Isaac understood immediately. Professor Catherine wasn’t asking because she was confused.
She was asking because she wanted confirmation.
She was smart enough that she had already pieced most of it together.
The reason she chose to ask him directly, here and now, was because she wanted to see how much he trusted her. How much he was willing to share.
She had already seen two Stonewards with her own eyes.
Isaac let out a slow breath.
’I can’t lie. She will detect it with her skill.’
He could say that he had copied Emily’s skill, that the second Stoneward was an Abyss summon created through her ability. That excuse might work on most people.
But not on Professor Catherine.
Thanks to her skill, she would immediately know whether he was lying or not.
After sorting through his thoughts, Isaac finally spoke.
"It’s my ability," he said.
Professor Catherine raised an eyebrow and spoke,
"So you can "share" things like Stats, Skills, Physiques, Affinities, and even Summons."
There was a brief pause.
Then she nodded slowly, as if placing the final piece into a puzzle she had already half-finished.
"I see. That explains a lot."
She took a step closer.
"You can ’share’ abilities, then. That means the Red Lightning and the seed in your hand are both Abyss monsters you summoned using Emily’s skill, correct?"
Isaac nodded.
"That’s right."
Professor Catherine’s lips curved into a faint smile.
"That’s a fascinating ability. I’d even go as far as to say it’s on par with my species’ innate ability. No, perhaps it is better."
Her words made Isaac pause.
He remembered what she had told him before. Her race possessed a special ability that activated during coitus.
So far, he hadn’t seen it in action.
Not because he didn’t want to.
But because he hadn’t exactly had the opportunity.
He had already shared her Physique and Bloodline, but life had a habit of getting in the way.
Between battles, preparations, and disasters piling up one after another, there hadn’t been any real chance to take things further.
He had asked her about it out of curiosity.
She had laughed and told him that it would be a waste to explain it in words. That he should experience it himself instead of having the surprise spoiled.
"Well," Professor Catherine continued lightly, stepping even closer, "since your ability is so good, maybe we should get as many wives as possible for our Isaac."
She tilted her head, pretending to think.
"Ah, but wouldn’t Alice kill you if you did that?"
She smiled as she spoke and slipped her arms around his neck, closing the distance between them.
Isaac chuckled.
"It wouldn’t work anyway," he said.
"Oh?" she replied, clearly amused. "Why not?"
"My ability only works if there’s love between me and the other party," he explained.
She blinked.
"So does that mean Isaac loves me?"
"I do. I love you a lot."
He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
They leaned in.
Just as their lips were about to meet, her touch vanished.
Isaac froze for half a second.
His lips twitched as he realized what had happened.
He looked down. His arms were empty.
Professor Catherine had disappeared.
No—it was more accurate to say that her clone had disappeared. She had canceled the skill.
’So it was a clone.’
Isaac turned his head.
The real Professor Catherine was leaning against the wall a short distance away, watching him with a snickering expression.
"Not so fast, Isaac. If you want to do hold me, you need to wait until tonight when we have dealt with all problems."
She straightened and gestured toward the hallway.
"Now come on. You came here to meet Master, didn’t you?"
She turned around and started walking toward the stairs.
Isaac watched her go.
His gaze lingered on her swaying hips.
He clenched his fist and muttered under his breath, "I swear I’m going to make you moan my name tonight. Let’s see if you can stay that haughty then."
Professor Catherine didn’t even turn around.
She just laughed.
The sound echoed faintly down the corridor.
They soon arrived at the room where Sword Empress was resting.
The maids outside stepped aside after bowing to Isaac. Professor Catherine knocked once before entering, and Isaac followed behind her.
Sword Empress was seated at a low table, reviewing documents. She looked up as they entered.
"You’re here. I was wondering when you’d show up, since I could sense you in the hall since minutes ago."
Isaac wasted no time. He took out the seed he had been holding and placed it on the table.
"I wanted to ask you about this. Do you know what it is?"
Sword Empress’s expression changed the moment she saw it.
Her eyes narrowed.
"This is a White Parasitic Plant seed. Where did you get something so dangerous?"
"I summoned it through Emily’s Abyss monster summoning skill. I want to know more about it. Specifically, where I should plant it."
Sword Empress leaned back slightly, studying the seed with a serious gaze.
"White Parasitic Plants are extremely dangerous monsters. They absorb life force from the surrounding area and store it."
She paused.
"Do you know about the Endless Nightmare Desert in the north and east?"
Isaac nodded.
He knew the layout of the world well.
Mourning Frost Mountain in the west.
Endless Nightmare Desert in the north and east.
The Corrupted Sea in the south.
And at the center, the lands where people lived, surrounded by wilderness.
"Yes, I know," he said.
"The Endless Nightmare Desert wasn’t always a desert. Long ago, it was a forest. A massive one."
She tapped the table lightly.
"That forest was made entirely of White Parasitic Plants."
Isaac stiffened slightly.
"No one knows where they came from. They appeared suddenly and drained all the life force from the land. Over time, the soil died, the ecosystem collapsed, and the Endless Nightmare Desert was born."
"And then?" Isaac asked.
"And then the forest disappeared. Just as mysteriously as it appeared."
Silence fell for a moment.
Isaac looked at the seed again.
"If it’s that dangerous, does that mean I shouldn’t use it in my city? Or in Cradle?"
Sword Empress shook her head.
"No. On the contrary. You should definitely use it in the city."
Isaac blinked.
She continued before he could speak.
"We can use the wood it will give for construction. It will be extremely high quality. The tree itself can act as a defensive structure. Its vines can restrain enemies, and its life-force absorption can weaken monsters that get too close."
She leaned forward slightly.
