Selene really was a shrewd businesswoman, and just because she became shy whenever romance was involved didn’t mean she suddenly forgot how to lead people by the nose. She had simply led him around until he made the exact suggestion she wanted.
Isaac agreed while asking what he would get in return, making her embarrassed. The two of them kept teasing each other and flirted. A small smile remained on Isaac’s face throughout the exchange.
The front door opened a few moments later, pulling his attention away from the communication device. He looked up and saw Eleanor and Sera entering the mansion together, both carrying several shopping bags. Judging by their relaxed expressions, they had probably spent most of the afternoon wandering through the city.
Sera, the angel, was happily eating a crepe as she walked. She finished the last bite with an expression of complete satisfaction before immediately taking another one out of her spatial ring. Seeing that, Isaac couldn’t help showing a slightly strange expression.
The two women noticed him sitting in the living room and walked over to greet him. Isaac returned the greeting with a nod, but Sera quickly noticed the look he was giving the crepe in her hand.
"Is there a problem?" she asked curiously.
"...Didn’t I mention that we’re going to the Calloway Mansion for dinner tonight?" he asked. He genuinely wondered why she was stuffing herself up before attending a party.
"I know," Sera replied before tilting her head.
"And?" she asked, looking completely confused by his question.
To her, there didn’t seem to be any connection between eating a ’small snack’ now and attending dinner later.
Isaac opened his mouth, intending to explain himself. Then he quietly closed it again after thinking for a moment. Experience had already taught him that people who truly loved food rarely appreciated comments about how much they were eating.
"...Never mind. I just wanted to remind you to get dressed before it’s time to leave," Isaac said with a small smile. "
"I already know. That’s why Eleanor came shopping with me. We bought dresses that fit the culture of this city, so we should be ready before everyone leaves," Sera replied casually.
Isaac nodded in understanding. Inviting Sera to tonight’s gathering had been an easy decision because she had contributed greatly during the Great Dungeon Tournament and had also helped defend the city against the Purification Cult. Besides, leaving her alone in the mansion while everyone else attended the celebration would have been unnecessarily rude.
As Isaac’s gaze shifted toward Eleanor, countless questions appeared in his mind. The biggest one was why she was standing in front of him so calmly after everything that had happened yesterday.
Normally, she would have avoided him like the plague instead of accompanying Sera back to the mansion.
Wouldn’t she be embarrassed while they travelled together in the car? What was going in her head?
In the end, Isaac decided not to think too deeply about it. If Eleanor wanted to act normally, he wasn’t going to make things awkward by bringing up the past.
Just as the conversation seemed ready to end, Sera suddenly became silent. She stared directly at Isaac for several long seconds before finally speaking again.
"...You evolved your soul?"
"Yeah," he answered simply. There wasn’t much point denying something she had already noticed.
"So, you soloed a new Area? How?" Sera asked.
Her surprise was genuine because, from her perspective, there shouldn’t have been any way for Isaac to accomplish that so quickly.
"How do you know a Soul Evolution Potion comes from clearing a new Area by yourself?" he deflected her question with a question while carefully watching her reaction. He wanted to see whether she would reveal something useful.
Sera immediately realized she had said more than she intended.
After hesitating briefly, she replied, "I only heard the rumors. Since your soul had already evolved before, I assumed the rumors were true and that you obtained another potion from the Great Dungeon."
Unlike Sera, Eleanor was not surprised, meaning she had been told everything by Catherine already.
"Then have you heard any rumors about what happens if someone evolves their soul again?" Isaac asked. This time, Sera looked genuinely puzzled by the question.
She thought for several moments before slowly shaking her head. "No. I’ve never heard anything about a second Soul Evolution."
Seeing that she truly didn’t know, Isaac simply thanked her before ending the conversation.
Sera and Eleanor headed upstairs to prepare for the evening, leaving Isaac alone in the living room once again. The relaxed expression on his face gradually disappeared as he replayed the conversation in his mind. Several details stood out immediately.
’Sera clearly believes I have more Soul Evolution Potions. Otherwise, my question wouldn’t have made any sense to her,’ he thought.
He also knew she didn’t want to harm him, because if she did, she never would have helped protect the city against the Purification Cult.
That left him with one obvious conclusion. If evolving his soul again carried some fatal danger, Sera would have warned him the moment he asked about it. Since she hadn’t, Isaac felt considerably more confident about taking the risk.
Without wasting any more time, he opened a Mirror Dimension and stepped inside before sealing the entrance behind him. Once he was alone, he spoke inwardly.
’System, copy the effects of the Soul Evolution Potions Alice and Emily consumed!’
