Author’s Note:
As promised, the privilege prices will be reduced for the next month. Thank you all for your patience and continued support!
..
Everyone settled around the sofas in the living room after the exhausting day. Emily sat against Isaac with her back resting on his chest, completely at ease as he wrapped an arm around her waist. The others occupied the surrounding sofas while the maids quietly served tea before withdrawing to the side.
As he looked around the room, Isaac silently realized that his wives seemed to have sorted out some kind of order regarding who spent time with him. Today, he had already spent time with everyone except Emily and Alice. Alice would never openly display affection in front of others, so Emily was naturally the one leaning comfortably against him with a content smile.
Isaac found the realization amusing.
’It’s probably sis who sorted this out. Maybe Celia also helped,’ he thought.
After everyone settled down, Isaac looked toward Catherine. "Can you tell me your Conqueror Trial rewards?"
Catherine nodded before answering. "Title Upgrade. A Transcendent rank skill called Call. One fragment of information for building a Tier 3 City. A Transcendent rank Talent fragment. An Imperial rank System Gacha Ticket. One Transcendent rank Skill Upgrade Ticket. And one Legendary Barrack Blueprint."
Isaac smiled wryly after hearing the list. "Those are the same rewards I received. I was hoping your Transcendent skill would be something different instead of Call."
"Even if both of us got the same skill, it’s still an excellent reward. With your ability, three people can eventually possess that skill. Considering what Call can do, I honestly think it’s much more valuable than getting two different Transcendent skills," Catherine replied.
Isaac nodded slowly. "I think you’re right."
He thought about it for a moment before continuing. "Alright. Then I’ll give the Call skill to Emily. Or should I give it to Alice instead?"
Emily shook her head. "I think Alice would be a better choice. She’s the one who’s more likely to participate on front lines whenever a battle requires a large army. On top of that, she’s a Saintess. If the summoned soldiers appear near her, she can immediately strengthen all of them with her buffs."
"What do the rest of you think?" Isaac looked around the room.
Selene answered first. "I agree. Alice is the better option. Emily already has her own army to command."
Catherine also nodded in agreement while Alice quietly listened without interrupting.
The other Call skill belonged to Catherine. She had earned it herself after clearing her Conqueror Trial through her own effort, and Isaac had no intention of asking her to hand it over. Besides, Catherine’s abilities made the skill especially effective in her hands since she could infiltrate enemy territory unnoticed before suddenly summoning an army directly into the middle of the enemy forces.
"Okay. I’ll give it to Alice," Isaac said. He stood up, and Alice rose from her seat as well. The two stepped closer before shaking hands, allowing Isaac to transfer the Call skill ticket through physical contact.
Alice remained still for several moments while looking at the invisible System interface. She quietly read through the skill description before giving a small nod. "It’s a very useful skill."
The two returned to their seats, and Emily naturally leaned back against Isaac again. He wrapped an arm around her without thinking much about it. He knew the position looked rather affectionate, but it was only his wives here along with a few trusted maids serving tea, so he simply sat however he found comfortable.
"I’ll give the Legendary Barrack Blueprint to Emily," Isaac said next.
Nobody objected. Isaac transferred the blueprint to her.
As he did, another thought surfaced in his mind. They had been collecting more and more blueprints recently, but eventually they would have to start expanding their cities if they wanted to make proper use of them. Emily, in particular, would eventually need additional cities to fully develop everything she possessed.
That also meant conquering other cities. One of Isaac’s Class Advancement Quests even required him to conquer a city using his plants. He would have to give the matter some serious thought later.
He had no desire to wage war against innocent people simply for the sake of completing a quest or obtaining resources. If possible, he wanted to find a city ruled by someone who truly deserved to lose it. Otherwise, perhaps he could negotiate with another city by offering his grains and agricultural resources instead of resorting to bloodshed.
He would start looking into it from tomorrow.
"Sis already used the System Gacha Ticket, so that’s settled. Now let’s talk about the Skill Upgrade Ticket. It’s Transcendent rank, which means it can either upgrade any skill to Transcendent rank or improve an existing Transcendent skill into Transcendent Plus. Who do you think should receive it?" Isaac asked.
The room became noticeably livelier after that. Everyone began discussing different possibilities while considering each person’s abilities and future growth. They compared existing skills, thought about long-term benefits, and occasionally disagreed before calmly explaining their reasoning.
