(2 days later, Terra Nova Online)
Two days later, as the game forced all players offline for the third evaluation, Leo logged in instead, eager for a long-awaited moment.
His pet was about to hatch, and the countdown for its birth had nearly reached its end.
[ Mystery Egg ] (Hatch Time Remaining: 00:01:25)
With just 1 minute and 25 seconds left before the egg hatched, anticipation bubbled within Leo.
He could hardly contain his curiosity anymore as he wondered what creature would emerge from the egg?
"I don't care what species it is, as long as it's a flying pet. Ever since I saw my brother soar through the skies on his griffin, I've always wanted a flying companion. I want to experience what it's like to fly over mountains and lakes—feeling the wind against my face." Leo murmured, as he hoped for a dragon, however, did not wish to be fixated on a single species, lest he be disappointed later.
Hence managing his expectations, he gulped a mouthful of saliva as he glanced at the timer which had ticked down to 45 seconds.
"Then again… a large land pet wouldn't be so bad either. A lion or a jaguar, yeah—something that could carry me at full speed across the plains. That'd be awesome too. Fast, powerful, unstoppable." He said, as he mitigated his expectations even more, secretly accepting his settlement for a beast that could not fly.
However, although he mouthed those words, his mind still danced between images of creatures, each more majestic and awe-inspiring than the last, as he dreamt about playing with them, training them and taking care of them like they were his own child.
*Gulp*
His heartbeat quickened as the countdown reached the final ten seconds, as at that point Leo's eyes locked onto the egg, which began trembling slightly.
*Crack*
A crack appeared at the top, then another, as the cracks began spreading like lightning across the surface of the egg.
"Here we go," Leo whispered, leaning in with wide eyes, as the egg shook violently, bits of shell falling away, as from within, a small, slimy head began to emerge.
Leo's breath caught in his throat as the tiny baby head slowly pushed through the cracks, and it was… green?
A frog's head, covered in sticky slime, popped out of the egg. Its two small eyes and it's weird head shape unmistakable.
Leo blinked.
Wait… What?
For a brief moment, his brain short-circuited. Surely this couldn't be right. His mythical, legendary pet… a frog? No, no, there had to be some mistake, perhaps there was some other legendary species whose head looked like a frog.
However, as the egg cracked open further, revealing the rest of the small, plump frog, all of Leo's hopes and dreams crashed at once.
He had obtained a frog! The most unmythical looking creature of all mythical creatures.
And as if adding insult to injury, the system notification appeared in front of him too :
[ Congratulations! You have hatched a Mythical Pet: Ancient Swamp Frog (Species: Glaucus Slytherin)]
Leo stared blankly at the message.
"A frog...?" He muttered, as his thoughts came to a screeching halt, like a train derailing at full speed.
This was it? This was the moment he had been waiting for?
His hopes and dreams, all those fantasies of flying majestically through the air or riding across vast plains on the back of a mighty beast, came crashing down and it left him feeling devastated.
He rubbed his eyes, looking again at the frog that now stared up at him with wide, unblinking eyes.
Leo's inner voice screamed, "You've got to be kidding me!" However, externally he remained mute.
"Ribbit…."
The frog croaked once, its small body wobbling slightly as it tried to stand up, as looking at this sight, Leo couldn't help but let out a defeated sigh.
"Of all the things..." he muttered, his mind flashing back to the griffins, the lions, the majestic beasts he had envisioned, yet in the end, his dream pet… was reduced to a frog.
"Well… I suppose I could name you something intimidating like 'Thunderclaw' or 'Skyshredder,'" Leo muttered sarcastically, imagining the reactions of his friends when they saw him with his "legendary" frog.
The frog, oblivious to Leo's disappointment, blinked slowly, its body still dripping with slime.
'This… this can't be happening' Leo thought, however, there was no changing his fate anymore.
It seemed like his pet was going to be a frog who he would use as a paperweight and based on his memory of frogs on earth he did not expect this one to be too intelligent either.
In Leo's mind, the most useful this frog could be was to eat flies floating around his work light, but that was it, as he did not have much more expectations of the beast, however, he was wrong.
In reality, the ancient swamp frog was an overpowered pet that once used to terrorize a swamp planet co-habited by both dragons and frogs.
The frog was so powerful in fact, that it completely eradicated the dragons over a hundred thousand year period, proving to be one of the strongest species in the universe.
Unfortunately, it had a low birth rate and was native to only one planet in the cosmos, which was why it wasn't the most popular species ever, however, it was unmistakably overpowered.
[ System Notification :- Please assign your newborn pet a name, to complete the binding process, please note that a name once assigned can never be reversed. ]
The system asked Leo to input the pet's name, as a massive keyboard appeared before him.
It was the third time ever that Leo saw this keyboard, and just like all his other emotional naming decisions, this time as well, he decided to name his pet something horrible, with the name he finalized being "Dumpy"
[ System Notification :- Congratulations player 'TheBoss' for obtaining 'Dumpy' the ancient swamp frog. ]
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/// A/N - Yes it's a frog…. Bring on the toad sage memes. ///