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" aaahhh it's soooo cuuutteeee!!! It's so small it's going to be the most adorable nugget ever. Wait should i name it nugget!? Will it look like it's mother and be all shadowy. Will it be a shadowy fluff ball!

" Elise and her hyper antics were completely ignored by walker's group who were laughing at their own little acting.

nStella landed next to Elise and started her own energetic dance. She seemed much more reserved than Elise but still her face and body showed how she was feeling.

" Stella! Steelllllaaa, look, that's our cursed crow egg, it's sooo tiny and adorable. I want to hatch it now!

" Elise latched into Stella trying to drag her closer, finishing their laughter Laurence saw that Elise was about to rush in to contracting immediately without learning any more information. As her senior he had the responsibility to make sure her decisions were informed.

nHis face fell into the strict stony look of a leader,

"Elise calm down! Have you even asked walker why his group chose this egg? You yourself said it was tiny, does that seem normal for the research you did on the cursed crows eggs? And have you even thought that this specific egg may not be the exact one you were looking for? Have you even thought of any of this!?

" His words slapped Elise in the face, she was easily excited but in her actions she had forgotten all her work.

nUpon closer examination she could easily tell the egg was almost half the size of a normal cursed crow egg. However the strange aura of darkness around it seemed plenty strong, just like the mother cursed crow. Her eyes meeting Walker, she saw he was smiling in wait for her questions.

"Can you please tell me why your group chose this egg out of those within the nest? I'm sure it wasn't the only one there.

" Her heart still pounding from adrenaline she held herself back waiting for his response.

n

" I'm glad you asked, when we found all the eggs in the nest we had no clue which to grab. We didn't even know if they would be different. Gil asked me which one to take and I decided to give my all around appraisal skill a shot. Most of the eggs were average size, they had been laid four weeks and approaching the hatching phase. They mostly had weak affinity for the darkness element. The two outliers were a larger egg and that smaller egg.

" gesturing with his hands to the size of the large egg and pointing to the small egg Walker continued,

"my appraisal skill told me that the large egg had consumed a large amount of nutrition from its mother. This meant it would be stronger when it hatched, however, it had very weak darkness elemental affinity. Thinking on that I assumed it would not have strong skills to use the shadows to trap a target. The small egg lacked nutrition so developed less meaning it was less likely to survive hatching with its siblings. The positive is that the egg had a strong dark elemental affinity, it even has a second affinity, a weak wind affinity. Not only should it be able to use shadows better but it should be able to move faster in the wind as well.

" looking rather proud at his thorough evaluations Walker sat himself down waiting to hear what Elise was thinking.

nElise was staring at him eyes wide, she had wanted the cursed crow to join her for its unique ability to use shadows as a form of restraint. The fact that walker could use his appraisal skill to find one egg out of many that could develop that skill better was incredible. Furthermore he had found one with a second affinity! The wind affinity was a common affinity for monsters with higher agility, yet for an avian type monster the wind affinity was more valuable. Having the affinity an avian monster would be able to fly higher, fly faster, and often grow faster overall.

"It's perfect! You couldn't have chosen better! Who cares if it's small when it hatches, it will just be cuter.

" she turned her head to glare at Laurence who was still holding the small egg, she desperately wanted to form her contract.

"Can I have my new friend now?

" Giving in now that Laurence also understood the reasons behind choosing the small egg he handed it to Elise.

nElise carefully cradled it in her hands loving looks on her face.

" I haven't shown off many skills but today i get to show off my way of contracting. Maybe a bit more too.

" She stuck her tongue out slightly teasing the party who was still fairly in the dark when it came to the intricacies of the tamer's specific classes. Elise had only used her contracting skill once, with Stella, however it was second nature to her. Holding the small egg up to her face a soft wind began to blow. Visible green wind mana started to flow around her with the increasing wind. Soon her hair danced about taking on the green wind mana coloration. The mana traveled through her body focusing on her lips, the intense wind mana causing the snow around them to fly though the air. Sounds of grass rustling increased until all the mana was focused, she rested her lips upon the egg. The wind mana flowed from her into the egg causing a glowing green wing pattern on its surface, Elise withdrew her lips causing the wind to instantly die down.

n

" All done! So what did you think? Pretty cool right?

" Snow that remained in the air slowly fell around them, her contracting skill truly leading to an elegant sight.

n

" More than cool! I'm not sure i have ever seen anything more beautiful.

" Gil was entranced by the way the wind mana had flowed through her. He had drawn many conclusions by experimenting with his new bow and wind element affinity, however, seeing the way it flowed in the air to condense was enlightening. Shocked by the sudden compliment Elise was slightly red faced but she couldn't deny that the dancing mana was beautiful.

nWith a sharp whistle Laurence teased Gil,

" so you're flirting with my junior is that it Gil?

"

nThe chorus of oooo and ahhh from Remey and walker was enough to cause Gil's face to turn bright red. He stumbled over words trying to explain himself. Yet there was no escaping the teasing no matter what he tried. After giving up he instead decided to think on the way the wind was moving, if he was lucky he may learn more. Increasing his own understanding of how wind elements worked he could improve his archery by leaps and bounds.

n

" Don't you all get distracted now! I've got much more to show off, this is where things get good.

" Unhappy that everyone was losing focus Elise started to prepare herself for her next skill.

" I can only use this skill when a monster is close to hatching, most tamers can. With a bunch of our mana and the right touch,

" Elise wrapped her hands around the egg, warmth starting to radiate around them. Her face visibly became pale as the waves of warmth wrapped the egg. Small shadowy wisps came off the egg and everyone could swear they felt a soft breeze. This skill..is called…

" her focus was leaving her out of breath.

n

" It's called incubation.

" Laurence cut in to allow Elise the proper focus.

" The skill speeds up hatching, it's not a perfect skill since it can only bring an egg closer to hatching. But seeing as Walker's appraisal said it was four weeks old and nearing the hatching phase i think we will see something much more amazing.

" Quiet tapping sounds seemed to be echoing from the egg. Their frequency increased until the egg began to shake.

nSmall cracks started to bow out from the inside of the egg, the tapping increasing every second. Elise had stopped her skill opening her hands fully showing the cracks growing larger. Chips of shells fell into her hands.

"Cheeep, cheep

" the tapping became accompanied by the small chirps of a bird. Just moments passed and the shell finally broke open revealing a small black chick. The cursed crow chick had wisps of dark mana flowing off its fluffy black feathers. Its eyes were barely open but easily identified as green instead of red like its mother. Normally a hatched cursed crow chick would fight its siblings trying to get into the shadows, however this one that had bonded with Elise did not.

nThe chick looked about taking in the faces of what may be its parents. Stella had come close next to Elise her feathers in plain view. The Chick began to chirp hesitantly but then louder trying to hop towards Stella. Stella seemed to understand its chirping reaching out to it with some feathers. The two met with a soft touch, they already shared a connection through Elise but the chick had identified Stella as a mother figure.

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