Jenni circled in the living room while Gale rested his butt on the couch. Dawn stood across from him, observing Jenni as she made her decision.
"You have time to decide, you know?" Gale told her for the third time. "Anyway, do not wander off on your own. After dealing with some issues in my soul domain, I'll smuggle you into the frontlines the right way."
There was, after all, an actual process and legitimacy to how people entered and departed from the place. With Jenni being in his soul domain, her arrival was not archived officially. He was sure it wouldn't cause too much of a stir, or people wouldn't even find out, but there was no point in taking chances.
With that, he lay down on the couch and closed his eyes to enter his soul domain. There were a bunch of fiend corpses to take care of, while also observing what kind of changes had been brought about in the soul domain when he wantonly drew its power.
He observed that some of the stormy clouds still remained, though they weren't flashing with lightning right now. The void had expanded far more than usual in the meantime. Even the main island seemed to have expanded by a fair margin. Gale would have to do some experiments later to ensure these weren't unnatural. The essence he obtained from killing the fiends should be higher, with his soul domain taking the whole of it to empower itself.
Now for the corpses. He could just let them decompose on their own or splinter them into essence in an instant. But they were fiend corpses, after all; they could be good materials for various things like crafting and alchemy.
After a thought, he laid some formations around them, which would prevent them from decomposing for a time.
Gale finally opened his eyes to find Jenni had ceased her restless circling. He expanded his void sense to find her instantly and then retracted it, as she was in the washroom. He would need to be careful about the new sensing ability.
On the other hand, Dawn was on the opposite couch. She had changed into another identical white dress after refreshing herself. Her wet hair lay loose on her shoulders as she played with a lock between her fingers.
Dawn was competent enough to reinforce any normal material to a higher grade. He would never think she couldn't dry her own hair, which only meant she wanted him to do it. The sneaky glances she was shooting in his direction only proved that.
"Do you need some help with your hair?" he asked after a thought.
She hummed a little and blushed.
"No," Dawn said instantly.
Gale rubbed his nose. "I was just helping her with her hair," he said. "Like usual."
"Is it usual?" Jenni narrowed her eyes.
Gale shrugged and returned to his work. Under Jenni's gaze, he styled Dawn's hair intricately. "So, have you thought about it?"
"I have," Jenni said and rested on the opposite couch. "I've made my decision."
Both of them perked up at her announcement.
"So long as you treat me as one of your equals," she blushed. "I mean, someone who can be your equal in the future, and do not treat me like a lowly apprentice, I'm fine with it."
"Have I ever treated you like a lowly apprentice? Ever?" He shot her a flat look. "Have I treated anyone like they were a lowly apprentice?"
"I don't know," Jenni said. "But you cannot go full hell mode on me."
"I think I can make a concession for you," he chuckled.
"And I'll get to eat your cooking every day," she put out another condition.
"Anything else you have on your mind?"
"Hmm, maybe I should have made a list."