Chapter 36: Jeryon’s Unexpected Behavior
Shani handed the medicine to Jeryon, who drank it without asking any questions. Another cashback notification popped up.
The three of them then headed to the fifth floor to continue their resonance session.
By now, Shani had grown numb to all the negative attention she received from the other students for being Jeryon’s partner.
She walked straight to Jeryon’s table and took out their artificial egg, which was safely stored inside whenever they weren’t doing resonance.
"You’re not drinking milk?" Jeryon suddenly asked while they were regulating their energy.
They had become so used to resonance that they could now chat while maintaining a stable flow of energy.
Shani was dumbfounded by the question. Then she remembered that she always brought milk for Jeryon. ’Does he really like Galesend milk?’
"I already drank plenty back in my room," Shani replied.
Jeryon accepted the answer, though he assumed the real reason was something else. ’Maybe she’s run out because she keeps sharing it with me. I should buy her milk too.’
"Is that milk from your hometown? From Zephyria?" Jeryon asked.
Shani nodded without explaining further. She assumed he was just making small talk.
After three hours of resonance, they reluctantly ended the night’s session.
Shani checked her baby beast’s progress through the system.
[Baby Beast Progress: 77.5% (Egg Phase). Progress Speed: 5%/hour. Baby Beast Gene: Night Panther. Regulation Process: Stable.]
Her eyes widened when she saw that her baby beast’s gene was listed as Night Panther.
’Can you really tell a baby beast’s gene before the egg hatches?’
Shani looked at Jeryon, who was walking half a step ahead of her, and asked the question that had been on her mind.
Jeryon shook his head.
"There isn’t any guaranteed method. There have been plenty of studies, but they’ve all produced different results."
"Most of the time, the baby beast inherits the gene of the beastman with the higher rank. But sometimes it follows the parent with the superior gene grade instead."
"And there are also cases where it inherits the gene of the lower-ranked parent, even if that parent’s gene grade is lower as well."
"A baby beast’s gene is much harder to predict than a beastman fetus’s gene."
Jeryon’s explanation made Shani even more grateful for her system. It did far more than simply provide cashback.
...
Shani started her morning with a bottle of milk. She could already feel the difference in appetite between an E-Rank and an F-Rank beastman.
She had expected a peaceful start to the day. Instead, she walked into another drama unfolding in the cafeteria.
Lara was shouting at Dave.
"You’re just going to forgive them? Don’t you care about your partner? Are you really giving up on Leah just like that?"
"Lara, please stop coming to me. If you don’t, I’ll tell the instructors that you were the one who told me to teach Shani Rowan a lesson yesterday."
Dave spoke in a normal voice, but because everyone else had fallen silent, the entire cafeteria heard every word.
Lara narrowed her eyes. Her brows furrowed in anger, and her whole body tensed.
"Now you’re blaming everything on me? You’re the one who came to me first, bringing up my sister’s name!"
Dave’s face flushed, whether from anger or embarrassment.
Without another word, he stormed off, abandoning his meal. He didn’t want the other students hearing any more about his disgrace.
As Lara turned to chase after him, she spotted Shani and Jeryon.
Her hands clenched into fists. She didn’t dare approach their table while Jeryon was there.
Instead, as she walked away, she muttered, "Some people are so quick to use their family to pressure other families. If that isn’t a guilty conscience, then what is?"
Hearing that, Shani glanced at Jeryon.
Instead of responding, Jeryon took out four bottles of milk. "My treat."
He handed two bottles to Shani, one to Kiran, kept one for himself, and calmly resumed eating.
Shani and Kiran exchanged confused looks.
’What’s gotten into him?’ Shani asked through her eyes.
’No idea. Maybe he discovered some miraculous effect of that milk,’ Kiran replied with nothing more than an exaggerated glance.
Shani decided to ask him directly.
But, Jeryon gave the exact same answer. "I just felt like treating everyone."
Eventually, the two girls stopped questioning him and simply drank the milk the prince had bought.
After breakfast, they headed to the seventh floor, the floor reserved for elective classes.
Both Shani and Kiran had chosen Baby Beast Food Concoction as their elective, while Jeryon had enrolled in a different class, so they split up.
"My class forum is going crazy over it," Kiran whispered, making sure the other students couldn’t overhear.
"Going crazy over what?" Shani asked.
"They’re saying Jeryon pressured the royal family into going after Dave’s family because of what happened yesterday. That’s why Dave’s acting so tense today."
Shani raised an eyebrow skeptically. ’Does Jeryon really have that much influence over the royal family in his current situation?’
"If he really didn’t do it, you should tell him to shut those rumor-makers down immediately," Kiran continued, snapping her fingers dramatically when she said "shut."
Shani nodded. At the very least, Jeryon had to tell everyone the truth. Whether people believed him or not was up to them.
Class began as a familiar face entered the room. It was Iris Cinder, the main instructor of Class 5.
She introduced herself just as she had on the first day in Class 5. The students gasped in admiration.
Any beastman who managed to surpass the rank limit of their beast gene was worthy of respect, whether because of exceptional family resources or extraordinary talent.
"You want to know how I managed to reach a rank higher than my beast gene’s limit?"
"We do!" The fewer than twenty students in the room sounded far more enthusiastic than they ever did in compulsory classes with a hundred students.
Smiling at their excitement, Iris answered, "The reason... is this class. Because I learned how to prepare the right food for my baby beast."
...