Her brows rose slightly. “What?”
“Come with me,” Isaac said. “I’ll explain everything.”
He didn’t plan to show the Genetic Catalyst initially, but hiding it would do more harm than good.
The awakening couldn’t be hidden unless Alice lived her whole life as an unawakened but that was the last thing Isaac wanted.
He wanted to slap her relatives with the fact that Alice awakened a bloodline and a Talent.
Besides, he had a bigger reason for including Leora.
He wasn’t willing to gamble with Alice’s life.
From what he had gathered, Genetic Catalysts contained a monster’s will.
Unlike the mosnter core that had a fragment of the will, the Genetic Catalyst had the complete will.
That will was what pressured the target’s soul into awakening their potential. In Alice’s case, it would be the will of a dragon.
A dragon’s will was immense.
And if she couldn’t handle it, she would die after feeling the pain of her soul being crushed by a monster will.
He refused to take that risk.
Leora’s presence would be his safety net.
When they entered the room, Alice was sitting on the bed, drying her hair with a towel.
Isaac gave Leora a small signal to sit, and she obeyed without asking questions.
“What’s that?” Alice asked when Isaac pulled a radiant, golden orb from his spatial ring. The light from it filled the room with a warm glow.
“This,” Isaac said, “is a Dragon-type Genetic Catalyst. It is what I’m going to use to help you awaken.”
Alice froze. Her fingers tightened around the towel.
The memories from the failed awakening came rushing back along with the despair, and the feeling of being left behind.
Just when she had accepted she was ’defective’, the wound was reopened.
“I’m okay, Isaac,” she said softly. “I’ve accepted it already.”
She tried to joke. “And where did you even get that? Did some shopkeeper trick you with a glowing fruit?”
She stopped when she saw Isaac’s expression. He wasn’t smiling.
He wasn’t joking.
He was serious.
That was when hope entered her heart again.
A quiet, almost painful flicker of hope.
Leora spoke first. “Is this why you were asking about awakening theory?”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah.”
Leora’s eyes narrowed. “Explain everything, and I mean everything. I apologize beforehand, but if it sounds dangerous, I’m not letting you use that catalyst.”
Isaac nodded.
“I think Alice has a Talent.”
He glanced at Alice briefly, then back to Leora.
“There are two reasons for my theory. First, she has the Calloway bloodline. Almost everyone with that lineage awakens. It’s rare for them to fail.
“Second, her physical stats. If I had to guess, they’re somewhere between 9 to 11 across the board.”
Leora blinked. “That’s… high.”
“Exactly. Peak human average is 10, and barely anyone reaches it. But Alice has it. So there is a high chance that she is a demihuman. If she is a demihuman, she must have a bloodline, and…”
“And,” Leora added, finishing his thought, “if she has a bloodline… then she likely has a Talent too.”
“But I failed,” Alice whispered. “I failed my awakening. That should mean I don’t have one.”
Isaac shook his head. “Not necessarily. That brings me to my theory.”
He sat forward slightly.
“Awakenings force a soul to unleash its potential under pressure. Awakening Crystals do this by projecting a part of monster’s will. But what if your soul is too strong? What if the pressure wasn’t enough?”
Alice looked at him, unsure.
“I think you have a strong soul,” Isaac said. “Stronger than the crystal could handle. That’s why it didn’t work.”
Leora frowned. “The only way a soul is strong enough to resist a catalyst is if the person has an apex-level bloodline. No one in her family has that… at least, not since the first matriarch.”
“I know,” Isaac replied. “But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”
Leora stayed quiet.
There was an old theory that everyone has a Talent.
But most people never awakened because their soul cowered instead of fighting the monster’s will, and gave up immediately.
Only the souls that fought the monster’s will and resisted it, awakened .
Going by that logic, it could be possible that someone’s soul was so powerful that monster’s will couldn’t even force the soul to fight it seriously, thus the awakening failed.
“That’s a Genetic Catalyst…?” Alice questioned. “Where did you get that?”
“It was left with me when I was abandoned at the orphanage. A sword manual and this,” he said with the most sincere expression.
It wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t a complete lie either.
He had been abandoned as a baby. The sword manual was real. It was old, almost worthless. He hadn’t hidden that. In fact, Alice had seen it before.
“I told you about the sword manual,” Isaac said, looking at Alice. “It’s nothing special. Just fancy content written on old paper.”
Alice nodded, remembering.
“But this,” Isaac continued, holding up the orb that glowed with golden warmth, “was different. I didn’t know what it was, but even as a kid, I could feel the energy coming off it. I didn’t dare tell anyone since it could get me in trouble. I understood it was important.”
Leora’s eyes remained fixed on the catalyst.
The gears in her mind were already turning.
She had suspected Isaac had an apex bloodline for a while.
