Chapter 77: Insane reward once more

Sophia turned toward Evan once the excitement surrounding the result settled.

Her father had mentioned his Minor Mastery of the sword, but the fight revealed something Orwin couldn’t have known.

The blade in Evan’s other hand possessed the same completeness as his swordsmanship.

Minor Mastery of the sword and blade at his age? Father’s praise might have been restrained rather than exaggerated.

Evan was frightening and the baby dragon possessed similarly great potential, but Sophia’s gaze returned to Alaric.

Minor Mastery of throwing knives explained his accuracy, yet not the reflexes which kept him alive between two attackers, the strength which redirected a dragon or the mana output his reinforced channels endured.

He had also used Mountain Grip and Return Step as though both were familiar.

The most frightening possibility was his mana control.

Sophia had seen his clumsy testing earlier, yet during the fight he adjusted the intensity of both Body Techniques within individual movements without producing an unstable surge.

She lacked proof, but everything pointed toward one conclusion. Minor Mastery of Mana Control.

She had assumed Zephyr was the main secret protected by the Divine Contract.

Now she realized it protected Alaric just as much. Sophia had been trained as a Holy Maiden and confidently challenged experienced Knights, yet she genuinely didn’t know whether she could defeat this newly advanced Knight.

Zephyr broke the silence first by continuing to defend his wounded pride. “We should fight again after I recover. Evan spent half the battle blocking me.”

Evan replied with his usual restraint. “You entered the path of my weapons repeatedly. Our lack of coordination caused the loss, and the Young Lord recognized it before controlling our positions from the beginning.”

Sophia looked at Evan. “My father only mentioned your Sword Mastery. When did you attain Minor Mastery of the blade?”

Evan’s answer made her expression change again. “During my previous fight with Zephyr. The Young Lord instructed me to concentrate upon it.”

He didn’t mention the memories Young Lord provided him since that would be stupid.

Evan believed the System’s memories came from Young Lord. Sophia wanted to ask more, but accepted the boundary.

Alaric then turned toward Evan. “Rowena has secured passage to the Central Continent, and I intend to leave with her. I’m offering you a place aboard the vessel, but the decision is yours.”

Evan asked a few questions regarding the Central Continent and Alaric answered as much as he knew.

Zephyr would also pop up and answer with very little useful information contained in his inherited bloodline memories.

Sophia stayed quiet and watched the exchange, realizing that Alaric had a genuine bond with these people. The two geniuses were willing to listen and follow this monstrous genius of a Young Lord.

She couldn’t help but feel excited upon being a possible addition to this group in the near future. After all, this was a group of terrifying geniuses!

Even the ones called the Holy Maidens and Divine Sons of the Rathen Empire never invoked such feelings from her.

Evan considered everything Alaric said only for only a moment.

“I’ll accompany you, Young Lord. The Central Continent will possess stronger opponents and more complete inheritances, and I have no reason to abandon the person who has already given me knowledge I couldn’t have obtained here.”

He was naturally hinting at the memories he would keep receiving after completing the tasks given by the Young Lord.

The answer suited Evan. Gratitude mattered to him, but the opportunity to grow mattered just as much.

Zephyr nodded as though the decision belonged to him. “Good. I need him there so I can defeat him after I become stronger.”

“You should learn how to approach without obstructing his weapons first,” Sophia said.

Zephyr stared at her with disdain. “You saw one fight and already think you can criticize a dragon?”

This dragon was a very uselessly prideful being.

Sophia’s voice remained perfectly calm when she answered, which somehow irritated him a lot. “I saw you lose because you refused to look where his blade was moving.”

Evan hid his amusement, while Alaric decided the four of them had spent enough time inside the damaged training hall.

They separated after removing the protective equipment. Sophia left with questions she couldn’t share even with her father, while Zephyr followed Alaric and muttered that humans became arrogant too easily.

Mira found them before they reached the main corridor.

The tension which had followed her since arriving at House Orlen was gone.

Her mother and brother were safe, and although grief over her father remained, she no longer wondered whether the rest of her family was suffering somewhere beyond her reach.

“Young Lord, may I train with Zephyr today?” Mira asked. “I think I can do better now.”

Alaric expected Zephyr to demand food, sleep or another session involving compressed mana first.

After all, this baby dragon whined whenever it involved training not involving his Magic Path.

Instead, the baby dragon raised his head immediately. “Let’s go. I need proper training after fighting with people who kept getting in my way.”

His defeat had accomplished what repeated persuasion hadn’t. Alaric suppressed a chuckle as he saw the dragon keep trying to deny his loss.

He arranged a secluded ravine protected by concealment formations to hide Zephyr, then accompanied them to observe their training.

Mira carried a blunted practice spear so she could begin incorporating mounted attacks into their flight.

