"Are you sure about this?" Gorn asked, eyeing the "rock" egg suspiciously from his bed. "You stole fifty spoons from the cafeteria. If the lunch lady finds out, she'll kill us. She has a Ladle of Doom, Sunny."
"Relax, Big Guy," Sunny muttered, inspecting the grey egg. "It needs metal to hatch. Spoons are metal. It's basic math."
He picked up a bent steel spoon and pressed it against the shell of the egg.
The grey shell absorbed the liquid steel like a sponge sucking up water.
[Feeding Progress: 15%]
"See?" Sunny grinned. "It's hungry."
"It's creepy," Gorn grunted, pulling his blanket up. "Don't blame me if it eats your fingers."
Sunny ignored him. He kept feeding it. Forks, knives, a rusty belt buckle he found. The egg devoured everything. It began to pulse with a low, rhythmic heat.
[Feeding Progress: 99%]
"One more," Sunny whispered.
He didn't have any more spoons. He looked around. His eyes landed on the broken remains of the Pyro-Leech Dagger. It was shattered, useless, just a hunk of red-hot obsidian and iron.
"Iron and fire," Sunny mused. "Maybe it will make the ants spicy."
He touched the shard to the egg.
The reaction was instant.
[Ding!]
[CRITICAL REACTION!]
[Foreign Mana Source Detected (Fire).]
[Genetic Structure Mutating...]
[Ant Queen DNA overwriten by Elemental Surge.]
Sunny blinked. "Wait, what? Overwritten?"
The egg turned bright red. Then orange. Then blinding white.
"Sunny?" Gorn sat up, alarmed. "Why is it glowing like the sun?"
"System! Stop!" Sunny yelled.
[Hatching Initiated.]
[Run.]
"RUN!" Sunny dove behind his bed.
Gorn flipped his mattress over just as the egg detonated.
KA-BOOM!
The explosion wasn't big enough to destroy the building, but it blew the windows out. Smoke filled the room. The smell of sulfur and burnt carpet was choking.
"My bed!" Gorn coughed, waving the smoke away. "My sheets are on fire!"
Sunny peeked over the edge of his bedframe.
"Did it die?"
In the center of the scorched floorboards, where the egg used to be, stood a figure. It was a humanoid.
It stood about two feet tall. It looked like a small child, but its skin was made of cooling magma rock. Cracks ran across its body, glowing with intense orange light. It had no hair, just a crown of flickering flames. Its eyes were two pools of pure, white-hot plasma.
It looked at its hands. It looked at Sunny.
"Gah?" the creature chirped. Its voice sounded like crackling firewood.
[Ding!]
[Hatching Successful!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained a Variant Monster!]
[Monster Info]
Name: ??? (Unnamed)
Race: Molten Sprite (Mutation)
Grade: Rare (Growth Type)
Level: 1
Element: Fire / Earth
Skills:
[Magma Skin]: Physical contact deals burn damage.
[Eruption]: Can vomit concentrated lava.
Sunny stared at the little lava-child. "That... is not an ant."
"It's a demon!" Gorn yelled, grabbing a pillow as a weapon. "Kill it before it steals our souls!"
The Molten Sprite looked at Gorn. It frowned. It opened its mouth and burped. A small fireball the size of a tennis ball shot out.
Gorn's pillow caught fire.
"AHHH!" Gorn threw the pillow out the broken window.
Sunny stood up, dusting off his clothes. A slow, manic grin spread across his face.
"An elemental," Sunny whispered. "Humanoid type. These are rare. Like, incredibly rare."
He approached the creature. It felt hot, like standing next to an open oven.
"Hey there, little guy," Sunny said. "I'm your daddy. Sort of."
The Sprite tilted its head. It reached out a magma hand.
Sunny hesitated. "Don't burn me."
He touched the creature's hand. It was warm, but it didn't burn him. The Soul Link protected him.
[Loyalty: 100 (Imprinted)]
"System," Sunny said immediately. "I want to fuse."
This was it. The ultimate combo. His Obsidian Spike-Stag was a physical tank/assassin. If he fused it with this Molten Sprite... he could create a Flying Flaming Beetle of Death.
"Summon: Obsidian Spike-Stag!"
The beetle appeared, hovering nervously away from the heat of the Sprite.
"Fusion."
[Target: Molten Sprite (Rare) + Obsidian Spike-Stag (Rare)]
[Analyzing Compatibility...]
Sunny held his breath.
[... ... ...]
[Compatibility: 0%]
[Reason: Biological vs. Elemental Structure. Incompatible.]
[Risk: Total Atomic Destabilization (Explosion).]
"Fuck!" Sunny kicked the charred floor. "Zero percent? You fuse a roach and a centipede but you can't fuse a bug and a fire-boy?"
[Suggestion: Host needs 'Fusion Level 3' or a 'Catalyst' to bridge incompatible species.]
"Great. Just great."
Sunny looked at the Molten Sprite. It was picking its nose with a finger made of lava.
"So I have two pets now. One is a bug, one is a walking fire hazard."
"Sunny," Gorn whispered, staring at the door. "The smoke alarm... people are coming."
Sunny realized the situation. He had just blown up his room. If the RA came in and saw an illegal, unregistered Rare monster, they'd confiscate it.
"Return!"
He recalled both monsters into his ring.
"Gorn, cover for me. Tell them... tell them I was practicing a fire spell and I suck at it."
