Unfortunately for Lilah, it was currently day time and the vampires weren't able to travel during the day.
They could do their normal activities during the day if they were near a Blood Fountain, but it would be impossible if they stepped out of the Blood Fountain's area of influence. They'd be directly roasted by the sun and quickly killed.
Since Lilah was caught in such a dilemma, she could only wait for Ash to come back and order him to go look for Maria.
*****
Elsewhere, in a field far away from Heltania Town, Maria was currently cleaving apart a few monsters and jovially strutting about while humming and singing.
She had just recently found the in-game option to play songs while gaming so hunting became much more enjoyable for her, except, if others saw her actually singing and cutting down monsters in a bloody fashion with a smile plastered on her face...it would be a very scary sight indeed.
"I'm a ba—Oh, what's this?"
Maria stopped singing and looked down at the monster she was just about to cut down. It was a small version of the Bloody Hounds she was currently hunting.
The only difference between this Bloody Hound and the others she had been hunting was that it was small and the monster's level was at 1.
Name: Bloody Hound Pup Level: 1 Rank: Rare HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50 Note: This monster can be tamed!
"Oh? This is probably that new pet system that the devs brought out since finding monster eggs was too difficult for most players..."
Maria continued to stare at the little whelp and the pup continued to 'ferociously' bark at her. No matter how threatening it was trying to be, in Maria's eyes, it only looked cute. It was like a little red puppy that was trying to get her attention.
"Aww, aren't you the cutest little thing?"
The little puppy only barked at her menacingly. Maria didn't care about the hostility being directed at her and she instead picked up the puppy and began looking around for more of its kind to hunt down.
The puppy, once in her embrace, began to bite down on her arm, but to Maria, it only tickled. A level 1 monster wouldn't be able to do any sort of damage to her who was level 55.
"Hehehe~ that tickles! Anyway, be a good boy and just watch me hunt~"
Maria began massacring the little fellow's kind. She was fighting with only one hand right now since her other arm was used to hug the Bloody Hound Pup to her bosom.
The puppy got a front row seat of Maria's brutality. It started loosening its bite on Maria arm and immediately turned stiff and docile.
Maria noticed that the puppy was no longer 'playfully' biting her and she stopped hunting for a moment and looked down.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
The monster just continued to stiffly face forward and didn't dare to look up at the lady who was tightly holding onto it.
*DING*
The Blood Hound Pup has been tamed! Will you accept it? YES/NO
"Eh? I actually had to tame this little guy? I thought I just had to take him," Maria shrugged before pressing the [YES].
*DING*
Blood Hound Pup Lv.1 has been added to your list of pets. Please name your new pet!
"Hmmmnnn...let's call you Little Red~"
Please confirm your pet's name: Little Red... YES/NO
"Yes sa~"
*DING*
Blood Hound Pup Lv.1 has been named: Little Red! The Pet's stats have been optimized according to Rank
"Okay, let's add you to the party and have you level up!"
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The leveling up between a low-level pet and a low-level party member weren't the same. The power-leveling restriction that the devs had just recently placed on the players didn't apply to player-owned pets and familiars.
Maria now had 2 pets, the first was Lilah and the second was Little Red. When Maria checked Little Red's [Status] she found that the most glaring difference between her two pets were their ranks and the fact that one was intelligent and the other wasn't so much.
Unlike Lilah, Little Red couldn't talk and was acting like how a normal pet should. Maria had already seen her other friends' pets and they weren't like Lilah who was intelligent enough to act on her own.
Name: Little Red Level: 1 Race: Bloody Hound Rank: B HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50
SP: 10/10 EXP: 0/100 ATK: 14
DEF: 14
M.ATK: 2
M.DEF: 6 STR: 10
AGI: 5
VIT: 10
INT: 5
LCK: 2 Skills Name: Bite
Level: 1 Slash
Level: 1 Growth Potential: 72 Satisfaction: 50/100 Favor: 20/100 Evolution: Possible Requirement: Level 50
"Hmm... seems mediocre compared to Lilah... [Pet Status: Lilah]!"
