By the time Leo finally logged back into the game world after achieving minor success in his meditation, the entire state of the game had changed drastically; however, Dumpy had changed even more.
In the three months where he scarcely met his pet, the frog had transformed from a tiny 20 feet giant, to now a massive 60 feet giant, as Dumpy now looked as big as a house.
Usually, size was considered as a hindrance to speed, as the larger one was, the more difficult it became for them to move, however, Dumpy defied this norm.
Despite being as large as he was, Dumpy moved like the wind, with his movements often causing buildings beside him to tear open in half, as he became a hazard to live in the city.
Thankfully, he mastered [Size Regulation] after he crossed the 50 feet size threshold and became capable of manipulating his own size.
Growing as short as 20 inches and as large as 60 feet, Dumpy became the most portable pet in the game world and an invaluable asset by Leo's side.
Furthermore, Dumpy also entered the realm of a [Master] warrior in these three months, becoming comparable to Leo in overall combat strength, and surpassing Ben as a very slight superior.
Everyday during training, Ben found himself growing increasingly out of breath while he spared against Dumpy, as although he did not like to show his weakness to his juniors, Ben found himself unable to keep-up with Dumpy's sheer size and strength at times.
"I'm getting too old now…. I don't have it in me to fight monsters like your master and you…." Ben muttered under his breath during one of his training sessions against Dumpy, as while the frog seemed to enjoy the challenge, Ben found his mind becoming light from the strain of the combat.
Within just three short months, Dumpy had gone from a frog that could not challenge him, to a frog that had surpassed him in what was the most rapid growth spurt that Ben had ever seen.
The old assassin had no doubt in his mind that in the next year or so, Dumpy would easily surpass Leo and enter the realm of a grandmaster, as no human has the growth potential even remotely close to this beast.
Nonetheless, for the sake of his own dignity, he kept pushing through, not losing a single spar in these past three months and keeping up the facade of his superiority.
In Dumpy's mind, the Lord Grandfather was only going easy on him to not injure him, however, the truth was far from it.
*********
(Present day)
Today, as Ben sat panting under a tree, utterly exhausted after his spar with Dumpy, Leo walked towards the two of them, with a wicked grin under his mask.
"Ho, ho, ho, the old man looks out of breath," Leo teased, as Ben shot a warning glare to Leo, making him instantly shut up.
"You try fighting him for an hour straight, then, *cough*, *cough*, *wheeze*---" Ben said, as he clutched his chest in pain.
He had not fought this intensely for years now, and could physically feel his lungs protesting against him when he did.
"Nah, I'd be fine…. I'm young you see–" Leo said, gesturing towards his fit body, as Ben sent a dagger flying towards his throat.
*Whoosh*
Leo dodged narrowly, as the dagger whizzed past him, in what was an unexpected attack.
"Young my foot" Ben groaned, as Leo chuckled out loud.
Seeing the old man behave so grumpy was a pleasure for Leo, as although the old man seemed disgruntled on the surface, he was extremely satisfied on the inside.
Ben wasn't the jealous or competitive type and nobody was prouder than him when the next generation surpassed him, which was why despite all his complaints, Ben was very happy underneath it all.
"Dumpy greets Lord Father" said Dumpy, as the moment he saw that the conversation between his Lord Father and Lord Grandfather had concluded, he finally decided to intervene.
"You look strong boy, good job" Leo said, giving Dumpy a headpat, as Dumpy began to shuffle from foot to foot as Leo did so.
Although he had grown up considerably, at his heart Dumpy was still a child looking for Leo's love, which was why he enjoyed the headpats thoroughly.
"The two of you need to freshen up, we are leaving Briarhelm for the capital" Leo said, as the aura between the three changed instantly when he uttered those words.
The casual joy was replaced with a murderous tension, as Ben grinned evilly.
"Is it time already?" Ben asked, as Leo nodded solemnly.
"Yes, it's time to weed the royal family out. We march for StrongHaven today" Leo said, as Ben struggled back to his feet and let out a deep sigh.
"Many years ago, my life as an outlaw began when I killed the previous Emperor on his sick bed.
I guess life has come a full circle since then" Ben said, as he clutched his dagger hard.
"I have trained hard for this mission Lord Father, I will not let you down" said Dumpy, as the little one felt his blood pump with anticipation.
It was going to be the three of them, versus the entirety of the royal guards, Virex Corps and various royal family members, in a night that was sure to be etched into the history of the Empire as a black day.
—-------
/// A/N - Guys I have some GREAT news to share. Our book Terra Nova Online has been shortlisted as one of the 15 books recieving an award at this year's WSA ceremony. I know some of you won't be able to understand how significant this is, but take it this way, that the WSA awards are the Oscar equivalent of webnovel industry awards, and it's a career milestone for me.
We are sure to win something at the ceremony now, whether it's gold silver or bronze. But we win something for sure.
Now there is an event page open within the webnovel app where you can vote for Terra Nova Online, and help push it higher, and whether we win gold, silver or bronze, now completely depends on the votes you guys cast.
So please support me and cast a vote at the event page, it won't even take half a minute, so please consider doing it.
At the time of writing this, we trail the leader by only 51 votes, and I'm sure we can bridge it, but even if we can't, every vote really matters a lot.
Also apologies for the longer than usual author note, but I couldn't help it///