Granite Ants and Flying Skates

"It's here," Geo said while pointing to the ground under the tree. Sampson was digging the ground up with his spear there.

"Let's see!" Ace said as he, Cloud, and Sofia walked to the spot Geo stood.

After coming, Ace saw something was buried not too deep and his brother dug the soil around it to make it easier for them to identify it. 

Ace then helped Sampson to dig it up. After 3 minutes of digging, they saw the whole appearance of the thing. It looked like a pillow but it had a hard and tough surface. Its color was blue and it had a size around 30 cm long, 20 cm width, and 10 cm thick. Ace then tried to check what it was.

[Mermaid's purse]

"Mermaid's purse? Are there coins in it?" Sampson asked in a joking tone.

Geo tried to touch it and he was happy for doing it. He then said, "I think it is alive. There is a monster inside it."

"Yes, sweetheart. It's an egg case. It is used to protect the embryo inside. On our planet, there used to be many animals that laid their egg in egg cases. There are sharks, skates, or chimeras. However, I don't know how a mermaid's purse could be found here. They were all sea creatures," Cloud said.

"Yes mother, you are right. It is an egg case. Its name in this game is flying skate's mermaid's purse. The mother skate buried it here to keep it safe. It will be hatched after some months. And its parents will come to get it when it is about to hatch. 

There should be many of them around here. As flying skates is living in a group. We should be able to find some more," Sofia said.

***

They had searched around that location for 2 hours and found 8 mermaid's purses. Ace actually wanted to continue searching, but after looking at his family members' situation who had already exhausted, he decided to stop.

"Let's stop for now! There are certainly more of them. We don't have to do it today," Ace said.

"Phew~... Yeah, let's take a rest," Sampson said, as he laid down on the ground. He seemed very tired. But it was quite normal, as he and Ace had worked the most at digging those Mermaid's purses out the ground. As for Geo and Cloud, although they also helped them, they would stop if they were tired or bored.

<Have you already finished reading the book?> Ace asked his wife via party chat channel means.

<Yeah. Basically done, how many have you found?> Sofia asked.

<8. Come here! We are too tired to go there,> Ace said.

As the others were searching the mermaid's purses, Sofia had to find information about flying skate species. She believed it was a perfect monster for Geo's next pet. So, Sofia wanted to read a book about it and got more understanding about this monster. So she could choose the most suitable egg for Geo.

A minute later, Sofia came, "So, are they all?" 

"Yes! It's pretty tiring to find them. You know, they were mostly buried pretty deep. If not for the tentacle thing that appeared partly outside of the surface, we might not be able to find them. And maybe there are more of them underground," Ace said.

Sofia was listening to Ace's explanation while checking the mermaid's purses one by one. The eight of them had some differences. There was one that the surface of the egg case was green and blue. There were some red ones and green ones. Their sizes were also different. The smaller one was only 10 cm long and the largest one exceeded 50 cm long. 

After examining them carefully, Sofia picked the smallest one that had green and blue colors and the biggest one that had a red color. She then showed them to Geo.

"Actually, you don't have to find more. As we basically only need one. You can return the rest to their hole after this. It will be a problem if we take too many," Sofia said to Ace.

"OK," Ace answered.

She then looked at Geo, "Ok Geo, these two are probably the best baby skates that we got. You can choose one of them!"

"Mmm… Okay… this one looks good, it is colorful. But this one is bigger. I don't know. Can't I have both of them?" Geo said while looking at her full of hope.

"Of course, you can make contact with one of them when you are at level 5 and then the other one at level 10. Or you can contract them together when you are at level 10. But you can't make a contract before then," Sofia said with a knowing smile.

"Thank you, Mommy," Geo then hugged his mother. 

"You are welcome," Sofia said with a smile.

After Geo let her go, Ace said, "What about Daddy? I helped you find them, right?"

Geo then ran towards Ace and hugged him, "Thank you, Daddy. You are so nice."

"You're welcome. Remember! You must take care of them well, okay," Ace said.

"Okay!" Geo answered.

Geo then hugged his grandmother when he was asked to. But refused when his Uncle asked him.

"No! Uncle stinks," Geo said.

It made everyone laugh hard. Sampson could only say, "That's not fair! I also help you, right?"

"No!" Geo shouted. 

It made the others laugh louder.

***

"You seem to think about something. You can share with me, you know," Ace asked Sofia, who was looking at the forest in the West in a gloomy mood.

"I just checked the map, we should travel to the West. Honey, I have been thinking. Should we abandon our jobs and pick the ordinary ones. I have read some books. Granite ants are troublesome monsters, and so are flying skates. And there are surely many strong monsters out there. It will be a great adventure if only we, who will face them, but Geo's safety can't be ensured, should we give up our jobs?" Sofia looked at her husband hesitantly.

Ace shook his head, "Sorry honey, I disagree with you this time. It may sound ridiculous. When I watched the prologue of the game just now, I had a hunch that the Union is preparing us for something. By looking at the theme of this game, which is the survival of humankind, I had a horrible premonition. As for what will come, I don't know. However, this game probably is something that must be played seriously. And our advantage will provide us capital to fight for something precious in the future."

Sofia then looked at him doubtfully, "Maybe you are right. But please put Geo's safety as the priority." 

"I will make sure of that," Ace nodded, "So, what did you find?"

Sofia seemed to be better, she said, "Granite ant is a monster that has high HP and physical defense. Its strength is also very strong. However, it is very vulnerable to magic attacks. So you are a perfect match for them. But your brother's and Jumpy's attack will deal limited damage to them. 

I have already told you that they have a caste system, right. The minor worker has the lowest status in their system. Next is the intermediate workers. Their duty is to maintain their nest. They are definitely stronger than the minor ones. After that, there are major workers. They are the main forces of the colony. Their duty is to hunt and battle their enemies. 

And then, there are warrior ants. They are all elite monsters who have wings. They are only a dozen or so. Their duty is to protect the queen. And there is a rare phenomenon, sometimes one of the warriors succeeds to evolve to be a lord monster. It is called general ant. It is very strong. 

And the last one is the queen, she is the leader and the most important existence in the colony. Every ant won't hesitate to sacrifice themselves to protect the queen.

That was the general description of most ant's colonies, not only the granite ant. 

Okay, that was all about the ant. The next issue is the flying skates.

I think you already know what prevents the ants from climbing this hill. Yes! The return of the flying skates. They will definitely come if nothing wrong happens to them to get their babies. And for some time, before they come, this hill is safe."

Ace nodded, "That's a relief then. But we have to go before they come right?"

"Yes, that's the time limit," Sofia said.

"I understand. We will talk about it with your mother and my brother after this. But tell me! Why are flying skates so frightening?" Ace was curious about this issue. 

"Because they have a rare element attribute, that is lightning. Just imagine, dozens of flying monsters cast thunderbolts to an area. They are the manifestation of thunderstorms," Sofia said with a grim expression.

*Gulp*

Ace couldn't help to swallow his saliva.

***