I sighed as I set the egg onto the dinner table. It needed more nutritient solution but I could see the timer above. I only had half a liter left and I wanted to save it for my next egg... If possible. Even basic nutritient solution, like this, cost a month's salary for most middle class families. That was just for a liter. Maybe Mom and Dad could save it for one of the twins or sell it.
Dad and William had joined me for my morning workout. Mom had watched Dad with a giggle. As nasty as I found it, I could imagine them when they were my age. Back before their families had cut them from the family lines. I never learned much about the rest of the family. Only that Mom had fallen for Dad and vice versa. Dad's family had disapproved of them together. So they had run off together. That was all I knew.
{Aqua Vulpe, Stage- Egg, Hatching- 04:34}
I watched the timer over the egg as it counted down the seconds. Less than five minutes now. "Everything okay?" William asked me.
"I feel like the egg will hatch soon but I'm getting impatient," I sighed. Mom and Dad laughed.
"Your Dad was the same way. Couldn't wait for his egg to hatch. Said everyday, 'This is the day it hatches. I just know it'," she laughed while Dad scowled playfully. "Took the egg almost three weeks to hatch."
"I can't go back to school until it hatches," I said. Which was true. Once the egg hatched I would join the Tamer Class for the rest of the year. With any hope I would be scouted by a school. If I was I could send money to my family. If not I may be forced to become a freelance explorer to help out the family.
Aqua Vulpe tended to be weak fighters but if they learned a healing skill they did well. Although there were some rare ones that could fight.
I ate my vegetable soup and watched the egg. "So have you decided on a path yet?" Dad asked me.
"I would like to go the Breeding route," I say looking at him. "Although maybe Training. Of course if the little one is a natural healer I guess that would mean fate wants me to become a Healer."
Mother nodded, "If you become a healer you could work with me at the clinic. When your Aqua Vulpe is full grown I bet you could work in a hospital in one of the bigger cities."
Mom had opened my ID card when it had arrived in the mail. She had screamed when she saw my Aqua Vulpe's potential. Which had sent the house into a frenzy. Even the twins knew anything Gold and above was good. I still don't understand while they put the potential of the first beast on our ID cards.
"Everyone has their own path," Dad said. "No matter which path you follow, know that we will be proud of you."
It was then that I hear it the cracking sound. I turned to look at my egg.
"It's hatching!" William exclaimed. Willow climbed up on the table for a better look. He was not far behind her. She was a girl of action more than words.
I stared entranced as cracks formed. A small piece of egg broke away revealing a teal blue paw. Willow gasped. Her eyes widening.
More shell broke away. Piece by piece. Until a teal blue fox fell out of the shell.
Thankfully there was not much nutritient solution left so it did not cause a splash.
Willow and William squealed with delight.
{Aqua Vulpe (Mutated)} Appeared before me.
Name- Aqua Vulpe
Sex- Male
Type- Grass/Ice
Rank- Lower Bronze ☆
Potential- White-Gold ☆☆☆
Bloodline- Kitsune (10%)
Nature- Stand Offish
Skills- Claw (E), Pounce (D-), Detect (D-), Bite (D)
Affinity- 100
My eyes widened. A dual element. Grass and Ice. I could understand Ice. It was an off shot of water. Where had Grass come from?
{Talent: Elemental Mutation}
{Elemental Mutation: Chance of Tamed Beast's elements to change or mutate. Chances of an egg mutating (High), Hatched Beast (Medium), Full grown Beast (Low)}
{Talent: Elemental Domain}
{Elemental Domain: Domain can be designed for certain Element(s). Doing so will enhance the elements of Beasts with that element or increase chances of Elemental Mutation.}
"Why does it have a green belly!" Willow yelled in my face. I flinched back.
The Aqua Vulpe that had been eating its egg turned to snip at her.
I snatched up the beast before he did any actual damage. My eyes looked over my first beast. Sure enough the tips of his ears, under belly, and tail tip were aquamarine green.
"My Aqua Vulpe... he is Mutated. His elements are Grass and Ice."
The twins looked at us three as we stared down at the little guy. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" William questioned.
We looked between eachother. "Both?" I said. Although it came our as more of a question. "Aqua Vulpe are normally water element so they are strong again fire." They both nodded. This was basic knowledge. The twins were almost 11 so they had already started learning about element suppression. "Grass and Ice are both weak to fire so there's that to factor in now. Like water, grass types can learn healing skills fairly easy. Ice is a more aggressive. They are a better fit for attacking and defending."
I ran a hand down his back. "What will you call him?" Mother asked.
I thought about it. Grass and Ice... "Aspen," I replied. There was no point trying to add more elements to his skill set. As far as I knew Kitsunes were only ever one element. At least according to the legends. Then again what did I know? Kitsunes were just something in anime to me. Did the rules of before even apply here?
"I personally think this is great!" Dad cheered. "Think about it! Now you can heal, attack, and defend. Whatever skills your little guy learns best will be the deciding factor." I suppose he was right. I said as much as I placed Aspen back on the table.
He went back to eating his egg shell. It was common for most beasts to eat their own egg shells. Seemed to work well as a first meal. He also drank the rest of the nutritient solution. It was fine. Once it left the bottle it would spoil before too long. Best to get some use out of what was left.
My head snapped to look at Dad, "Do you have any seeds left? From the garden? Or the farm? Mom? Any flower seeds?"
With how poor our family was we worked a bunch of odd jobs aside from the main ones. On weekends I helped out at the local breeding facility. Mom did flower arrangements. Dad handled a small farm for a wealthy landowner and had an at home garden to help with the food. The twins helped Mom and Dad where they could. Altogether we just barely scraped by.
That would change now that I was a Tamer. Aspen was a Broze Breast already. With the right skills we could start earning money before University scouting started.
Mom and Dad didn't seem to know where I was going with my question but they went to get some seeds none the less.
I gave a random flower seed to the Aqua Vulpe and hoped. "Aspen only has basic skills for now but he should be able to learn Elemental skills fairly easy with my skill helping out. And who knows maybe he has inherented skills," I said. Mom and Dad looked just as hopeful as I did as we continued to eat. The Aqua Vulpe stared at the seed as if confused. "Try and grow it?" I tried promoting him.
With any hope he would have some inhernented skills. With that 10% Kitsune bloodline he might have some truly powerful skill locked away in his bloodline. Maybe even some thought to be long gone.
Inherented skills were exactly what they sounded like. The more powerful the beast the more likely their skills would be passed down through the generations. Those skills could be lost if the following generations were too weak or lacked the bloodline necessary. So once in a while a well raised beast would reawaken skill we had thought lost to the sands of time.
{Skill Cultivate Growth (E) Obtained!}
My head snapped to look at Aspen. He was wagging his tail like a dog and staring at me. In front of him was a little sprout. No leaves but the was definitely a green stem starting to push through the shell.
I smiled. "It worked! Needs some work but this seems to be a viable way to learn skills." I reached out to pet Aspen's head. He chirped in response.
{New effect of Growth found. Self taught skills now have a higher chance of success.}
Mom clapped her hands. "That's great! Maybe you and Aspen can help me grow flowers this weekend!"