I scratch my head, "So now that everything is taken care of, mind filling me in on your master plan? Eclaire was very tight-lipped about that."

Lucia is still notably mad at me, "That's easy. We just wait."

"What the-", I'm just speechless and Eclaire can't hold her laughter anymore.

It seems I got tricked - again...

"Just wait? This can't be everything, can it? Come on, Eclaire, Lucia, this situation is too serious for this kind of joke!"

Eclaire tries - and fails - to contain her laughter, "Alright, alright, that one was on me. I couldn't resist, so I asked Lucy to pretend it was all just an elaborate prank."

"No, too late, I'm already mentally filing for divorce."

Lucia clears her throat, "Okay, fine, so the real plan... is really not much different from waiting. I'm serious about this. All pieces are basically already in place. Okay, most of them. We need a few more Class Cores but that shouldn't be too much of a problem now that we're basically running this whole place."

"We need those anyway. I think the military should still have one and there was one for sale in the slums - or did you already get those?"

Eclaire answers, "If there was someone in the slums that had a Class Core it is very likely he took it with him to the grave. We... didn't really have much success with recruiting the people there to be familiars. And Therese refuses to part with theirs."

I guess it is kind of relieving that turning someone into a familiar isn't complete brainwashing. A slight one.

"How much does she know about the plan? Eclaire said you talked about it with her. What even do you need the Cores for exactly? You've told me nothing yet."

Lucia beams happily, "No she doesn't, not everything - though not for a lack of trying. But as circumstances dictate, only me and my evil twin know the full details."

Eclaire counters, "Hey, wait, you're the evil twin here!"

Lucy brushes it off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. As for what the plan really is, I guess it is easier to show you, right, Eclaire? You know which class you should add next, the Burial Vestal. And you, Jared, watch your status."

The blonde one simply nods, "Yeah, yeah. All just so you can make more fun of me."

"Why mine?"

She just smiles, "You'll see."

"Shouldn't we discuss that first? You know that a class can't be changed once it is chosen."

Well, barring extraordinary circumstances like reality collapsing on itself. Again.

Lucy shrugs, "Nah, it is just one class, and we properly discussed it."

I wait a moment, but then indeed something changes. First, the level of the second class jumps from 9 to 11, my exp drops to zero, then one by one the other classes also raise their level.

Suddenly, Lucia shouts at her counterpart, "Hey, we said ONE class, Eclaire, not three!"

The other girl sticks out her tongue, "Bleh! Make me stop if you can, shadow girl! ...damn, it broke. Urgh, guess I'll skip on that one then."

As she says that the remaining primary classes also jump to level 11.

Confused, I ask, "So this is what the marriage fraud is for? Eclaire adds a new class and we get the levels of our counterpart classes increased to the spirit levels, but what does that accomplish? We get a handful of levels now, but the exp gets still lost. Last time something like this happened, we went into exp debt... wait, why is my exp zero and not negative?"

Disappointed, Lucia shrugs, "It was in one of the System updates while you took a nap; exp can no longer go into the negatives. I... was not so lucky since I was already in debt. And as for the rest, I thought it was obvious, but I guess not. Quite simply, we achieve a feedback loop. Eventually."

"I don't see how this turns into something big. We'll need a lot of levels to reach the next stat threshold where spirits gain another level. We'll get a few levels here and there for free, sure, but I thought it was something bigger. Not just a few thousand exp worth of levels spread over several years."

She facepalms, "Come on, Jared, don't play dumb. Think bigger-"

Eclaire interrupts her, "You're one to talk."

Lucia barks back, "Hey, I'm trying, okay!? Cut me some slack, Eclaire! ...so, as I was trying to say, we'll need a few things first but those are basically inevitable given enough time. Say, Jared, what do you think will happen once we get our hands on a few more Class Cores?"

I think aloud, "We could add another new class, obviously, and thanks to your little exploit it would immediately skip ahead a few levels... get a lot of stats..."

She's trying to be encouraging, "Yes, go on. I know you can figure it out, you're almost there. If I could, so can you!"

"Well, it is quite possible that the stat increase is enough to bring us to the next spirit level milestone, giving us another level in all classes, but... wait, are you serious? Do you want to tell me that once we have enough classes this would cause an infinite loop that brings us immediately to the max level?"

She nods satisfied, "That's how I see it. Well, it is only possible thanks to [Unholy Matrimony] and Eclaire's weird state of being. She's neither fully spirit nor human, otherwise, this wouldn't work. We need her to be a spirit for the level uplifting based on your summoner stats, but she needs to be a human for the marriage to count. Elly wasn't happy about - ah, shit, I shouldn't have said that."

"No, enough secrets. What did she say? What is really going on here?"

While Lucia stays silent, Eclaire answers, "Calm down, Jared. Can't you see it is hard for her to talk about it?"

Finally, Lucy speaks up, "It is okay, anti-me. Jared, to be honest, I don't really understand what her problem was. She said some things about... things that didn't translate, and what got through made no sense to me. We argued, shouted and quickly were at each other's throats. I'd prefer it if she didn't come back, can you promise me that, please?"

This explains nothing to me. And if that is all you can tell me, that is not enough.

You had an argument, fine that happens, but... If it is simply something that didn't translate then there's a high chance it is a concept they don't know about here yet. And if that's the case then ignoring Elly's concern is too risky for my taste.

"No, I can't. If you just argued because you didn't speak the same language and the translator simply failed at being helpful then I don't see how it is her fault. She deserves a second chance to be heard on this."

Suddenly, Lucia gets angry, "Didn't you hear me? I said she stays away!!"

Does she really have some kind of trauma from that event? I thought as undead, we would be above that, but I guess I was wrong about that.

"I heard you, but I choose to ignore it. Sorry, Lucy, but to any argument always belong two and I want to hear her side on this as well. I know this is hard on you, but I beg you to please endure it. If she reacted like that there must be a deeper reason, maybe something important."

She pouts, "Fine, but if you take her side you'll sleep on the couch!"

Eh, if that's the only price I have to pay to potentially avoid a terrible mistake...

"Only if you join me there."

She blushes, "I'll... think about it."

Gutter, leave us out, you're crowded...

Eclaire interrupts us, "Are you two lovebirds done now?"

"Someone's feeling left out. Want a make-up kiss?"

She chuckles, "What, just one? Do I look that cheap to you?"

"Not in the slightest", I grab her and do as offered.

All the while, Lucy feels left out and pouts, but eventually, she joins us as well.

Maybe this isn't so bad after all. If I'm unable to free myself from the influence of the Happily Married title anyway, I might as well enjoy our togetherness like this.

I always believed that undead creatures like us couldn't feel affection like this. So if that title takes a mutually existing spark and just keeps it alive before [Undead] erases it... if I start looking at it like that then I don't mind the title's influence anymore. And the two girls seemingly think the same way. Yeah, I should cease my futile struggle against it.

3QGN73

It only took about 115 chapters but we're finally reaching the point where MC is (arguably) getting OP, or at least formulates a plan to get there - you know, the point where way too many stories start with often no real justification.