Alexia

I watch on as Alara tries rather hard to negotiate with the dragon for a mutual defense pact, boundaries between the two islands, and the ownership of dungeons on the islands. And throughout the process, Ethan just keeps treating her like he genuinely couldn’t care less about her.

Honestly, I’m pretty sure the only reason he’s bothering to listen to her is me.

Then again, he’s a dragon. Dragons are all like that. They treat non-dragons rather poorly, and only show respect to other Class S species without exception.

Dragons are just to prideful and reclusive to do otherwise.

Although I have to admit, Ethan seems oddly friendly towards me, even for another Class S species. And I still can’t figure out why.

We’ve met up around once almost every day since I first met him, and he’s stayed kind the entire time while trying to offer me his help. Actions that normally wouldn’t seem suspicious at all, if I didn’t know how a dragon is. And if I didn’t know by now that he seems to genuinely not care about me returning the favor.

An even larger anomaly, since all dragons love favors.

No matter what, I can’t figure this guy out. And it’s just making me even more suspicious of him as time goes on.

Then again, I at least know that he shouldn’t interfere with me. Because it’s also unlike a dragon to do that, so unless he’s even more of an anomaly than I already know, which is entirely possible, he shouldn’t bother us.

And from the way he’s treating Alara I can tell he’s like a usual dragon in that department. He doesn’t even seem to care about the dungeons on his own island as long as anyone coming to fight in them stays far away from his mountains.

In the end, Alara seems rather happy with what she got as she walks out of the clearing, leaving me and the dragon alone. Because while he did reject the mutual defense pact, he said that if I asked for help he’d consider it, agreed to let them use his island’s dungeons, and even work with us to fight against the Calamity Class monster if it should attack our islands.

“Why aren’t you leading your island’s base?” Ethan asks while crossing his arms, his entire attitude shifting from the dismissive attitude he had before to a friendly yet curious one.

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I turn my attention back to him from Alara as I answer, “Because I don’t care about leading and would rather leave that to someone else.”

He raises a single brow at that before smirking and nodding his head, “Understandable.”

I purse my lips for a few seconds as I consider his current attitude, only to grin as I think of a way to trust him a bit.

“Hey, would you mind helping me?” I ask the man, my grin growing wider.

He raises his other brow and says, “Depends on what you need help with.”

I walk up to him, closing the distance between us to be just about half a meter, making his eyes widen in surprise. But then I simply ask, “Would you mind attacking me with hellfrost?”

His surprise turns to absolute bewilderment.

“Huh?” he mutters.

After more than a little persuasion, the man finally relents and reluctantly attacks me, making me understand that he for some reason is against hurting me. Not sure why though. But it makes me trust him a little more.

Although not as much as my gradually growing adaptation against hellfrost is. Because having a resistance towards his magic will make me a lot less tense around him.

Nearly half an hour passes before I get a System Message.

{Congratulations! Your Passive Skill ‘Quantum Adaptation’ has reached Level 8!}

Finally! And at this point his attacks aren’t doing as much damage. Probably about a twenty or thirty percent reduction in damage.

I’m also pretty sure the guy knows what’s going on but is still training my adaptation, so I think at this point he’s a bit more trustworthy than before.

Still weird and an anomaly though.

He only continues training it for another five minutes after that before he stops and says, “That’s enough for now. Come back again some time if you need more.”

I smile at him, one no longer tinted with suspicion, and give him a brief salute as I respond, “Sure thing! And thanks Ethan!”

The guy blinks at that, only to give me one of the very rare smiles he gives and nods, turning around and spreading his wings to shoot up into the air. Meanwhile I turn around and follow after the direction that Alara left in, eventually finding her waiting for me in another clearing with a disgruntled look on her face. And before I can wonder why she’s upset not when she was previously rather satisfied, she mutters, “Let’s go back to the island…”

Oh. She just doesn’t want to teleport again and knows she has to.

Come to think of it, how long has she been standing there waiting for me?

I frown at that thought for a few seconds before shrugging.

Doesn’t really matter. She’s just tagging along with me right now and I’m doing her a favor, so this is my time.

I walk up to her, pat her on the shoulder while giving her a sympathetic look, and comment, “Look at the bright side.”

She frowns.

“You don’t have anything to vomit anymore,” I tell her with a light smile, a nod of my head at the scowl she gives me, and then a teleport, making her scowl drop into a grimace.

And I don’t stop, teleporting us to the edge of the island and then into the air towards the next island.

I mean, I’m not wrong. She can’t vomit when she has an empty stomach.

Definitely a plus for my nose.

Maybe I should try training everyone on the island to get them used to teleporting? It could make future trips like this less unpleasant.

I’d have to make sure I take nose plugs with me though.

And make sure they don’t vomit on me.

Anyways, I continue teleporting, ignoring the sound of Alara dry-heaving.