We spend another evening together in our large, comfy bedroom.

It seems that the last remnants of the "party" down in the town have finally fizzled out. Hana and Lina are a bit disappointed that it only lasted for such a short time, but in Yunia's opinion, its duration was still fairly impressive.

Aoi has started forging sheets of metal and tubes, all made by hand, claws, and her own fire breath, giving them a very mild Fire-attunement. They're pretty thick and take a lot of effort to make, so she's still far from making a portable rifle. Perhaps they could be used for a cannon, but the Trinity Cannons that the Chimeras can build are simply superior in every way.

The important thing, though, is that she now has some scrap metal she can use, and I come up with two ideas for some fun projects.

The first one is an air hockey table, for which we use the smoothest sheet she was able to make, then we get earth elemental-wives and the golems to drill holes for the air to flow through. It's a tedious process, so I'm glad that we can rely on them to do it for us.

Then I feel some shame as the Brazilian within me complains that I've forgotten about our national table sport: pebolim, or, as it's known around the world, table football.

This one is even easier to make, so we drop the air hockey project and go for table football first. Aoi's steel tubes are perfect for this, and it doesn't even take us half an hour to build a wooden table for it.

The game is easy to intuitively understand, but the girls feel a little awkward about the fact that there's no interaction with their opponent.

Hana crosses her arms, bunching up her naked balloons, and frowns as she asks, "I can't even grab their bars?"

I shake my head with a wry smile.

"No locking of their men with ours?" Yunia asks disapprovingly as she notices how the little players are all too far from one another to actually do that.

"Nope," I hum.

Osaria gives me a curious look as she questions, "What about that 'foot-ball' game that you said inspired this? Why do they only use their feet?"

I shrug. "Well, it's just a rule to make the game more interesting. If you could use your hands, then you could just hug the ball and run, forcing someone to tackle you to get the ball back, and they want someone to instead use their skill and coordination with their feet to get past their opponents, not just brute strength."

"Can't even punch their heads?" Lina quietly asks, only a sliver of hope in her voice, but it's promptly squashed by my slow head shake.

"Sounds like a Lady's sport," Alissa comments and shares a look with Osaria, who nods in agreement, then they share a smirk.

"Created by someone with a thing for feet," Roxanne adds, giving me a teasing smile, then she brings her long, pale legs towards me as alluringly as she can and spreads her cute, delicious little toes apart.

I reflexively start massaging them and kissing the top of her feet. My desire for feet is decidedly human and has gone ignored and unfulfilled for quite a while.

"Hm…" Ciel mumbles absentmindedly as she imagines a team of lolis playing football.

"I think it's okay," Aoi casually comments, drawing confused looks from everyone. "It's different, and it needs more than just strength, for once."

It could be Aoi's human side talking here, pushing her to be more reasonable, and though the girls understand, they don't really agree.

"Gih," Gify suggests, and Ciel giggles girlishly as she imagines the plush dolls fighting for the ball.

I also get a bit giddy as I imagine the incredible cuteness of that scene and reply with a wry smile, "Maybe, like, a half-time show where we could let the spirits play around and look cute, but I don't know if they'd agree to something like that."

"Oh, that'd definitely mark it as a Lady's sport," Osaria amusedly remarks. Ladies love nature spirits.

"Perhaps you'd enjoy Greco-Roman wrestling a bit more?" Ted suddenly suggests to the other girls.

"Wrestling? That 'wimpy' sport where they don't even punch each other?" Hana immediately retorts and scoffs.

"Two oiled men wrestling with the goal of being the one on top," Suzy continues without wasting a heartbeat.

"Wearing minimal clothing," Jarn releases the final bomb, and it grabs everyone's attention. Even Lina's…

My little angel has been corrupted, too!

Though Hana seems to become confused at the description. "Isn't that just making love?"

"No private parts are purposely touched," Ted answers matter-of-factly.

"Boooring!" Hana exclaims and starts playing around with the football table.

"No, no. That sounds very exciting," Alissa disagrees, her voice full of wonder as her mind imagines all the possibilities, and Roxanne agrees.

Then Osaria swallows heavily, clearly imagining the same things as Alissa. "Wolfy…" She shyly starts with a pleading tone and takes a second to properly organize her thoughts. "Would you mind if we saw a match of this 'Gre-co-Ro-man' wrestling?" She tentatively asks.

