Individually, they weren’t particularly strong. But their coordination was precise. They covered each other, rotated positions, and exploited openings. In large-scale battles, their combined strength surpassed many stronger individual summons.
Isaac nodded slightly.
That confirmed his expectations.
The battle would continue for at least another day. The monster waves hadn’t stopped entirely yet.
Isaac left several clones behind with Emily and Alice, who remained in the city to oversee the defense. After confirming everything was stable, he returned to his farm with Celia.
He still had his own Class Quest to complete. Managing time was important.
"Why aren’t you going for your concert practice?" Isaac asked as he walked toward the farm.
Celia was on his back, arms loosely wrapped around his shoulders. Her head rested against him, and he supported her thighs with his arms. They could have walked normally, but she insisted on this as a reward.
She had been the one to suggest live streaming Emily’s battle. The idea improved public awareness and helped both Emily’s reputation and Isaac’s religion. This was the reward she demanded.
"The concert is tomorrow, so today is a rest day. Everyone needs to be in their best condition after all," Celia said lazily.
Then she raised her voice.
"Hey, Avery, we’re back!"
Water seeped out from the ground and gathered into a humanoid form. Within seconds, Avery appeared, her body shimmering faintly.
"Welcome back," Avery said with a small smile. "It seems the Lord Quest went well?"
"Yes. Emily almost handled everything single-handedly," Isaac replied.
He still felt slightly uneasy about Emily resurrecting hundreds of monsters using her Lord Talent. The ability was extremely powerful and potentially alarming. But Emily had assured him she already discussed it with the Sword Empress. They agreed it would be fine as long as she only resurrected monsters and kept the number under a thousand.
"Don’t be too surprised. She is the daughter of the Empress of the Netherworld. If she reaches her full potential, she could become a powerhouse comparable to entire nations," Avery said calmly.
Isaac nodded, then glanced at Celia hanging lazily on his back.
"And what about this lazy one?" he asked.
Using Telekinesis, he pinched Celia’s cheeks and gently stretched them outward.
"I ammm nooot laaazy. Stop streeetching my cheeks," Celia protested, her words slurring as her face was pulled.
She tried to escape, but Isaac still held her thighs firmly. With her legs locked around his waist and his arms supporting her, she couldn’t get off his back even if she wanted to. She could only squirm helplessly while asking to be let go.
Avery watched the interaction with a small smile. For a brief moment, her gaze sharpened—and Isaac sensed mana moving around her—as she looked at Celia more carefully.
"She has a lot of potential too. But I would recommend her to rest. It looks like she isn’t resting much and is training too intensely," Avery said after a while.
Celia’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t expected Avery to notice that so easily. She believed she had hidden it perfectly, balancing practice and training without letting anyone realize how hard she was pushing herself.
"Right?" Isaac sighed. "She’s pushing herself too much. First she tried to take an SSS+ Class, and now she’s aiming for a Transcendent Class. She’s always either practicing for her concert or secretly training for her Class Advancement Quest."
Celia slowly turned her head toward Isaac, shock written clearly on her face.
"...you knew?" she asked quietly.
"Of course I did. Why do you think I told you to complete your Class Advancement in three days? If I don’t force you now, you’ll soon start chasing a Transcendent+ rank Class and run yourself into the ground," Isaac replied.
Strength was good. But they could always get Class Evolution tickets, to rank up their Classes. It was more important they focused on their health and lifestyle, especially Celia who was not a combatant.
After all what was the point of being strong, if you were always injured, or exhausted, and only cared about killing monsters or levelling up? That would be a waste of life. That was how every awakener in this era lived, and why it was called the era of Apocalypse where no one was happy.
Isaac wanted to change that. At least for his family, and City.
Celia fell silent.
Her arms tightened around Isaac’s neck, and she buried her face into his shoulder. For a moment, she didn’t say anything. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft.
"...this isn’t fair."
Isaac didn’t respond immediately. He continued walking toward the farm, adjusting his grip slightly so she wouldn’t slip. After a few seconds, he spoke in a calm tone.
"I know you don’t want a repeat of what happened with the former Governor. But that doesn’t mean you have to exhaust yourself chasing power. We’re a family. If there’s a problem, we deal with it together. You don’t need to carry everything alone."
Celia didn’t lift her head. She just nodded quietly.
They reached the farm soon after.
Isaac stepped into the fields and began working. Celia still refused to get off his back for some reason, so he had no choice but to continue while carrying her. She rested comfortably, clearly enjoying the situation, while he moved between rows of crops.
"Hmm... I think I can create a sapient combat-type Tier 1 plant today," Isaac said after scanning the prepared materials.
"Yes, this combination should work," Avery replied.
Isaac already had a large number of crops growing, but creating war-plants was far more difficult. For them to count toward his Class Advancement Quest, they needed to be both combat-capable and sapient. That required careful gene combinations and a lot of experimentation.
Thankfully, Avery’s knowledge of plants was extensive. She had been guiding him, suggesting different genetic pairings and identifying which traits might stabilize the mutation process.
If everything went smoothly, Isaac might finally create his first successful war-plant today.
He needed one thousand of them.
So far, he hadn’t successfully created even one.
"Alright, I’ll start," Isaac said.
He picked up a pea seed from a tray beside him. Then he focused and fused two livestock-derived genes into it.
The first gene came from the Spit Llama, known for generating pressurized saliva and launching it at targets. The second gene came from the Ironhorn Ram, which could rapidly build kinetic force in its muscles before releasing it in explosive bursts.
The idea was simple. The plant would generate projectile matter like the llama, then launch it with explosive force similar to the ram.
The fusion stabilized.
The seed didn’t disintegrate.
Isaac exhaled slowly. This was already a good sign. He had noticed that unstable Tier 1 mutations would crumble into dust immediately. A stable seed meant the gene pairing at least didn’t conflict.
"First step successful. Now for the second and final step...." he muttered.
He planted the seed into the soil.
Then he stepped back and activated Seed of Providence. Mana flowed into the ground, and the seed rapidly matured. The soil shifted slightly as the sprout pushed upward, growing faster and faster.
Isaac watched closely.
’Please... work, and give me a war-plant. I’ve spent months on this with no successful result.’
The seed finally matured. Isaac’s eyes widened, seeing the—