Chapter 78: One Strange Heartbeat

[EMERGENCY QUEST]

[Wyvern Hunt!]

[Primary Objective: Slay at least 30 Wyverns attacking the Skyforge Vessel.]

[Secondary Objective: Collect the blood of at least 30 slain Wyverns.]

[Completion Possibility: 54.17%]

[QUEST REWARDS]

[Poison Mana Affinity]

[+10 PER]

[Absolute Beast Claim ×1]

[Designate one eligible Magic Beast. The chosen target will be automatically registered as a Tamed Beast regardless of whether it has been defeated, subdued, or remains hostile.]

[Skill: Silent Venom]

[Tier: Grandform]

[Dragon Egg Hatching Privilege]

[Requirement: Slay at least 30 Wyverns and use their blood to hatch the Dragon Egg.]

[PRECEDENCE AVAILABLE]

[Claim Quest Rewards Before Completion?]

[YES / NO]

Zishan’s attention disappeared into the green panels, and he completely forgot that Elinox was still on top of him.

Elinox remained against him after falling onto the sofa, one of his arms around her while strands of silver-blue hair rested across his shoulder and chest. Ollie, who had woken up during the attack, sat against Zishan’s other side and kept glancing between them as though he had opened his eyes at the worst possible time.

Another impact struck Skyforge, but Zishan barely noticed as his eyes moved across the rewards again. He licked his lips. ’Poison Mana Affinity...’

Considering their current position, it was probably a good thing Elinox had no idea what had made him do that.

Then, Zishan ran his gaze downward as he saw another reward for him to claim. ’+10 PER?!’

His gaze dropped toward Absolute Beast Claim. ’Wait... I can just take one of them?!’

The Wyverns outside were hovering around Level 200.

While he was only Level 86.

Even if one of them ended up being the ugliest Wyvern in the entire species, a Level 200 flying Magic Beast that could be registered under him without having to spend half a day trying to convince it not to bite his head off was not something he was going to reject. ℴℴ𝘮

Then, his eyes reached the Skill: Silent Venom, and after reading the description twice, his eyebrows slowly rose. ’So I can touch someone with one finger, put Poison Mana inside them, and they might not even know?’

There had to be some kind of moral concern there, but he would think about that later.

’But that’s still fucking useful against ugly bitches—I mean enemies...’

His attention moved toward the last reward, and the moment he understood what it meant, everything else in the panel did not matter any longer.

[Dragon Egg x1 Hatching Privilege]

The normal requirement was still there: the blood of 30 Wyverns. With Precedence, however, he could receive the result first and settle the condition afterward.

Zishan’s eyes widened. ’Wait... I can hatch it now?’

The egg had been sitting inside his Tamed Beast Space since he received it, carrying an Unknown Origin classification and refusing to give him anything useful whenever he tried to figure out when it would hatch.

He had checked on it several times. Heck, he had even talked to it once, then twice, and although it couldn’t exactly answer him, the egg had responded by vibrating.

There had also been an incident where he had spent several minutes tapping the shell and asking whether anybody was home, but nobody else knew about that, so it did not count.

Now, the System had finally given him an answer. All he needed was the blood of 30 Wyverns, and after waiting this long, the thought that his Dragon Egg could finally hatch completely swallowed his attention.

His hands moved before he even remembered Elinox was still sitting against him.

She felt both of his palms press against her shoulders and barely had time to make a questioning sound before Zishan suddenly pushed her away.

Elinox’s eyes widened as the force sent her off the sofa.

Gravity Mana gathered around Elinox before her boots could strike the floor in any undignified manner. She stopped a short distance above it, silver-blue hair drifting around her while she corrected herself in the air, adjusted her posture, and descended onto both feet with the composure expected from the youngest High General in Olmost.

Elinox straightened her clothes. Her dignity had somehow survived, although her worry was needless. Zishan did not even see it happen.

"These rewards are so awesome!" he yelled.

Ollie stared at him.

Elinox was also staring at him strangely.

Zishan was leaning forward, eyes shining as he continued reading something only he could see. He had gone from catching her against his body to throwing her away because a System notification had appeared.

Another Wyvern struck the defensive layer outside.

The cabin shook enough for Ollie to grab the side of the sofa.

Elinox kept her attention on Zishan.

A thought she had never expected to entertain crossed her mind. ’Is he not attracted to me at all?’

But outwardly, her expression did not change.

She had never expected people to worship the ground beneath her feet, though enough young men had behaved strangely around her that she had long since stopped being surprised by it.

Some could barely speak properly when she approached them.

Others became so conscious of every movement that they seemed to forget how their own bodies worked.

There had been young nobles who spent months looking for an excuse to be introduced to her, only to stumble over a greeting once the opportunity came. A few had treated the chance to touch her hand during formal events as if some divine blessing had descended upon them.

The worst ones were those who tried too hard to appear unaffected.

They raised their voices around her, mentioned accomplishments nobody had asked about, or behaved with such forced indifference that she could almost see the effort happening inside their heads.

Zishan had caught her when she fell without staring at her, holding her any longer than necessary, or making anything out of how close they had ended up.

Elinox kept looking at him. ’This guy...’

She genuinely did not know what to make of him anymore.

Yet she preferred this far more than those pretentious fools who changed personalities the moment she entered the room.

Zishan rarely seemed concerned with impressing her. He had spent most of their trip asking her the strangest things, from what Elves were actually like to whether Dwarven women had beards, how slavery worked in Olmost, how much bread cost, and whether she had some secret commoner boyfriend waiting to ruin an arranged marriage.

He treated her like someone he had met during a trip. The thought brought an unfamiliar sensation to her chest.

One beat of her heart felt strange.

Elinox paused. Her gaze lowered for a moment. It happened only once, yet she noticed it.

’What was that?’ she thought.

There was no heat spreading across her face, nor did she suddenly become unable to speak. She felt completely normal. She simply became conscious of her own heartbeat for a second, which was quite strange.

A Wyvern flew across the nearest window.

Its wings blocked the clouds for an instant before it rammed its shoulder against Skyforge’s defensive field.

Elinox looked towards the window and raised one hand.

She could figure out the strange feeling later. Right now, several flying Magic Beasts were trying to ruin her vessel.

Mana started to gather around her fingers.

"Wait!"

Elinox stopped and turned toward Zishan.