Precedence System: I Take My Rewards In Advance

Zishan had barely survived the embarrassment of telling Maela that he had only learned how to use Life Mana twenty minutes ago when something roared outside the medical station.

Screech!

The sound was so loud that the hanging sheets beside the wounded soldiers shook from the vibration. Several people looked toward the entrance at the same time, while one of the younger assistants carrying a metal basin nearly dropped it on somebody’s injured leg.

Zishan slowly turned his head toward the canvas above him. ”Please tell me that’s just some huge trumpet or something! I’ve suffered enough already!”

Another high-pitched roar came from outside, followed by several people shouting.

Screech!

Maela immediately abandoned whatever question she had been preparing to ask him as she frowned. ”That’s definitely not some huge trumpet or whatever you’re talking about—”

Screech!

A massive shadow passed over the medical station.

Maela was cut off, staring at the sky above them.

Zishan covered his mouth with one hand, eyes bulging out of their sockets. ’What the fuck?! Why can’t we be normal for once?! Why is every day a challenge I need to overcome?! What is this? Some kind of psychological warfare?!’

More shadows followed behind it.

”Magic Beasts!” someone outside shouted. ”Get everyone who can move into the trenches! Hurry!”

Maela was already running toward the entrance by the time Zishan followed her. He did not know why he followed her instead of staying inside, but he pushed through it regardless. Apparently, transmigrating into another world had gradually damaged his survival instincts.

The moment he stepped outside, he quickly understood why everyone was panicking.

An enormous creature circled above the medical station. Its front half looked like an eagle, though calling it an eagle felt unfair to normal eagles, since each wing was large enough to cast a shadow over several tents. Dark brown feathers covered most of its upper body, with gold streaks running along its neck, while the back half resembled a massive lion.

Zishan slowly looked up. ”That’s a fucking Griffin. Wait! Where are its genitals? That’s a female one!”

Maela looked at him strangely. It was as if she was saying, ”Really? That’s what you’re worried about, right now?”

[The Dumb Host has successfully identified a Griffin. Congratulations to you, Dumb Host!]

”I know what a fucking Griffin looks like!”

Maela ignored the fact that he was talking to himself and shifted her attention to the large flying magic beast. This wasn’t the right time for jokes. The magic beast was real, and if they didn’t think of a solution to shoo it away or kill it, their probability of surviving would be close to zero percent. There might be survivors in the end, but at least 90% of them would be dead.

The female Griffin was not alone either. Dozens of smaller Magic Beasts were flying around her, some resembling large birds while others looked like smaller and significantly uglier combinations of creatures Zishan did not recognize.

”It brought a lot of its friends!” he screamed.

One of those friends suddenly folded its wings and immediately dove toward the medical station.

”DOWN!” Maela yelled.

Zishan threw himself sideways just as the beast passed above them. Its claws tore through the roof of one of the medical tents, ripping away a large section of canvas and snapping one of the wooden supports before it rose back into the air.

People screamed inside.

Maela’s expression changed completely. ”Move the wounded who can walk into the reinforced trench! Those who can’t move stay in the inner section. Anyone who can maintain a defensive barrier, get outside right now!”

People immediately moved.

Zishan looked around, expecting the soldiers he had seen near the rear command earlier to come rushing over.

But there were barely any.

He saw several injured soldiers helping the healers, a handful of guards near the supply road, and perhaps seven people who looked like they were actually prepared to fight anything. But three of those seven already had bandages somewhere on their bodies.

”Where the fuck is everyone else?!” he asked.

”Commander Holtz returned to the eastern front with most of the combat units,” Maela replied as green Mana gathered around her hands. ”The Degenerates pushed against one of the outer positions again.”

Zishan looked at her, then at the Griffin circling above them, and finally toward the medical station filled with people who were already injured before a giant eagle-lion decided to visit.

”Wow! What incredible timing!”

The Griffin screamed and beat her wings.

Wind exploded through the station.

Zishan grabbed the nearest post with both hands as mud, cloth, bowls, pieces of paper, and several things he preferred not to identify flew past him. One unlucky assistant went sliding across the ground until another healer caught him by the arm.

Then, something soft slapped against Zishan’s face, startling him. He froze. Slowly, he pulled it away.

It was a pair of underwear.

”...What the fuck?” he mumbled, speechless.

The smell reached him a second later.

”WHOSE UNDERWEAR IS THIS?! IT SMELLS LIKE SHIT!”

Maela thrust both hands forward.

A curved green barrier appeared in front of the nearest medical tent. The wind struck it hard enough that the entire surface bent inward, but the barrier held.

Zishan’s eyes widened slightly as he threw the underwear aside.

