*Head off to sign a contract with a Magical Beast Egg
Next morning arrived, Leonardo was unaware that his father was too excited and anxious so he already went to the Medici Family to "negotiate" for the monthly distribution for the families' younger generation of heroes.
"Morning Mom" Leonardo said while hugging his mother from behind gently,
"Morning Leo, take a seat I will dish out the food soon," Caterina said without turning around, she was still "angry" with Leonardo, although she already forgave him after that smack. She felt she had to become stricter with him, however, her heart was already crying out to pinch his cheek for being so cute.
"I have arrived! With a surprise" Piero called out with a big grin on his face while he sat at the dining table in front of Leonardo,
"Oh!? What surprise?" Leonard became quite curious as he knew his father must have gotten something for him since he became an awakened hero, he was even more excited to learn about the things surrounding awakened heroes now that he became one himself.
"hoho, that will wait until breakfast is over," Piero said while gloating.
"Starting with a cliffhanger!?" Leonardo exclaimed in a depressed voice but soon he became happy again smelling the delicious fragrance coming from the kitchen which meant his mother finished cooking.
"Welcome home dear" Caterina walked over while pushing a trolly filled with bowls, each bowl had a variety of food for today's breakfast. She gently kissed her husband's forehead before placing the bowls on the table, she knew how much effort her husband took to negotiate with the family and that was why she loved him very much, the two of them were the same.
"I'm home," Piero said with a warm smile.
The three of them enjoyed their family breakfast together, and when it was over, Leonardo looks so focused on his father as if he was glaring. The cliffhanger was over, it was time to spill out those chapter *cough* contents.
"For now the family has agreed to allow Leonardo to have the first choice in choosing one of two options when signing a contract with the newly arrived Magical Beast Eggs, so we will be heading out. In the meantime, I can also let you visit the family's weapon store so you can inspect some weapons as you asked yesterday" Piero said,
"Yes!" Leonardo does a gut pose in his heart while nodding with a serious expression, however, his excitement did not escape the watchful eyes of his parents as they too were extraordinarily excited.
"Well, let's go otherwise this child would blow up our house" Caterina joked while the three of them leisurely left the house.
The Medici Family owned several districts within the Capital City, thus there was numerous business run by family members and servants. Ranging from Potions to Enchantments, Weapons to Defensive Equipment. It contained almost everything an awakened hero would require for the start of their journey, this was where his father and mother brought him.
However, they first went towards the building that stood out amongst the rest with the Medici Family Crest high up on its fourth floor and walls were transparent like windows allowing everyone to see the numerous magical beast eggs the family sold to the public and it also functioned as a pavilion where new awakened Heroes of the Medici Family registered to get their magical beast.
"Oh Welcome to the Medici's Monstrous ~~~ Oh it's you" an old man with a long grey beard nearly touching his feet were about to welcome Leonardy and his parents until he recognized them and his anticipation look turned into that of disdain and a trace of hatred, Leonardo sensed the hatred for an instant before the old man reverted to his business smile.
'Did my parents offend him? I sure never bullied anyone so I should not have offended him' Leonardo thought while following his parents.
"We are here for Leo to choose his Magical Beast Egg," Piero said to the old man without displaying an ounce of respect, from the looks of it something happened between the two of them.
{Mom, did we do something to that old man?} Leonardy whispered to his mother, Caterina.
{Well, it's more like that old man feels you stole his son's future. You should know that if it was not for your father, his son would have probably been the one to first choose} Caterina explained.
'I see' Leonardo nodded, he too was not a saint. He would naturally choose the magical beast that holds the most potential even if he gained the ire of the old man. The most simple solution to the problem would be to become strong enough, as simple as that.
"Here is the magical beast eggs, the larger egg on the right side is the Silver Dragon. It's a B Rank pureblood dragon with the potential to reach Rank A and evolve into a Silver Dragon Prince" The old man muttered while his voice was slightly unnatural.
"And the other choice is these seven inferior Magical Beast Eggs, current we do not know what species they are nor their rank. We could only determine that these are indeed magical beast eggs" The old man explained.
On the counter before them was the Large Silver Dragon egg on the left side of the table while seven different coloured eggs appeared on the right side, without explaining Leonardo knew that these where magical beast eggs used to hatch magical beasts and make them into your pets.
It was taught that any magical beast hatch from the egg would become incredibly loyal towards the first thing they saw, which was also the system most leaders within Magical beasts used to form their packs other than using strength to dominate others.
And Humans used this method as well since magical beasts would become undying loyal soldiers for their masters if trained and treated properly. If the treatment is harsh and training is unreasonable, magical beasts would slowly waiver in loyalty until they finally betray their masters since there is no such thing as Magic contracts except for special cases like Monster Tamer Professions.
