Chapter 97

While there may be some differences depending on the game, in most MMORPGs, the existence of a 'pet' is a very important factor that directly affects the player's combat power. Pets can enhance a player's stats or skills, provide bonuses to drop items or experience points, and offer various beneficial effects. In some games, pets can even directly participate in battles, helping players hunt monsters.

In the case of Lase, both of these aspects applied. Pets not only provided various beneficial buffs to users but also had a system that allowed them to directly participate in battles. Naturally, this made pets even more important compared to other games.

However, if you were to ask Lase users whether pets were absolutely necessary, the answer would be ambiguous.

"Pets? Of course, it's good to have one. It's good to have one, but..."

"It's not easy to get one even if you want to. Oh, a friend of mine recently got a pet, but it didn't bring about as dramatic a change as expected."

"The maintenance cost is the biggest issue. It's like a money-eating hippo, you know?"

"It's good, but... it feels overpriced compared to the cost."

While a pet of Unique grade or higher could bring about a truly dramatic change, such a high-grade pet was not something you could obtain just by having money.

It was as if the heavens themselves had to bestow it upon you!

Therefore, the pets that ordinary users could obtain were usually limited to Magic or Rare grades, and these pets were not particularly outstanding in their abilities.

"Even a Magic-grade pet is ridiculously expensive. It might be more helpful to use that money to upgrade your equipment."

Money and time are finite, after all.

Many people chose to focus on equipping themselves rather than investing in pets.

It's nice to have, but not essential.

Most Lase users thought about pets in this way.

- But that's only talking about regular pets. When it comes to evolved pets, the story is completely different. Let's see. By now, there should be a few top-tier users who have completed pet evolution.

While other companions strengthened themselves through second and third-class job advancements like players, only pets could grow further through 'evolution.'

- There's no need to explain the explosive increase in combat power.

The increase was so significant that a Rare pet, which could only act as a totem, could end up playing the role of 1.5 players after evolving.

- In fact, there are users who have jumped to the top ranks just by evolving their pets. Besides that, there are many other rewards for evolving.

"So, it's something I have to do, right?"

- But it's not that easy. The conditions for evolution are completely random.

Even pets of the same species had different evolution conditions. Some would naturally start an evolution quest as they leveled up, while others would unlock an evolution quest by defeating a specific boss monster.

Especially for high-grade pets, the conditions were often bizarre. According to the Thousand Horse's explanation, most Unique-grade pets or higher never met their evolution conditions even until the end of the game.

- Xiang's condition was to use a Legendary elixir to unlock her potential.

"Wow, that's a crazy condition. How are you supposed to discover that?"

Feeding a Legendary elixir to a pet?

A sane person would never imagine such a thing.

Even Carpe, who prided himself on being a casual gamer, would never have done it if it hadn't been unlocked.

- Fortunately, you ate it, or you would have regretted it.

"Is evolution that difficult?"

- Of course. Once you complete the evolution, the pet's grade goes up one level.

"Ah, grade increase..."

Click.

Carpe's movements suddenly stopped. After a moment, he slowly spoke.

"Really?"

- You're asking after hearing it. Sigh... Now it's just a memory. In the second playthrough, I accidentally obtained a Legendary pet and evolved it.

The achievement obtained through unimaginable effort was incredibly sweet.

The Legendary pet evolved into an Epic pet!

"..."

Carpe turned his head towards Xiang.

Xiang's current grade is Epic.

So, if she completes the evolution...

"Mythical?!"

"Quack?"

"Wow, wow!"

- That's not all. I mentioned earlier that there are many rewards for completing evolution, right? In my case, I received an additional skill pack.

However, it wasn't just any ordinary skill pack.

- An 8-star guaranteed skill pack.

"..."

- Do you get the idea? If I received an 8-star pack when evolving to Epic, what would I get when evolving to Mythical?

"9-star, right?"

- Yes. I haven't confirmed it myself, but it's highly likely.

Swallow.

Carpe's throat trembled as he swallowed his saliva. His heart began to race at the sudden appearance of 'Mythical' and '9-star.'

