Li Huailin got up at six in the morning the next day. Before logging into the game, he went downstairs and grabbed some breakfast. Although the breakfast stalls in the 22nd century were basically all half-mechanized and everything tasted the same, it was still better than eating fast food.
Li Huailin went back to his place after breakfast. He did not have many friends and had nothing else to do. To kill time, he had no other option but to play games.
When he walked upstairs, he paid some attention to his next door neighbour, Chen Juan. Her door was still closed, and it was very quiet inside. Li Huailin guessed that she had not come back yet. After all, she worked at night.
After taking a shower, Li Huailin walked to his computer with a cup of beverage. Before logging into the game, he first checked the official website for information about the new version.
The official website was now available. A lot of new information about pets had been posted. Li Huailin went through all the pages.
First of all, pet stores were now available in the business districts in main cities. Players could buy bandages and potions for their pets in the stores. Also, in the new version of the game, pet eggs had to be hatched in these stores.
These pet stores did not sell pet eggs, in fact, pet eggs were dropped by monsters with low probability. A dropped pet egg didn't have a name and would only show its grade. A player would not know what pet it was until the egg hatched.
The system still provided a special way of getting a pet egg. A new village called Pet Family would open beside each main city. After reading a long introduction, Li Huailin realized that this new force was directly related to the Pet System, and even the pet stores were run by NPCs from this new system.
By finishing quests in this village, a player could gain contribution points, and these quests would be renewed everyday. Players who were less lucky could redeem the points to get various pet eggs of different grades, from white, bronze, silver, gold to even epic. But still, there was no certainty in which pets hatched from the eggs.
In Li Huailin's eyes, contribution points could be regarded as a new kind of currency in the game. Because the chance of getting a pet egg by fighting monsters was too small, this system was not bad.
When Li Huailin read further, he found that pets over bronze grade were battle pets, and pets over gold grade could become mounts for riding when they reached certain levels.
Pets obtained experience points from their masters. When first hatched, all pets started from level 1. Players could adjust the percentage to decide the amount of experience given to their pets, between 0 and 50%.
The most important setting had to be the Loyalty System. All pets were born with 60 Loyalty Points towards their masters. Every 2 hours of fighting together, 1 loyalty point would be added. Every 6 hours, pets would start to feel hungry. Every time pets were fed, 1 Loyalty Point would be added. Of course, proper food was required. If a player fed his or her carnivorous pet with veggies, 3 Loyalty Points would be deducted and the pet would still remain hungry. When feeling hungry, pets would lose 2 Loyalty Points every hour. When a pet's loyalty towards its master drops under 60 points, it might choose to leave. An escaped pet would become a wild monster with its level unchanged, it could no longer be recaptured. When a pet's loyalty towards its master becomes 0, it would leave with 100% certainty.
Pets would not lose experience when they die, however, every time they perished, 10 Loyalty Points would be lost. Dead pets would respawn in the Pet Space. After 100 seconds of recovery, they could join battles again with full health points.
A player could only take one over Bronze-grade pet with him or her. A pet could not be released. The only way to get rid of a pet was to let its loyalty drop to 0. This would also add a curse on a player which would last for 7 days, in which pet stores would refuse to hatch another egg for the player.
With all this information he had, Li Huailin suddenly lost interest in the Pet System because a pet was too difficult to raise. However, having a helper when fighting sounded attractive to him… He was caught in a dilemma.
Finally, Li Huailin decided to find himself an egg first. After all, his stats were still abnormally high, he had to seize the chance.
After sitting down in the gaming pod, Li Huailin started logging into the game.
After a short moment of darkness, Li Huailin appeared in front of Mike Colt's place. Before Li Huailin could properly stand up, he heard Red Face Drinks Water's voice.
"Brother-in-law, there you are! I've been waiting for you for ten minutes!" Red Face Drinks Water happily exclaimed.
"Why are you so early today?" Li Huailin was quite surprised. Yesterday, Red Face Drinks Water didn't get up until noon.
"I went to bed too early yesterday and woke up at 5 this morning. My sister's still sleeping and I have nothing to do except waiting for you," Red Face Drinks Water explained. "I know you usually come online at around 7 in the morning."
Li Huailin smiled. It seemed that this little girl figured out his daily routine.
"Brother-in-law, I've already checked out the official website. The Pet System seems to be really fun! Shall we find a pet egg today?" Red Face Drinks Water asked cautiously.
"Finding a pet egg requires tons of luck. Have you found a single pet egg yet?" Li Huailin asked her. "We should check the Pet Family first and see whether a certain quest will give us a pet egg. Hard work is always more reliable."
"You're right." Red Face Drinks Water nodded.
"Let's go. That place will be overcrowded soon," Li Huailin quickly informed her.
"Okay!"
Since neither of them knew where the Pet Family was, Li Huailin asked one of the guards in the main city for the location. The village was northeast of the main city, it wasn't far from where they were.
Li Huailin and Red Face Drinks Water walked out of the main city in the direction given by the guard.