The good thing is that loyal magical beasts can't be abducted by monster tamers since they can't "capture" beasts until the beasts accept them, as for whether there exist artefacts that could forcibly "capture" beasts? None was discovered so far, according to public knowledge.
"As you know, each awakened hero can have one magical beast pet of a higher rank, Four of the same rank or Seven of lower ranks. You can only choose once and never again unless your magical beast dies, only then can you contract with a new Magical Beast. This is an important decision you alone must make" Piero said while glancing at the SIlver Dragon egg, from the looks of it he really wanted Leonardo to take it.
'Considering the fact I am not a combat class, it's a demerit to take the big egg. And a single magical beast can't always protect me from everything even if it is invincible, I am mortal and can die. So that's another demerit, its only merit will be its overwhelming strength' Leonardo reasoned while glancing at the single large egg before shifting his gaze to the seven eggs.
Piero said nothing, he was looking at his son that was seriously considering his future by making a choice. Personally, he wanted to give his son the large egg to ensure that he had something powerful to guard his life with, however, since he himself experienced making his own decision when he became an awakened and reached the age of sixteen. He wanted Leonardo to make the choice himself.
'Compared to the large egg they are weaker, however, at least they are numerous and I can even use one of them to guard me all the time. And since I am a production profession I can always equip them with weapons and armour to make up for their weak strength to face stronger enemies, so for me, it would be better to adopt an army combat style than a Solo combat style.' He nodded before looking at his father.
"I choose the seven eggs," Leonard said his decision to his father and did not regret it, he felt it was more logical. Sometimes strength really does rely on numbers as long as their equipment made up for their weak personal strength.
{Why?} Piero asked in a whispering voice,
{I'm a production profession, it would be more logical to have numerous subordinates I can equip powerful equipment with than a single powerful monster. If I face numerous enemies, I will expose myself to danger and a single monster can't always guard me and fight at the same time. I can't expect my magical beast to be a god if I'm not one myself} Leonardo explained in a soft tone
'He's my son' Caterina nodded, she too had the same conclusion. It may sound cruel, she felt it was safer to have sacrificial soldiers that could die for her son while securing his safety in dangerous moments. However, she too was a bit surprised to know that he intends to create equipment for his magical beasts since no one in this world ever done so.
For the fear of being betrayed.
"You have chosen wisely," THe old man said with a gleeful voice,
"Hold it," Leonardo said with a mysterious smile on his face while glancing at the old man who stopped in his tracks.
'He's not going to rescind his choice is he?' The old man thought,
"Since I gave up on such a fortuitous opportunity to gain a powerful magical beast, I wonder if you will compensate me for this?" Leonardo asked, both Caterina and Piero were surprised but soon had a knowing smile as they too glanced at the old man who flinched.
"What do you want?" The old man asked bluntly, he knew he would be taken advantage of but for the sake of his son he would endure this.
"I simply wish to take ancient artefacts the family deem useless as well as blueprints, books and such," Leonardo said,
"Does the books and blueprints have to be original?" The old man asked,
"No" Leonardo answered promptly.
"I will agree to your conditions then, I will have my servants send the books and blueprints after you finished selecting them so they can first copy it" The old man felt relieved if he could give the boy copies it would be within his means however original was something he would have to get permission for.
"Great" Leonardo nodded, Piero came closer handing over a little pouch to Leonardo.
"This is a beast bag, it's connected to a personal sub-dimension where your magical beasts can live in as long as you provide food for them. Since your magical beasts are still eggs and yet to hatch, it should be fine to keep them in there for now" Piero said.
"Thank you father" Leonardo smiled brightly as he carefully placed each egg inside the pouch before hooking it onto his pants. Turning his gaze towards the old man who nodded and turned to leave, he followed the old man along with his mother and father down the stairs, although Leonardo made this choice prompt it was not without considerations.
He had quite a keen interest in history and knew that there were many powerful artefacts of the ancient civilization held by powerhouses across the world. Even to this day once useless artefacts were discovered to have amazing abilities, it was only because each artefact had their unique activation method that made the research for these artefacts take much time to uncover it's functions compared to creating an imitation of it.
And the ancient artefacts the family collects were all kept in the underground storage, left and forgotten. Only those with merits or connections can have a chance to enter this storage to try their luck in finding a powerful artefact by exchanging merit points or money. This was another source of income for the family, however, today Leonardo intend to take this gamble himself because of the unique skill Appraisal he gained.
Finally arriving in the underground hallway, they approached the sole bronze door with the crest of a man holding a scale. "This is the storage room, only you can enter," The old man said while taking out a silver coloured card and swiping it through the card reader security lock system at the side of the door.
"Good luck," Caterina said while pumping up her fist to cheer on her son, it was a free gamble Leonardo gained by negotiating with the Artefact Guardian, Francios Medici.
