Andrea's First Hatchling Contract

Andrea had made her hatching appointment with her trainer almost a week ago. If she could have made it earlier, she probably would have had it set up years ago, but one was only allowed to book a trainer for hatching when their egg is 5 days from hatching. Her egg had been in the incubation chamber for four months now. In a couple hours she would have her baseline for her Tamer training. Then she could train for the practical. Once she's passed her practical, she will obtain her Tamers Licence. She had been dreaming of her Tamer's Licence since she was a child.

The purple-haired elf bent down to Appraise her egg. It was overcautious and silly to Appraise it so often, but it gave her a sense of stability. There were probably few people in history who would waste Appraisal Scrolls like she did.

She noticed immediately that it had been switched out. It had changed from a blue quality Silver Earth Traveling Mount to a yellow quality Quarry Tunneler. Of all pets, the Quarry Tunneler was most similar to the Silver Earth Traveling Mount.

The two animals came from the same bloodline and were even similar looking when they hatched. They were a monster bloodline that looks something like a Pangolin from Earth. Their difference in abilities is what makes the biggest difference between the two.

Mounts are far more rare and precious than other pets. A mount is a symbol of prestige due to its rarity, and of luxury due to its high resource requirements. What makes them stand out from other pets in particular is a special ability they all share. They have a special ability to protect their Tamer. This means that wherever they go, they can bring their Tamer along. Even if pets have the size of a mount, this does not enable them to become mounts. This ability protects their tamer from air pressure, water pressure, air friction, lack of oxygen or too much oxygen, and even small bugs that may threaten to splatter on their face at high speeds. Without this ability a pet of any size cannot become an official mount.

A Silver Earth Traveler can teleport inside the earth. It creates a bubble in the direction and distance it will travel and trades its position with the sediment in the area. As a Space ability user, its quality directly jumps past Red, Yellow, and Green, straight into Blue.

The Silver Earth Traveling Mount isn't the most capable, but it is a safe bet for a mount as far as resource requirements compared to its abilities. It fits into the middle-class range for mounts. There had been higher quality pets in their hands her brother was capable of getting his hands on, but he said this would be safer. They didn't have the ability to protect anything more.

Looking at the Appraisal screen now, she knew her brother was right. She also knew that he had still overestimated what they were capable of protecting.

Andrea took in the information on the screen with a dazed look in her eye. She quickly sent her brother a message. Even though she was in the VR world right now, it would still be able to be sent to his Biochip.

Two hours later, the appointment time came. Her family didn't have the money to spare for the cancellation fee. She'd scripted and saved to book an appointment in the first place.

A trainer wasn't necessary for hatching. They helped you get the best care and directed you so there would be no mistakes. If there were mistakes they would step in. This allowed for a higher adaptability for the pet, a higher intimacy during the initial period, and quality care.

Intimacy is a crucial component for tamer. The higher the intimacy rating, the higher loyalty of the pet, better fighting together, and even the barriers between qualities are reduced. A pet with high enough intimacy with the tamer can be just as rare as a purple quality mount.

As for the mistakes that can be made during hatching, a backlash could leave a Tamer with injuries anywhere from minor to life-threatening. It was even more dangerous for the pet. Because of these points, it was uncommon for pet Tamers to hire a Trainer, but common for mount pet Tamers to hire one.

Andrea stood outside the Guild half a day later with a tiny bundle of scales curled in her arms. Her huge blue doe eyes were still dazed, her colorless lips slightly parted. She stared at the deep blue sky. It will be dusk in a few hours. It was time for her to log off and have dinner with her brother. He had ordered a feast for today.

She was still for what felt like an eternity. She felt separated from the world except for the scaled sphere pressed against her throbbing chest. The people passed her by without paying her any mind. She didn't know how long she stood there until someone called her name.

She looked over. It was a slender tiger Beastkin with narrow phoenix eyes. It was an extravagant race. One of the few races that could be bought with copious amounts of money. He was disembarking from a purple quality Demonic Space Cracker Swift flying mount.

The Demonic Space Cracking Swift was the only known pet of its kind and one of the only flying mounts in the VR world. Apart from Government or Publicly owned flying mounts, there were only a handful of people with the status and resources to own a flying mount. Compared to a land mount, it was on an entirely different level. A flying mount was almost as rare as a purple quality pet.

The barrier between blue and purple quality was an insurmountable cavernous expanse. As rare as mounts were among pets, purple quality were even fewer.

Let alone Andrea, everyone's eyes were glued to the scene. A crowd had already gathered to watch in the time it took the handsome man to jump down. Due to the status required for such a pet, nobody dared near it without permission. The onlookers stayed a few meters away and could only settle for stretching their necks and straining their ears. They were excited about the flying mount as well as the drama occurring from its user. Who had the ability to attract such a big fish? Everyone was burning with curiosity.