Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 89: Talent And Bloodline Skills

Alice stared at the screen in silence. Her fingers trembled slightly as sat on Isaac’s lap.

Leora broke the quiet first.

”Don’t worry,” she said softly, crouching near Alice with a reassuring smile. ”Even if it’s an F-rank Talent, it doesn’t matter. Some people start slow, but with enough training, even a weak Talent can up—”

”No,” Alice interrupted. Her voice was calm, but it carried an edge of disbelief. ”No... it says Saintess. Rank SSS.”

Leora blinked. Her mouth opened slightly but no words came.

Isaac turned to Alice, unsure if he’d heard her right.

”Saintess?” Leora finally managed. ”You’re sure?”

Alice nodded, slowly at first, then firmly.

”It is right in front of me. The Talent section says Saintess.”

Isaac stared at her.

Saintess Talent? SSS Rank?

That wasn’t just rare. It was unheard of.

His mind jumped back to stories passed down through the Calloway line of the First Matriarch, the founder of their bloodline, who bore the same Talent of SSS rank.

Alice had just awakened a power on par with a legendary figure.

For a few moments, none of them said anything.

Leora was the first to steady herself. She let out a breath and stood up.

”Alice... this is incredible. But if you’re comfortable with it, could you write down your stats and skills for us to see? Just for documentation. You don’t have to, of course.”

Alice turned to her, then glanced at Isaac. Her eyes softened.

”I can share them with Isaac,” she said. ”But... I’d prefer to keep them private otherwise.”

”That’s perfectly fine,” Leora said without missing a beat. ”It’s your right. You’re not even a Sanctum student, and you don’t have any obligation to share anything.”

There was no hint of disappointment in her tone. She meant what she said. It was common practice to keep status screens hidden.

Just then, something flickered in front of Isaac’s vision.

A translucent screen materialized with soft white light, and text began to scroll across it.

[You have helped your wife, Alice Calloway, reach heights that would have otherwise left her drenched in despair and blood to achieve the same.]

[Before achieving her true awakening, Alice would have faced repeated agony and rejection. Betrayed by her family, exiled, and forced to survive in the wild after the city’s fall, she would have survived while living in hiding in wilderness alone and unawakened.]

[You have averted Alice Calloway’s tragedy and guided her Fate toward a brighter path.]

[The Goddess of Love, War, and Harvest smiles upon you.]

Isaac blinked.

The lines sent a tremor through his heart.

’So Alice would have awakened normally, but it would’ve cost her too much.’

He clenched his fist when he saw her family betrayed her, and exiled her. Anger rose within his heart but he calmed it.

Lucian Calloway, her uncle, seemed to care about Alice. It must’ve have been someone else who caused her exile.

Perhaps.... Selene.

Then, Isaac stared at the next line.

’It says city’s fall. This means the Fortified City 50 would be destroyed in the future.’

There was nothing he could do about it for now.

He kept the information inside his head, and he stared at the last line for a while, waiting for something else. Anything.

A reward. A title. A minor stat boost. A free potion, even.

But the screen vanished.

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

’The Goddess smiled at me. How touching. Maybe next time she can throw in a sword.’

Still, when he looked at Alice again—sitting upright now, steady, her gaze filled with a quiet strength—he felt his irritation fade.

The change in her was real. He could feel it, and it made it smile.

Carefully, he helped her back onto the bed and let her rest against the pillows. She didn’t resist, but her eyes stayed fixed forward.

”Feeling okay?” he asked.

”I’m still trying to believe it,” she said. ”It all feels too fast.”

”It happens,” Isaac said. ”You should rest for now. The awakening must have taken a toll on your body and soul.”

Isaac pulled back after he helped her lie down.

Leora remained silent. She seemed to be waiting for something.

Isaac checked Alice’s status.

Name: Alice Calloway

Title: None

Species: Sun Dragon

Talent: Unawakened → Saintess

Rank: Unawakened → Initiate, Lv. 1 (Share)

Stats (Share):

Strength: 20

Agility: 33

Constitution: 23

Spirit Power: 34

Mana: 32

Isaac stared at the numbers next to her stats.

All of them were far beyond what a Level 1 Initiate Awakener should have. She was already equal to—or maybe stronger than—a peak Adept-level human.

Isaac checked Talent next.

Talent: Saintess

Rank: SSS (Share)

First Talent Skill: ??? (Unlocked at user Lv. 5 Initiate Rank) (Unlock the skill to share it)

’It really is SSS rank Saintess,’ he muttered, still not quite believing what he was seeing.

Alice had an SSS rank Talent, an Apex rank Dragon Bloodline, and she would be betrayed by her family.

It sounded as though she was the protagonist in a ReadNovelFull, who would gather strength, achieve her true potential, and then come back to show her family what they had lost.

A chuckle left his lips, and he checked her bloodline skills.

’What the...’

Isaac had to double check to make sure it was not an hallucination.

’What are these skills?’

Skill: Solar Dominion (Share)

Skill Rank: SSS

Skill Level: 1

Active Effect: Allows Alice Calloway to manifest a blazing sun-shaped domain (1 hectare) centered on herself for 60 seconds. Within this field, enemies suffer intense burn damage every second, and their healing, stealth, and mana regeneration are drastically reduced. She gains 30% bonus fire and light damage.

Passive Effect: Undead and shadow-aligned beings are instantly weakened or disintegrated.

Cost: 30 Mana (+ 5 Mana per second while active)

Cooldown: 12 hours

The first skill shocked Isaac.

It was extremely powerful with it’s passive-burn damage, and the ability to seal enemies health, stealth, and Mana regen.

The skill was strong against undeads, and shadow-type monsters.

The only limitation of the skill was Mana requirement.

Currently, Alice could use it for only one second.

But as an Apex-rank species, she gained mores stat points that others from a level up, and soon she would have enough mana to use the skill without worrying about Mana cost.

Isaac checked the next skill.

Skill: Daybreak Incarnate(Share)

Skill Rank: SSS

Skill Level: 1

Active Effect: Transforms Alice Calloway into a radiant Sun Dragon hybrid. While transformed, Alice Calloway gains flight, high resistance to dark and fire damage, and breathes solar fire that ignores 50% of enemy resistances, and her each step radiates devastating solar mana shockwaves. Physical and magical stats are increased by 70%.

Passive Effect: While in sunlight, transformation cooldown is reduced by 30%.

Cost: 10 Mana (Scales with time)

Cooldown: Can only be used under the presence of sunlight

The second skill was extremely strong, and combat oriented.

It did not have any cooldown, but it could be used only during the day.

Isaac checked the third skill.

Skill: Flame of Judgement(Share)

Skill Rank: SSS

Skill Level: 1

Active Effect: Summons a celestial spear of solar fire that pierces the battlefield and detonates 1 hectare area, vaporizing enemies and leaving behind a cursed, burning wasteland. Enemies slain cannot be revived by normal means.

Passive Effect: Increases damage against shadow, undead, and demonic entities by 25%.

Cost: 40 Mana

’A ranged attack skill. The mana cost is high, but I suppose the damage it does would be similarly huge, and...’

His eyes stayed on the line ’Enemies slain cannot be revived by normal means.’

’So resurrection is possible.’