After everything with Emily was done, Isaac helped her clean, then tucked her into bed. She was exhausted and she would most likely sleep straight through until breakfast. He watched her for a moment before turning off the lamp, then quietly let himself out.
The morning air outside was cool and thin, and the farm stretched ahead of him in the grey pre-dawn light.
He rolled his shoulders and started walking toward the fields, ready to settle into the rhythm of work.
But he hadn’t taken more than a dozen steps before he noticed the two figures standing near the edge of his land.
The first was something that looked, at a glance, like a large mechanical automaton: a large silver ant with segmented limbs and a head that moved with mechanical precision.
But Isaac could feel "life" from it, thanks to his Life Affinity. It was different from the cold hum of a constructed thing, and instead was an actual, genuine life.
He recalled the lessons of Professor Catherine and the name came to him quickly enough. Vitaroids. They were a naturally occurring species, which most people found difficult to believe when they first heard it.
A Vitaroid mother would consume awakeners, raw ores, and machines, and from that, she would give birth to the next generation.
The mother was the only one capable of reproduction, which kept their numbers limited, but every single one of them was a powerhouse in their own right.
The current Vitaroid mother was known as the Mother of Crawling Steel, and she was one of the Florathi’s Nine Queens, reigning as a Lord over of the Florathi’s cities.
The second figure was a woman who stood nearly eight feet tall, with pale white skin and hair of the same shade.
She had four eyes arranged in a near-symmetrical pattern across her face, and she wore a composed, gentle smile.
Isaac could feel the ’weight’ of both of them from where he stood. Apex rank Overlords. Both of them.
’They are strong. Quite strong, actually,’ he thought, walking toward them with an easy pace.
Given who the Vitaroid was, the reason for their presence wasn’t difficult to guess. They were part of the delegation sent by the Florathi to congratulate him on becoming a Lord.
"Greetings, Isaac Hargraves. I am X-019, a Heavy-tier Unit," the Vitaroid said. His mandibles clacked lightly with every word in a rhythm that was almost musical.
He tilted his head toward the woman at his side before continuing. "And this is Elyndra Petalshade of the Lumivine. She maintains a vow of silence, so please forgive her for not greeting you directly. We were sent by the Fifth Priest to escort you to him. He wishes to offer his congratulations in person, for awakening history’s first SSS-rank Farming Talent, and for your ascension as a Lord."
"Greetings, X-019. And to you, Elyndra," Isaac replied.
He should’ve given a proper reply instead of such a dry response.
However, he couldn’t, not when he was being treated so disrespectfully.
’This is my City, and they are the guests. Yet, they are coming to my house early in the morning to escort me to their leader like I’m the guest, and they own the City,’ Isaac thought.
Despite the polite words of X-019, the intentions behind them were anything but.
He was clearly looking down on Isaac.
"Thank you for making the journey, X-019 and Elyndra. I will meet with the Fifth Priest according to the schedule that was agreed upon. In the meantime, you should both get some rest. A journey like yours isn’t short, and I imagine you’re tired," he said.
"Schedule?" X-019’s mandibles shifted. "The time of the Fifth Priest is precious, Isaac Hargraves. He is said to be able to hear directly the words of the Goddess of Life, Harvest, and War. As one who has been blessed by her, shouldn’t you be eager to greet him as soon as possible?"
"Blessed by her?" Isaac raised an eyebrow.
"Your SSS-rank Farming Talent. It is obviously a mark of the Great Goddess’s favour. Surely you understand that," X-019 said, with the tone of someone explaining something obvious.
Isaac frowned, and he was about to respond, but before he could, the air changed.
The shift was sudden and absolute. The mana in the atmosphere froze, like water freezing mid-motion, and a pressure descended on the space around X-019 and Elyndra. The air itself seemed to turn against them, growing heavy and hostile.
Then a voice spoke,
"I permitted you both to enter his territory because I hold some goodwill toward the Florathi. But if you are not willing to conduct yourselves with basic courtesy, then do not expect me to continue showing it."
The water in the atmosphere churned. Mana trembled across the land. A shape gathered itself from the air and mist and moisture of the early morning, solidifying into the form of Avery, the Water Elemental Spirit.
X-019 and Elyndra both went rigid. Overwhelming fear invaded their mind.
