kscans

Chapter 473 - A New Discovery

The day after the banquet, Parfait logged in and noticed something.

"Huh? I wonder where Trachiyo went."

Orion had given her an item to summon her pet, and she had called Trachiyo to this cat island, but for some reason, the cat was nowhere to be seen. Trachiyo had gone with Chris to learn some scouting techniques, but she had been right by Parfait’s side during the banquet that followed. She was there right before Parfait logged out, too, but now she was gone.

She looked around their new base, but Trachiyo was nowhere in sight.

Just then, Chris logged in. Thrilled by the jungle, Chris was more engrossed in AFO than ever before. Parfait approached the enthusiastic Chris.

"Chris-chan, have you seen Trachiyo?"

"Trachiyo is gone? I see, so she’s already left."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Yesterday, after everyone logged out, I was enjoying the jungle by myself when Trachiyo came to me. She said she was leaving on a training journey."

"……………………Huh? What do you mean?"

Parfait repeated herself. But the shock was great enough to warrant it. Or rather, she couldn’t comprehend what Chris had said. She understood the meaning of the words, but she didn’t understand the meaning.

Trachiyo was Parfait’s pet, controlled by an AI. From a system perspective, for her to disappear without permission from her master, Parfait, was questionable game design.

Diite, the administrator of this world, had said that pets operated on individual AIs and evolved independently. But Parfait thought that ignoring the pet system itself was going too far.

There was also the question of how Chris knew. She wasn't Trachiyo's master, and she didn't have a Melampus to understand pets.

"Chris-chan, how do you know Trachiyo went on a training journey? You can’t understand her, right?"

"She must have had some thoughts after watching the fight between you and Deeger-dono. Trachiyo’s eyes told me as much when she said ‘Nya.’ So I nodded."

"...Trachiyo is an AI, you know? Well, I guess there’s the example of Diite-oneechan."

They say the eyes speak volumes, but Parfait wanted to say that’s not what they meant. Still, though their capabilities differed, Diite was also an AI, and Parfait felt that Diite’s emotions were easy to read from her gaze. So she couldn’t completely deny it.

"Being your pet, she must have thought she needed to become stronger. Orion-dono’s Bastet is unbelievably strong for a cat. And there’s the saying about sending a beloved child on a journey. It’s the master’s, no, the parent’s duty to watch over them warmly. My father and mother are like that."

"I hate to say it, but I think Gil-san and Silva-san are in a very special category. My own parents aren’t exactly normal either, though."

Gil and Silva, who would leave Chris alone in a jungle, were far from ordinary. Though they said they left her alone, they seemed to have erased their presence and stayed nearby to ensure her safety, but Parfait also had no idea what they wanted for Chris in the first place.

"Their educational policy is certainly not ordinary, but I am fine with that. And Trachiyo left on a solo training journey because she felt it was necessary. Isn’t it admirable for a pet to try to catch up to its master?"

"Is it admirable... I think you’re saying something good, but AFO is a game, you know…"

She could understand the idea of evolving into an independent AI, but she felt that ignoring the system mechanics was a problem.

However, she couldn’t deny the possibility that such a system existed without her knowledge. After all, they say there are infinite ways to play AFO.

As Parfait mulled this over, Chris said, "I can’t afford to lose either. I’m going to scout the area for enemies," then donned her ghillie suit and headed out of the base.

After seeing her off, Parfait decided to check the situation and talk to Orion, who had logged in earlier.

"Orion-san. Hello."

"Parfait-chan, hello. You’re early. Well, I was earlier, though."

"I’m on vacation, but are you okay with university?"

"I’m on break too, and you can get by in university as long as you get your credits. There are classes I want to take regardless of credits, but Professor Maris’s and Professor Surya’s classes aren’t in session right now, so I’m a little bored. Anyway, what’s wrong? You look kind of troubled."

"About that…"

Parfait explained the current situation.

