Gathering Wives with a System Chapter 654 Talent Upgrade, Legacy of Sun Dragons, Secrets Of Isaac's Origins

"Sure, you are," Catherine said in the tone of a mother humoring a child who was completely certain he was right while she knew he was completely wrong.

Isaac's lips twitched slightly, but he chose not to respond to the teasing. There was no point arguing with Catherine over something so trivial because she had already decided how she wanted to see it.

Instead, he let the moment pass and smoothly changed the topic. "Anyway, the ones who are going to get the Talent Upgrade tickets are Alice and si—"

"It's mine!"

Celia's voice interrupted him before he could finish. She appeared inside the living room out of nowhere, having entered the Cradle easily because the Soulbind Pendant was currently with Catherine's clone.

The instant she noticed Isaac looking at her, she flew straight toward Catherine and hid behind her while peeking out with an exaggerated pout.

"The Talent Upgrade is mine," she declared, sounding as though she had been terribly wronged.

Isaac looked at her in silence for several seconds before letting out a helpless sigh. "Alright. You can have one while Alice gets the other. However..."

He deliberately paused for a moment before giving her a wry smile. "Can you stop spreading rumors like that about me, please?"

"Don't get angry over— huh?" she asked, staring at him in confusion. "What did you just say?"

"Can you stop spreading rumors like that about me, please?" Isaac kept the same expression on his face as he repeated himself.

The confusion on Celia's face only deepened. She had clearly come here expecting to be scolded or punished, so hearing nothing more than a polite request completely caught her off guard. She simply stood there, trying to figure out whether he was serious.

The others reacted very differently. The corner of Catherine's lips rose by a few millimeters, something that would go unnoticed unless they were paying attention like Isaac, while Selene wore a knowing smile. Alice raised an eyebrow, and Emily looked surprised for a brief moment before a wry smile appeared on her own face.

Their reactions were enough for Isaac to understand that they had all figured out what he was doing.

'Am I really that predictable? Or do they simply know me well enough to see through me immediately?' he wondered to himself.

Fortunately, the only person who hadn't realized his intentions was Celia herself, likely because she was too shocked. Even if she eventually figured it out, there would be nothing she could do about it.

"You... aren't angry?" Celia finally asked, her voice carrying equal amounts of confusion and suspicion.

"Why would I be angry at you?" Isaac looked at her as though the question itself made no sense.

Celia continued staring at him without saying anything. Her expression slowly shifted into a strange mixture of disappointment, confusion, and suspicion, as though she couldn't decide whether this was some elaborate trap or whether Isaac had genuinely let the matter go.

Meanwhile, Isaac was grinning inwardly. When he had first heard about the rumors Celia had been telling everyone regarding his cooking, his immediate instinct had been to think of a suitable punishment.

The first thing that had crossed his mind was something similar to the dream he had shown her in the bathroom. That idea had disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. The dream hadn't really affected Celia beyond a day or so, and if anything, it seemed to have awakened—or perhaps begun awakening—something even stranger inside her.

Isaac had no intention of encouraging that any further. If he repeated something similar, he had a strong feeling he would simply be giving wings to a bird that had not yet learned to fly. That sounded less like a punishment and more like creating problems for himself in the future.

There were certainly plenty of other ways he could punish Celia, but another issue quickly became apparent. The little devil genuinely seemed to enjoy the game itself. She enjoyed causing trouble, getting punished for it, and then trying to escape whatever punishment came her way.

If that was the case, then every punishment would simply become another form of entertainment for her. After thinking it over for a while, Isaac eventually settled on something much simpler.

He would stop giving her the reaction she wanted.

If he refused to become angry or irritated by her pranks, then sooner or later they would stop being enjoyable. Without the satisfaction of getting under his skin, Celia would eventually lose interest and move on to something else.

Judging from the faint disappointment visible in her posture, the strategy was already producing results. She looked almost dissatisfied that Isaac hadn't raised his voice or chased after her. That tiny reaction alone convinced him he had chosen the right approach.

Catherine watched the two of them for another moment before lightly shaking her head.

"Since that's settled, let's finish distributing everything," she said.

Alice and Celia both stepped forward. Isaac handed one Talent Upgrade Fragment to Alice while Catherine passed the other to Celia.

With that, every reward they had earned from the Conqueror Trial had finally found its owner. Isaac looked around at everyone before clapping his hands together.

"Alright. Everyone should use your tickets now. Alice, Celia, the two of you head into separate training rooms and begin your Talent Upgrades. Sis and I will stay outside and keep watch over both of you," he said.

Nobody had any objections. Before Alice and Celia left, Isaac waited while everyone consumed the tickets they had received. The process was familiar enough by now that it ended quickly without anything unusual happening.

By the time they finished, Selene and Emily were visibly exhausted from everything that had happened today. Isaac walked over with a gentle smile before kissing each of them on the forehead.