"It will also act as a radar. It can detect life force across a wide area."
Isaac listened carefully.
"And since it follows your orders, you can command it to absorb life force only from monsters killed near the city."
She paused, letting the words sink in.
"The absorbed life force can then be fused back into the land. That will enrich the soil instead of destroying it."
Isaac nodded, agreeing with her words.
"Of course," Sword Empress added, "the tree will gain additional abilities depending on the corpses you use to grow it."
"The abilities sound quite similar to the Deathwood Guardian," Isaac said after a moment.
The memory came back to him easily.
Deathwood Guardian was a Mystic-rank relic he had been given long ago.
It looked like a scarecrow.
Back then, he had planted it in a pot and gave it limited mobility by planting it on a pot.
It wasn’t strong by his current standards.
Still, when Isaac had been weak, it had helped him more times than he could count. It had stood guard and it had bought him time when he desperately needed it.
Even now, he hadn’t gotten rid of it.
"Yes. I suspect the Deathwood Guardian was created by someone trying to mimic the abilities of the White Parasitic Plant," Sword Empress replied.
She glanced at the seed again.
"Of course, while the effects may look similar, the performance of a real White Parasitic Plant far surpasses that scarecrow."
"Thank you for explaining everything. I should be going now. The monster horde should arrive soon."
Sword Empress nodded.
"Take care. And call me if an urgent situation appears," she said.
Isaac didn’t waste any more time.
He left the Cradle.
In the next moment, the scenery changed.
He appeared outside the city, near the massive corpse of the Crimson Sky Wyrm.
The remains still radiated a faint pressure, even in death. Blood had long since cooled, but the body was far from decayed.
Isaac approached and found an open wound along its side.
He pressed the White Parasitic Plant seed into the flesh.
[This is so good. It’s tasty.]
The voice echoed directly in his mind, greedy and satisfied.
"Hold on," Isaac said calmly. "I’m going to grow you properly."
He activated his skill.
Seed of Providence.
Power flowed into the seed, and in an instant, it began to germinate.
Roots burst outward first, sinking deep into the wyrm’s flesh. Then the main trunk surged upward, thick and dark, devouring the corpse as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The Crimson Sky Wyrm’s body collapsed inward, rapidly disappearing as it was consumed from the inside out.
The tree grew fast.
In just minutes, a towering form rose from the ground.
Thick branches stretched outward, and massive vines spread in every direction, digging into the earth and anchoring themselves.
By the time it stabilized, the tree was so large that it could be seen from almost anywhere in the city.
It was a beautiful white and looked like it was glowing.
Even people who didn’t understand what it was felt calmer when they looked at it.
Isaac exhaled slowly.
"You will be called Qlippoth. Support us in the battle."
[Thank you for the name, Master. It will be my pleasure to assist you in the battle.]
The corrupted hordes arrived soon after.
The battle was long.
Much longer than Isaac would have liked.
Emily had summoned three Overlord-rank Abyss monsters, each one powerful enough to dominate large sections of the battlefield on its own.
Isaac was using two of his own as well.
Red Lightning Ragnarök tore through the horde relentlessly, lightning striking down clusters of monsters again and again.
Still, there were simply too many enemies.
No matter how many fell, more kept coming.
Qlippoth, however, changed the flow of the battle entirely.
Its long vines lashed out continuously, binding monsters, crushing them, or simply draining them dry.
The constant absorption of life force weakened the enemies over time, making them slower and duller the longer they stayed within range.
That support mattered more than raw firepower.
The biggest problem wasn’t killing monsters. It was coverage.
The city’s border was vast, and they had to protect all of it.
Worse still, the monsters revived once after death, strengthened by the lingering effects of the Red Rain.
Isaac had anticipated this.
They handled it by rotating fighters regularly.
No one stayed on the front line for too long. Everyone was forced to rest, even if they insisted they could continue.
Emily’s summons were crucial in protecting the skies.
Whenever monsters gathered into large airborne hordes, her Abyss creatures intercepted them before they could descend.
The Nagas supported her, coordinating attacks and reinforcing weak points.
Alice was constantly on the move. Her choirs followed her closely as she healed the wounded, restored stamina, and stabilized those who had pushed themselves too far.
Celia was just as important.
The battlefield was chaotic, and fear spread easily.
But when Celia voice helped people calm down.
Her voice carried over the city, steady and reassuring, and thanks to her natural charisma, people listened to her instructions without hesitation.
Vale worked quietly in the background, casting curses to weaken enemy groups before they even reached the main defensive lines.
The troops summoned by Isaac filled the gaps where human fighters couldn’t reach in time.
Professor Catherine fought in a completely different way.
She entered the horde directly, slipping in and out of sight as her skills concealed her presence.
Each time she appeared, a monster fell with a precise, fatal strike.
Then she vanished again before the others even realized what had happened.
Isaac oversaw everything.
He gave commands. He adjusted formations. He jumped into battle when needed and pulled back when his presence was required elsewhere.
It was exhausting.
Every four hours, he rotated command with another trusted leader and forced himself to rest. Even then, the breaks felt too short.
Still, the battle went favorably.
That was only natural.
They had defeated a Catastrophe. Losing to a Red Rain of this level would have made no sense.
What truly made Isaac smile, though, was something else.
No one died.
Not a single person.
By the time an entire day had passed, the dark clouds overhead finally began to thin. The red tint faded, and sunlight broke through once more.
Isaac stood near Qlippoth’s top branch, watching as the last remnants of the horde were dealt with.
A window appeared before him.
[You have completed the Tutorial Quest ’Build, Protect, Grow!’]
[Additional Quest: Defeat the mutated monster horde has also been completed.]
[Calculating rewards.]
[You have received....]