He chuckled, shaking his head.
“You really say the weirdest things sometimes.”
“I’m being completely scientific,” she said with a mock-serious nod before floating off his lap. “Anyway, I’ll go prepare breakfast.”
Isaac stood and followed her to the kitchen, watching her move around with surprising energy considering how she’d looked half-asleep a moment ago.
She glanced back at him.
“You’re not going to the gym today?” she asked.
“I will. But there’s something I wanted to talk to you about first.”
She paused, turning slightly toward him.
“It’s about Avery. She’s a water elemental spirit. She came because she sensed the fertility of my farmland. Right now, she’s fusing with the land. She’ll stay dormant for two or three weeks, and after that, she should wake up.”
He explained more about Avery and the conversation they had.
Emily blinked a few times.
“A spirit?” she repeated. “You mean like an actual elemental spirit?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s… wow. That’s actually really cool,” she said, placing the bowl aside. “Can I meet her when she wakes up?”
“Of course. I don’t think she’ll mind.”
Emily asked with equal enthusiasm, “Isaac can I tame Avery?”
“Huh?”
“Well, she’s a spirit, right? Doesn’t that mean I can try to tame her?”
His lips twitched at her words.
’I just told her Avery’s basically like a person, and her first thought is taming her?’
Isaac stared at her for a second, his thoughts drifting.
Emily never really hesitated when it came to spirits.
Whether it was monsters, phantoms, or sentient remnants, she turned them into tamed monster without hesitation.
A normal person might feel disgust or repulsion doing that to someone’s spirit after defeating.
’It is probably thanks to her Phantom Empress bloodline. She must feel it’s normal to command spirits.’
He didn’t think it was a bad trait of her bloodline.
If the monsters won, they would’ve killed her.
Since she won, she had the right to do what she wanted.
While he was lost in thought, Emily called out, “Isaac?”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “As for taming Avery, you’ll have to talk to her about that once she wakes up.”
“Got it!” she replied brightly, looking far too excited at the idea.
After breakfast prep was underway, Isaac stepped out to the field.
The morning sun was already warming the soil, and the scent of dew still lingered.
He transformed his Terraheart Plow into the Mystic-rank Hoe with a single thought.
Swinging it once, he harvested all crops.
He planted new seeds in their place.
Once the baskets were full, he turned to Tyr, who was waiting nearby.
Isaac handed the harvested grains to him and gave the usual instructions to take them to the shop.
But just as Tyr turned, Isaac’s eyes fell on the scarecrow at the far end of the field.
The Deathwood Guardian stood tall, silent and ominous as always.
It had served him well, especially in the earlier days of the farm.
He still remembered it fighting off the Champion rank assassins and defeating them during the time when Isaac and Tyr were still ’weak.’
But now, the land was far too vast for its limited sensing range.
Thanks to its considerable strength, Isaac could depend on it to protect his farm.
However, it couldn’t cover the whole field anymore due to its limited range to sense the enemies.
Besides, with Avery fusing with the land and Isaac’s own control over its roots, he could now defend it better than ever.
Isaac took a breath and turned back to Tyr.
“Tyr, wait.”
The treant stopped and looked back.
“I want you to take the Deathwood Guardian with you to the shop. We’ll use it there from now on.”
Tyr nodded in understanding.
But then Isaac paused and frowned.
“Wait, how are you going to carry it though?”
The Deathwood Guardian wasn’t exactly light or small.
Tyr could carry it, sure, but it would be an awkward and exhausting trip.
“Should I just go myself?” Isaac muttered.
He could store the Guardian in his Soulbind Pendant, after all.
But Tyr pointed to the jeep parked near the edge of the field, then at himself.
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
“You’re saying you’ll take it in the jeep?”
Tyr nodded again.
“Can you even drive?”
Another nod.
“Since when?”
Isaac blinked, surprise showing on his face.
Tyr extended his branchy hand and used a sharpened twig-finger to write on the dirt:
[Freya.]
Isaac’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. “Freya taught you to drive?”
Another nod.
“And the writing too?”
This time Tyr tilted his head, then nodded again, a bit slower.
That meant she was teaching him writing, but he hadn’t learnt it completely yet.
’So she has been teaching him all sorts of things.’
Until now, Tyr could only copy the writing from his status screen, but this was clearly more than that.
Isaac smiled.
“Did you thank Freya?”
Tyr froze.
“You should thank her,” Isaac said as he patted the treant’s wooden shoulder. “Always thank people when they help you. Remember, when someone helps you, repay them twice. When someone hurts you, pay them back tenfold.”
Tyr nodded and seemed to take the advice to heart.
He moved quickly, loading the grains and the heavy Deathwood Guardian into the jeep.
After double-checking everything, he climbed into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.
Isaac watched as the jeep rolled out, tires kicking up a little dust.
“His driving’s pretty good. Looks like he’s been practicing for a while now.”
He stretched slightly, then turned back toward the house.
He made a mental note to visit Freya soon. It felt right to thank her in person.
Maybe he should bring a gift too.
’I’ll ask Emily for advice.’
’Or should I ask Alice. Emily hasn’t spent much time in outside world so she might not know much about gifts.’
He headed to the basement gym next and went through his usual routine.
The workout lasted about an hour.
