Chapter 60: Nyx and Its Family
Nyx’s squeaking could be heard all the way down the corridor outside Shani’s room. Hearing the baby beast, some students passing by found it adorable, while others thought Shani was showing off.
Inside the room, Shani and Jeryon were too busy to care about what the other students thought. Nyx was thrashing around, desperately trying to escape the bathtub.
The aprons they were wearing could not protect them from the water splashing everywhere.
The little furball stared at its parents with a betrayed look. It tried to scratch them several times, but the long gloves they wore were specially designed to protect against feline baby beast claws.
"Relax, baby. You’ll feel fresh after this." Shani soothed it while gently scratching under Nyx’s chin.
The little panther slowly got used to the water and finally stopped struggling. It even started purring as it enjoyed being scrubbed.
Shani glanced at Jeryon at the same time Jeryon lifted his head. When their eyes met, they both instinctively chuckled.
Seeing that radiant smile, Jeryon’s heart began beating fast again. He became so distracted that he stopped focusing on scrubbing Nyx.
When his hand touched Shani’s, he instinctively grabbed her smaller hand.
Shani was startled and confused. She tried to pull her hand away, but Jeryon did not let go.
"Jeryon..." Shani called, blinking in confusion.
Jeryon snapped out of his daze. He finally realized he was holding Shani’s hand and quickly let go.
"Sorry... I thought that was Nyx’s tail," Jeryon said, making up an excuse. He was completely embarrassed and flustered now.
Shani only nodded stiffly. She did not know how to respond either, especially because those strange sensations had returned again.
Inside the bathtub, Nyx watched its parents stop scrubbing its body. Both of them looked awkward and flustered.
The little black panther meowed and rolled its eyes.
Hearing Nyx’s meow, Shani quickly said, "I think that’s enough. You dry Nyx with the towel. I’ll prepare the dryer."
Nyx protested with another meow. It had only just gotten comfortable.
Unfortunately, its mother and father were determined to escape the awkward situation.
...
The next day at lunchtime, Shani brought a box to the cafeteria. She slid it toward Jeryon.
"For you. Milk pie."
Jeryon looked at the box. The transparent top allowed him to see the milk pie covered in thick, creamy milk.
He then looked at Shani in confusion. "Why...?"
"You always give us milk. I thought I should give you a gift sometimes too," Shani replied.
"All right. Thank you."
At the same time, the system’s cashback notification sounded in Shani’s head. She instinctively gave Jeryon a bright smile.
The corner of the young man’s lips lifted slightly. Seeing Shani smile so brightly all the time, he slowly began to smile more often too without realizing it.
Meanwhile, the two people sitting across from them exchanged another look. ’They’re flirting so openly!’
Shani had no idea she was making everyone misunderstand their relationship. As long as her weekly mission was completed, that was all that mattered.
To Shani, giving Jeryon a gift was simply her weekly mission.
She still had no idea what Jeryon actually liked, but considering that he always shared milk with them, she figured giving him a milk cake could not hurt.
Milk pie was just an ordinary snack, so giving it to him would not make Jeryon suspicious or cause him to refuse it.
What Shani did not tell him was that she had bought the milk pie from an elite pastry shop where it cost ten times more than usual.
Although it was not as expensive as the potions she bought from the system, until Shani figured out what Jeryon actually needed, milk pie was a suitable substitute.
After lunch, Shani went to the Concoction class to feed her bloodworms. After that, she returned to her room. There was another bloodworm she needed to feed.
When Shani opened the door, her eyes widened.
A glass container holding a small, skinny bloodworm had fallen onto the floor.
Nyx was standing on top of the container, punching the glass wall with its little paw.
"Nyx, stop!" Shani quickly ran over and picked up the little panther. "Nyx, that’s our friend. You can’t hit it like that."
Shani carried Nyx with one arm while using her other hand to return the container to the cabinet.
Nyx pouted and meowed, feeling that it had been unfairly accused.
Seeing her baby beast’s adorable behavior, Shani tried to understand Nyx’s emotions.