I feel a bit awkward about this request, but I can't let the jealous dragon have its way. "It's a 'sport,' so I wouldn't mind. If you want to see men actually doing it, I wouldn't really mind, but I admit that it would trigger a bit of my jealousy," I confess.

Since I want the elves to accept the Chimera free-spirited culture, it means that it'll be difficult for the girls to avoid seeing these sorts of things.

"We just need to tease him in moderation," Roxanne whispers evilly, and I stop playing with her feet to narrow my eyes at her dangerously.

"My 'tolerance' for such things has been really low lately," I warn her, and she clamps her mouth shut before I decide to abuse her some more.

It's a bit funny that they're so used to hurting each other while playing that a sport as "wimpy" as football sounds utterly foreign to them.

American "handegg" and rugby seem like they'd be right at home in this world, though, especially among dragonkin and dwarves. Maybe even the elves would enjoy having a bunch of angry, dirty, sweaty men sprinting around in tight shorts as they fight over a ball.

Everyone gets to play table football, and Alissa and Klein quickly rise to the top due to their superior reflexes. I end up in third with Yunia in fourth, though that's only because she refused to use [Precognition]. Hana is fifth, followed by Ciel, Lina, Aoi, Roxanne, and finally Osaria.

She doesn't show it, but Klein has some pretty good reflexes and "Dexterity." The bow is definitely her fated weapon with how easily her [Bow Use] keeps up with her level now that she's getting a steady stream of Experience.

The golems are the only ones who can truly compete with Alissa. Their focus and kinetic vision are very impressive, but they're like NPCs since they lack true variety in their play style, making it possible for us to find strategies that can counter them completely.

We eventually finish making the air hockey table, too, and Lina enchants it with some Wind magic that blows air up through the holes of the sheet. It works pretty well, and Hana rises to the top of the scoreboard with her nearly impenetrable defense. I think her [Block] and [Parry] might actually be activating to help her with this game.

I'm having a lot more fun with these games than I ever did with cards, but the time for us to sleep soon comes, so we begrudgingly stop playing for the night.

Today is the 14th, An, day of Wind. Alissa once said that she avoids hunting birds on this day of the day-cycle because they're just too fast, and Yunia also commented about how the wind chimes are louder than usual.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I increased my [Ekrano Style], [Soul Manipulation], and [Mana Body] by 1 (now 4, 9, and 4).

Alissa increased her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 1+14). She has finally finished learning Nocturna's [Mesmerizing Butterflies] and is now focusing on both [Daydreaming] and [Sleep]. She's also accelerating Hana's learning of [Illusion Magic] by sharing some of her knowledge, which has the added bonus of giving Alissa a bit of feedback about her own blindspots.

Roxanne increased her [Reduced Mana Cost] and [Space Magic] by 1 (now 20+5 and 3+12) due to her use of [Explosion] yesterday.

Hana increased her [Draconic Body] by 1 (now 6), which took one of her free points from [Spear Use], and I suspect that her use of it to resist the Dryad's touch contributed almost as much towards its level up as our fight with Big Skrellington did.

Ciel increased her [Glaive Use], [Dodge], and [Wind Magic] by 1 (now 1+29, 4+11, and 15+25). She was one of the most physically active among us during yesterday's fight, so it's no surprise that she leveled up a lot of skills.

Lina increased her [Hammer Use] and [Axe Use] by 1 (now 5+25 and 10+15). Trying to desperately hack her way through her enemies gave her a nice boost of experience.

Aoi leveled up to 39, and her "Piety" increased by 1 (now 7). It seems that her experience with Big Skrellington has made her into a fervent proponent for the indiscriminate purging of anything related to the undead.

Yunia is the only one of us who didn't level up a skill since she didn't actually do anything particularly strenuous other than butchering Big Skrellington's spine, and she's definitely suppressing the learning of any skills as crass as [Dismantling].

For breakfast, we have a savory french toast with cooked beans, a Rabanarian meal.

I drink my cup of Tonique tea and sigh. The taste of coffee I enjoyed yesterday has rekindled my desire for a cup of hot, Arabica espresso with Chantilly on top. Ah… how I miss mocha, or even just some simple drip coffee with milk and chocolate cookies.

Oh, no. Stop, brain, stop! Please!

My melancholy quickly grows so deep that I have to eat a whole bar of chocolate to get myself to stop wishing for what I can't have.