He had already known Maela was strong compared to him, but seeing her stop something that large was different from being told a number.

Still, there was a perfectly good Skill available for situations like this.

”Appraisal.”

Mana gathered behind his eyes.

[GRIFFIN]

[Sex: Female]

[Level: 50]

[Ascent: Unascended]

[Bloodline: Highland Griffin]

[Bloodline Grade: Vestige]

[Mana Affinity: Wind]

[Condition: Enraged]

[Skills Detected:]

[Wind Shear — Script-Tier]

[Talon Rush — Script-Tier]

[Stormwing Rend — Form-Tier]

[Additional Information Locked: Insufficient Host Level.]

Zishan ignored almost everything after seeing her Level.

”FIFTY?!” he screamed.

The Griffin was Level 50.

Technically, the Griffin was still Unascended and only halfway toward the First Ascent at Level 100, which sounded much less impressive until Zishan remembered that he was currently forty-nine Levels below her.

”Why the hell does everything I meet want me to die?!”

[The Dumb Host possesses a remarkable talent for attracting hostility.]

Zishan was speechless. ”Are you being serious right now? I recall you said that about me last time as well!”

He was about to cancel Appraisal when another section appeared underneath the Griffin’s condition.

[Current Mental State: Nest-Fury]

[Primary Motivation: Recovery of Stolen Eggs]

Zishan paused. ”Eggs?”

He focused the Skill more carefully. After using Appraisal repeatedly around the medical station, he had already become better at asking it for something specific instead of trying to examine the entire target at once, although his vision sometimes would blur. That was because while he might be using it efficiently, costing little to no mana, appraising so many things would eventually drain it to zero.

[Target’s Belief: Eggs stolen by soldiers of the Kingdom of Olmost.]

[Tracking Method: Artificial Nest-Scent.]

[Foreign Beast-Lure Residue detected.]

Zishan’s attention immediately moved away from the Griffin.

Appraisal highlighted something underneath one of the supply wagons near the edge of the station. A dark yellow substance had been smeared across the lower frame and several of its wheels.

He stared at it before slowly turning toward Maela. ”Did anyone here steal Griffin eggs?”

Maela looked at him as if she could not believe that was his first question during an attack. ”Why would anyone at a medical station steal Griffin eggs? Anyone who would have done so has an unsound mind!”

”I don’t know! This world is weird! Maybe it’s some medicinal ingredient or rich people eat Griffin omelets!”

”We do not have Griffin eggs!” Maela replied, trying to make her voice louder. ”What are you on about?”

”Okay, good. Because she apparently thinks we do.”

Maela’s attention immediately shifted toward the Griffin. ”What?”

”My Appraisal says she’s looking for stolen eggs. Somebody put something underneath that wagon that smells like her nest, and apparently she followed it here,” Zishan explained. ”And now we’re going to die because of it.”

Before Maela could respond, the Griffin suddenly folded both wings and descended.

”Oh shit!” Zishan cussed.

The Griffin struck the ground outside the nearest defensive trench. Mud exploded around her as two soldiers were thrown several meters away. She immediately charged toward the medical tents and slammed one claw against Maela’s barrier.

Cracks spread across the green surface.

Zishan stared at her. ”Wait, you’re clearly much stronger than me. Why can’t you fight that thing? I heard from everyone in the station that you’re about Level 155!”

”I am,” Maela replied; her face was flat while sweat dripped down her forehead.

Zishan looked at her with wide eyes. ”THEN BEAT HER ASS!”

Maela’s concentration nearly broke. ”I’m a healer, kid!”

”YOU’RE THREE TIMES HER LEVEL!” Zishan’s jaw dropped. ”Don’t tell me you didn’t learn any combat Skill or some type of spell?”

”Why would I learn that?!”

”For self-defense!”

Maela tried to keep the green barrier intact. ”Look, kid. Listen! Most of my Skills are for keeping people alive! What do you want me to do? Heal her aggressively?!”

Zishan considered that while another claw slammed against the barrier. ”...Okay, that makes sense.”

A scream came from behind them.

Several of the smaller Magic Beasts had managed to reach the medical tents while everyone was focused on the Griffin. One crashed into a supply table and sent wooden crates scattering across the ground.

Zishan turned toward the noise as he shivered in fear.

Then, a tiny figure stood near the fallen supplies.

Bright blue hair. Green eyes.

A young boy was holding a wooden box against his chest, staring upward at one of the beasts descending directly toward him.

Zishan’s expression changed. ”HEY, KID!”

The boy looked toward him just as the creature opened its claws.

Zishan stopped thinking. ”FUCK IT! OR ELSE THAT KID’S GONNA DIE! RIFT STEPS!”