She smiled faintly and gently tapped the furry baby’s nose. "You punched the container because you wanted to play with it, right?"
Nyx’s ears perked up. It nodded before turning its face away, sulking.
"Sorry if Mother accused you without understanding, okay?" Shani tried to kiss Nyx, but the baby beast jumped out of her arms.
Shani found it adorable that her baby beast had become so lively. Unfortunately, that newfound agility also made it much harder to catch.
Shani turned her attention to the container on top of the cabinet. Thankfully, the glass used for it had advanced technology, so the container had not cracked or broken.
Shani recorded the bloodworm’s development.
She had deliberately requested this nearly dead bloodworm because she had discovered a special cultivation method that required the bloodworm to be starved and malnourished first.
According to the e-book Worm Cultivation Vol. I allowing a bloodworm to nearly die from starvation was a common practice among breeders because of its significant effects.
Shani disagreed with the book, but since she had accidentally obtained a bloodworm that met the requirements, there was no harm in trying.
She entered a name into the empty name field on the container. Reddy.
"From now on, your name is Reddy, so you can grow into a healthy bloodworm with a deep red color," Shani told the curling bloodworm, which still seemed frightened by Nyx’s earlier rampage.
After adding the powder and adjusting the temperature inside Reddy’s container, Shani turned her attention to Nyx, who was still sulking.
She hugged the ball of fur tightly, not letting it escape, and kissed it.
Nyx thrashed around, but eventually gave up and simply sat there, staring at its mother’s smug grin.
"Mother is sorry, okay? This room isn’t just for Mother and Nyx anymore. Reddy lives here too." Shani pointed at the bloodworm’s container.
"Reddy’s home can’t be moved. So Nyx can’t knock it onto the floor. If you want to play, you can look at it, but you can’t touch it, okay?"
Nyx did not answer, still pouting.
Seeing that, Shani took out a plum-flavored Red Worm Jelly, Nyx’s favorite.
Tempted by its favorite snack, Nyx reluctantly nodded in agreement.
While Shani was busy stroking Nyx’s soft fur, her smartwatch showed an incoming call from Mina.
Shani immediately answered. "It’s unusual for you to call without texting first. Is something wrong?"
"I just came back from Aster’s uncle’s shop. It turns out Aster... He’s being treated terribly by his uncle, his cousin, and even his uncle’s wife’s family," Mina replied in a gloomy voice.
Shani shot upright. "What? How could they...?" Anger and sadness mixed together in her mind.
Mina then explained that she had accidentally learned the name of Aster’s uncle’s shop. From there, she searched for its location online and went there without telling anyone.
Mina had already been suspicious because she thought Aster was working too hard to save money as quickly as possible. But the truth was completely different.
"Aster still doesn’t know I went there. I only met his cousin while Aster was out eating... It was three in the afternoon. He hadn’t eaten breakfast and had started working at four in the morning. He worked for twelve hours without taking a break..."
"He doesn’t get paid because his uncle lets him sleep there and gives him food. But from what I calculated, he probably only gets to eat once or twice a day."
"Before he started working as a delivery worker, he had no savings at all. That’s why he forced himself to work deliveries even after the shop closed."
"After his uncle found out, they argued about it. Aster stubbornly insisted on keeping his delivery job."
"He has no choice but to stay and work at his uncle’s shop. If he refuses, his uncle will report him as an undocumented person. Most likely, Aster will be sent back to Galesend because he doesn’t have a Lunarion ID. And he doesn’t want that."
The more Shani listened, the more her heart ached. She could not imagine someone as kind as Aster being treated so terribly.
Mina continued, "I learned all of this from his cousin. He told me about everything as if what he and his family were doing was completely justified. They don’t feel guilty at all. They’re even proud of what they’re doing."
Shani’s heart felt like it was burning. She couldn’t just let this go.
Shani was about to end the call so she could contact Aster when she heard a commotion in the background.
"Mina, why can I hear people shouting over there? Are you okay?"
...