Several minutes later, Catherine spoke again. "I’ll contribute my own Transcendent Skill Upgrade Ticket as well."
"It’s yours. You should keep it." Isaac immediately shook his head.
"It’s ours, not just mine. Besides, you’ve spent so many resources helping all of us become stronger. Compared to before, I’m already much more powerful because of everything you’ve invested in me. I can afford to contribute this," Catherine smiled faintly, looking at him with an affectionate gaze.
"That’s not how it words," he said, a bit helpless as he knew she would likely not listen to his advice.
"You’re giving away your own skill ticket as well," Alice pointed out.
"My situation is different. All of you know that," Isaac replied.
Isaac had expected his wives to convince Catherine to keep her own Skill Upgrade Ticket. Instead, the discussion somehow turned into everyone trying to convince him that it was okay for Catherine to share it. Since they were a family, they believed it was only natural to distribute valuable resources wherever they would provide the greatest benefit.
The reasoning was simple. Isaac had always shared the resources he obtained to optimize everyone’s growth. That’s why all of them were strong. If they started hoarding rewards simply because they had earned them personally, their overall growth would only become slower in the long run.
Listening to them, Isaac couldn’t really find a convincing argument to refute their reasoning. They weren’t saying it for Catherine’s sake alone. They genuinely believed this was the best approach for the entire family.
He rubbed his forehead before giving up.
"Fine. Whatever you wish," he said, raising his hands.
Smiles immediately appeared around the room. Emily looked pleased, Selene quietly smiled to herself, and even Alice’s expression softened slightly. Isaac could tell they all knew they had won the argument.
With that matter settled, the discussion naturally returned to the two Transcendent Skill Upgrade Tickets. There were several possible ways they could distribute them. Everyone quietly began considering the strengths and weaknesses of each option.
One possibility was to use the two tickets on Emily and Alice. Emily’s Hollow Crown Manifestation was an SSS+ rank transformation skill. Even at its current rank, it increased the strength of her summons by fifty percent, so everyone expected a Transcendent upgrade to provide an enormous improvement.
"It’ll probably do more than just increase the percentage. Transformation skills usually gain entirely new effects after reaching Transcendent rank. Plus given the types of summons Emily has, the boost this upgrade would provide her would be tremendous," Isaac said after thinking for a moment.
Emily nodded in agreement. She also believed the upgrade would likely improve the skill itself instead of simply increasing its numerical bonuses.
The second ticket could go to Alice. The first candidate was Miracle of Grace skill. It was already an incredibly powerful healing skill, but everyone had witnessed its limitations during the Great Dungeon Competition.
Items could hinder it. Moreover, they knew poisons and curses that exceeded the skill’s rank could significantly reduce its effectiveness. Upgrading it would likely solve many of those problems while also making Alice’s healing even more dependable during future battles.
"If Miracle of Grace reaches Transcendent rank, those weaknesses should become much less of a problem. Healing is something we’ll always depend on," Emily said.
Alice gave a small nod.
Another obvious choice was Domain of War. Unlike Miracle of Grace, Domain of War was already a Transcendent rank skill. Using the ticket on it would push it to Transcendent+.
The skill already granted extraordinary buffs to every ally within its range. It increased physical abilities by 200% while also boosting magical attacks and skill damage by 100%. The more people fighting alongside Alice, the greater the value of the skill became.
"I’m honestly leaning more toward Domain of War," Isaac said.
"I am too. That skill improves the fighting strength of an entire army. From a long-term perspective, it’s difficult to compete with that," Catherine said.
Selene slowly nodded. "I think it provides the greatest benefit overall."
Only one person brought up Alice’s Resurrection skill. Selene looked between everyone before voicing her thoughts. "Wouldn’t upgrading Resurrection be the strongest option? If it became stronger, it could save even more lives."
Isaac shook his head. "I don’t think that’s a good idea. Resurrection is already a skill that goes against the natural order, so even if it becomes stronger, it’ll almost certainly gain additional restrictions to balance it."
He paused briefly before continuing. "There’s another problem. We’ve already had to negotiate with the Grim Reapers because of Emily’s situation. If Alice’s Resurrection becomes even more unreasonable, it could create political problems we’d rather avoid."