"You've both done enough for today. Go get some proper rest," he said.

He helped them settle into their beds before pulling the blankets over them. When he reached Selene, she glanced between the bed and Isaac, and a faint blush slowly spread across her cheeks as memories of the previous night resurfaced.

Isaac chuckled quietly after noticing the look on her face.

"You're tired. Sleep first. We can always do it later," he said.

"I wasn't hoping for that," she said, quickly shaking her head, though the tiny hint of disappointment in her voice made the denial far less convincing than she probably intended.

Isaac only smiled before gently tucking the blanket around her shoulders.

Leaving his two wives to rest, Isaac rejoined Catherine outside the training rooms. Alice and Celia had already begun their breakthroughs, and all that remained was to quietly observe the process.

Talent Upgrades differed from ordinary rank breakthroughs, but there were still similarities between them. Energy gradually gathered around both women, and waves of pressure spread through the training room in steady pulses that became stronger with every passing second.

Both Alice and Celia were advancing their Talents from SSS+ Rank to Transcendent Rank. Isaac silently watched the fluctuations while Catherine stood nearby, ready to step in if anything unexpected happened.

Then something happened that Isaac knew he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A brilliant golden light suddenly spread across the entire sky of the Cradle. Instinctively, Isaac raised his head, and his breathing stopped for a moment as his eyes widened in disbelief.

The sun had appeared.

It should have been impossible because the Cradle was still in the middle of the night, yet a radiant sun now hung high above them as though daylight itself had descended upon the world. Endless waves of golden energy rolled outward from its surface before pouring downward in countless streams.

Every single strand of that overwhelming power converged toward one person.

Alice.

Isaac's heart skipped a beat as he watched the golden streams pour into her body without pause. His first instinct was to rush over and interrupt the breakthrough, but before he could take even a single step, the dragon maids hurried over and stopped him.

"There is no danger, Master. Lady Alice is inheriting the legacy hidden within the Cradle," Celeste said respectfully.

"There is a legacy here? Why didn't any of you tell me there was something like that inside the Cradle?" Isaac frowned with a hint of anger in his voice. He quickly became protective whenever it came to his wives.

The dragon maids exchanged uncertain glances before Lyra answered. "Because we didn't know it still existed. The true Cradle fractured long ago, and this place is only a sub-dimension that remained behind, so we believed the System had already taken the legacy away."

Another maid, Kyra, continued, "The legacy can be inherited by multiple dragons, but the Cradle only bestows it upon those who had reached, or are very close to reaching, the Overlord Rank. So we couldn't have predicted this would be happening to Lady Alice when she is only an Adept."

Isaac slowly turned his gaze back toward Alice. Even after hearing the explanation, the scene unfolding before him felt unbelievable. Alice wasn't anywhere close to the Overlord Rank, yet the ancient legacy had chosen her anyway.

"Maybe it's because Alice is one of the few Sun Dragons left. Or perhaps she's the only one remaining. If that's true, then the Cradle probably doesn't want the legacy of the Sun Dragons to disappear forever," Catherine said after quietly observing the phenomenon.

Those words caused the dragon maids' expressions to dim slightly. They were genuinely happy that their master's wife had become the inheritor, but Catherine's words reminded them that the once-proud dragon clans had almost vanished from existence. It was a bitter truth they could never truly forget.

Isaac noticed their reactions, but there was nothing he could say that would make the situation any better. He simply thanked them for explaining everything before sending them back to their duties. Once they had left, he shifted his attention toward the second training room.

If Alice's breakthrough was astonishing, then Celia's was no less extraordinary. In fact, Isaac felt hers might be even more shocking.

The space surrounding Celia had begun twisting violently, and thin cracks spread through the air as though dimensions could no longer withstand the pressure gathering around her. Beyond those tears, Isaac could clearly see endless Dark Mana flowing through another space. It streamed toward Celia without resistance before quietly disappearing into her body.

Isaac's expression gradually became serious. Without wasting another moment, one of his clones left the Cradle and moved through the mansion.

It quickly found Eleanor inside the study. She was calmly reading a book while leisurely sipping honey tea.

Isaac's clone immediately explained everything happening around Celia, including the spatial tears and the Dark Mana flowing into her body. Eleanor quietly listened until he finished before placing her teacup back onto the table.

"Don't worry about it. Now that her Physique has advanced, this was bound to happen sooner or later," she said calmly.

Isaac didn't feel reassured by the vague answer. "What exactly is happening to Celia? Normally I wouldn't press you for details, Master, but I need to know this."

Perhaps Catherine's trial had changed something inside him. After hearing about losing the people he loved, he had become far more protective of all his wives. Seeing both Alice and Celia experience such abnormal breakthroughs made it impossible for him to simply accept a half explanation.

Eleanor looked at him quietly for several moments before letting out a small sigh.