But if this was truly a Dragon-type Genetic Catalyst—one left by his parents—then it only strengthened that theory.
After all, Genetic Catalysts worked best when they matched the affinity of the user.
Parents with such a powerful item wouldn’t leave it randomly. They must have left it for someone they believed would benefit most from it.
Isaac saw the way she looked at him and knew exactly what was going through her mind.
Her own misunderstanding of him having an apex bloodline helped his cover.
“Now can we start?” Isaac asked, shifting the focus.
Alice was still unsure, but she followed Leora’s instructions quietly.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she knelt on the ground and sat cross-legged.
Leora crouched beside her.
“Just hold it in your hand and try to meditate,” she said gently. “You’ll start to feel an energy coming from it. When you do, imagine reaching toward it. Think of touching that energy with your soul. The moment you do that, the dragon’s will inside the catalyst will react.”
Alice looked at the glowing orb again.
Her eyes flicked to Isaac.
She didn’t say anything, but the fear was clear in her expression.
Leora’s voice softened. “Don’t worry. If the monster’s will tries to harm you, I’ll stop it right away.”
Alice turned back to the orb.
Hope and fear clashed in her eyes.
She had already experienced the despair of failure once. That wound hadn’t healed.
But here she was again, holding something that might give her the chance to awaken.
Or shatter her hope completely.
Isaac gave her a quiet nod. His expression was calm, but encouraging.
“You’ve got this,” he said.
Alice exhaled slowly, then sat a little straighter.
She reached out and touched the surface of the orb with both hands. Its warmth pulsed in her palms.
Her fingers tightened slightly, and she closed her eyes.
Leora stood behind her, extending her hand slightly. A faint field of mana began to form. It was a protective net in case something went wrong.
The room fell silent.
The golden glow of the orb brightened slightly.
A minute passed.
Then two.
Alice’s eyebrows twitched. Her breathing hitched, but she didn’t open her eyes. Sweat began to form on her forehead.
Isaac’s fists clenched at his sides.
“What do you think?” he asked quietly, turning to Leora.
“She’s resisting it,” Leora said, keeping her focus on the faint pulse of the field. “The dragon will inside the catalyst is strong. It’s trying to assert dominance over her soul. But her soul refuses to be defeated, and it’s fighting back fiercely.”
For some reason, Isaac felt proud when he heard that.
Another minute passed.
Then, Alice gasped.
Her eyes shot open, but they weren’t the same. For a brief moment, Isaac saw something golden flash across her pupils.
Her hands trembled. The orb in her palms began to dissolve into mana, and it entered her orifices.
And then, a visible ripple of energy passed through the room.
“Did it…?” Isaac asked, stepping forward.
Leora’s expression remained still. She reached out, and pinched Alice lightly. Her skin resisted the change.
Given the amount of strength Leora used, Alice must have a Constitution higher than 20 to resist.
She stepped back and waited for Alice to tell them the news.
Alice turned up, looking lost.
“I… I can see it,” she said. “The status screen… is floating Infront of my eyes.”
Isaac let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
It worked.
“How do you feel?” he asked softly. “Do you feel any pain of sorts?”
Alice kept alternating her gaze between him and the status screen.
“I awakened.”
And then, it finally hit her.
“I awakened!”
Like a cannonball fired straight into his chest, she tackled him while shedding tears of joy.
“I awakened my Talent, Isaac!” she cried, voice breaking. “I awakened it!”
He stumbled back with her momentum and ended up on the floor, but she didn’t seem to notice. She clung to him with all her strength, her arms wrapped tight around his neck.
“I awakened!” she sobbed. “Thank you! Thank you so much! Sniff… Sniff…”
She buried her face into his shoulder. Her whole body shook as the emotions poured out. Isaac gently placed a hand on her back, holding her quietly.
For a moment, he didn’t speak. He just let her cry.
“I’m proud of you,” he whispered eventually.
She didn’t answer right away, just tightened her grip.
Leora watched the scene in silence. Her arms crossed, and her gaze flicked between the two of them.
She didn’t say anything either, but her expression had softened.
After a while, Alice finally pulled back. Her eyes were red, but her smile was wide. “I didn’t think… I didn’t think it would ever happen.”
Isaac brushed some hair from her cheek. “But it did.”
She nodded quickly, wiping her face. “What should I do next? Wait, I haven’t checked what Talent I got yet.”
Isaac stood and helped her up. “Take your time. It’ll show itself on your screen. Focus and read it out loud if you want.”
She nodded again and looked ahead, eyes scanning the invisible screen only she could see.
A few seconds passed. Then she blinked. Her lips moved slightly as she read silently, and a puzzled look crossed her face.
Leora stepped closer. “Is there something wrong?”
“No, but it says….”