Name: Lilah Level: 65 Race: Fallen Faerie Rank: S HP: 16,500/16,500
MP: 27,750/27,750
SP: 700/700 EXP: 52,000/97,500 ATK: 702
DEF: 990
M.ATK: 740
M.DEF: 1,180 STR: 390
AGI: 460
VIT: 550
INT: 925
LCK: 5 Growth Potential: 100 Satisfaction: 98/100 Favor: 100/100 Evolution: Possible Requirement: Level 200
"Eh? When did Lilah rank up?"
Maria forgot that her fairy had a rank up quest. Somewhere along the lines, Lilah had been able to complete the quest without her even noticing it.
Anyway, it was all good news to Maria. Her first pet or in her terms, familiar, had been able to rank up and her stats became stronger.
All of Lilah's skills had also received an upgrade and her utility in battle was now going to be even more helpful. Now her second pet, Little Red, was what needed her attention now.
The sheer disparity between Little Red and Lilah caused Maria to somewhat look down on the little red puppy in her embrace.
It was only B-rank and the growth potential wasn't a perfect 100 like Lilah's growth potential. It wasn't intelligent, the starting stats were a bit low, and the only skills it knew were attacks skills so Maria judged that it was an attack-type pet, unlike Lilah who was more of a support-type.
For Maria, anything weaker than her in combat wasn't going to be an asset but a hindrance instead. The best this little blood hound could do was act like a bait and lure in all the monsters in the surroundings over to her before she personally took care of them.
The only good thing about this little puppy was that it could evolve just like Lilah. This meant that at the very least, in the future, it wouldn't be as useless as it seemingly was at the present.
"Hah... getting to level 50 should be easy. Let's just hope you can evolve properly and turn into something more useful... other than your cuteness, you don't seem to be pretty useful," Maria said after bringing the puppy up to her face.
It was as if Little Red understood what its master was saying and the puppy began whining like it was wronged by her words.
"Ugh... don't look at me like that..."
Maria stopped paying attention to Little Red and began hunting the Bloody Hounds once again. As she was hunting, numerous system notifications that informed her of Little Red's level ups popped up continuously.
*****
The hunting continued until it was late into the evening within the game. Ash had been looking around for his mistress throughout the entire day and once evening fell, the other vampires of Heltania Town were dispatched by Lilah to look for Maria as well.
It wasn't until late into the night that Maria was found sleeping under a tree with a large red hound guarding her. She had actually wandered so far away from her territory that she couldn't utilize her [Queen of the Dire] skill so she couldn't teleport herself back to her town.
At first, Maria was relying on this skill to get herself back to the town in case she got lost, but after finding out that she couldn't utilize the skill after she stepped out of her Faction's territory, Maria just outrightly gave up and continued hunting until she got sick of it and decided to just rest up somewhere.
Ash was the one who found Maria under a large blood oak tree with a bloody hound guarding her. Ash was a bit skeptical when he saw his mistress sleeping on top of the large hound, but after sensing that the hound had a similar feeling as Lilah, he came to the conclusion that the hound was his master's new pet.
Ash approached his mistress and the hound. When he got close, the hound began growling lowly at him. He didn't pay the mutt any mind and just knelt before saying, "My Lady..."
His call roused Maria awake. When she saw who had called out to her, Maria rubbed her eyes and said, "Took you long enough, Ash."
"I'm sorry, my Lady."
"Never mind, I was looking for you. How was your interrogation? Did you find anything?"
"Yes...I found...many things," Ash replied with a solemn look.
Maria nodded and said, "Good. Now, do tell what you've found."
*DING*
Quest Update! Capture and Interrogate Russo Glemen (Completed) Quest Update! Kill Russo Glemen and takeover his domain (Completed) Quest Update! Acquire information about Ytula Garm's downfall (75/100%)