"Don't worry about anything, take your time and select carefully" Piero gave his advice while watching Leonardo enter the storage room alone as the door shut close behind him.
'Hmph, I doubt you will get anything useful in there anyway. However, in consideration of you giving up the Silver Dragon for my son I will let this be bygones and no longer have any enmity with you or your family' Francios thought while looking at the closed bronze door.
Leonardo whistled while glancing at the numerous relics of the ancient civilization was lined up, some even came together with their own presenting table. However, from the looks of it, only household artefacts were at the front, so that meant the weapons and armour should be at the back.
"This place really is amazing, there is even a teacup artefact" Leonardo muttered while glancing at the teacup with curiosity, 'Does it warm up the tea? or magically creates tea?' he thought while continuing his walk.
After a while, he finally reached the middle section of the storage room and it was the defensive equipment and accessory section, and it was also the section Leonardo wanted to come to. The reason for this was because the mana required to sign a contract with magical beasts depended heavily upon their potential and a glance using appraisal made him realize he was not ready to sign the contract yet.
And it even came with a restriction! He could only sign the contract with these seven eggs while having a level lower than 5, otherwise, he won't be able to sign the contract.
[Nightmare Circlet
Rank: Upper Rank
Attributes: +15 INT
Skills:
Reinforced mind ~ Increases resistance to mind & soul-based attacks by 10%]
[Robes of Passion
Rank: Rare
Attributes: +10 AGI, +15 DEX, +10 INT
Skills:
Vigor Regeneration ~ Increases stamina recovery by 15%
Magic Amplification ~ Increase magic attacks by 10%]
"All kinds of artefacts, however, their all weak" Leonardo light smacked his lips, "Can't be greedy, let's keep looking"
Going through magician robes, shoes, circles and other things. Each of the artefacts was ranging between Upper and Rare ranks, there was not much that stood out amongst these artefacts.
"Yuck, these synthesized gloves are dirty" Leonardy muttered while gently picking up the gloves to move it away, however, he did not forget to appraise these gloves first only to freeze for a moment,
[Hand of the Heretic
Rank: Common (Upgradeable)
Attribute: +5 STR, +5 END, +5 DEX, +5 AGI, +50 INT
Skills:
Beast Tongue ~ Ability to communicate with contracted Magical Beasts
Prerequisite: Contract with Seven inferior Magical Beast Eggs]
"Can't it be cleaner? It's such an amazing artefact on par with my magical beast eggs and it's so dirty" Leonardo complained while using the robe artefact to wipe the black gloves cleaner, it was then Leonardo made out the appearance of the gloves a bit more.
It was pitch black synthesized using metal spider silk and fibre of a wisdom tree, it has a golden cross pattern embroider on the top with a red skeleton over it. Just with the appearance of the skeleton, Leonardo would have thought it was the glove of a heretic to add a skeleton over the golden cross which is the symbol of the main religion in the world, Radiant Cross.
"With its appearance dirty, I doubt that old man would complain if I took a few more artefacts right?" Leonardo said with a smile as he went back to the household artefacts where he discovered a jug that generated magical water by absorbing mana from the surroundings, he added a few other things as well such as a camping stove, an expandable tent that was currently in a backpack form.
"There is so much more but I can't be greedy," Leonardo said to himself while placing the artefacts into the magical beast bag for temporary storage, it was not that the bag can't act as a storage bag. But since magical beasts had their own consciousness, they might eat things stored in the magical bag which is why not many use it as an inventory bag.
'I can't wait to see how these little guys would grow in the future' he thought while glancing at the seven eggs through the opening of the beast bag.
Leonardo never told his parents that he saw the information of the magical beast eggs, and it naturally included some peculiar information that made him choose them over a silver dragon that was only a Rank A monster.
[Name:
Race: Flame Patterned Sapling
Rank: F
Rarity: Common
Level 1
Element: Fire/Wood
Nature: Passionate
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Earth Drake
Rank: F
Rarity: Common
Level 1
Element: Earth
Nature: Simple.
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Water Snake
Rank: F
Rarity: Common
Level 1
Element: Water/Ice
Nature: Naive.
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Miasma Snake
Rank: F
Rarity: Rare
Level 1
Element: Immortal
Nature: Shy
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Curse Weaving Spiderling
Rank: F
Rarity: Rare
Level 1
Element: Dark/Poison/Curse
Nature: Brave.
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Holistic Dove
Rank: F
Rarity: Rare
Level: 1
Element: Light/Holy
Nature: Prideful
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Demonic Ghoul
Rank: F
Rarity: Rare
Level 1
Element: Spirit/Illusion
Nature: Haughty
Note: Evolution Possible]
[Name:
Race: Red Werecats
Rank: F
Rarity: Common
Level 1
Element: Strength
Nature: Carefree.