"Where are you going?"
"To the woods," Sunny grabbed his cloak, jumping toward the broken window. "I need to see what this little guy can actually do before I get expelled."
He vaulted out the window, landing on the grass two stories below.
The forest bordering Starfall Academy was known as the "Whispering Woods." It was a beginner zone, filled with Tier 1 trash mobs like Dire Rats and Wooden Golems.
Sunny moved through the shadows, his hood up. It was night, but his eyes adjusted quickly.
"Come on out," Sunny whispered, tapping his ring.
The Molten Sprite appeared on the forest floor. The dry leaves under its feet instantly smoked and turned to ash.
"You need a name," Sunny said, watching the creature waddle around, touching trees and leaving scorched handprints. "Ignis? No, too generic. Blaze? Too Pokémon."
The creature sneezed, and a spark set a bush on fire. Sunny quickly stomped it out.
"Disaster," Sunny muttered. "I'll call you Nova."
"Gah!" Nova seemed to like it.
"Alright, Nova. Let's find a victim."
They walked for ten minutes until they heard a low growl.
Ahead, in a clearing, was a Moss Wolf.
[Monster: Moss Wolf]
[Rank: Tier 1 (Level 4)]
[Status: Hungry]
The Wolf was twice the size of Nova. It saw the small, glowing child and licked its chops. Easy meal.
"Perfect," Sunny leaned against a tree. "Nova. Kill."
The Moss Wolf lunged. It was fast, a blur of green fur and teeth.
Nova didn't move. He stood there, looking at the wolf like a curious toddler.
"Nova! Dodge!" Sunny hissed.
The Wolf bit down on Nova's shoulder.
CRUNCH? No.
HISSSS!
The Wolf yelped and released its bite instantly. Its mouth was smoking. Biting a creature made of magma was a bad idea.
Nova looked at his shoulder. There was a small scratch on the obsidian skin. Magma oozed out.
Nova's eyes narrowed. The white flames turned angry red.
"Graaa!"
Nova opened his mouth.
[Skill Activated: Eruption!]
It was a glob of sticky, molten lava. It shot out like spit and hit the Wolf right in the face.
"AWOOOOO!" The Wolf screamed—a horrible, gurgling sound. The lava clung to its fur and flesh, melting through skin and bone instantly. The Wolf thrashed, rolling on the ground to put it out, but you can't put out magical magma with dirt.
He raised his small hands. The ground beneath the Wolf began to glow.
[Passive Effect: Heat Aura Rising.]
Nova waddled forward. He jumped. He landed on the Wolf's back.
SIZZLE!
It was like dropping a hot iron into a bucket of butter. Nova sank slightly into the Wolf.
The Wolf stopped moving. It was cooked from the inside out.
[Ding!]
[Killed Moss Wolf (Level 4)]
[EXP + 15]
Sunny stared.
"Brutal," he whispered. "Absolutely brutal."
Nova climbed off the charred corpse, looking proud. He held up a hand for a high-five.
Sunny high-fived him carefully. "Good job, you little psychopath."
[Level Up!]
[Nova is now Level 2.]
[Intelligence +1]
Sunny looked at the stats. This thing was a glass cannon. If it got hit by water or ice, it would die instantly. But against physical attackers? It was a nightmare.
"If I can't fuse you with the Stag..." Sunny muttered, his mind racing. "Then I need to fuse you with something else. Something that gives you range. Or armor."
He looked at the burnt carcass of the wolf.
"System, can I fuse a dead wolf with Nova?"
[Compatibility: 5%. Waste of materials.]
"Right. Living things only."
Suddenly, the bushes rustled behind them.
"Who's there?" Sunny spun around, his Balanced Iron Shiv in hand.
A figure stepped out. It wasn't a monster. It was a student.
She had silver hair and wore the uniform of the Elite Class (A-Rank). She held a bow made of ice crystal.
[Name: Lyra]
[Rank: A-Class]
[Beast: Frost Falcon]
She looked at the burning wolf corpse. She looked at the small magma demon. Then she looked at Sunny.
"You," she said, her voice cold. "You're the one who blew up the dorms."
Sunny sighed. "It was a chemistry experiment gone wrong."
"That," she pointed her bow at Nova, "is an unregistered monster. And a dangerous one."
Nova hissed at her, sensing the ice mana from her bow. The water in the air evaporated around him.
"Relax, Ice Princess," Sunny stepped in front of Nova. "He's just a baby. He doesn't bite. He just... melts things."
Lyra didn't lower the bow. "The Disciplinary Committee pays 50 Credits for reporting illegal beasts."
Sunny's eyes narrowed. "You want to snitch?"
"I want Credits," she shrugged. "I'm broke."
Sunny laughed. "Credits? I can get you Credits. Better than snitching."
Lyra paused. "How?"
Sunny gestured to the dark forest around them.
"You have Ice. I have Fire. And my bug has Physical Damage."
He grinned.
"We can farm the Rock Slimes in the Caverns. They are resistant to physical, but weak to thermal shock. Fire then Ice. Instakill."
Lyra lowered her bow slightly. "Thermal shock farming? That's... theoretically possible."
"50 Credits is trash," Sunny said, extending his hand. "Come with me, and we'll make 500 Credits in one hour."
She looked at him. She looked at the scary little lava child.
"If you try anything funny," she warned, "I'll freeze your balls off."
"Deal," Sunny smirked. "Welcome to the party."