Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 683: All Disciples Stand Together, Isaac’s Revenge

Isaac slowly looked toward her.

Those words sounded far more ominous than they should have.

He glanced toward Catherine and found her looking perfectly normal on the surface. However, there was a faint trace of worry in her eyes, and that was enough to tell Isaac that she understood exactly what Eleanor’s training involved.

”Can I train too?” Althea asked.

”You can join after lunch. For now, only Isaac and Catherine will come,” Eleanor answered.

”Okay,” Althea said. She nodded without showing any disappointment. Isaac wondered if she was genuinely fine with waiting or simply hiding her feelings, but he decided not to ask.

Eleanor then looked toward Celia.

”Celia can join too,” Eleanor said.

”Really?” Celia asked.

Celia immediately became excited. She had never taken Isaac seriously whenever he described how brutal Eleanor’s training could be, and apparently, being personally invited by the Sword Empress was enough to make her forget every warning he had given her.

Celia quickly finished the rest of her breakfast so they could leave. Isaac and Catherine, however, continued eating at a much slower pace, both of them seemingly interested in delaying the inevitable for as long as possible.

Isaac also noticed Alice looking at him with a confused expression. Her eyes seemed to be asking why their master was suddenly angry.

He simply shrugged.

Alice narrowed her eyes at him, as if trying to find what he was hiding, but she eventually looked away. Isaac silently thanked her for not asking further questions, because there was no way he could explain the truth without making things considerably worse.

Once breakfast was finished, everyone headed toward the basement. Eleanor led the way without saying much, while Celia followed with considerably more enthusiasm than Isaac thought was reasonable, and Catherine walked beside him with a noticeably more cautious expression.

For Isaac, Eleanor’s training was one of the few situations where he could see genuine fear in Catherine’s eyes.

That alone should have been enough to tell Celia that she had no idea what she had just volunteered for.

The moment they entered the basement, Eleanor calmly reached to the side and took out the bat. Isaac and Catherine both flinched at almost the same time, while even Alice, who had been standing off to the side, also flinched when she saw it. That bat was a nightmare for everyone who had ever trained under Eleanor, and its simple appearance did nothing to make it less frightening.

Eleanor rested the bat against her shoulder and looked at Isaac and Catherine with her usual calm expression. Somehow, that made the situation feel even worse because they both knew that Eleanor never needed to look angry before starting one of her brutal training sessions.

”First of all, I’ll tell you why we are training. I originally didn’t want to teach this technique because there are many dangers associated with it, but seeing how energetic you two are, I suppose you have enough energy to learn it,” Eleanor said to Catherine and Isaac.

”What about me?” Celia asked.

”I’ll teach you a combat method for your Sanguine Thorns. Right now, you are wasting the potential of a legendary weapon by using them mainly to stalk Isaac,” Eleanor said.

Celia immediately flinched as if she had been caught doing something she was not supposed to be doing. Isaac slowly turned toward her, his eyes asking what Eleanor meant, but Celia suddenly found the floor much more interesting and refused to meet his gaze.

Isaac narrowed his eyes as he thought about it. It only took him a few moments to connect the pieces, and he finally understood how Celia had been able to distinguish his real body from his clones whenever he used them.

She had his blood.

Celia had apparently been using his blood with the tracking ability of her Sanguine Thorns, allowing the legendary weapon to identify which body belonged to him.

’I’ll deal with this gremlin later,’ he thought.

He turned back toward Eleanor.

”So, what technique are we learning?” he asked.

”It’s something that works as a good counter against Florathi,” Eleanor answered.

Eleanor began explaining the basic principles of the technique, and Isaac listened carefully. Only Eleanor, Isaac, Celia, Catherine, and Alice were currently in the basement, so there was no need to worry about Althea overhearing their conversation, while Catherine had already confirmed that there was no surveillance or other method of eavesdropping nearby.

The more Eleanor explained, the more unusual the technique sounded. Isaac had heard about many strange combat methods during the ’past year’, but this one seemed to be designed around exploiting weaknesses of Florathi physique and bloodline, which made it particularly dangerous.

It also sounded extremely difficult to learn.

Isaac glanced at the bat again. He had a feeling that the weapon was going to become very important during the practical part of the training.

”Is this a new technique, or something you developed recently?” he asked, an idea coming to him.

”It’s a new technique. I finished developing it earlier this year,” Eleanor answered.

Isaac was slightly surprised by the answer. He wondered why Eleanor would want a technique specifically designed to counter Florathi, and what had made her spend so much time developing something like this. Whatever the reason was, however, it was probably not something that needed to be discussed right now.

A small smile appeared on Isaac’s face as his idea became possible due to her answer. He looked at Eleanor with an expression that immediately made Catherine suspicious.

”Can we invite Oz to the training?” he asked.

”Oz?” Eleanor looked at him with a questioning expression.

”He’s in Emily’s soul space, so he can join us. Besides, he’s our peer and a fellow disciple, so I’m sure he’d be happy to learn more from you, Master,” Isaac answered.

Catherine slowly turned toward Isaac and gave him a strange look. Her eyes were practically asking how he could be shameless enough to drag another person into this situation after seeing the bat come out.

Isaac ignored her completely and maintained his bright smile. He had learned this principle from Gael, Eleanor’s disciple whom he had met during Selene’s Trail, and he considered it an important part of being fellow disciples.

All disciples should go through hell together.

That was what being peers meant.

Isaac was definitely not hoping that having another person present would somehow make Eleanor divide the punishment between them. He simply wanted his fellow disciple to have the opportunity to learn more from their respected master, and if Oz happened to suffer alongside him, that was merely an unfortunate but necessary part of the learning experience.

It was also definitely not revenge for Oz calling him an incubus infront of media. Definitely not.