Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 641: Conqueror Trial Result, Catherine’s Question

Eleanor POV

"Keep your breathing steady. Don’t try to fight the mana directly. Try to guide its flow," Eleanor said as she watched the two from a few meters away.

"I— I can’t do it!" Isla cried, her legs trembling so hard that she looked like she would collapse at any moment.

Beside her, Averon stayed silent, his teeth clenched tightly enough that the muscles along his jaw had become rigid.

The veins bulging across his forehead made it obvious how much pressure he was under, but even so, he refused to make a sound.

The two of them were holding a squat position while Eleanor deliberately disrupted the flow of mana through their mana nerves.

Instead of circulating normally, their mana moved erratically, making every muscle twitch and spasm without warning.

Their task was to seize control of the unstable mana and force it back into order without letting mana make their body move erratically.

If they didn’t do that, their mana would make their muscles moved without rhyme and rhythm.

It was a deceptively simple exercise. Modern awakeners relied on mana almost entirely to activate skills, and very few actually practiced controlling raw mana itself. Exercises like this exposed that weakness almost immediately.

Surprisingly, Isla was performing better than Averon. That was something Averon hadn’t expected to see.

He had spent years training pure mana manipulation before becoming Lord of Solkara City. Even after pledging himself to Isaac as one of his Sub Lords, that foundation had remained one of his strengths.

Isla, on the other hand, had never been anyone special. She had just been the vice leader of former Radiant Dawn, one of the top four guilds during the previous governor’s rule.

The only reason Averon wasn’t complaining out like Isla was simple. He refused to lose to a human girl whose mental fortitude was obviously worse than his.

His pride was keeping him silent even as his entire body trembled.

Eleanor watched them absentmindedly. Under normal circumstances, she would have already ordered them to start running laps while maintaining control over their unstable mana. Today, however, her thoughts refused to stay on their training.

The Conqueror Trial had been occupying her mind ever since Isaac, Catherine, and Alice entered it. No matter how much she tried to focus on the present, her attention kept drifting back to them.

’Are you worried about them?’ a familiar voice asked inside her mind.

’Yes. Catherine took a long time to recover after the last Conqueror Trial. Even after she stopped showing it, I knew the memories never truly left her. I just hope this trial isn’t anything like the last one,’ Eleanor replied.

Before the voice answered, a sharp spike of mana suddenly erupted inside the mansion.

Eleanor’s eyes widened. Without a second of hesitation, she vanished from where she stood.

She accelerated with enough force to shatter the earth beneath her feet and send shockwaves through the mansion.

However, she redirected every bit of excess momentum using the Kinetic Element, preventing any destructive force from escaping.

The result was a full-speed sprint that disturbed neither the floor nor the furniture around her.

An instant later, she arrived in the living room. Almost at the same time, Celia flew downstairs after sensing the same burst of mana.

Both of them stopped in place as three portals shimmered into existence.

’All three of them completed the Conqueror Trial? Already?’ Eleanor’s thoughts raced.

The first portal rippled before Catherine stepped through. The moment she appeared, Eleanor felt an instinctive chill crawl across her back. Beside her, Celia unconsciously stiffened as well.

The feeling radiating from Catherine wasn’t hostile. It was simply overwhelming, carrying enough weight that even Eleanor couldn’t ignore it. She immediately understood what it meant.

’She succeeded.’

Relief began spreading through Eleanor’s chest. However, the smile that almost formed disappeared when she saw Catherine’s face.

She was smiling. Yet her eyes were filled with sadness. No, it was more than sadness, they looked as though she was barely holding herself back from crying.

That expression alarmed Eleanor far more than Catherine’s newfound strength. Catherine wasn’t someone who lost control of her emotions so easily.

"I’ve completed my Trial, Master," Catherine said quietly.

Eleanor gave a small nod, but before she could respond, Catherine turned toward Celia.

"Come here," Catherine said.

Celia blinked in confusion before walking over. Without another word, Catherine wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

"I remember you telling me Isaac showed you a dream. Do you want my help getting even with him?" Catherine asked with a smile while gently patting Celia’s back.

Eleanor frowned slightly because she had no idea what Catherine was referring to. Celia, however, understood immediately.

