ourselves. as master and disciple." Elysia looked up at the night sky for a moment and turned her head to Nell.
"You can figure that out? Hm, okay, I see. I won't be questioning or arguing about anything like this again. Pardon my curiosity." Nell nodded in understanding and flew down to her big sister's side.
"Are you going to bed, Nell?" Elysia got Nell a pillow.
"Oh, thank you. Yes, I decided to just sleep. I'm sure Elena and Lifa are busy with their business. You should also go to bed, Ely. Even if you possess the power of a divine, your body is not endowed with the same endurance." Nell let Elysia put down the pillow, and she threw herself there. After that, she reminded the obvious.
"Sshh... It's a divine secret just between us, right? Only the five of us can know, no more. I'd be scared if you said that out loud." Elysia looked left and right as if she was afraid that someone would eavesdrop.
"This room is already protected by a layered barrier. No one can peek or eavesdrop, even if to other divine beings. You seem insecure about that, Ely. I will not bring up anything related to our divine secrets other than through our spirit connections. Let's sleep. Good night." Nell found a comfortable sleeping position on the pillow, then closed her eyes.
She knew very well the main reason why her big sister would always be by Elysia's side. It was to protect a divine who might be the strongest but also the most fragile and vulnerable. Elena was just not enough to protect Elysia at all times.
Divine protection in return for divine assistance based on mutual benefit and safety. The unusual relationship between Rhea and Elysia, including Elena.
"Um, good night." Elysia replied to the night's greeting. She considered a few things and consulted Elena.
In the end, she was asked to go to bed first because Elena probably would stay up all night to 'talk' with Lifa. Therefore, Elysia decided to call it a day and lay down on the bed to sleep.