Note: Evolution Possible]
After coming out of the storage room, Leonardo allowed Francios to look at the artefacts he took and the moment Francios saw that it was all useless items and the gloves appeared worn out, he simply sent Leonardo and his parents out of the pavilion after everything was done fearing that Leonardo would change his mind.
While walking along the street, the family of three enjoyed their time looking through things despite not buying a thing since they agreed to carefully plan Leonardo's equipment after he graduated from the Hero Academy now that he became an awakened hero.
"This is our family heirloom my father had created, I don't think anyone will complain about me giving it to you since you chose these seven eggs instead of the silver dragon egg," Piero said while his smile became even broader, he handed over a wooden box engraved with mysterious runes that kept whatever is sealed within preserved for a long period of time.
'Heirloom?' Leonardo could not help tilt his head wondering, is he about to get another cheat?
"My father was the very first awakened who managed to get a pureblood noble dragon egg by chance and hatch it, it was also the starting point where the Medici family decided to collect dragon type eggs for their descendants. However, as you know the competition is fierce for magical beast eggs so the family could only secure low to mid-rank eggs compared to the much larger families and corporations.
"It was only my father who managed to get the egg of a Red Colossal Dragon King by chance since he refuses the eggs the family prepared for him, and the heirloom he created is inside this box," Piero said,
Leonardo excitedly opened the book and took out a silver chain with a single fang with a silver frame holding it in place, holding it closer for Leonardo to take it.
"It's the first fang that was broken off during combat, of my father's dragon. He used mana silver to make the chain and frame to hold it while using magic cores to craft a magic circuit between the necklace and the dragon fang allowing it to transform into a Heroic Rank Artefact. It's yours now" Piero spoke with pride, he felt incredibly proud of his father and with his son's rise, he could not even be prouder.
He never felt disappointed in his son who was deemed ordinary once, it did not change the fact that Leonardo's recent awakening really made the family even happier.
[Dragon Fang necklace
Rank: Hero Rank
Attributes: +120 STR, +130 END, +210 INT
Skills:
Dragon's Aura (passive) - Increases chances of approaching dragon-type monsters without being attacked.
Dragon's Prestige (active) - Shrouds the user in an aura of a Dragon King to intimidate nearby monsters of lower rank.
Dragon's Might (Passive) - Increases overall stats of contracted magical beasts by 25%
Dragon's Tongue (Passive) - Grants wielder the skill "Dragon Language"
Prerequisite: Descendants of Antonio Medici]
Putting the necklace around his neck, Leonardo felt his body was invigorated with endless power making him having illusions as if he could take on the world. However, he shook his head while trying to control these feelings as he did not want to disappoint his parents by becoming arrogant. His mother always taught him to be modest, but never to allow others to trample over what he held dear.
"As you saw, it will aid you in communicating with dragon-type monsters so you will have an easier time to build a relationship with them, it also supports your magical beasts as well as deter monsters from approaching you. Remember, treat these magical beasts as a family and they will never betray you. Betray them, and they will betray you" Piero said the last with a serious voice so Leonardo nodded while touching his beast bag that contained the seven eggs.
"T-Thank you dad" Leonardo stuttered while saying his thanks, he was not sure why but he suddenly began crying. It was as if the necklace he just received from his father had made him realize he became awakened, naturally he knew this long ago but it took some time for his body and soul to adapt to the changes that occurred.
Piero and Caterina both glanced at each other before they hugged their son, the two of them could not help but sniffle a bit with red eyes. "Don't forget your mother's present! Although I don't have rights for my family heirloom. I still created something for you by my own hands!"
"Hehe" Leonardo laughed softly at his mother's competitive spirit towards his father while receiving a similar box from her, opening it a silver bracelet laid on a crimson cushion.
"That is a spatial bracelet, it is a hundred square metre and is ideal for your profession when you wish to gather monster ingredients or store them" Caterina explained,
[Spatial Bracelet
Rank: Unique
Attributes: +50 INT
Skills:
Inventory: Spatial Dimension the size of 100x100x100, Restriction: Unable to store living organisms.
Time Freeze: Time is halted for anything stored within this spatial Bracelet.]
"Thank you mom" Leonardo hugged Caterina tightly.
Caterina and Piero smiled warmly, they understood their son's feelings better than anyone, being labelled as a waste, being scorned, being disdained, never being able to make friends, isolated. It was too much for a child to handle throughout his entire childhood, so they could understand the relief Leonardo finally realized. He was no longer a waste.
"I- I will not let you down, Mother, father" Leonardo spoke with shaking but determined voice, both Piero and Caterina smiled warmly as they knew their son managed to regain some confidence and kept hugging him.
'And I will look after your little ones, so please aid me in protecting my family. That's my only wish' Leonardo thought, he would never imagine that these small eggs sensed his feelings and swayed a little without any of the three realizing it and stood still once more.