kscans

Chapter 474 - Verification Results and Highway Star

The day after the quest for a pet to go on a training journey triggered, Parfait logged in to find herself surrounded by the tamers of "Cats are God" and "Cretaceous."

Everyone was anxious about the quest’s progress, bombarding her with questions. Had there been any changes? Had Trachiyo returned? Was there anything unusual about Parfait herself?

Trachiyo had not come back, and nothing about Parfait had changed, but everyone was still eager to hear more. Orion and Deeger had to step in together to stop them.

"Alright, alright, I know you’re curious, but you’ll startle Parfait-chan if you all rush her."

"Indeed. Even good friends must have good manners. Everyone here is older than Parfait-kun. As elders, I believe we should act as role models."

Being told off by the leaders of two clans, they could hardly continue their questioning. They apologized to Parfait, saying "Sorry," and moved away. However, since this was something all tamers wanted to know, they agreed to share any new information immediately.

That was a matter of course for Parfait as well. She had no particular desire to monopolize the information. While it was information that could be sold for a high price, there was no need to keep it secret, and since they had helped her, her policy was to disclose everything.

Besides, the players had been verifying the conditions all day yesterday, and the quest had triggered for some of the tamers. They said their pets were gone when they logged in this morning, and the quest information had been registered.

It was a chaotic scene, split between players who were happy their pets were gone and players who were disappointed that theirs hadn’t gone on a journey.

But perhaps that was part of the fun of the game, as many players seemed ready to continue their verification today, either joyfully or tearfully.

Observing the situation from the side, Orion cleared his throat.

"So, we’ve organized the conditions for triggering the quest based on what we know so far."

"This is our joint verification. I believe these trigger conditions are fairly reliable."

Both of their eyes were slightly bloodshot. Parfait and her friends had logged out at their usual time yesterday, but seeing that none of the tamers had logged out, Parfait guessed they had pulled an all-nighter or something close to it.

She couldn’t help but be surprised that their bloodshot eyes were reflected in the virtual reality, but she figured Diite was capable of such things and was once again amazed at the absurdity of this virtual reality.

When she asked if it was okay for them to so easily share information they had worked so hard to obtain, they said that the initial discovery was the most important part, so Parfait was the greatest contributor this time. They happily began to explain the trigger conditions, telling her not to worry and that they wanted her to know.

After hearing what they told her, Parfait repeated it back like a parrot.

"Engage in PvP with your pet present, but without using the pet?"

"That’s it. You and Deeger-san fought, right? At that time, Trachiyo-chan wasn’t fighting with you. That seems to be the quest trigger. There might be other minor conditions, since it triggered for some people and not others, but it’s highly likely!"

"It seems that the stats of both the player and the pet are involved. Most likely, a condition is that the pet is weaker than the player."

Deeger let out a deep sigh after saying that.

"How frustrating. It’s highly probable that my dinosaurs won’t go on a training journey unless I become stronger than them…"

Seeing a man of considerable age looking genuinely shocked was draining on Parfait’s own spirit. She felt a little sympathy for Deeger, guessing he must really love dinosaurs.

In the first place, if those powerful dinosaurs became even stronger, they would be unbeatable. Parfait thought this quest was likely a form of relief for weaker pets. But she had other thoughts as well.

"Do you think this quest was made to coincide with the current Cat War event?"

"That’s highly likely, but that quest has stages, right?"

"It said something about completing the first stage of the limit break."

"There might be second and third limit break quests on this island, but it’s possible that the same quest existed in other places too. So far it has only occurred on Cat Island, but it’s possible it didn't trigger before because the PvP was only the type you apply for."

The type you apply for refers to PvP battles that affect rankings, like the one Parfait had with the axe-wielding player on the first day, but no one had triggered the quest from that.

"Tamers basically fight with their pets. So they don’t fight like you did, Parfait-kun. Many players have weak pets, but they only bring them out in towns or safe areas. They would never bring them to a dangerous place like this. Especially not a place where PvP is possible. So it’s possible that the same quest could have occurred in a PvP-enabled area before."

It was said that the player skill limit break also existed from the start of the game, but it wasn’t discovered until more than two years later. They thought this might be a similar case.

Hearing that, Parfait remembered something Diite had told her when she was a child.

"There’s nothing sadder than an unnoticed quest. I don’t think the conditions are that strict, but when no one discovers it, it’s like, a pleasant cooling system is too cold. In human terms, would you say it makes your heart feel tight?"

