Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 695: Rain of Levels, Althea And Sword Empress

Gene Reaping has reached Level 6 → Level 7.

Seed Imprinting has reached Level 5 → Level 6.

Isaac was sitting quietly in his room, looking at the notifications appearing before him. He was currently inside the mansion built on top of Charlotta’s summon, the giant tortoise who was carrying them steadily through the wilderness toward the Florathi Kingdom.

A satisfied smile appeared on Isaac’s face as he looked through the skill improvements. His skills were progressing nicely, and he had his clones to thank for most of that progress.

He needed both Gene Reaping and Seed Imprinting to reach Level 10 before he could advance his Class. With both skills already halfway through their required levels, Isaac felt that his Class Advancement was no longer as distant as it had seemed before.

That gave him a pleasant sense of satisfaction. Isaac leaned back in his chair and looked through the window. The wilderness was slowly moving behind them as the summon continued forward, and based on their current speed, they were not far from reaching the Florathi Kingdom.

That meant Isaac needed to make a few preparations before they arrived. The first preparation was obvious. He needed to strengthen their skills.

With a faint smile, Isaac said, ’System, share all of my wives’ upgraded skills!’

Spectral Claws has reached Level 5 → Level 8.

Phantom Step has reached Level 8 → Level 10 (MAX).

Phantom Ward has reached Level 4 → Level 6.

Divine Retribution has reached Level 4 → Level 5.

Miracle of Grace has reached Level 9 → Level 10 (MAX).

Bastion Gate has reached Level 8 → Level 10 (MAX).

Prison of Folds has reached Level 3 → Level 4.

Vector Shift has reached Level 1 → Level 2.

Fold Counter has reached Level 1 → Level 3.

Sweet Madness has reached Level 1 → Level 4.

Mirror-Eclipse Prison has reached Level 9 → Level 10 (MAX).

Silver Crescent Whipblade Dance has reached Level 9 → Level 10 (MAX).

Merchant Network has reached Level 1 → Level 3.

Production Planning has reached Level 1 → Level 4.

Noble Bearing has reached Level 2 → Level 6.

Isaac looked through the notifications with satisfaction. They had spent a considerable amount of time traveling, and everyone had used that time to train instead of simply waiting for their destination.

Sword Empress had been particularly ruthless— ahem, devoted with their training. Thanks to that, at least one skill belonging to each of his wives had reached its maximum level.

Even Catherine and Selene, who were currently in Sky City, had continued training diligently. Isaac was pleased that none of them had become complacent simply because of their recent gains in strength.

His attention eventually stopped on Selene’s Noble Bearing. It was a passive skill, and passive skills were usually much harder to level up than active abilities. Yet Selene had already managed to push Noble Bearing to Level 6.

Isaac was not particularly surprised by that. The skill seemed to suit Selene’s nature extremely well. She had always carried herself with dignity, so perhaps Noble Bearing was developing quickly because it matched something that was already deeply rooted in her personality.

Still, the skill improvements were not the only changes that had happened during their journey. There had also been noticeable progress involving Sword Empress and Althea. Every day, Sword Empress would look at Althea as though she had discovered some kind of priceless treasure.

Althea herself had not noticed that strange look. Isaac, Alice, and Oz, however, had noticed it from the beginning. At first, they were confused about what had caught Sword Empress’s attention. After watching the training sessions for a while, they finally understood.

It was Althea’s grit. Calling her willpower unimaginable was not entirely accurate. Her willpower was not fundamentally different from anyone else’s, but Althea possessed an almost unreasonable amount of stubbornness.

Not once had she complained during Sword Empress’s daily training sessions. According to Oz, that was unheard of. There had never been anyone who could endure Sword Empress’s training without eventually complaining about how difficult or exhausting it was, or trying to run away.

It had reached the point where Oz, the prideful Dragon King, sometimes looked at Althea as though he could not understand what kind of strange creature she was.

Althea had no particular talent for swordsmanship, mana manipulation, or magic arts. Compared to Isaac and his wives, her natural abilities were nothing special, and there was no obvious area where she could compete with them.

The one thing she had was grit. No matter how absurd the training task was, Althea would silently grit her teeth and complete it. She never tried to run away, never complained about the difficulty, and never attempted to convince Sword Empress to give her easier exercises.

Even when the training pushed her beyond her limits, she simply endured it and continued. That stubborn attitude had gradually brought Althea closer to Sword Empress. Sword Empress clearly appreciated her determination, and the relationship between the two had become much closer than it had been at the beginning.

Althea was still nowhere near as strong as Isaac or his wives, but her strength had increased by leaps and bounds. Her improvement was especially impressive considering that she did not possess exceptional talent in any particular field. After all, talent was not the only factor that mattered.

With Sword Empress personally training her, Althea was bound to become stronger as long as she continued putting in the effort. Her stubbornness might not have given her an immediate advantage, but it allowed her to endure training that most people would have abandoned.

Isaac finished organizing his thoughts and stood from his chair. He left his room and moved toward another room where his wives and Sword Empress were gathered.

Althea and Charlotta were training in the basement, so they were not present with the others. Since they were currently outside the Spatial Domain, Isaac opened a small Mirror Dimension around the group before speaking.

He wanted to make certain that nobody nearby could overhear their conversation.

"What did you want to talk about?" Celia asked while noticing the serious expression on Isaac’s face. She looked at him curiously, waiting for him to explain why he had suddenly gathered everyone.