The little young girl, barely ten years old, climbed onto the dragon’s back inside the ravine before the creature took flight.

Her body moved naturally when the baby dragon rose above the stone walls.

Zephyr began with broad turns before descending sharply.

Mira lowered her body before the dive became obvious and shifted her weight toward his right wing before he banked.

She even thrust the spear through one of the formation targets positioned around the ravine without losing her balance.

Zephyr initially assumed that she had learned to follow his movements, so he increased the difficulty and changed direction without warning, but Mira responded before his body even completed the correction.

Zephyr climbed, rolled and abruptly allowed one wing to dip.

Every time, she adjusted before the motion should have become clear.

Eventually he levelled out and looked back at her. “You’re getting the hang of Mounted Synchronization, huh? You keep knowing what I’m about to do.”

“I don’t know if I’m learning it right.” Mira admitted. “I can feel pressure moving around you.

“When you decide to turn, the air and mana on that side feel different before your wing moves. It isn’t like hearing your thoughts. It feels as if the space around both of us is warning me.”

All of them realised that this awareness definitely came from their deepening Mounted Synchronization.

Zephyr immediately tested it with another dive, and Mira channelled power into the practice spear as she attacked the next target.

The wood of the spear cracked beneath the strain before shattering completely inside her hands.

Mira instinctively reached for a weapon which could endure their combined power.

At that moment, something strange happened.

Black scales flowed from her palms and gathered around the resonant mana of the Dragon Rider path she was releasing, interlocking until they formed a long black lance marked by thin golden lines.

It possessed genuine weight, a solid edge and a shaft harder than the practice weapon she had just broken.

[Draconic Aspect awakened — Dragonforge Armament]

[Dragonforge Armament allows the rider to forge physical weapons from resonant mana. The strength and durability of every forged weapon match the rider’s current Dragon Rider stage and advance alongside her.]

[The Aspect does not grant weapon mastery. At the current stage, only one complete armament may exist at a time, and the weapon cannot be permanently transferred or stored.]

At the same time that these memories surged inside Mira, the precise information was recorded by the System and shown to Alaric.

Mira drove the black lance through the next reinforced target.

The impact shattered the formation plate without damaging the weapon, while Zephyr twisted his head around to stare at something even his bloodline memories hadn’t prepared him to expect.

But he was used to it by now. Ever since starting his cooperation with the weak human, he had been surprised a lot of times.

The resonance already present between them settled more deeply into Mira’s body.

For the first time, Mira felt that the power joining them belonged to her as well, rather than being something she merely borrowed from Zephyr during flight.

Mana moved through her specialized breathing technique without conscious effort, strengthening her muscles, senses and internal pathways until the pressure surrounding her reached the limit of the Dragon Rider stage.

This might or might not mean every Draconic Aspect awakening caused immediate advancement. Who knew? Neither Alaric nor anyone else had information regarding this special path.

At the same time, system notifications appeared inside Alaric’s mind.

[Quest: Reach the peak of Dragon Rider stage — Mira Hawthorne]

[Completed]

[Grade A – 60 coins]

[Issuing Rewards.]

[Mana Heart has been placed in System storage.]

Alaric immediately examined the reward while Zephyr carried an astonished Mira back toward the ground.

Alaric didn’t look at them, but asked the system about this reward.

[Mana Heart]

[Classification: Naturally occurring mana treasure.]

[A practitioner who incorporates the Mana Heart gains a supplementary mana reserve whose capacity grows alongside the practitioner. The initial capacity greatly exceeds the total mana reserve of an ordinary Knight.]

[The Mana Heart does not generate mana and must be filled before the stored power can be used.]

[Minimum safe Body Path stage for incorporation: Knight.]

The final condition made the reward even more valuable.

Alaric could incorporate the Mana Heart at the earliest safe stage and let it grow through every later advancement. A Champion, Paragon or Dominion could still benefit, but would have lost years of growth.

Mana Hearts formed under conditions so rare that many Dominions never encountered one.

A Dominion who obtained one might incorporate it personally or use it as an extraordinary artifact’s core.

The majority of them wouldn’t give such a resource to their heirs regardless of talent.

Compared with the first rewards obtained through ordinary Geniuses, Mira’s reward stood in an entirely different league.

The System had increased the first reward bonus because she possessed a special power system, and Mana Heart proved how significant that increase was.

Alaric’s thoughts inevitably moved toward Alice.

The System considered her a Special Entity, something even rarer and apparently more important than Mira’s entire Dragon Rider Path. Alaric’s eyes shined as he was starting to look forward to connecting Alice with the System.

If Mira’s first quest gave me something even Dominions would keep for themselves, what the fuck will Alice’s first reward give me?

Thank you for reading!