Isaac stepped closer and felt the freezing air wash over him.
Her eyes were still closed, but her chest rose and fell steadily now.
“The worst of it should be over now,” Isaac said quietly.
He exhaled again and glanced at Alice. She gave him a small nod.
Just then, Emily stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open. She blinked twice, slowly, as though adjusting to the world again.
Isaac watched her closely.
Her gaze locked onto his. It wasn’t the same as before. Something had changed. He couldn’t explain it, but it was there in the way she looked at him.
Her expression wasn’t blank or dazed. It was sharp, aware, and… different.
More mature?
He didn’t know how else to describe it, but for a brief second, it felt like someone else was looking back at him. Someone wiser. But then—
Her expression twisted in pain.
Isaac’s thoughts scattered as she clenched her teeth, and her body arched slightly. A soft groan escaped her lips.
“Her Physique is awakening,” he said quickly.
There was no time to think.
He moved in one smooth motion, scooping her up despite the dampness of her clothes and the black impurities staining her back. His shirt was instantly soaked, but he didn’t care.
Alice opened the Life Support Pod while Isaac carried Emily to it.
He carefully laid her inside. The moment the lid closed, he activated it.
A soft hum filled the room. The pod’s internal lights blinked once, then settled into a gentle green.
Emily’s face, which had been twisted in pain just seconds ago, slowly relaxed. Her body stopped trembling. The stress in her limbs faded as the pod’s systems stabilized her vitals and began regulating her physique evolution.
A soft beep rang out, and a mechanical voice echoed in the quiet room:
“Time left until complete Physique awakening: 9 hours.”
Isaac stared at the display, then at Emily’s peaceful face through the transparent lid.
Alice’s voice pulled him back. “You should clean up. I’ll take care of the stained bedsheets.”
He nodded slowly, still a little distracted by everything that had just happened.
There was something different about the way Emily had looked at him earlier.
She still felt like she was his Emily, but somehow more mature.
He didn’t understand the reason behind the change. The thought refused to leave his mind.
He turned away and entered the bathroom.
Alice picked up a mop and started cleaning the floor.
The black impurities had already begun to harden into brittle flakes. It wasn’t hard to sweep them up and toss them into a disposal bag.
Isaac came out, then changed into a clean shirt. Alice, meanwhile, stripped the bed and replaced the sheets with a fresh set from the closet.
When the room was clean again, they stepped out of the Soulbind Pendant’s spatial subspace. The night air of the real world hit them instantly.
Isaac checked the time.
1:03 AM.
It was late. But they decided to return. He still had to harvest the crops from today’s batch.
Isaac drove and they left the parking area, making their way to the nearest teleporter in the Central Sector.
They returned the car, and used the teleporter to return.
They reappeared in the familiar teleportation chamber of Sanctum’s Stronghold. A few alert-looking guards nodded at them as they passed by, clearly used to late-night movements by Sanctum members.
Once outside, they found their jeep still parked in its usual spot.
Dust clung to the sides, and a few leaves had gathered near the tires. Isaac climbed into the driver’s seat while Alice settled into the passenger side.
They chatted while he drove.
The roads back to the outer district were quiet. Streetlamps buzzed gently near the market, casting yellowish pools of light along the path. Most of the stronghold was asleep, except for a few night patrols and transport drones whirring overhead.
Isaac kept one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the open window frame.
“Do you think she’s okay?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.
Alice glanced at him. “She’ll be fine. Physique awakenings are painful, but she’s tougher than she looks.”
“I know.” He gave a small nod. “Still, that look in her eyes…”
“You noticed it too.”
“Yeah.”
Alice leaned back in her seat, folding her arms.
“Do you think it’s related to her memories? Maybe she is regaining them now that her bloodline is being repaired.”
“I can’t say for sure that it’s what is happening, but… it felt like she was remembering something, or someone when I looked at her.”
Isaac mulled over the thought. Remembering something, huh?
“I guess we’ll know when she wakes up,” he said.
Alice hummed softly in agreement.
They reached home soon after. Isaac parked the jeep outside the farm. Since they didn’t had a garage, this was the usual parking spot.
They stepped out into the night. The chill of the late hour hadn’t faded, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
The house lights were off, revealing that Professor Catherine and Leora had still not returned.
Isaac harvested the grains.