Out of all things that I miss from Earth, coffee is definitely near the top. Chocolate used to be the number one on that list, but now I just have to wait until Rande brings me back my Cocoa, so it's very easy for me to contain my thirst for chocolate with delayed gratification.

"It's fine to drink a bit of Cinco Flores if you miss the taste that much," Yunia kindly advises me.

"'Cinco Flores'?!" Osaria breathes, and it comes out a little more enthusiastic than how she intended, so she clears her throat and looks down to her plate in embarrassment.

I can't say no to my motherly elf, so I pull out the bottle and some glasses from yesterday, then I uncork it as I smile lovingly at her.

Osaria licks her lips and takes a shot glass, then she whispers, "If you'll excuse me." And disappears under the table.

She gathers a bit of milk but doesn't immediately swallow. Instead, she spits it out into her glass, then she returns to her seat and pushes the glass towards me.

"A finger, please," she innocently asks with a shameless smile.

Osaria's habit of flavoring sweet food with a bit of "me" in it infects the other girls, so I give them all the same, then everyone, except for me, takes a shot of "Flores e Gozzada."

"This is really good…" Human-Aoi mumbles in wonder, having found the perfect side dish for her meal: my virile, draconic seed.

The setting for our morning training is a purple Wisteria grove in our private garden. The faint, sweet scent of this variety of Wisteria makes for a nice change from the usual musky smell of elven architecture.

It's shaded and secluded here, so we all go naked to enjoy the fresh breeze that blows through the grove.

Suddenly, one of the maids walks in, a more "well-trained" one that doesn't even bat an eye at our state.

She bows and keeps her head low as she reports, "Your Highness, there's a Companion called Hukarere that wishes to meet with you."

Yeah, today's going to be a "mouth day," it seems. Wait, why is she asking for permission?

I composedly respond, "Hukarere can visit us at any time. She should also have permission to enter the High Leaves."

"Understood, your Highness," the maid politely replies and straightens her back, then she leaves the grove.

I put some points in [Reo Language], then my white wolf barges in, a wide grin on her pretty muzzle, and I notice that she's wearing a simple necklace with a transparent gem, her spirit's "home." She immediately advances towards me and throws herself on me.

"I missed you…!" She exclaims, almost whimpering like a dog.

"Me or my 'friend'?" I ask coldly.

She gives me her best puppy eyes and plays with it. "Why not both?" She cutely replies.

I stop teasing her and let the mask slip, revealing a warm smile. "Alright… I missed you too, by the way. How's the training going?" Then I pat her furred head lovingly.

"[Enemy has appeared. Goblins at west]," she reports in Andraste with a heavy accent.

I moan softly and praise her, "Your pronunciation is pretty good given how little time you've had to learn it."

"I don't have a system anymore, but I think that I must have still learned the language skill due to how fast I'm improving."

I rub my chin in thought and use [Sense Soul] on her, but I still can't make any sense of where the skills are located, making me wish that I had more time to improve this skill. "Hm… That's interesting. Perhaps the system's 'menu' is related to your Thread, which has been cut, but the learning of skills might be related to something else that's still functioning normally."

"It'll be pretty convenient for us if that's the case."

"Yes, it will."

She sits up, looking me straight in the eye, and removes her necklace, then hands it to me.

"Can I stay with you for today? I'd like to go on an adventure." Then she suddenly gasps and awkwardly lowers her head, her pointy ears going flat, "Ah! I mean, if that's what you have planned for today," she hurriedly adds.

I smile warmly and pat her head reassuringly. "Sure. We'll be doing a secret experiment after lunch, so you won't be able to tell anyone about it."

"Ooh~…" She howls quietly in wonder, then she resumes milking me.

Ciel suddenly chimes in, "How's Ririmu? We haven't seen him since we left the dungeon."

They carry on a casual, friendly conversation while we train, and I reward Hukarere multiple times over the morning.

For lunch, we have Kibbeh once again, this time with a slightly different seasoning, and I promise the girls that I won't ask for it every day. Hukarere likes it a lot, but she still can't eat that much, especially after swallowing a whole meal's worth of me-juice.

Then the oh, so awaited time finally comes: the [Otherworldly Summoning] experiment.

Since this is such an important event, everyone is present to help us with it.

