He looked around the room.
His secretary was missing too.
He was just about to call someone when a voice—smooth, slow, and dripping with amusement—sounded behind him.
"The assassins failed. Is that news enough for you?"
Oran froze.
He turned halfway, but before he could complete the motion, a strange weight settled over his mind.
His knees buckled.
His vision blurred.
"What... who... who are you?" he slurred. "What are you doing to me...?"
An intense fear washed over Oran.
The voice continued, now almost whispering directly in his ear.
"Relax. I’m not here to kill you. Not yet, anyway. You still have a bit of use left."
Oran tried to fight against the sleepiness, but the lethargy was too strong.
His thoughts began to slow down. It was as if someone had pressed down on the brakes of his consciousness.
"You’ll sleep now," the voice said gently. "I’ve made a special dream just for you."
He collapsed onto the ground. His eyes remained half-open, full of fear.
The woman crouched beside him and brushed a finger against his forehead.
"Sweet dreams," she whispered.
Then she stood and vanished into the shadows, leaving him trapped in a realm of dreams he would never forget... or escape from.
...
Isaac POV
Isaac opened his eyes slowly.
Faint light peeked through the curtains, filling the room with a soft golden hue.
But that wasn’t what caught his attention.
Emily was clinging to him.
Sometime during the night, she had thrown the teddy bear aside and instead held onto him, her arms wrapped tightly around his chest.
He tried to shift, moving carefully so he wouldn’t disturb her.
But as he slowly pushed himself up, she stirred and mumbled.
"Isaac?"
Her sleepy voice made him pause.
She looked up at him, her eyes still clouded with sleep, then nuzzled her head into his chest.
"Welcome back home," she said softly.
Then, as if nothing more needed to be said, she drifted off to sleep.
Isaac smiled faintly.
He had planned to get up and start his day, but seeing her like this, he didn’t move.
He just stayed there, one hand gently stroking her hair as he looked down at her peaceful face.
’She looks tired.’
Emily had been going through a tough training schedule.
From what Professor Catherine had told him, she had been clearing ruins, facing increasingly difficult monsters, and completing daily quests without rest.
Starting tomorrow, she would begin hunting Champion-rank monsters in the wilderness outside the city.
He didn’t say anything.
Just kept stroking her hair gently.
He glanced around the room.
Alice wasn’t there.
He figured she was probably meditating somewhere in the house.
’She really drained me last night saying she needed to ’calm herself down’ before she could use the meditation technique,’ he chuckled.
Shaking his head, he looked up toward the ceiling.
Then he called up his system interface.
AP Balance: 8001.17 → 50,245
’Fifty thousand AP.’
The AP gains were always a little shocking when he checked them after a few days, but he didn’t waste time staring at it.
Instead, he focused on something else.
He opened the time-limited shop and quickly located the item he’d been watching for the past few days.
[Innate SSS-rank Marksmanship – 45,000 AP]
Only thirty minutes remained before the shop refreshed.
He clicked confirm.
Innate SSS-rank Marksmanship – Purchased.
An orb appeared inside his mind.
He could share with any of his bonds if he wanted.
He didn’t deliver the ability to Alice just yet.
She was likely in deep meditation, trying to learn the technique left by her ancestor.
Interrupting her with sudden knowledge flooding her brain could cause damage or backlash.
It was better to wait until she was done.
’Last night, I saw Alice’s spear attack against the assassin.’
’It was stronger than I thought it would be.’
That made him feel more confident in giving her the SSS-rank marksmanship.
It was an investment into her already considerable combat ability.
AP Balance: 50,245 → 5,245
Once the purchase was done, he turned back to the shop. A new batch of items had just appeared.
[All Stat +10 Potion (x5) – 50,000 AP]
[Strength +50 (x5) – 50,000 AP]
[Agility +50 (x5) – 50,000 AP]
[Constitution +50 (x5) – 50,000 AP]
’All items are related to stat boost this time,’ he thought, eyes scanning the list.
It was a good lineup.
Isaac had always planned to start focusing on stat potions.
He wanted to max out Alice and Emily’s stats, along with his own.
It would make them strong, and bring powerful titles. He already knew the titles were no joke.
The only issue until now was that all his money went to buy different shop items.
This time though, there was no such problem.
’I can focus on buying the stat potions now.’
’The cost though...’
’200,000 AP.’
That was the total amount needed to buy everything in the time-limited shop.
Last time, he’d earned around 150,000 AP in a week thanks to Alice and Emily’s Affection crossing the 100-point threshold.
But reaching 200,000 was a different hill altogether.
’The AP requirement just keeps going up.’
It wasn’t like he had to buy everything.
He could skip a few purchases if needed.
But that wasn’t really what Isaac wanted.
The Time-Limited Shop always offered high-value items for cheap, and skipping any of them just felt wasteful.
’200,000 AP in a week, huh?’
’Alright. Let’s do it.’
He stretched a bit, making sure Emily was still sleeping soundly beside him.
Once enough time passed and she had fully drifted off, he carefully shifted her to the side and got up without waking her.
’I have to meet up with Celia, rope her into my faction, and purchase the third shop today.’
His schedule for the day was quite busy.
But for now, there was something else he was focused on.
’I wonder if something changed in the farm.’
He left the room and made his way outside.