Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2081: No ceremony?

Once my hand touched the red gem, that familiar sensation washed over me.

It matched exactly what I'd felt when I first touched the rock pillar back in the rock elemental village.

The moment my hand connected, I sensed my divine energy being pulled away into the red gem.

But since I'd dealt with this before, I managed to regulate how quickly the red gem drew my divine energy. Soon enough, a consistent stream of divine energy flowed from me into the red gem.

During this process, I felt a force pushing against me.

Apparently, the red gem was already expanding thanks to the divine energy I was pouring into it.

Considering it, this did seem logical.

The rock pillar had started out the same size as the red gem when I began feeding it divine energy, but its end size was clearly much larger than what this red gem would reach.

The chamber here was several times wider than even the biggest part of the rock pillar.

If the growth scaled similarly, then the red gem's initial size was smaller than the rock pillar's had been.

That explained why there was no heat emanating from the red gem at first.

'Why did Solista direct me to the rock elementals before coming here?' I wondered aloud to myself upon this realization.

If the flame elementals' plight was more dire, it would only make sense to send me here first to recharge this red gem. The rock elementals might have faced a comparable issue, but the flame elementals clearly suffered far more severely.

With that in mind, I ramped up the divine energy I was channeling into the red gem.

It strained me a little, yet it felt like this crisis demanded more urgency than the one with the rock elementals.

Meanwhile, I noticed the flame elementals gazing toward me intently.

The spark in their eyes as the red gem swelled showed this was a long-standing worry for them. Relief washed over their faces as they watched it expand before them.

Truly, the flame elementals' situation appeared far graver than that of the rock elementals.

Encouraged by this, I kept pouring more divine energy into the red gem.

I knew from past efforts how much divine energy would tire me out, but I pushed beyond that threshold to give the red gem an extra boost right from the start.

Given its poor state, adding a little more divine energy was perfectly fine.

I even continued longer than usual, despite the fatigue setting in.

For the moment, that additional effort would speed up the red gem's recovery.

When I finally stepped away and returned to the flame elementals, the elder regarded me with deep gratitude, saying, 'Thank you.'

The elder had clearly observed my actions.

Not that I'd attempted to conceal them anyway.

So, I simply nodded before inquiring, 'Will you assemble your people to hold a ceremony now?'

I meant the ritual the rock elementals performed after my initial infusion of divine energy into the rock pillar, the one that drew on its power to infuse vitality into their lands.

Yet the flame elemental elder shook its head and replied, 'No, we're not going to do that.'

This response caught me off guard, as I'd assumed it was a common practice among elementals. But the elder's next words shattered that notion.

'It's not the right moment yet. We can't proceed until the source gains more strength.'

This left me a touch bewildered.

After all, the red gem now held plenty of divine energy for any ritual they might plan, and I was ready to add more whenever needed. It didn't seem like an issue to start the ceremony immediately.

Still, the flame elemental elders stood firm on their choice.

As it was their call, I held my tongue on the matter.

That said, I did need to mention one thing: 'I'll be heading out for a while. I don't think I can endure this place for too long.'

The flame elementals appeared reluctant to see me go, but they also grasped the reason for my departure.

Heat posed the challenge, not cold.

In chilly conditions outside, we could generate our own warmth easily enough.

We'd packed tents and gear to build shelters.

But this intense heat down here was simply too much for us to bear.

Thus, after finishing the divine energy infusion into the red gem, I had to exit this area.

…

Three days had passed since I began channeling divine energy into the red gem, and it had grown considerably larger.

Day by day, hope increasingly brightened the expressions of the flame elementals.

Not only the elders wore these hopeful looks, but the rest of the flame elementals did as well.

And it was on this fourth day that the flame elementals at last took action.