1403 True Brother-In-Law
Considering the man in question, the explanation was on point.
Even though Sarah felt a surge of jealousy for not getting the wife role, she consoled herself by stating the obvious, yep, very obvious truth.
'I'm the first.'
"Var, I need your help to get a proper understanding of Isadora."
"Okay?" Varian blinked in confusion for a moment before he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Synergy?"
Sarah nodded. "It's not a link where we just exchange memories, even though it happens sometimes. The most delicate strings we can sense are our feelings."
Enigma raised her head slightly and asked in a sheepish voice. "A-Are you sure you'll be okay? Isadora's memories and feelings are very…deep and complex."
'You could get lost in them and distort your view of reality.' That's what she implied.
But Sarah nodded with a carefree smile, her eyes locked onto her husband. "Why do you think Var is the core of the ritual? He isn't just at the center symbolically. He's also the one who controls the process and acts as the filter.
Whatever we might feel through this process, memories we experience, or feelings that touch us, we will retain our sense of self."
Varian nodded in agreement.
He was only figuring that out but she seemed to have a great deal of clarity on the matter. The legacy's information material must be impressive.
"Thanks for your time while you're still busy." Sarah sat beside him and locked her fingers with his.
"…"
The party ignored since the start couldn't bear it anymore and looked at Varian with an almost hostile gaze.
"What?"
Sarah elbowed him. "Don't be so steel-hearted. She wants you to ask."
"Oh?" Varian opened his mouth in surprise. "So that she can stand on her words—This is the first and last time?"
Isadora's face turned red in half-anger and half-embarrassment. Turning around, she faced the exit.
"Accepting you were wrong isn't wrong. Unless you're living like a rock, your past self is always a little more stupid than your present self."
Isadora bit her lip and finally sat beside him. She lightly touched his hand but ensured the contact was kept to a minimum.
Before he could start, she glared at him and said. "This. Is. The. Last. Time."
Varian suppressed his chuckle and kick-started the Synergy.
A magnificent soul world composed of a brilliant sea emerged from the darkness. On the boundaries of this realm were two bright worlds—one with the golden light rivaling a hundred stars and the other, with deep darkness that devoured all creation.
"Please use this chance properly."
Leaving those words, he began to learn from the combined experiences of the two women.
Once again, Isadora's high-level experiences were broken down with the help of Sarah's knowledge through the legacy while his own intuition picked the right stuff he could use to progress at this point.
The light and darkness powers of these two—Order and Chaos at this point—were extremely complimentary.
They fed into each other and helped him grow two paths with double results and half the effort.
The space and time powers were something he had to struggle with. Isadora's insights into space were not as useful at this rank. But gravity, the product of space-time fabric was indirectly helpful.
The growth wasn't as much as he wanted but it's still very impressive.
Next was the Sage Avenue.
Isadora was actually Anima—the contrast of Ignis. But the difference in these two paths was that of their focus on life and death aspects. The soul part itself was the same.
It was an easy learning experience.
There wasn't much Isadora could help him in Paragon Body or Death Giant. Neither could Sarah.
So, both Death Giant and Paragon Body were left like the most disliked children, left to play on their own.
The pitiful paths made the least progress despite reaching rank 7 first.
Meanwhile, Sarah and Isadora completed a session of master-apprentice practice. Unlike the typical, their feelings were pure and struck each other at the deepest level.
As this happened, their paths too got a push from each other as well as Varian whose growth only seemed to be increasing with each rank.
Their auras jumped greatly before stabilizing.
Isadora reached the edge of mid rank 8, one small step away from breakthrough.
The luckiest one was Sarah.
Perhaps because Synergy was from the Ares tribe—the same source as the legacy itself—the legacy responded positively, accelerating the process by many folds.
It shouldn't have happened with trivial treasures or techniques.
However, Synergy, as Varian gradually realized, was simple in usage but very mysterious in its origins and depth.
As a result, Sarah reached high rank 8 without a hitch.
The session ended shortly.
Sarah's gaze towards Isadora held a tinge of respect but it was quickly overshadowed by the competitiveness in her eyes.
Isadora looked at her with a bit of doting before she shook her head and glared.
"So, what's the strategy?"
"Strategy?"
"I'm Enigma's husband, your brother-in-law. How should this 'brother-in-law' behave?" Varian asked the obvious.
Isadora tapped her chin in contemplation. "We're going to tell them I reached divine rank, yeah?"
"Uh-oh."
"Then you should act like you actually have the backing of a divine ranker." The Princess shrugged before adding. "Oh, and that divine ranker is not just any average divine ranker. It's me. Myself. So you know what you're dealing with."
"Be specific, please. I never had a divine ranking backer."
"…I'm not sure. I had one but never had to rely on her." Isadora looked at the surface of the river and fell into deep thought before she slapped his thigh.
"Yes!"
"Ouch!"
"Act bold, act courageous! Act you like own the damn place! If anyone comes against you, kill!
If they serve you, it's their honor!
If they're punished by you, it's their fate!"
The more she spoke, the more excited the Princess got.
"…Are you sure you're not trying to get me killed out of petty revenge?"
"Shut up! The brother-in-law of Princess Isadora without arrogance is not a brother-in-law at all! They'll only doubt you if you act nice. So be bold! Be arrogant! The more the better!"
