Chương 443: Chapter 414: First Place POV

"Look, look! It's an F-grade eagle with such high rarity, still in F-grade. This means we can grow old together!" the little girl cheered, jumping up and down. Thalion, on the other hand, wasn't having nearly as much fun—but at least it didn't look like he was going to die right now.

"Oh, little flower, you know you need to train hard. I don't think you'll have the time to cultivate a pet," the woman—whom Thalion guessed was her mother—said with a sorrowful smile on her lips. It genuinely seemed to pain her, and Thalion could tell through his title that there was another reason behind that sad expression. All in all, he would very much appreciate it if they let him go, so for now, he was fully on the mother's side.

"No, I don't want to kill it. One day it's going to become one of the big lightning-ice birds. Maybe we can even evolve it into something bigger so I can fly on its back instead of always summoning an icy layer around me or my feet," the girl said, pulling her hand away from the older elf. Thalion, dangling from that hand, decided that staying with the girl was still preferable to getting murdered. Also—what did she mean by lightning-ice? Thalion could only cultivate lightning and wind.

Adding a third element right before his evolution might be dangerous. Of course, it all depended on how the system classified it, but if it treated it like additional forms, that wouldn't be good at all. A bad form could drag down the rarity of his evolution, and another affinity might have the same effect. The elf stared at her daughter for a long time, while Thalion continued to weigh his options.

In the meantime, he hoped with all his might that the girl was deploying the strongest and cutest puppy eyes the system had ever seen. After a few moments—which felt like an eternity to Thalion—the elf finally sighed.

"Fine. But only if you do not stop your training. Strength is everything, and with a bloodline like yours, you need to be strong. Do you understand?" Her voice carried so much worry that Thalion didn't even need his title to feel it. He also started to regain sensation in his legs, and his beak began shuddering from the lingering cold in his body. Thalion refrained from testing his skills.

If he shifted back into human form, he'd have to kill them both with a surprise attack—and since they weren't killing him, he could wait and look for the right moment to pull a Houdini.

"Oh, you're the best!" the young girl squealed, hugging her mother tightly around the waist.

"I'll train harder than ever before. I promise, I promise, I promise!" The mother didn't reply. A faint smile formed on her lips, but Thalion could feel all the emotions buried beneath it. If he wasn't mistaken, this mother believed her daughter would die—or that something else terrible was about to happen. Maybe the mother herself was about to die? Before Thalion could think further, the little girl hugged him tightly. She was even colder than the surroundings.

Holding him by both wings, she forced him to look into her gleaming eyes.

"From now on, we'll be best friends and become super powerful," the girl declared with a wide grin before thinking out loud.

"I still need a name… Maybe after one of the super-powerful ancestors? No, their names are boring. Oh! I got it. I'll call you Frost Nugget. And if you work hard, I might even call you Mighty Frost Nugget—or Smart Frost Nugget." Thalion wasn't thrilled, but he'd probably have to endure this for now. He already felt bad for the little girl. All her high hopes would shatter the moment he flew away. She was such a kind soul that Thalion worried she might end up in a terrible position under all that pressure.

"I think that's enough of a break. We need to go inside and resume your training," the mother said with a sigh, then motioned toward Thalion with a faint smile.

"Give me Frost Nugget. I'll make sure the transition goes smoothly." Transition? Wait, what transition? I don't want to be transitioned into anything. Thalion thought, but it didn't seem like he had a say in the matter. Even though the cold had lessened, he was still frozen and unable to move his wings. Only his beak was moving now, chattering violently.

"Okay, here! Today I'm going to be extra strong," the girl cheered before jumping up and planting a quick kiss on her mother's cheek. Then she ran toward a small tunnel leading into the frozen mountain. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The mother glanced at Thalion once more with a curious look before following her daughter.

The path through the mountain wasn't long, but Thalion couldn't see much—mostly because that stupid woman was holding him by one foot, causing him to dangle with every single step she took. Oh, I hate those damn elves. Seriously—could you at least not swing me around like that? The mother was really testing his nerves. They were lucky Thalion felt bad about leaving the girl right now, because otherwise he would have already tried whether his shapeshift skill still worked.