A wave of heat spread through his body almost immediately. It felt as though pressure was building deep within him, becoming stronger with every passing second until it seemed something inside his soul was about to break through. Isaac remained perfectly still, patiently waiting for the familiar transformation.
Instead, the pressure abruptly stopped. The heat quickly faded away, leaving him standing there in complete confusion. Nothing else happened, no matter how long he waited.
"...What?" Isaac muttered.
He carefully examined his body before replaying everything that had just happened in his mind. It didn’t take long before he understood the reason behind the failed breakthrough.
’The shared effects from Alice’s and Emily’s Soul Evolution Potions aren’t enough. I need... about one more Soul Evolution Potion’s effect to complete it.’
Rather than feeling disappointed, Isaac became even more excited. He had seen something similar before with Talent Fragments, where everything up to SSS+ Rank only required one fragment, but advancing into Transcendent+ demanded three instead. The enormous increase in power was exactly why the requirements became so much higher.
’If Soul Evolution now requires three potions instead of one, then the next evolution should be just as incredible,’ Isaac thought with a growing smile.
The failed breakthrough did not feel like a disappointment to him at all. Instead, it confirmed that there was another stage waiting beyond his current limits.
’I already have one more Soul Evolution Potion. I’ll give it to Celia after she completes her Class Advancement. It will be a good gift,’ he thought to himself as he left the Mirror Dimension.
Isaac closed the Mirror Dimension behind him before going outdoors. He called Avery and asked her to get ready as well since everyone would be leaving for the Calloway Mansion soon. After making sure there was nothing else left to prepare, he waited for the others in the living room.
It didn’t take long before everyone gathered near the entrance. Once they were ready, the group entered the car, and Isaac took the driver’s seat as usual. Although flying would have been much faster for every person inside the vehicle, relaxing moments were like this were rare, and everyone enjoyed them.
Alice quietly settled into her seat with a faint smile in her eyes that had remained ever since her breakthrough. Part of that happiness naturally came from becoming stronger, but another part came from something much simpler. Being able to dismiss her wings and tail whenever she wanted made sitting inside a car far more comfortable than before.
She hadn’t realized how inconvenient those extra body parts had been until she got them. Now she finally understood why humans never complained about long drives—as long as it was possible in the city—because it was a surprisingly pleasant feeling.
The car moved through the evening streets at a steady pace.
Catherine occasionally made a joke from the back seat, and Isaac answered with one of his own before teasing Emily about how much she had fussed over Punpun earlier. Emily protested with an embarrassed smile, insisting she hadn’t been fussing nearly as much as he claimed. Their conversation naturally drew laughter from everyone else.
Despite smiling along with them, Isaac found himself occasionally thinking about someone who wasn’t there.
Celia’s absence was strangely noticeable.
The little gremlin had become such a constant part of his daily life that moments like this felt slightly incomplete without her. Isaac often acted as though she exhausted him with her endless antics, but after only half a day apart, he already found himself missing the lively atmosphere she always brought with her.
’I really have gotten used to having her around. Or should I say that she has corrupted me to the point that I can’t live without her anymore?’ He quietly chuckled at those thoughts.
Before long, the car arrived outside the Calloway Mansion.
After everyone stepped out, they were welcomed inside by the mansion’s staff before making their way toward the living room. Most of the Calloway family had already gathered there, waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive.
From the Calloway side, Isaac immediately spotted Chairman Lucius, Miss Beatrice, and several members of the family’s distant branches. They all turned toward the entrance as Isaac’s group walked in together. Chairman Lucius’s eyebrow immediately twitched the moment he saw Isaac.
Only then did Isaac realize something.
He was the only man in his group.
Standing around him were Emily, Alice, Catherine, Eleanor, Avery, and Sera, making the scene look far more suspicious than he would have liked. After noticing that, Isaac looked back at Chairman Lucius before giving him an even brighter smile.
Lucius’s eyebrow twitched so violently that Isaac briefly wondered whether it might actually fall off.
Alice quietly sighed as she watched the two of them. She gently shook her head to herself, already used to seeing her uncle and husband silently competing in the strangest ways whenever they met. Neither of them said a word, yet somehow they still managed to irritate each other.
After everyone took their seats, the atmosphere quickly became lively.
People chatted about recent events, laughed at small stories, and congratulated one another while waiting for the guest of honor to arrive. Eventually, Isaac realized Selene still hadn’t come downstairs.
"I’ll go get her," he said before standing up.
Nobody objected, and Isaac quietly made his way toward the upper floor. A few moments later, he arrived outside Selene’s room, gently knocked once, and then opened the door.
She stood before him, and...