We enter the chosen room and confirm that all of the Officers are already present. Almaria is just finishing up drawing a decagram in her own blood for [Disruption Field]; Alcander and Silvano are testing an emellanat cage that they forged together; and Sai is testing her [Soul Blade] on Sandoro, successfully interrupting his [Fireball]. Poosh and Hukarere will only be observing, having been given explicit orders to not do anything besides running away since they're the least able to defend themselves in case shit hits the fan.

Alissa will focus on observing my mind and reporting what she sees; Roxanne will join the mages and try to interrupt the spell, if possible; Hana will hold the emellanat manacles and chains, ready to put them on me at a moment's notice in case things go wrong; Ciel is our healer on duty; Lina and Aoi don't have anything specific to do, so they'll be responsible for the emellanat cage; Yunia will join Sai in slicing through my spirit if nothing else works; and the golems and Gify will join Poosh and Hukarere as mere observers.

I stand in the middle of the room, and the human inside of me cringes at the thought of everyone ganging up on me to interrupt the spell.

"Let's rehearse it a few times before we do it for real," Ciel kindly suggests, and I suppress the urge to whimper.

Hana is definitely going to enjoy giving me a little taste of pain.

The Officers plus Roxanne can interrupt anything I cast, but in case they can't handle it, the manacles can also do the job, though they'll melt if I use all of my MP. Unfortunately, the emellanat cage only works when I cast something outside of my body, but Sai and Yunia can instantly make me go unconscious as a last resort.

In the end, the ultimate interrupter is Almaria's [Disruption Field], though it's so powerful that it can even damage my HP, but it won't actually kill me that quickly or easily.

It hurts so much that even the dragon complains, and I need a few minutes of recharging in Ciel's bosom while I play with Alissa's ears and tail before I'm ready for the real thing.

For once, I actually like being cute as the pitying eyes from the female side make me feel loved and comforted.

Once I feel refreshed, I stand up and adjust my elven vest. "Alright, let's do this."

Everyone gets into position, and the tension in the air skyrockets as our demeanor becomes absolutely serious.

We go through one last readiness check, and I announce, "I'm casting it." Then I press the button inside my soul space.

My vision goes dark, and I lose all the feeling in my body, but I'm still perfectly conscious and able to reach the girls through [Bind]. It's like [Infuse], which puts me in a "soul-building UI," though this one is completely dark.

A few tense seconds pass, my MP constantly draining into the spell while we wait, then I see a white dot, then another, and another, and then they start gaining colors.

Like a rain of colored paint falling onto water, the dots start to morph and spread, turning into lines and shapes in an instant. They create an abstract picture, but my pattern-addicted monkey brain insists that there's something there, I just don't know what it is.

Suddenly, half my vision goes dark, and the process starts again in this new "half." A few moments later, my vision is split yet again, now divided into three parts, and a third abstract painting is brought to life before my eyes.

The splitting continues on in a radial pattern, looking like a blooming, rainbow-colored flower with each petal growing in as yet another painting on its own. However, this splitting continues on endlessly, and the petals soon become so small that I can't make them out anymore.

The entire room is completely silent as Alissa reports what I'm seeing. Nobody has any idea about what's going on, and they're too wary to ask any questions right now.

"The mana feels incredibly 'odd,'" Silvano is the first to speak, his tone completely devoid of humor for once.

"It truly feels 'otherworldly,'" Almaria adds with the same tone.

"It scares me," Ciel somberly shares, and her [Holy Spirit] nods cutely.

Then my vision starts to warp, as if I'm looking through a fisheye lense, and the "flower" gradually shrinks down until it's merely a dot in a black abyss.

Suddenly, another dot appears beside the "flower," but it seems to be mostly red with some black and yellows mixed in, then another dot appears, this one mostly blue, followed by hundreds of dots appearing almost instantly, all arranged in a grid with each one in a different color of the rainbow. Some of them don't even seem to have a "color," giving me strange, creepy feelings whenever I focus on one of those.

Are these worlds? Or the so-called "Cycles"?

There are so many that I can't even see them all, and after I try to "shift" my view, I learn that I can move "up" and "down" to see even more of them, as if I were staring into the contents of a folder inside a computer.

I search for one that doesn't give me any creepy vibes and "focus" on it, but then I just get a deepening feeling of "incongruity"… no, "incompatibility."

Then my MP runs out, and I'm kicked out from the "Folder of Cycles."