CHAPTER 15: PROGRESSION

After receiving her name, Claire—now officially Mimi—spent the rest of the night playing with her master and enjoying endless pets. When they finally tired out, Emilia went to sleep with Mimi curled up beside her. Both had a good, peaceful rest.

By the end of the day, Mimi had managed to increase her bond by another 8 points and her evolution progress by another 0.08 points.

Progress to Bond Level 2: 10/100

Progress to Next Evolution: 0.1/100

In both Arventia Online and in this "game world," a magical beast has three different types of experience bars.

The first is Beast Experience—the experience needed for a magical beast to level up and increase its stats. The higher the level, the stronger the beast. Most items and skill stones have level requirements, meaning they can only be used or consumed if the beast meets the minimum level. This makes Beast Experience the single most important progression.

Next are Evolution Points. Every beast has a maximum of twelve evolutions, also referred to as "Stars." For example, if a beast is a 9-star, it means that it has undergone nine separate evolutions, since the star count starts at zero. Similar to Beast Experience, evolution points accumulate over time, but once the progress bar for the current star reaches 100%, the beast receives a special trial or evolution quest. Only by completing this quest can it evolve. Each successful evolution grants a massive boost in stats and can even awaken dormant skills or traits.

Lastly, there is Bond Level. Bond is gained through activities with the master such as playing together, fighting side by side, and other interactions. Each time the Bond Level increases, the beast receives a mysterious gift. While not as essential as the other two progressions—since rewards are often modest—Bond Level sometimes unlocks unique abilities that can’t be obtained any other way. For example, the ability to instantly teleport to the master may unlock at Bond Level 10, while telepathic communication may unlock at the maximum Bond Level 100—both extremely useful abilities.

However, judging from how much Mimi had progressed yesterday, it seemed like there were daily caps for her. Bond gain is capped at 10 points per day, while Evolution point gain is capped at 0.1 per day.

The reason her evolution point gain was so low was because of that curse: Sixfold Sacred Suppression. Under its effect, evolution points gained were reduced by 99%. Mimi would have been able to earn up to 10 points if it weren’t for that damned skill. With this, evolution seemed like a very, very distant dream.

And regarding beast experience, just as expected, Mimi couldn’t earn experience from just playing. It must be earned via battle or completing system quests.

Speaking of Quests...

AAaaaaaa... Should I do it? Should I do it???

Mimi had been sitting in front of the plush couch in Emilia’s room for a whole hour now, hugging her head and battling herself in pure agony!

The reason?

[Daily Mission #1: Scratch the couch 100 times!]

[Reward: 0.02 EXP; 0.02 Evolution Points (not affected by daily cap!)]

FUCKKKKK!!!!

Who could have thought...

The very first daily mission she received would be this ridiculous?!

On one hand, for Mimi, EXP and Evolution Points were already ridiculously hard to come by. The main source of them for any beast was through battling. But since Noctifelis were pathetically weak, battling was completely out of the question! Therefore, one of her last hopes was to rely on these daily missions.

In Arventia Online, a beast can complete a maximum of 10 daily missions per day.

Meaning... that’s 0.2 EXP and 0.2 Evolution Points! That’s a lot!

And besides, if Mimi didn’t complete this quest, the next daily quest wouldn’t appear!

However...

On the other hand... this couch... oh gods, this couch...

It was a delicate, pastel-pink settee with curved wooden legs painted white and trimmed with gold leaf. It was the kind of furniture that looked like it belonged in a princess’s bedroom, not for commoner butts to sit on, let alone for a noctifelis to sharpen her claws on!

Surely, it would feel amazing to sink her claws into it.

But if Mimi did that... Emilia might be sad. And that was the last thing Mimi wanted!

AAAAAA!!! What should I do nowww???

WHY???

WHYYYYY???

Mimi hugged her head and cursed the damned system.

Though...

Eventually...

...

I’m sorry, Master! T_T

Mimi gave in to the lure of experience points.

The sharp sound of claws dragging across fine fabric filled the air.

[Ding! Daily Mission #1: Scratch the couch 100 times, is completed!]

[Ding! Daily Mission #2 unlocked: Catch one cockroach!]

[Reward: 0.02 EXP; 0.02 Evolution Points (not affected by daily cap!)]

...

NOOOOOOOO!!!

And just like that, the sudden loud meow of her cat jolted Emilia awake.