"Or do you two really think I’m some kind of child who should be kept in the dark? Someone who needs everything fed to him and protected from reality?"
Isaac’s voice was calm, but the sharpness in his eyes said enough.
He was staring straight at Professor Catherine, waiting for an answer.
He was about to speak again, but the words froze on his tongue when he saw her fox-like ears droop slightly.
[Status: Does not want to tell Isaac why she altered his memories.]
Her expression didn’t change much, but her ears gave her away.
Without that small detail—and the status—he would’ve never noticed the turmoil inside her.
"Isaac," Professor Catherine finally said, her tone slow and careful, "just give me some time."
"No."
He knew she probably had her reasons for not wanting to reveal his memories, and he felt bad for forcing her like this when she had always been looking out for him.
But this wasn’t something he could compromise on.
"She will tell you everything in the evening," Leora said suddenly.
Isaac turned to her. "Is this another attempt to hide—"
"No," she interrupted firmly. "We can tell that you want your memories back and..."
She glanced at Professor Catherine.
"Professor Catherine will respect your wishes. I’m sure of it. You’ll get to know everything by tonight. Just not now."
"Why not now?" Isaac asked.
Leora sighed. "Because we don’t have time. The Quest is still going on. You need to use every moment to advance the city. Talking about your memories will take hours, maybe more. It’s better to do it when you’re free, like this evening or tonight."
Isaac looked at her quietly.
Normally, he would have refused immediately.
But she had a point.
The city needed his focus right now.
He couldn’t afford to lose time when everything depended on their progress.
And despite his frustration, he could tell that Catherine hadn’t changed his memories with bad intentions.
Still, he wasn’t willing to trust blindly again.
"What guarantee do I have that Professor Catherine won’t mess with my mind again before the evening?
"She’s an Apex species now. Her abilities must’ve gotten stronger. If she wants, she could make me forget about this whole issue again."
"I swear it upon the name of my master, Eleanor Weiess, that Professor Catherine will tell you everything this evening. And she will not try to make you forget that promise," Leora said steadily.
Isaac blinked.
Since Leora herself was Eleanor Weiess, it meant she was swearing it personally.
He turned toward Professor Catherine.
She seemed calmer now.
Her ears and tails had disappeared, hidden with a flicker of mana.
She probably thought it made her emotions unreadable.
But Isaac didn’t need to guess.
[Status: She is planning to run away and hide for as long as possible. The Fortified City 22 needed some guards so she will stay there for some time.]
Isaac’s eye twitched.
She was planning to run away?
After acting calm and mature every single time, this was her solution?
Run away instead of facing the problem?
"What if she actually runs away?" Isaac asked, looking at Leora.
"She won’t. I promise," Leora said firmly.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he checked Catherine’s status again, just in case.
[Status: Wondering if Isaac can read her mind. If then, she thinks Isaac should make less sounds while ’sleeping’ with his wives, as that disturbs her master all night. Also wonders how many children Isaac thinks both of them should have together? She wants to hear Isaac’s answer. Also wondering if you want to have threesome with her master, her and you—]
Isaac immediately stopped reading.
He was speechless.
’She’s jumbling her thoughts on purpose to mess with Inspect.’
Mind reading was dangerous.
There were items and skills that allowed it.
But there were also ways to block it.
One was by using specific skills or protective items.
The other was a rare technique called Double Thought, a way to have two streams of thinking at once.
The surface thoughts would be random nonsense, while the real thoughts stayed hidden deep in the mind.
It didn’t need mana. Anyone could learn it.
But it was incredibly hard to control, which was why people usually relied on items instead.
His Inspect could usually pierce through most protections, but Double Thought was a problem.
The surface thoughts it showed were still genuine, even if meaningless.
Professor Catherine was clearly using that now.
"I’ll get going. I have some work to do," Professor Catherine said suddenly.
She stood up quickly.
Isaac watched as she hurried out of the room, her footsteps echoing down the hallway.