"Celia is special, Isaac. She's so special that if her true identity ever became known, a war would begin over her," she finally said.

Isaac frowned. "Master, that isn't what I ask—"

"A war involving all three realms. The Divine Realm, the Mortal Realm, and the Hell Realm would all move for her," Eleanor interrupted before he could finish.

Isaac fell silent. The Divine Realm belonged to the gods, the Mortal Realm housed countless civilizations, and Hell itself was home to Devil Kings, the Soul King, and innumerable terrifying beings. For every one of those realms to wage war over Celia, just what kind of existence was she?

"With her Physique and Soul having evolved and her Talent now catching up to her Bloodline, Physique and soul, her existence has finally stabilized. She is simply growing into what she was always meant to become and claiming what has always belonged to her," Eleanor explained.

Isaac remained silent as his thoughts raced. Countless questions surfaced one after another, but in the end, only one of them truly mattered.

"So she'll be safe?" he asked.

"Yes," Eleanor answered without hesitation. She looked at him curiously before asking, "You're not going to ask anything else?"

Isaac slowly shook his head. "You clearly have your reasons for keeping the rest hidden, and I trust you, Master. As long as I know my wife isn't in danger, that's enough for me right now."

Eleanor looked genuinely surprised by his answer. After staring at him for a moment, a warm smile slowly appeared on her face.

…

Eleanor POV

Eleanor watched Isaac's clone leave before leaning back in her chair. She couldn't help smiling to herself as she thought about everything that had just happened.

"I suppose that explains how he managed to do what he did during Catherine's trial," she murmured with a quiet chuckle. To Isaac, bloodlines, identities, and destinies all came after the people he loved.

No matter who Celia truly was, she remained his wife before anything else. It was a remarkably simple way of thinking, yet Eleanor found it strangely admirable. He really did resemble the princes from old fairy tales who would cross the world for the person they loved.

Her thoughts lingered there for another moment before she returned her attention to the book resting on her desk. Numerous disguise runes covered its pages, making it appear like an ordinary novel to anyone else, but in reality it was a diary containing her observations and deductions.

She flipped to a fresh page before circling several earlier notes with a red marker. After gathering them together, she carefully wrote two new entries beneath them.

- [Mother] killed Isaac for Catherine's Conqueror Awakening when they were children, then resurrected him afterward. Why waste a priceless resurrection on Isaac when he possessed nothing remarkable at the time? More importantly... does [Mother] truly possess the ability to resurrect the dead?

- Isaac is either the son, descendant, or reincarnation of the War God.

- In Catherine's Trial, Isaac was revived by himself. The Trial differed from our reality in many ways, including Isaac never awakening a Talent there. However, if he truly revived himself, then he must possess a contract with the Grim Reapers. Who formed that contract? Was it Isaac's unknown parents?

She paused only briefly before adding the next observation.

- Celia and Vale appeared in Fortified City 89 after escaping from Hell. Eventually, they drifted to Fortified City 50, the very city where Isaac lived.

- Escaping Hell is not a simple matter. Even Devil Kings cannot freely leave whenever they wish. Only Grim Reapers possess special privileges to travel between realms, so they were the most likely ones to have assisted Celia and Vale's escape.

- Celia is the [Heir]. Yet Seraphine, an angel who once served the War God, and every other powerful being who met her failed to notice it. A remarkably powerful disguise has been cast upon her. Was it the work of a Devil King?

She quietly read everything again before writing one more conclusion.

- If [Mother] did not resurrect Isaac after killing him for Catherine's Conqueror Awakening, then Isaac possesses a contract with the Grim Reapers just like the Isaac inside Catherine's Trial. That would also explain why [Mother] secretly watched over him for so many years. She wanted to know why Isaac had formed a contract with the Grim Reapers.

- Isaac, a man who supposedly possesses a contract with the Grim Reapers, lives in Fortified City 50. Celia, who escaped from Hell, also arrived in Fortified City 50 under circumstances that strongly suggest assistance from the Grim Reapers.

Eleanor quietly stared at the completed page. The coincidence was simply too great to dismiss as chance. Celia had almost certainly been guided toward Fortified City 50 because Isaac was there.

But why?

She rested her chin on one hand as the possibility slowly formed in her mind. Perhaps whoever had arranged everything believed Isaac—or perhaps Isaac's parents before him—would be able to protect Celia. Strangely enough, the idea made sense. The War God had countless enemies within the Divine Realm, yet many powerful beings of Hell had respected him instead.

…

Isaac POV

The brilliant sun hanging overhead slowly dimmed as the final streams of golden energy disappeared into Alice's body. The overwhelming pressure faded with them, and the false sun quietly vanished, allowing the familiar night sky to return once more.

Alice's body gently descended from the air after her breakthrough finished. Isaac stepped forward before her feet could touch the ground and caught her in his arms with practiced ease.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked.