The More I Invest in My Wives, the Stronger I Become

Daemon had never actually believed he’d join the WHA. Not really. Not as an E-Rank nobody who’d spent years collecting rejection after rejection, watching every recruiter’s eyes glaze over the moment they hit the word ”Nameless” on his file.

*Everything’s different now, though.*

*I have to do this.*

Ding!

[Reward Unlocked.]

[Condition Met: Deepened Union]

[Your bond with Victoria has reached a new level of trust and intimacy.]

[Bloodline Growth +1.5%]

[Reward Granted: Bloodline Ward]

[A short-lived barrier of bloodline energy, manifesting instantly around the Host on command. Capable of absorbing one to two significant strikes before breaking. Recharges with rest.]

Daemon read it twice, a real smile spreading across his face.

*A shield. Finally. I’ve had a dozen ways to hit something and zero ways to actually block anything. Every fight so far, I’ve been relying entirely on not getting hit in the first place.*

*Perfect timing, too. If today’s test involves getting hit at all, I’d rather not find out the hard way that I still can’t take one properly.*

He flexed his hand once, feeling for whatever new sense the reward had left behind, and found nothing obvious. Whatever it was, it would only show itself when he actually needed it.

---

Breakfast passed quickly, the two of them falling into their usual easy rhythm around the kitchen. By the time they were both dressed and ready to leave, Victoria looked him over once, unimpressed, arms crossing.

”When we get back,” she said, ”we’re going shopping. That outfit isn’t happening again.”

Meanwhile, she looked effortless — red hair catching the light, an outfit that did nothing to hide the same figure that had half the guild hall staring on a regular basis, all without seeming to try at all.

Daemon opened his mouth to argue and immediately thought better of it.

”...Okay.”

”Good answer.”

The drive to WHA headquarters took half an hour, Victoria behind the wheel, weaving through traffic with the same effortless confidence she seemed to do everything else with.

---

The building came into view long before they reached it — glass and steel rising high enough to catch the morning light and throw it back in sharp, clean lines, hunters streaming in and out through wide entrances in a steady, unbroken current.

Daemon sat frozen for a moment once the car stopped, staring up at it.

*This is really happening. I’m actually about to walk in there.*

A hand slid into his.

”Don’t be nervous,” Victoria said, smiling, warmth in it that still caught him off guard sometimes, even after everything. ”I’m here.”

”I know,” he said, squeezing her hand once before letting go. ”Let’s go.”

---

Inside, the scale of the place hit him properly — a soaring atrium three stories tall, massive display boards tracking active dungeon alerts across the entire region in real time, hunters in a dozen different guild colors moving purposefully in every direction, the low hum of a hundred overlapping conversations bouncing off polished stone floors.

Somewhere above, a screen scrolled through names — recent clears, rank promotions, notable kills. Daemon caught himself staring at it a beat too long, wondering if his own name would ever end up there.

Heads turned the moment Victoria walked in.

Then turned further, when they noticed the man walking beside her.

Whispers rippled outward almost instantly. *Is that her boyfriend? No — couldn’t be. Victoria Hale doesn’t date. Relative, maybe. A friend.*

Daemon kept his eyes forward, doing his best to ignore all of it.

---

They stopped at the registration line.

”Go ahead and get signed up,” Victoria said. ”I have some things to finish. I’ll come find you before the test starts.”

”Okay.”

She lingered a second longer than the moment strictly required, smiling at him in a way that had absolutely nothing guarded about it.

The whispers around them sharpened into something closer to shock.

*Victoria Hale. Smiling like that. At someone.*

Nobody had ever seen her look anything but composed and unreachable. Now half the atrium was staring, trying to figure out exactly who he was.

---

Once she’d gone, Daemon finished registering, and a staff member walked him through the structure of the test, tablet in hand, reciting the explanation with the practiced ease of someone who’d given it a hundred times already that morning.

”Three rounds,” she explained, tapping through a display. ”First — team combat, inside a controlled dungeon simulation. You’ll be grouped randomly with other candidates. Second — individual combat, same environment, no teammates to lean on. Third and final — live sparring against an actual WHA Hunter. We’re measuring raw potential as much as current skill. Some candidates who test well end up fast-tracked into elite programs. A few, eventually, go all the way to S-Rank.”

”And at the end?”

”You’re assigned an official rank based on overall performance. Could be higher than your current one. Could be the same, if you don’t show much.” She shrugged, already turning to the next candidate in line. ”Depends entirely on you.”

Daemon nodded slowly, letting it settle as he moved off toward the staging area.

*Three chances to prove I’m not who they think I am when they see ’E-Rank’ on my file.*

*Three chances to prove the last few weeks actually meant something.*

---

Someone tugged at his sleeve.

He turned, and his smile widened before he’d even fully registered who it was.

”Roxana. What are you doing here?”

She beamed at him, bright in a way he hadn’t seen since the hospital vending machine — no trace left of the tired, guarded woman he’d first met in a C-Rank dungeon staging area. ”I’m testing too. Guild selection.”

”What happened to your old party?”

”I finally decided I could do better on my own.” Something steady sat behind her eyes now, nothing like the exhaustion he remembered from that first meeting. ”I didn’t like that team. Didn’t like how they treated me — especially him. So I left. Packed up, walked out, didn’t look back. Figured I’d test into WHA as an independent instead.”

Daemon didn’t need to ask which ”him” she meant.

”It’s good to see you smile like that again,” he said honestly. ”Keep it. It suits you a lot better than the alternative did.”

Roxana’s cheeks warmed, though her smile didn’t waver, something almost shy slipping into it. ”Can we go in together? For the first round, I mean.”

”Yeah. Let’s go.”

They fell into step together, weaving through the crowd toward the staging area, Daemon aware of a few curious glances following them but too caught up in the moment to care much.

---

The staging room was massive, packed wall to wall with candidates, nervous energy crackling through the crowd as everyone waited for their assignments. Each candidate was given a number and a team listing on the board overhead, names scrolling past in neat, alphabetized rows.

Daemon scanned it, searching until he found his own name. **Team 33.**

Roxana found hers a moment later, tracing the board with one finger. ”Fifteen.”

”Do well out there,” Daemon said. ”We’ve got an hour break after this round, I think — meet at the cafeteria?”

”Deal.” She grinned, already backing away toward her own group. ”You do well too.

She headed off to find her team, weaving through the crowd with a confidence that hadn’t been there the last time he’d seen her. Daemon watched her go for a moment, something quietly proud settling in his chest.

*She’s stronger than she knows. Stronger than she’s ever let herself believe, probably.*

*Good for her. She deserves this.*

Then he turned back toward the board, searching for his own number among the sea of unfamiliar faces.

*Team 33. Let’s see who I’m stuck with.*