He stared at her back until she disappeared around the corner.
Then, he turned to Leora.
[Status: Worried for Catherine’s mental health. Thinks it is better if Isaac doesn’t regain his memories. But she will respect Isaac’s decision and make sure he gets his memories back.]
Isaac exhaled slowly.
"Worried for her, huh?" he muttered.
Leora nodded slightly. "She’s been under a lot of pressure. You might not see it, but she blames herself for a lot."
Isaac leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. "And altering my memories was her way of fixing that?"
"Not fixing," Leora said quietly. "Protecting."
He looked at her, trying to read her expression, but Leora’s face stayed calm and unreadable.
"She’s not a bad person, Isaac," she continued. "She’s just... not good at dealing with the past. I know I’m asking for a lot, but don’t blame her too much, and don’t think wrong of her for altering your memories."
He didn’t answer right away.
There was a long silence between them, only broken by the faint hum of the winds outside.
Isaac finally sighed. "Even if her intentions were good, she still took away something that belonged to me."
Leora nodded. "And that’s why I swore you’ll know everything tonight. I’ll make sure of it."
Before Isaac could respond, the door opened.
Celia walked in, her bright smile instantly breaking the heavy air in the room.
"...why are you smiling so much?" Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing," she said lightly, brushing off the question before turning toward Leora. "Let’s go."
The two women started heading toward the exit together.
While they walked away, Isaac quietly activated Inspect and looked at Celia.
[Status: She did not think rallying the nagas would be so easy. It helped that Isaac killed the N’theris Serpent with one blow and saved them. Soon, they will start praying to him. They might even set up praying altars for him! Hehe, all of this is so much fun!]
Isaac blinked, speechless.
’So that’s where she went in the morning.’
He had already suspected as much when Celia suggested attacking Fortified City 22 to take control of them, but reading it directly only confirmed it.
’This girl is dangerous,’ he thought wryly.
’She dives straight into people’s weaknesses without hesitation and twists them in our favor.’
Vale had been trying to protect her from the world, but looking at her now...
The world needs to be protected from her, not the opposite.
Isaac chuckled, shaking his head.
Everything she was doing was to help him and their family.
He had no problem against it, and he appreciated her help.
After Celia and Leora left, Isaac called for Vale.
It didn’t take long before Vale arrived, carrying a stack of papers in his arms.
"Give me the documents that tally how much we’ve gathered so far," Isaac said.
Vale nodded and handed them over. "Here, sir."
Isaac placed the papers on the table and began reading through them carefully.
The documents listed every material they had collected so far. From the tutorial dungeon, the Fortified City 22 market, and what the blacksmiths had managed to produce within the city.
He read the figures out loud as he skimmed through.
"Aether Glass, one thousand six hundred units. Storm-Forged Alloy, nine hundred forty-five bars. Condensed Mana Cores, two hundred fifty cores."
He turned the page.
"Obsidian Bricks, three thousand five hundred blocks. Reinforced Steel Frames, eight hundred bars. Beast Hide Resin, six hundred liters."
He paused and looked up. "We’ve already gathered enough materials for the Sky Dome and City Wall?"
"Yes. The speed has been better than expected."
Vale set the remaining documents down on the table and continued.
"As the word spread about your crops, more and more merchants started coming to buy them. The stocks are being emptied as soon as we restock them."
Isaac gave a short nod. "That’s good."
"True," Vale said. He thought for a moment, then added, "As for the dungeon materials..."
He looked at Isaac with a strange, almost confused expression.
"What about them?" Isaac asked.
"We’re... getting drops from all monsters. Every single one of them. It doesn’t matter if they’re boss monster or normal ones. Every fight gives us something valuable."
"What’s the problem with that?"
"Is this... a Lord Talent, sir?" Vale asked.
Isaac stayed quiet for a moment.
"I’ve heard about Lord Talents," Vale continued carefully. "But nothing like this. Something that increases material drops like this... it’s absurd."