She remembered the dream Isaac had shown her, the one where he used Vale to scare her half to death. Ever since then, she had been trying to return the ’favor’, but every attempt failed.

If Catherine was offering to help, then everything changed. Celia almost laughed right then and there, but somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"Why are you asking now? The last time I wanted your help, you told me I should learn to do it myself," Celia said with an innocent expression.

"Let’s just say I feel like spoiling you." Catherine’s smile softened slightly.

Celia nodded obediently. Inside, however, she was already celebrating. Isaac had absolutely no idea what was coming.

Before anyone could continue the conversation, the second portal shimmered. Alice stepped through unsteadily with one hand pressed against her forehead.

She nearly lost her balance before Celia reacted. With a quick use of Telekinesis, she caught Alice before she could fall to the floor.

"Thank you," Alice muttered quietly. She slowly walked over to the sofa before dropping onto it with a tired sigh.

Leaning her head against the backrest, Alice closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It looked like she had an unbearable headache, which was strange because her healing abilities should have erased something like that almost instantly.

"Alice, are you alright?" Eleanor asked, unable to hide the concern in her voice.

Alice slowly opened her eyes and looked at Eleanor. She could clearly see the genuine worry on the older woman’s face.

"I failed the Conqueror Trial," Alice said.

Everyone in the room was surprised. Eleanor’s brows furrowed immediately, while Catherine looked at Alice with concern. Both of them knew Conqueror Trials were not simple. Alice must’ve gone through something horrible to fail.

Seeing the expressions around her, Alice closed her eyes and continued massaging her forehead.

After letting out a quiet sigh, she spoke again. "You don’t have to worry. I don’t remember anything about the Trial, so I don’t have any trauma. Whatever happened in there, the System erased my memories before sending me back."

Eleanor frowned.

She was about to ask what she meant when the third and final portal rippled. Everyone’s attention shifted toward it as the room suddenly became quiet.

Isaac stepped through the portal.

The moment they saw him, dread ran down everyone’s spine.

Before Isaac had even completely stepped out, Catherine drew her sword, Celia summoned her telekinetic blades (Sanguine thorns), and Alice instinctively reached for her weapon despite her pounding headache.

Their reactions were so quick, and instinctive, like a prey running away from a predator.

Almost at the same time, Avery and Sera appeared inside the living room after sensing the sudden surge of mana. The tense atmosphere made it clear they had arrived expecting trouble.

"Woah, woah, calm down. It’s me," Isaac said quickly. He raised both hands.

As soon as he finished speaking, he winced and pressed a hand against his forehead.

The sharp pain clearly hadn’t gone away, and he slowly rubbed his temple while waiting for everyone to relax.

Celia blinked before letting out an embarrassed cough.

"Sorry. That was just an instinctive reaction," she admitted.

One by one, everyone dismissed their weapons and dispersed their mana. The tense atmosphere disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Without saying anything else, Celia walked over to Isaac and gently helped him toward the sofa. His mana had clearly grown much stronger than before, which was probably the result of passing the Conqueror Trial, but his face was so pale that it worried everyone who looked at him.

Once he sat down, Celia quietly sat beside him and began massaging his head. There wasn’t even a trace of her usual mischievous expression. Right now, she was simply worried about him.

"Why do both of you look so bad?" Avery asked as he glanced between Isaac and Alice.

"The System started saying some protocol after I finished the Trial. Then it erased my memories before throwing me out. I think that’s why my head feels like it’s splitting apart. Even healing skills aren’t doing anything," Isaac explained.

"The same thing happened to me. I’ve tried healing myself several times already, but the headache doesn’t get any better," Alice groaned from the other sofa.

Eleanor frowned as she listened to them. System erasing memory was something she had never heard of before.

Sera stepped forward and quietly examined both of them with a few support spells. After observing them for a short while, she looked at everyone else.

"The best thing both of you can do right now is sleep. Your bodies are exhausted, and there’s nothing more healing magic can do at the moment. Rest is probably the only thing that will help," Sera said.

Neither Isaac nor Alice argued. They were far too tired to question her conclusion.

The two of them didn’t even check the notifications they had received after coming out of the Conqueror Trial. Without looking at the changes the Trial had brought, they simply returned to their rooms and fell asleep.

