Isaac POV
Several Hours Ago, Early Morning
The sun hadn’t fully risen when Isaac stirred awake.
He blinked, adjusting to the soft glow seeping through the curtains, and felt a gentle warmth beside him.
Turning his head, he saw Emily curled up against him, her arms wrapped around his torso and her face relaxed in sleep.
A faint smile touched her lips, innocent and peaceful, a sharp contrast to how she’d been the night before.
Isaac’s chest warmed at the sight.
Then, still lying in bed, he called out in his mind.
’System.’
Several notifications had been queued from last night, buried under the flood of intimacy-driven activity.
Now that he was fully awake, he scrolled through them.
[Emily Warren’s Affection has crossed the 100 threshold.]
[For each point after 100, the Affection Points gained will be increased by 100%.]
Instead of ten times the base, the AP he would receive from her was now eleven times the base.
The numbers continued to climb in front of his eyes.
Affection (Emily): 101 → 102
Affection (Emily): 102 → 103
A low whistle escaped him. That meant he was now receiving thirty times the base AP from Emily. It was a massive increase, even if her Affection increase wasn’t as explosive as Alice’s.
“I guess it makes sense. Alice’s affection was built over years,” he murmured, brushing a strand of hair from Emily’s cheek. “Emily’s already crossed the limit of normal affection. Even a single point beyond that is probably a big deal.”
His fingers rested on her forehead for a second before he kissed it softly. She squirmed in her sleep and pulled him closer, sighing in contentment.
Then, he opened another prompt in his mind.
’System, show me my AP Balance.’
AP Balance: 555.67 → 63,567.78
Isaac’s jaw almost dropped.
’Sixty-three thousand?’
He rubbed his eyes, half-wondering if he was dreaming. But the number stayed there, as real as it could be.
He hadn’t checked his AP balance in three days, and things had escalated.
Between Alice’s 110 affection, which netted him 200x the base AP, and Emily’s 103 affection at 30x, the numbers added up fast.
“This is ridiculous… but in the best way possible,” he said, letting out a laugh.
It also reaffirmed his strategy.
Instead of running around trying to gather more ’wives’ or partners, he’d focused on deepening his relationships with Alice and Emily. It was finally paying off.
’Only two days left until the Time-Limited Shop resets. I can grab the final items I wanted.’
He navigated to the shop and clicked on the item he had saved up for:
Innate SSS-Rank Understanding of Sword – Purchased
AP Balance: 63,567.78 → 8,567.78
He winced a little at the drop. “Back to being broke, huh.”
A glowing orb appeared inside his mindscape.
It held the compressed knowledge of the sword—countless years of swordplay, refined into a single transferable essence.
He could give it to anyone he had a bond with.
Or use it himself.
“Giving this to the Vice Principal would be optimal. She’s already a powerhouse with the sword,” Isaac muttered.
It would make her stronger. Giving it to her would be an investment that would make her indebted to him.
It was a tempting prospect.
But…
’There’s a catch. She’s not my wife. If I give it to her, I won’t be able to share the innate understanding with myself.’
Isaac didn’t use the sword personally, not with his current skillset, but having access to SSS-rank swordsmanship would still be invaluable.
He’d be able to predict, counter, and neutralize sword-based attacks.
Most awakeners in the field relied on cold weapons, especially swords. So having SSS-rank innate understanding would help him fight against them, if need to do rose.
’If I want to share the understanding with myself, I should give to Alice or Emily.’
’They don’t need swordsmanship, but it would be helpful to them just in the same as it would be helpful to me.’
’Still, if I give this to Vice Principal, there is a chance I can use it as a leverage to have her become my third SSS-rank Lord Subject.’
Both options had its merit and demerit.
’Vice Principal isn’t here. I don’t know when she would come back, so saving it for her would be a waste of time and resources.’
’Also, I can just buy another SSS-rank Innate Understanding of sword from my regular system shop for her later,’ he reasoned. ’It’ll cost ten times more, but if I keep earning AP like this, that’s not a problem.’
The items in Time-Limited Shop were cheaper, which was why he focused on them.
But he could still buy them from his normal System Shop.
He exhaled.
That settled it.
’I’ll give this one to Emily. It will help her fight sword users in close combat.’
Isaac thought back to the battle with the Guardian Machina.
That monster had nearly overwhelmed Emily due to its perfect sword techniques.
If she had this Sword Understanding then, the outcome might’ve been different.
As for Alice, he could give her the SSS-rank Understanding of Marksmanship.
’Alice has crazy high firepower in close combat, and she can heal herself.’
’Her biggest weakness right now is long range opponents. They can snipe her from distance.’
’But with SSS-rank Understanding of Marksmanship, she would be able to predict the path of long-range attacks, and dodge them.’
Isaac could picture a sniper trying to hit Alice, but she was dodging it easily and running towards the sniper.
The sniper would be terrified of her, if that ever happened.
Chuckling, he said in his mind, ’System, assign the Innate SSS-rank Understanding of Sword to Emily.’
The glowing orb dissolved.
A moment later, Isaac could sense that it had integrated into her.
Emily furrowed her brow in her sleep and mumbled something.
“I… don’t want to study more…”
Isaac chuckled under his breath. “This counts as training, not studying.”
Then he gave another command.
’System, share Emily’s Innate SSS-rank Understanding of Sword with me.’