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

Once my hand touched the red gem, that familiar feeling enveloped me.

This matched exactly what happened when I first touched the rock pillar in the rock elementals' village.

The instant my hand connected, I sensed my divine energy being pulled out by the red gem.

But since I was no stranger to this process, I managed to regulate how quickly the red gem drew my divine energy. Soon enough, a consistent stream of divine energy transferred from me to the red gem.

During this transfer, I felt a force repelling me slightly.

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

Upon reflection, this seemed logical.

The rock pillar had started out the same size as the red gem did at the beginning of my infusion. Yet, the end result for the rock pillar was clearly larger than what this red gem would likely become.

The chamber here was many times wider than even the thickest part of the grown rock pillar.

Assuming sizes scaled similarly, this red gem began smaller than the rock pillar had.

That explained the lack of heat emanating from the red gem.

"Why did Solista direct me to the rock elementals before this?" I wondered aloud upon grasping this.

Should the flame elementals' crisis be more severe, it made sense to have me recharge this red gem first. The rock elementals might have faced issues too, but the flame elementals appeared to be in far graver shape.

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

It strained me a little, yet this felt more pressing than the rock elementals' plight.

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

The spark in their eyes as the red gem enlarged showed this was a long-standing worry for them. Relief washed over their faces watching it grow before them.

Truly, the flame elementals' situation was much direr than that of the rock elementals.

This realization spurred me to keep channeling more divine energy into the red gem.

I knew from past efforts how much divine energy would tire me out. Still, I pushed beyond that threshold to deliver extra to the red gem on this initial go.

Given its poor state, boosting it further seemed entirely appropriate.

I persisted even longer than usual, despite the growing fatigue.

For the moment, adding that surplus would speed up the red gem's recovery.

Once finished, as I returned to the flame elementals, the elder regarded me gratefully and uttered, "Thank you."

The elder had clearly observed my actions.

Not that I had attempted to conceal them.

Thus, I simply nodded before inquiring, "Will you assemble your people to hold a ceremony?"

I meant the ritual the rock elementals performed after my first infusion into the rock pillar, which harnessed its power to infuse life 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 figured not all elementals followed the same customs. But the elder's next words disproved my assumption.

"It isn’t the right time for that yet. We can’t do this until the source becomes a bit stronger."

This left me somewhat puzzled.

After all, the red gem now held sufficient divine energy for any ritual they might plan, and I could always add more. Hosting it immediately shouldn't pose an issue.

Nevertheless, the flame elemental elders stood firm on this choice.

As it was their call, I held my tongue.

One matter I did need to address, though: "I’ll be leaving for a bit. I don’t think that I can survive in this place for a long time."

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

Heat proved troublesome, unlike cold.

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

We carried tents and gear to build shelters against the cold.

Here, though, the intense heat made prolonged stays impossible for us.

Hence, after completing the divine energy infusion into the red gem, I had no choice but to exit.

...

Three days had passed since I began feeding divine energy to the red gem, and it had swelled considerably.

Day by day, hope blossomed across the flame elementals' features.

Not only the elders wore these expressions; the rest of the flame elementals did too.

On the fourth day, the flame elementals at last took action.