( Leo’s POV )
[ System Notification :- Congratulations player ‘Leo Skyshard’ for adequately playing the role of a merchant over the past year.
Your hold over the actor class progresses]
[ System Notification :- A new mandatory mission has been generated! You cannot decline this mission! ]
[ Mission Notification :- You have received a new mission, titled ‘Birth Of A Beast Trainer’.
Mission Details :- You have obtained a mythical pet, the ancient swamp frog and must train this pet to become an adequate companion while its tender mind can still be molded.
For the next 30 days, this little frog will undergo a massive growth phase and hence it is important that you log-into the game daily and spend all 12 of your gaming hours tending to the frog.
Mission specifics:-
•You must spend 2 hours a day, training the frog on how to use its innate skills.
•You must spend 2 hours a day, telling the frog about tales of your valor, so that the frog grows to respect you.
•You must spend 1 hour a day showing the frog feats of your extraordinary power to imprint your strength in its mind.
Completion Rewards :-
1)Dumpy reaches level 250 and becomes a sentient beast.
2)Dumpy becomes capable of using it’s key racial ability, ‘Mana Drain’.
3)Dumpy develops a lifelong loyalty to you as its master.
Failure Penalty:-
1)Dumpy will lose all respect for you and will refuse to obey your commands.
2)You will lose all control over Dumpy’s future evolution.
3) Dumpy’s character becomes unstable. ]
Once the third evaluation was completed in the real world, Leo found himself being bombarded with a series of notifications within the game world, as he was given a new mandatory mission.
This time around, he was given the role of a beast tamer, however, instead of being given a new identity and a new act to play, he was simply given a mission with rewards and consequences.
The mission detailed a routine on what he must do in the coming days if he did not wish to lose the respect of his pet, however, it was a little too absurd for Leo to follow.
“What the fuck? I have to waste 30 of my consecutive log-in days training this frog?” Leo said out loud, as he could absolutely not wrap his head around why he needed to waste 30 of his previous log-in days on doing something as stupid as training Dumpy.
Leo stared at the mission details, dumbfounded. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I have to talk to a frog for two hours a day… about my accomplishments?” He rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of it.
“Why does a frog need to know how great I am?” Leo mumbled, as it wasn’t just that the task felt ridiculous, but that Leo genuinely couldn’t wrap his head around the logic behind such a requirement?
He wasn’t some drunk bard here trying to entertain a roadside frog with tales of heroism—he had important missions to tackle, global ambitions to conquer! And yet here he was, saddled with a frog-training regime by the system.
“Is this some practical joke the operators came up with? Will they all gather and watch me narrate tales of my valor to a frog and laugh about it?” Leo wondered, as to him, this seemed to be the only reason behind such a request.
Either, the operators wanted him to waste his precious log-in days playing caretaker instead of focusing on territory domination, or they were playing a practical joke.
“This is seriously going to derail my plans,” he muttered in frustration. “I should be conquering kingdoms, not babysitting a tadpole.” he muttered, but there was no getting out of it. The system had made it clear: this was a mandatory mission.
The swamp frog, meanwhile, croaked quietly at his feet, entirely oblivious to Leo’s growing irritation.
But as the system had subtly hinted, this frog—Dumpy—wasn’t just any ordinary creature.
In the swamp frog world, everything came down to power and leadership. A swamp frog’s respect was earned through dominance and if Leo didn’t establish himself as the “frog leader” early on, Dumpy would never respect him in the future and could turn rebellious as it matured.
The frog needed to know, beyond any doubt, that Leo was its superior—or all hope of controlling it would be lost.
If Dumpy didn’t come to view Leo as the dominant figure during this crucial training phase, it would start to see him as a competitor and in the swamp frog’s world, rivals weren’t just challengers—they were threats, especially when it came to future mates.
For the swamp frog, everything boiled down to power, status, and potential breeding rights.
Hence, If Leo didn’t assert himself as the leader now, once the frog would mature, it would begin viewing him as an equal or, worse, a challenger.
And in swamp frog culture, that meant that Dumpy would make constant attempts to undermine and eventually overthrow Leo from his position as a master.
Leo was no professional beast trainer and did not understand the importance of impressing the young swamp frog, but if he were one, he would not waste a second of this precious 30 day time period.
This phase was a literal make or break in their future relationship dynamic and if Leo did not navigate this time tactfully he was going to lose the master-pet dynamic with Dumpy in the coming days and that too in the most humiliating way possible.
Dumpy could turn into a disobedient, rebellious creature, impossible to control and dangerous to keep, and although Leo himself did not understand it, the stakes were actually much higher than he could ever fathom.
*Groan*
Leo groaned, rubbing his forehead. “Great. So, not only do I have to train a frog for 30 days, but I have to also narrate tales to it like a fucking nanny.”
He sighed, looking down at Dumpy. “This better be worth it, little man…. You better have some incredible skills that I can train, else I’ll roast you into a soup meal myself on day31”