Afterwards, he returned to his room, took a quick shower, and got dressed.
When he stepped back into the living room, he saw that Emily was already setting the table. The smell of fresh food filled the space.
She had changed into clean clothes and had clearly freshened up.
Isaac looked around. “Alice still isn’t back?”
“Nope,” Emily replied, placing a bowl of soup on the table. “She said she might need a few more hours to finish what she’s doing.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s in the room upstairs. The same one she stayed in before.”
Isaac nodded. “Alright. I’ll go check on her before breakfast.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
“…Careful?”
Emily nodded and kept her focus on arranging the table.
He frowned a little but turned toward the stairs anyway.
’What exactly is there to be careful about?’
He made his way to the upper floor and walked to the door of the room Alice was.
He knocked once out of habit, but then pushed the door open.
The moment the door cracked open, a blast of flames hit him in the face.
Golden flames burst out from the room like a living tide.
They weren’t hot, but they were voracious, swallowing the hallway and licking at the ceiling above.
Isaac squinted through the light, raising his hand slightly in reflex.
But the fire didn’t burn him.
Inside, Alice sat cross-legged in the center of the room.
Her eyes remained closed and her expression was calm.
She didn’t even notice the intrusion.
Flames coiled around her like serpents but didn’t burn the floor, the walls, or even the furniture.
Everything remained untouched.
She was controlling it.
Every single wisp of flame was moving according to her will.
Isaac stepped inside quietly, observing the rhythm of her breathing.
It was slow and unique.
’A breathing technique,’ he thought. ’And it seems she is circulating the mana internally in a unique way too.’
’This must be the method her ancestor left behind to help control their dragon bloodline.’
He watched her for a long moment.
Sweat rolled gently down her temple, trailing along her cheek and dripping to the floor.
Her hands were relaxed, resting on her knees, but the golden aura around her was fierce.
’I should ask her for that technique later,’ Isaac thought. ’I need it too.’
The dragon instincts within weren’t a problem yet.
But there was never knowing what might happen in the future.
One day he might lose control due to them, and do something he should not do.
Better to prepare now.
He closed the door gently, and as he did, the flames that had crept into the hallway slowly faded.
Without Alice’s support, they disappeared one wisp at a time.
Back in the living room, he sat down beside Emily, who gave him a questioning glance.
“She’s training,” he said, picking up a spoon. “Everything’s fine.”
Emily smiled and shifted closer.
“…?”
“Can you feed me?”
He glanced at her expression and couldn’t say no.
“Sure.”
He lifted a spoonful of soup and held it out.
She leaned forward with a pleased look, and he chuckled under his breath.
He hadn’t been around much these last few days.
If something like this made her happy, then why not?
After breakfast, he led her to the study.
They sat together, surrounded by books, and plants Isaac used as materials.
Emily opened a book and focused on it.
While she did not like subjects related to math and physics, or the ones that made her learn about monsters’ habitat and habits, she quite like history books and the ones that explained about the findings of Explorers in the wilderness.
Isaac focused on creating potions.
He created mana potions at first, then the three poisons, and then their combined antidote.
He was deliberately doing all at once.
It helped him push his skill past his limit.
The room was quiet except for the clink of glass and the occasional turn of a page.
Almost three hours later, a message appeared in his vision.
Reaper’s Bounty has reached Level 8 → Level 9
Isaac exhaled quietly.
’Finally.’
It was getting harder and harder to level that skill now.
Isaac needed to create something more complex to level up his skill now.
He looked at the mana potions on the desk.
’I don’t need these anymore. Avery can nourish the land with her own mana. The water she produces has a high mana content. It’s basically a natural mana potion.’
’As for people, I can just feed them my grains instead of mana potions.’
While the potions were still useful as they could recover more mana than the grains, he did not need the huge number of potions —which he created for his land— anymore.
A small batch of them was enough.
He leaned back in thought.
’I should ask Professor Catherine if there’s a way to create healing potions.’
He had access to Alice’s healing skill through their bond, but he didn’t want to rely on it openly unless he had to.
Healing potions would be more practical.
They were easier to use in public, and less suspicious.
He shifted his gaze toward the poisons and their antidotes.
They were powerful, no doubt, but their effectiveness was reaching its limits.
’The poisons aren’t the issue. It’s the range. Someone like that assassin I fought yesterday can just escape before it takes effect.’
Trapping enemies with his roots was one way to force them into the poison’s range, but even that had its limits.
The assassin he fought yesterday was the perfect example.
Of course, he could still use the poisons.
It was just that he wanted something of a more reliable method of attack he could use openly.
’I should ask Professor Catherine if there’s another plant I can use in battle. Something more versatile, or powerful.’
The thought made him pause.
’…I’ve become pretty dependent on Professor Catherine, haven’t I?’
He smiled a little.
He hadn’t even realized it until now.
Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing. She was his teacher.
Besides, he was growing quickly. Sooner or later, he’d surpass her.
As he was still thinking, the door opened. Alice stepped inside.
He turned his head and paused. She looked the same.
But something about her was different.
Her presence was heavier.
Her expression wasn’t cold exactly.
It was just… distant. Like she had turned into a flower at the top of a mountain that people could look at but not get close to.
“Welcome back,” Emily said gently. “You done training?”
Alice gave a small nod. “Yes.”