After receiving her name, Claire—now officially Mimi—spent the rest of the night playing with her master and soaking up endless pets. When they finally grew tired, Emilia fell asleep with Mimi curled up beside her. Both rested peacefully.
By the end of the day, Mimi had raised her Bond by 8 points and her Evolution progress by 0.08.
Bond Level: 10/100
Next Evolution: 0.1/1000
In both Arventia Online and this "game world," a magical beast has three progression bars.
The first is Beast Experience—needed to level up and grow stronger. Higher levels boost stats and allow the use of items or skill stones, which usually have level requirements. This makes Beast Experience the most important type of growth.
Next are Evolution Points. Every beast can evolve up to eleven times, also called "Stars." A 9-Star beast, for instance, has evolved eight times. Evolution points build up slowly, but once a star reaches 100%, the beast faces an evolution trial or quest. Clearing it grants huge stat boosts and may awaken dormant skills or traits.
The third is Bond Level. Bond grows through activities with the master—playing, fighting together, or simply interacting. Each level gives a small gift, but sometimes unlocks rare abilities no other way can—like teleporting to the master at Bond 10 or telepathy at Bond 100.
From yesterday's progress, Mimi learned there are daily caps: 10 Bond points and 0.1 Evolution points.
Her Evolution gain was crippled by the curse Sixfold Sacred Suppression, which cut her points by 99%. Without it, she could have earned the full 10 instead of just 0.1. Because of that, evolving felt like a faraway dream.
As for Beast Experience—just as expected—Mimi couldn't gain any from playing. It could only be earned through battle or by completing system quests.
Speaking of quests…
Aaaaaaa… 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.
[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 guessed that her very first daily mission would be this ridiculous?!
On one hand, EXP and Evolution Points were painfully hard to get. The main source was battle, but Noctifelis were so pathetically weak that fighting was out of the question. That left daily missions as her only real hope.
And each beast could complete up to ten daily missions per day… which meant 0.2 EXP and 0.2 Evolution Points total! That was huge! Besides, if she skipped this one, the next mission wouldn't even appear.
But on the other hand… this couch… oh gods, this white couch…
It looked supppper expensive, even decorated with golden threads! It was like something straight out of a princess's room, way too fine for ordinary butts to sit on—let alone for a noctifelis to shred with her claws.
Sure, sinking her claws into it would probably feel heavenly.
But if she ruined it… Emilia might be sad. And that was the one thing Mimi couldn't stand.
AAAAAA!!! What should I do nowww???
WHY???
WHYYYYY???
Mimi silently 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.
Skkrrt
Skrrt!
…
[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!)]
What?!
Cockroach?!
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!
And just like that, Emilia was jolted awake by the sudden loud meow of her cat.