Gesai picked up the marble.

  “What is it?” She turned it over in her hand, then looked over at Trent.

  “It will upgrade your CB.” Trent tilted his head. “The Gods use these so they can lower their level to be with Adventurers or even Mundane without crushing them.”

  An idea formed in my head. “Can we get one of those for Rix?”

  “You need to have at least a Tier Six CB for it to work without shorting out.” Trent shook his head. “Eventually, we can get ones for you all, but the regular Nobels aren’t supposed to know that these things exists…” He looked at each of the three of us. “So don’t tell anyone about it and definitely don’t tell anyone where you got it.”

  Gesai stared at the marble in her hand, then looked up at Trent. “I thought you said I couldn’t be with him until the end of the year?”

  “Partly because I thought it would take me that long to get you a modifier for your CB.” Trent held up his hand. “Yes, I know that I just said you needed to be at least Tier Six to get one of the modifiers for your CB, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t jailbroken CBs that can modify your level, but if you get caught with one of those, not even the Cathedral would be able to get you out of where the guards would throw you.”

  “Oh…” The realization of what he said hit her. “You were going to get me a hacked CB!?!”

  “I asked Whisper to get one that would work on your level, yes.” Trent sighed. “Then Klix had to go and power-level you higher than what it would work on, so I had to go back to the drawing board.”

  “But won’t the guards notice the modification if they scan it?” Ether pointed at the marble in Gesai’s hand.

  “Think of this as letting you store your experience like you stockpile your unspent points.” Trent waved his hand. “Sure, it’s going to feel weird when you lower your level the first few times and Harror warned me that you’re probably going to get sick the first few times you drop down to Tier Zero. And to expect a headache once you go back to your regular level, but as far as any scans will show, she’ll still be at the Tier she’s supposed to be.”

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  A grin spread across Gesai’s face. “So you’re saying I can lower my level and be with Atlas?”

  “And you’ll be able to function as your team’s Healer while you prepare for the prelims.” Trent chuckled as he realized what he was saying was completely ignored. “Yes, I’m saying that this will allow the two of you to safely be together.”

  “What about Fray?” Ether looked at Trent. “What are we going to tell her?”

  “I’ve already talked to her.” Trent sighed. “She’s still in shock, but really all she cares about is that there is still a spot for her on this team.” He shrugged. “I’d say that she seemed almost relieved when I told her that she couldn’t join Atlas’ bed.”

  “But what about the closed group?” I was confused. The entire reason that I’d started a harem had been so that the people on my team would be in a relationship with me. We hadn’t wanted to run the risk of someone forming a loyal bond with someone outside the group, which was why Justia and Aelin were okay. The two of them were inside the team, so they weren’t going to share any of our secrets with a romantic partner who wasn’t already in the loop.

  “We can’t switch anything around until after the Adventurer Games, but it isn’t uncommon for students to swap teachers in between school years or for students to take jobs other places and need to be replaced.” Trent rubbed his chin. “We could swap her over to the green team for her second year.”

  “You want her to be on Gesai’s team full time?” I snorted. “The two of them are always at each other’s throats. That’s only going to get worse if you put them together more than they already are.”

  “Or maybe now that they know they’re sisters, they’ll start to actually bond.” Trent shrugged. “If it doesn’t work out, then we can always explore other options, but I think it’ll work out.”

  “You have a lot of hope.” I chuckled as I thought of all the times that Fray and Gesai had yelled at each other.

  “I have faith.” Trent directed his attention to Gesai. “There is a catch to taking that gift.”

  “What’s that?” Gesai didn’t take her eyes off the marble.

  “It’s from Harror, so if you use it, you’re accepting her blessing, which means you’re acknowledging your role as the new heir of the Alards.” Trent took a deep breath. “After everything that Farsch put you through as well as the stunt your father tried to pull…”

  “She wants an heir.” Gesai pulled her eyes away from the marble to look at Trent.

  “That is her price, yes.” Trent nodded. “Considering you won’t be the prime, she wants your first child to take the Alard name and be the heir after you.”

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