After hearing his explanation, Selene nodded in understanding. "I hadn’t considered that."
The next person brought up during the discussion was Celia. Catherine was the first to mention her name. "I think Celia is also a good option."
Isaac understood why she had suggested her. Celia possessed two physiques, something that should have been impossible according to everything they knew. Those two physiques had each produced a transformation skill of their own.
Infernal Sovereign Transformation and Queen of Desire Transformation were both already SSS+ rank. Individually, both skills were already powerful enough to stand among the strongest abilities in their group.
Even now, Isaac still hadn’t learned why Celia possessed two physiques. He had asked Eleanor about it once, believing she would know the answer.
Instead of explaining, Eleanor had fallen strangely silent. It was one of the very few times Isaac had seen genuine surprise appear in her eyes. She had only warned him not to tell anyone about Celia’s situation before refusing to say anything further.
What made it even stranger was that she hadn’t explained the reason to Catherine either. Whatever the truth was, Eleanor clearly believed it was something that should remain hidden from everyone for the time being.
As the discussion continued, Isaac gradually realized that everyone had developed a soft spot for Celia. Catherine especially seemed more protective of her than usual, which was rather rare considering how logical she normally was when making decisions.
Even so, Isaac slowly shook his head. "I don’t think Celia should receive the tickets."
Everyone turned toward him.
"Her transformation skills are incredibly powerful, but they’ll mostly strengthen herself. At most, they might also affect the beings from Hell serving under her. Compared to that, Domain of War strengthens entire armies. The overall value is simply much higher." He said.
Catherine quietly thought about his reasoning for several moments. Eventually, she gave a small nod in agreement. "That’s true. Looking at it that way, Alice’s skill contributes much more to everyone."
The discussion continued for a while longer. Catherine herself was naturally considered because of her clone skill, while Selene was mentioned because her long-range communication skill had become increasingly important as their territory continued expanding.
After weighing every option, everyone gradually arrived at the same conclusion. Alice would receive one Skill Upgrade Ticket for Domain of War. The other would go to Selene because strengthening her communication skill would benefit everyone in Isaac’s territory.
Isaac and Catherine both stood before walking over to Alice and Selene. After shaking hands with them, they transferred the two Transcendent Skill Upgrade Tickets through physical contact. Once the transfers were complete, all four of them returned to their seats.
Isaac looked around the room before speaking again. "Alright. The only thing left now is the Transcendent Talent Fragment. Whoever receives it will have their Talent upgraded to Transcendent rank."
Of course, he already intended to raise everyone’s Talents eventually. This fragment would only determine who reached that level first. There would be opportunities to improve everyone else in the future.
"Alice and Celia," Catherine said without hesitation.
"Yes. I think those two are the strongest candidates." Selene nodded immediately.
Alice gave a slow nod as well. Isaac could tell she agreed with the assessment, although she looked slightly awkward acknowledging herself as one of the best choices.
Isaac gently tightened his arm around Emily before looking down at her.
"What do you think, Emily?" he asked.
"Same as everyone else. Alice’s Talent upgrade would strengthen her first three Talent skills. That includes her healing skill, so it’s an excellent choice. As for Celia, the upgrade would also be valuable because it would strengthen her teleportation skill," Emily said.
"Nu-uh. That chaos gremlin isn’t getting anything," Isaac said, shaking his finger before smiling toward Catherine. He was fairly certain Celia wasn’t actually far away. If she wasn’t hiding somewhere nearby herself, then one of Catherine’s clones was almost certainly watching her.
Isaac knew exactly why Celia hadn’t shown herself.
She was probably avoiding him because he found the ’rumors’ she had been spreading recently. If she wanted the Talent Fragment, however, she would have to come here herself. Only then could she argue that she was the best candidate for it.
Catherine noticed the meaning of Isaac’s gaze almost immediately.
"Honestly, you two are such kids," Catherine said, shaking her head.
Isaac looked at her with an exaggerated expression of disbelief. Being compared to Celia was already bad enough, but being told they behaved the same way was even worse.
"I’m nothing like that gremlin. I’m the mature one here," he protested.
Emily couldn’t stop herself from smiling, while Selene quietly covered her mouth to hide a laugh. Even Alice’s usually calm expression softened slightly as she watched Isaac defend himself so seriously.