Orion nodded at her explanation.

"So Parfait-chan is old enough to tell jokes now."

"What do you mean, old enough? We only met recently, didn't we? And no, this isn't a joke. I don't know if what Chris-chan said is true, but it's a fact that Trachiyo is not around."

"Huh? What kind of event is that? A pet just goes off on a training journey on its own. Maybe some kind of quest triggered? Is it listed as an active quest on your status screen?"

Realizing that was a possibility, Parfait hurriedly checked her quests from her status screen.

You could get detailed information on active quests, and any quests that occurred suddenly would also be listed there.

A quest titled "Pet in Training" had been added to her quest list. Parfait was relieved that it was a system-acknowledged event after all. Then she read the details.

"The pet’s loyalty to catch up to its master is being tested…?"

That was the quest description, but the clear condition wasn’t written. And when Parfait saw the quest reward, her brow furrowed slightly.

"Clear Reward: A pet that has surpassed its status limits (First Stage of Limit Break)."

Parfait froze, not just for a moment, but for a rather long time. Orion waved a hand in front of her face, but her gaze was glued to the clear reward.

"Parfait-chan, what’s wrong? Was there a quest?"

Orion’s voice snapped Parfait back to her senses. She exhaled, then opened her mouth.

"A quest was added. It’s called ‘Pet in Training’."

"Huh? No way!? It really exists!?"

"Why are you so surprised, Orion-san?"

"Because this is a huge discovery! Among all of us who’ve been tamers for a long time, no one has ever had a quest like that trigger! Maybe you’re the first one to find this quest, Parfait-chan!? What’s the reward! The reward!?"

"The reward says a pet that has surpassed its status limits…"

"No way!?"

Reacting to Orion’s surprised shout, nearby players approached to see what was going on. When Orion explained the situation with a look of astonishment, a considerable buzz went through the crowd.

Parfait couldn’t keep up with the situation. When she asked for details, she learned that a pet’s stat cap had never been broken before. Of course, it was highly possible that there were players out there hiding the information, but at least no player in the clans present knew about it.

"You might not get it, Parfait-chan, but this is revolutionary!"

"Is it?"

"It is! You heard what Deeger-san said yesterday, right? The player status limit break system was there in the Genesis era, but even though the system existed from the start of the game, it wasn't discovered until almost two years later! For us, this is on that level!"

Pets could have their stats enhanced by making them fight. However, the stat caps differed depending on the type of pet, and weak pets had a limitation where they couldn’t be used in combat even if trained to their maximum potential.

The quest that Parfait had apparently discovered had the potential to remove that limitation, and the tamer players were overjoyed.

"The reward description says ‘First Stage of Limit Break’..."

"That means there might be second and third stages!?"

What happens when you announce such a system in the middle of a group of tamers? To put it simply, pandemonium. Some people were even crying.

"Orion-kun, Parfait-kun, what is all this commotion?"

Deeger, the handsome older leader of the clan "Cretaceous," approached, looking a little taken aback. He seemed to have just logged in and didn't understand the situation.

"You have to hear this! Parfait-chan discovered a quest that’s a new hope for us tamers!"

"A hope for us?"

"A pet’s status limit break! And it seems like there are stages to it!"

"What! Does that mean the dinosaurs can become even stronger!?"

Deeger, without his Tyrannosaurus costume, was as calm as he looked, but even he became excited. It was only then that Parfait realized the gravity of the situation.

"Wait, everyone, calm down! First, the trigger conditions! Parfait-kun, what exactly happened? How did that quest trigger?"

"Huh? Uh, I didn’t do anything special…"

"Parfait-chan, just try to remember everything you did yesterday! We’ll verify it! We’re going to verify it!"

"Ehh…"

Originally, they had planned to exchange information for the fight against Highway Star today, but deciding that this was more important, Parfait was thoroughly questioned about her actions from the previous day, and they even began to verify her account.