2,000 Tier 1 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +1000. Constitution +1000
You have obtained 10,000 Tier 1 Vitality Grains.
3,520 Tier 0 Vitality Grain Crops harvested. Mana +320. Constitution +320.
You have obtained 17,600 Tier 0 Vitality Grains.
1,000 Tier 1 Potato harvested. Mana +4. Constitution +4.
You have obtained 5,000 Tier 1 Potato.
500 Tier 1 Garlic harvested. Mana +5. Constitution +5.
You have obtained 2,500 Tier 1 Garlic.
833 Tier 1 Tomato harvested. Mana +2. Constitution +2.
You have obtained 4,165 Tier 1 Tomato.
833 Tier 1 Onion harvested. Mana +3. Constitution +3.
You have obtained 4,165 Tier 1 Onion.
417 Tier 1 Cabbage harvested. Mana +5. Constitution +5.
You have obtained 4,085 Tier 1 Cabbage.
750 Tier 1 Pea Pods harvested. Mana +6. Constitution +6.
You have obtained 3,750 Tier 1 Pea Pods.
8,000 Tier 1 Wheat Stalk harvested. Mana +11. Constitution +11.
You have obtained 40,000 Tier 1 Wheat Stalk.
Mana: 1000 [8588] → 1000 [10,000]
Constitution: 1000 [8588] → 1000 [10,000]
“The backlog stats reached the limit.”
He wasn’t bummed out anymore with the stat limit after he learned that each stat could give different result for different species.
What he needed to focus was on quality, not quantity of stats.
It was better to help Emily awaken Apex bloodline so that he could get the best out of Emily and Alice’s Physique.
“Now that I think about it. What should I do with these vegetables? We have too much to eat by ourselves.”
Isaac recalled the shop he had been given in Sector 4 by Chairman Lucius.
A plan of business started to form in his mind, though he would need to consult Alice.
He met with Alice and told her about his plan.
“That’s a good idea. There is a lot we need to consider though. What will be our target demographic? Where will be get employees from? We also need to consider tax if we are going to expand our company.”
Alice decided to skip sleep and work on creating the business model. She did so inside his Soulbind Pendant.
Since she was a Apex species with high stat, skipping a day or two sleep was normal. In fact, explorers would sometime go without sleeping for a week.
Isaac took out the Plant Kingdom book he had been given by Selene and began to read. He couldn’t sleep since he was worried about Emily.
A part of him was also looking forward to new skills and affinities Emily would awaken.
He sat in the room with Alice, both busy in their work.
…
Emily POV
Darkness surrounded her. It was silent, weightless, and endless.
Then, in the distance, something shimmered.
It was an orb of light.
Emily drifted toward it without thinking. She touched it and a dream began.
The first image came in a flash.
It showed a towering palace of silver and pale blue that stood beneath a vast sky of snowclouds. Winds howled through its courtyards, and there, seated upon a throne carved of glacial crystal, was a woman.
She was stunning.
Her beauty was sharp, cold, and ethereal.
Pale white hair flowed like frost over her shoulders, and her eyes glowed with a soft, ghostly blue.
Dozens of spirits surrounded her. Some of them were human-shaped, some were beasts, and the others were wisps of light and smoke.
They bowed to her, spoke to her, followed her orders without hesitation.
She was their queen.
Emily felt a tug in her chest. She didn’t know who the woman was, but something about her felt familiar, like the warmth of a blanket she’d forgotten she owned.
Then the scene shifted.
A man appeared this time.
His face was never fully visible, always half-covered in shadow, but he had an undeniable presence. He walked with confidence, moved like he belonged wherever he was. He came and went, never staying long.
But each time he returned, he brought another woman with him.
Sometimes they were shy, sometimes bold, sometimes laughing.
The queen of spirits always received them with the same reaction. She gave them a raised brow, a sigh, and a subtle, sharp remark.
Yet no matter how she acted, the smile on her face when the man returned never disappeared.
It wasn’t a fake smile.
It was full of love.
The scenes sped up. The palace, the spirits, the man’s arrivals and departures. A rhythm built between them. Time passed.
Then the queen had a child.
A baby girl, wrapped in white cloth, cradled by the spirit queen herself.
The girl had silver hair and clear blue eyes. Unlike the spirits or the ghostly beings around her, she was human. A pure human just like the man.
The queen held her with care, not caring about her bloodline. The child was the most precious thing to her in the world.