After that, everyone gradually returned to what they had been doing before. Even so, the atmosphere throughout the mansion remained noticeably heavier than usual.

Not long afterward, Selene hurried back after hearing what had happened. She immediately began taking care of Isaac and Alice whenever either of them briefly woke up before falling asleep again.

Celia stayed close to Isaac the entire time. She barely spoke, and every time Isaac opened his eyes, she was already sitting nearby.

Seeing the worry on Celia’s face, Selene gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

"They’ll be alright. Whatever this is, it doesn’t seem permanent. Try not to worry too much," she said reassuringly.

Celia nodded quietly. Although Selene’s words reassured her a little, the concern in her eyes didn’t disappear.

Emily also heard about Isaac and Alice’s condition while she was in another City. She immediately wanted to return, but Catherine contacted her before she could leave and assured her that everything was under control.

Reluctantly, Emily agreed to stay where she was after Catherine promised to inform her if anything changed.

Only after everything had settled down did Catherine ask Eleanor to meet her in the study. The room was protected by several enchantments that prevented anyone from listening to conversations inside.

"I’m here," Eleanor said as she took the seat across from Catherine. Once she sat down, she quietly waited.

Catherine didn’t speak immediately. She lowered her eyes, hesitated several times, and seemed to be gathering her thoughts before finally looking back up.

Eleanor didn’t interrupt her. She knew Catherine well enough to understand that she would speak when she was ready.

In front of everyone else, Catherine almost always acted mature and composed. However, when she was alone with Eleanor, she occasionally allowed herself to reveal the worries she normally kept hidden.

After another moment of silence, Catherine finally spoke. "It’s about my Conqueror Trial."

"Go on." Eleanor gave a small nod.

Catherine took a slow breath before continuing. "Master, do you remember the dream Celia had during Isaac’s Lord Quest? The one where the Crimson Sky Wyrm attacked our city?"

"I do. We never discovered why she had that dream, though it saved us that day," Eleanor replied.

Catherine slowly nodded before continuing. "My Trial started exactly the way that dream did. The world inside wasn’t completely identical to ours, though. In that world, Isaac failed to awaken his Talent. Alice left the city... and you died."

Her voice became quieter near the end. Even after leaving the Trial, simply saying those words caused her hand to tremble slightly.

Eleanor reached across the table and gently placed her hand over Catherine’s. She knew Catherine had a trauma of losing her ’family’.

She didn’t interrupt or rush her and simply waited for her to continue.

"I don’t think it was just a fake story created for the Trial. It doesn’t make sense that Celia somehow saw the same events in a dream long before I entered the Trial," Catherine said softly.

She looked directly at Eleanor, unable to hide the uncertainty in her eyes. "I don’t understand what I saw. Was it another timeline? A parallel world? Or was it—"

...

Author’s Note (This note doesn’t increase the Chapter price.)

Yes, we are skipping details of all Trials. Yes, they will be shown (soon for one of them). Yes, there is a very important reason as to why the Trails were skipped.

I know some of you were probably looking forward to seeing them immediately, and believe me, I wanted to write them too. I actually went back and forth on this decision for quite a while because I knew skipping them might feel disappointing.

In the end, however, I realized that showing the Trials now would reveal several important plot points much earlier than intended. It would also affect the pacing of future arcs and take away from some reveals that are meant to have a much bigger impact later on.

So don’t worry. The Trials are not being skipped permanently.

In fact, one of them will be shown fairly soon. The others will also be revealed later, and there is a very specific reason why they’re being saved for those moments. Once you reach those parts of the story, I think you’ll understand why I chose this approach.

Since you’ve been reading this novel for so long, you probably know by now that I usually have a reason whenever something isn’t explained immediately, or doesn’t make sense (like when Isaac met Mother in Calloway Estate during the banquet, but never told anyone about it).

So, I hope you can trust me this time as well and be patient with these Trial reveals. I promise they’ll be shown when the timing is right, and the payoff will be much better because of it.

Thank you for trusting me and sticking with the story for so long. I truly appreciate your support, comments, and theories. I hope you’ll continue enjoying what’s coming next!