Escaping and killing the mother would be one hundred percent too much for the happy little girl. Eventually, they entered what looked like a dining room, and Thalion spotted a strongly built male elf sitting at the table. He had the same light blue skin as the girl and the mother, along with the long white hair they all seemed to share. Thalion guessed he was the father. He didn't look pleased at all when the girl excitedly talked about Frost Nugget and immediately began to protest.

"No, this cannot be. Such a beast is a risk, and we cannot afford to waste time—especially when so much is at stake," the father almost shouted.

"You don't need to worry! I'll train extra hard to be ready for the new universe," the girl cheered, hugging her father before sprinting out of the room. Thalion guessed she was going off to train, because otherwise the elders would never have approved of her just leaving like that. With their daughter gone, the two exchanged a knowing look. After making sure she was truly out of earshot, the father spoke again.

"You know she doesn't have time for something like this. If one of the other families finds out about her bloodline, they will kill her." Ah. At least now Thalion understood why they all looked so miserable. He would have loved to use Identify on the girl to check her level, but judging by how effortlessly she had caught him with a single attack, it couldn't have been low.

"I know," the mother replied, lifting the frozen Thalion, who dangled from her hand like a dead chicken.

"But she would be heartbroken if we killed the bird now. And it must have very high rarity. Maybe the effort will be worth it in the end." Thalion was damn sure that if someone were streaming the first-place POV right now, this was not what viewers would expect.

"You're right," the father said, studying Thalion closely.

"But it looks like it escaped from a beastmaster. Beasts rarely fuse with such a strong crystal on their own. The process alone is incredibly painful and dangerous. At least this means the bird has a chance of surviving the transition." Thalion, meanwhile, began to panic again. Transition? Survive? I think this guy has completely lost his marbles. What in the hell are they planning to do to me?

"We should begin immediately," the mother said.

"The effect blocking its skills should wear off very soon." They quickly left the room and entered a frozen chamber. The walls were made entirely of ice, and a massive ice crystal stood in the center. Thalion could already feel its cold aura, and he didn't like it one bit. You two are so lucky. If I didn't like the girl so much, you'd already be dead, Thalion thought, killing intent rising inside. But he also knew what it felt like to grow up without parents. For the girl, it would be even worse.

She clearly had a strong bond with them, and losing them would break her far more than never knowing them at all. Without her parents, the other clans would quickly discover her powerful bloodline—and that would be the end of her. Thalion was laid belly-up on the crystal, and it felt exactly like the time one of the other boys had tricked him into licking a metal railing in the coldest winter imaginable. There was absolutely no way to get up without losing a bunch of feathers.

The fact that the elves had started loudly chanting an incantation while moving their hands above him did nothing to calm his nerves. Please, karma, be on my side. Sparing the parents so the cute little girl wouldn't die can't seriously get me killed, right? The frozen icicle lodged in his chest crystal had shrunk significantly and would soon be gone. Thalion guessed that once it disappeared, he'd be able to use his skills again. Since he had decided not to kill the pair, it didn't matter—for now.

The room grew even colder, and the crystal beneath him began to thrum. The cold that had slowly been retreating from his body suddenly surged back with renewed intensity. Thalion's beak froze shut again, and even if it hadn't, screaming would have been pointless. What in the world are they doing to me?! Thalion thought as panic rose and his health steadily dropped. Hey, you stupid elves—I'm dying over here! How about a health potion or a healing skill? You're not undead, are you?

He cursed them furiously in his mind as the ritual continued and his health bar sank further and further. Not wanting the cute girl to lose her parents was one thing. Dying because her parents messed up a ritual was another. If his health dropped to thirty percent, he would shapeshift into human form. There were limits, and he had already been more than generous. The pain intensified with every second. When his health bar reached fifty percent, he decided he'd had enough and triggered his skill. Nothing happened.

He was still a helpless eagle, frozen to the crystal. … Shit. I'll try again at thirty percent. Thalion waited for the inevitable, silently praying that this ritual wasn't destroying the lightning and wind tempering he had undergone back in the tutorial or kill him.