"I'll log out and take a pill to calm down, then come back."

- Don't overreact. You can't evolve immediately anyway.

As mentioned earlier, the elixir is just the 'starting condition' for evolution.

To complete the evolution, you need to complete several evolution quests.

- Be prepared. For an Epic-grade evolution, any crazy quest could appear.

"I have to do it. I'll do everything except for hunting the Four Seas."

Actually, right now, he felt like he could even charge at the Four Seas with a smile.

Ding.

[Companion Xiang has met the conditions for evolution. The evolution quest is now available.]

[Evolution Quest (Epic) - Stage 1]

[Defeat monsters of a higher level than the player (0/500)]

[Defeat a boss monster of a higher level than the player (0/1)]

"Huh? It's more ordinary than I thought."

The quest content was not much different from what Carpe had been doing so far.

"Ah, Stage 1 is just a warm-up. I thought it would be much more challenging, but at least the quest has some decency."

- ...No. It looks ordinary to you, but other players would die just from this. Soloing a boss monster is not easy.

"Hmm. I guess that's true. Anyway, it's good."

Carpe clenched his fist.

"Xiang, trust me. I'll make you Mythical, no matter what."

"Quack quack!"

"And when you become Mythical, give me a ride."

"Quack?"

"Mythical Xiang. Hmm. It sounds really cool. It will surely have a positive impact on my ultimate skills."

"Xiang, you're amazing..."

Thus, Xiang's evolution quest began.

* * *

After completing the hunt for the White Tiger, Carpe and his party returned to the royal palace of Lamarque.

"Phew... So the Black Plague and the White Nightmare were just beasts?"

"Yes, here's the evidence."

Carpe then took out the Elder Snake's fang and the White Tiger's skin from his inventory and handed them to Gillian.

"Haha. Who would have thought that the monsters in Lamarque's legends were just ordinary beasts? This is why old tales can't be trusted. Good job. I'll submit the evidence to His Majesty myself!"

Ding.

[Quest progress has been updated.]

When Carpe checked the quest window, it showed that the Black Plague and the White Nightmare had been defeated.

Now, the only remaining task for the second-class job advancement was to defeat the Centaur in the labyrinth.

- The labyrinth and the Centaur. It seems to be inspired by the Minotaur in the Labyrinth of Crete.

"Huh? Isn't that unrelated to the Twelve Labors of Heracles?"

- No, it's the achievement of Theseus, not Heracles. It seems the developers mixed various elements. Tsk. How can they call it a god game with such poor historical accuracy? From now on, Lase will lose its 'god game' title.

"Well, whatever. I just need to complete the quest."

Unlike the previous two monsters, there was no need to search for the Centaur.

"The Centaur exists in the labyrinth beneath this palace."

"...Under the palace? Why is there such a thing under the palace?"

"Of course, it wasn't a labyrinth from the beginning. It seems to have been a research facility where the Demon King conducted various experiments."

However, the laboratory was abandoned after Arclam lost the War of Prestige and the Demon King disappeared.

"Since then, it's been like the Southskull Ranch. The monsters brought in for experiments have been breeding for 800 years. It has long since become a dungeon."

"Another nuisance king..."

"The entrance to the labyrinth is sealed, so there's no need to worry, but it's hard to guess what's inside. The labyrinth was designed by the Demon King himself, and it's filled with various traps. There are probably many hidden treasures, though."

And the legend of the Centaur guarding those treasures has been passed down in Lamarque.

"But even if it's a mess inside... wouldn't Sir Gillian be able to handle it?"

Is the inside of the labyrinth a demonic realm where even Gillian can't guarantee survival?

A moment of unease arose, but it turned out to be unnecessary worry.

"Of course, I could easily clean it up. But I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? It was designed by the Demon King, the first emperor. It's a sacred place for us. How can we damage it? It's out of the question."

"Ah."

To the few people who knew the truth about Arclam, the underground labyrinth was a kind of holy site.

Therefore, even as the laboratory turned into