The fear that hit was on an instinctive level. Even as Apex-rank Overlords, the gap between them and Avery yawned open like a canyon.
"G-Greetings to the Spirit of Water," X-019 managed, lowering his body and his head in a bow. Elyndra followed immediately, matching his posture without hesitation.
"Leave. And tell your Priest to wait for the scheduled meeting. These political games will not be tolerated a second time. There will be consequences if they are," Avery said.
"U-Understood," X-019 replied.
Elyndra reached out and placed a hand on X-019’s arm, and in the next moment, space folded quietly around them. They were gone, returning to the hotel accommodations they had been assigned within the City.
Avery watched the empty space for a moment, then let out a short, dismissive sound through her nose before turning to face Isaac.
"Do not worry. As someone who is bonded to— why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, noticing Isaac’s gaze.
"Well... you made a pretty dramatic entrance. The mana, the land, and even the air was trembling," Isaac replied.
Avery fell silent. If she was embarrassed, she didn’t show it on her face.
An urge came to Isaac, and he used Inspect.
[Status: She believed she had made a cool entrance. Upon being told it was dramatic, she is now embarrassed.]
Avery still had a calm expression.
She smiled lightly and spoke, "It was needed to warn them properly. If we don’t do this much at least, they will keep trying to test our limits."
"I see," Isaac nodded. Inwardly he was marveling at Avery’s poker face.
He spent the rest of the morning working the farm, and the work did what it always did, it cleared his head, settled the irritation, and left him feeling more like himself. By the time he had finished, nine new Green Spitters had taken root and grown to maturity, bringing his total to ten. He stood back and looked at them, and a series of notifications opened in the air in front of him.
Seed Imprinting has reached Level 5 → Level 6.
Gene Reaping has reached Level 4 → Level 5.
Seed of Providence has reached Level 8 → Level 9.
Reaper’s Bounty has reached Level 9 → Level 10.
Class Quest — Create an army of one thousand War-plants: 1/1000 → 10/1000.
He let himself grin. Reaper’s Bounty at Level 10 was a real milestone. It allowed complete alchemical ingredient extraction with no loss to quantity or quality, and a fifty percent chance at bonus yield on top of that. He rolled his shoulders, satisfied, and made his way back to the house.
He worked out in the gym, then showered, and came downstairs to find Alice at the stove and Emily already up and moving around the kitchen. Celia was seated at the table with her compact mirror open, checking her makeup with the focused attention she gave to very few things in life.
The doorbell rang before anyone had sat down to eat, and Isaac went to answer it.
Standing on his doorstep was Arlene — Celia’s manager — looking composed and professional, but it didn’t quite conceal the fact that she was slightly nervous about being at his house.
"G-Good morning," she said.
"Good morning," Isaac replied.
"I’m here for Celia. Today is the concert, and I need to keep an eye on her beforehand. She has a tendency to wander around at wrong times, and I’d prefer not to spend the afternoon searching the City for her," Arlene said, glancing past him into the house for a moment.
Isaac looked at her for a moment and felt something that might charitably be called kinship. He was beginning to understand, in a way he hadn’t before, exactly what kind of person Celia was to manage.
"Come inside She’s about to have breakfast. You should eat with us," he said.
"Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to impose—"
"It’s fine," Isaac said.
Arlene came in after a short insistence. Celia looked up from her compact and lit up with genuine warmth when she saw her.
Arlene greeted Alice and Emily, and Isaac was about to sit down when he felt another presence stepping onto his land from the direction of the eastern perimeter, the steps quick and urgent enough to stand out against everything else he could sense.
He recognized her mana —thanks to his Sovereign of land being a Transcendent rank Level 10 skill—before he reached the door.
The doorbell rang just as he opened it.
Althea was standing in the doorway, the Florathi princess whose pale complexion had gone slightly flushed, her hair not quite in its usual careful order, and a fine layer of perspiration on her face that said she had moved fast to get here.
Behind her, Charlotta — her bodyguard — stood with the steady, watchful expression of someone doing their job.
Althea didn’t give him a chance to speak. She bowed her head before he’d even said a word, while still standing on his doorstep.
"I am sorry. I heard what happened with X-019 and Elyndra this morning. I should have spoken with them more carefully before they came to see you. That responsibility falls to me, and I failed in it. Please accept my apology on their behalf," she said.