At the time, she didn’t really understand what Diite was saying, but now she thought she understood the developer’s anguish, or perhaps the feeling of having something you prepared for others to enjoy be completely ignored.

"So, because of that, we’re also currently conducting verifications in areas where PvP is always enabled."

Parfait thought they were moving too fast, but she accepted that this must be a major event in the history of tamers. Still, that wasn't the reason they came to Cat Island in the first place.

"Um, I understand about the quest, but what about Highway Star?"

Trachiyo was cute, but the other cats were cute too. She could see Siegfried in the real world, so she wasn’t as invested, but she had a mission to capture images of his children and grandchildren.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about yesterday, we got caught up in the verification."

"That’s okay. We were collecting catnip."

Yesterday, while Orion, Deeger, and the others were busy with their verification, Parfait’s group had acted separately. They couldn’t exactly challenge the clan "Highway Star" to a fight, so they had collected catnip.

They had gathered catnip while hunting reasonably easy monsters nearby, without encountering the giant beetle called Chariot or the dragon named Garland that were said to be on this island.

However, they had come to the conclusion that to meet Siegfried, the queen of this island, they would need to take the catnip from the clan "Highway Star."

Both Orion and Deeger seemed to agree on that, and they told Parfait once again that they would fight.

"Fighting is a given, but the problem is whether we can win."

"Is there that much of a difference in strength?"

"We probably have more numbers. But they’re all real-life acquaintances, so their coordination is strong. They all live in the dangerous zones on the ground. This is the first time they’re doing a large-scale PvP battle, but they’re likely stronger than us, at least."

"Even more than your dinosaurs, Deeger-san?"

"Stat-wise, we’re undoubtedly superior, but they’re a group of martial artists who only use their pets for transportation, like I do. I think they would surely come out on top if the strength difference is small."

As Parfait nodded in understanding, Deeger continued.

"Furthermore, the leader of Highway Star, a woman named Rhadia-kun, is unbelievably strong."

"She’s a woman?"

"Yes. Apparently, it’s decided that the leader of Highway Star is always a woman. They say it’s in deference to their community leader on Earth, who is also a woman."

Parfait remembered what Rick and Wilnel had taught her.

The name of the community on Earth that Highway Star belongs to is "Scavenger." Their leader was said to be a woman.

"Unlike me, she is a woman with considerable fighting strength in real life as well. I think you are strong, Parfait-kun, but I cannot tell which of you is stronger."

"Heeh! Is she that strong?"

As Parfait’s voice grew a little louder, Orion looked at her curiously.

"Why do you look so happy?"

"...Did I look happy?"

"You have a huge smile."

"Ahaha, maybe because I heard she’s a strong person? About how old is she?"

"She looks to be about the same age as Orion-kun, but I hear that people who live in dangerous zones tend to look a bit older. She might be the same age as you, Parfait-kun."

"At least a year ago, someone else was the leader, so I think she started logging in within the last year. So she might be the same age as Parfait-chan."

"If she’s my age and strong, that’s amazing!"

"Parfait-chan, you have that huge smile again... Oh, since she’s the leader, I wonder if she inherited those weapons and that pet too?"

"Huh? Inherited?"

"The leader of Highway Star seems to inherit weapons and a pet when they take over the clan."

"Just as Orion-kun says. She fights with a gun in each hand. The weapons she inherited are the shotgun ‘Jackpot’ for close-range area attacks and the rifle ‘No More Bet’ for long-range single-target attacks."

"...Ehh?"

Parfait herself used a transforming gun called Beelzebub, but she was a little surprised that her opponent used two guns. Her friend Natsu also used dual pistols, but those were more for style and not that strong.

"The pet she rides is ‘Lucky Seven.’ It’s a transforming mechanical pet that is usually in the form of a cheetah. Sometimes it becomes a motorcycle."

"...A motorcycle, like that kind of motorcycle? Doesn’t transforming already go beyond the scope of a pet?"

"It’s said to be a pet-like machine that was used in an ancient civilization, but I believe the story was that it was a golem made by a production player. However, it seems that spirits and demons are involved, so it is treated as a special pet."

Spirits and demons made Parfait think of Ginny, and she wondered if she could make something like that if she mastered a production skill related to them.

In any case, the fact that the leader of Highway Star was strong and her age made the desire to fight her well up inside.

Deeger wasn’t weak, but he wasn’t what Parfait would call a formidable opponent. Rhadia, who Deeger said was stronger than himself. Her weapon being a gun was one thing, but Parfait really wanted to fight her.