As the game interface switched, a new list of familiars appeared before Sophia Johnson.
The number of available choices had increased to four, and the initial levels were higher.
1. **Cat (Lv3)**
2. **Monkey (Lv3)**
3. **Dog (Lv3)**
4. **Spider (Lv3)**
"All of them are level 3..." Sophia Johnson's gaze lingered between the Cat and Dog, dismissing the Spider and the unfamiliar Monkey first.
After thinking for a while, Sophia Johnson decided to choose the Dog.
After confirming her choice, a line of text appeared on the game screen.
**"You now understand how to easily cultivate your familiar in the early stages. Begin now."**
**Familiar: Dog Lv3**
**Mental: 5**
**Physical: 40**
**Attributes: None**
**Traits: Strength Lv2, Smell Lv3**
**Current evolution points: 0/200**
"It's quite fair, all are 200 points, but the Dog's physical strength is much better than the Snake's."
What caught her attention the most, though, was the **Strength** trait. Sophia Johnson had hesitated between the Cat and the Dog because she knew she could draw traits from the familiars, and she quickly ran through the possible traits of both in her mind. While the agility of the Cat and the strength of the Dog both appealed to her, at this moment, what she needed most was strength.
Sophia Johnson wasn't sure if she would definitely get strength by choosing the Dog, but her guess, based on the traits of the Snake, had some risk involved. Even without strength, the Dog's size and potential aggressiveness made it a good choice in her opinion.
Now that she had received the trait she wanted, Sophia Johnson's mood lifted.
She quickly followed the process to level up the second familiar. While watching the Dog hunt down live prey, she couldn't help but wonder if dogs actually hunt like this in real life.
This time, unlike the Snake's perspective, the Dog's vision was clearly limited, with only black, white, yellow, blue, and gray visible. Still, she could make out some discrepancies. Her familiar seemed to be in a... city filled with black mist.
Sophia Johnson's eyes widened slightly, and her scalp tingled as an absurd thought popped into her head.
Could this city in the game be... Yun City?
As soon as this thought entered her mind, Sophia Johnson found it hard to calm down. She started recalling the cityscape she had seen through the Snake's eyes, but the view had been too abstract to discern much.
It was just black mist, nothing more concrete, but... what if it was more than just a game? Could that black fruit actually be something real that was digitized?
Sophia Johnson preferred to believe that the black fruit existed in reality, and the game was merely "transmitting" it.
More importantly, she desperately wanted her guess to be true: if her familiar was truly in that city, she wouldn't be alone anymore.
Whether it was for companionship or protection, that was exactly what she needed right now. She didn't trust anyone in the city, nor did she want their company. But if it was a familiar completely loyal to her, that would be perfect.
For this reason, she truly hoped her guess wasn't just a whimsical dream.
To confirm it, she had to observe more carefully during the Dog's hunt, looking for familiar landmarks.
But this was difficult—Sophia Johnson didn't often go outside, and her memory of Yun City was stuck in her pre-adolescent years, plus occasional scenes on the local TV station.
"It doesn't matter. I'll find it eventually."
Her voice was hoarse from not speaking much, and the weakness caused by her lung issues made her tone softer than most. Yet, there was a trace of barely noticeable obsession in her words, as if she would stop at nothing to find some trace of her dream in reality, even if it were just an illusion.
She threw herself completely into the game, controlling the gray stray dog as it searched for prey, occasionally facing danger, wasting two hours to recover from her reckless actions. Sophia Johnson wasn't feeling hungry during the day, so she didn't cook but simply took her medication before diving back into the game.
Fortunately, the Dog's physical strength at level 3 was much stronger than the Snake's, so it didn't tire quickly. Also, her luck was good today; hunting was easier for the Dog, and after not much time, it reached level 4. After leveling up, its stamina seemed restored, and it didn't experience the same exhaustion as the Snake during long hunts.
After six hours of gameplay, the Dog had reached level 5, and only then did Sophia Johnson feel some fatigue and put down her phone to rub her temples. At this point, the Dog's stats had become:
**Familiar: Dog Lv5**
**Mental: 14**
**Physical: 160**
**Attributes: None**
**Traits: Strength Lv3, Smell Lv3, Alertness Lv1**
Although her body felt tired, Sophia Johnson's mind was exhilarated.
She hadn't walked away empty-handed in her quest for what she wanted!
Just earlier, while controlling the Dog to track new prey after it leveled up to level 5, Sophia Johnson unwittingly chased the prey up the stairs of an old residential building, reaching the rooftop. When she spotted a building in the distance, the prey jumped between the gaps of the buildings. The game gave her a choice to chase or not, but given the large gap and height difference between the buildings, chasing would have posed a risk of falling.
Logically, she should have chosen to chase since the Dog's physical strength at level 5 meant it could endure a fall and suffer only minor injuries, and the worst-case scenario would be losing the prey. Yet, Sophia Johnson chose not to chase.
She decided to stay where she was and take a good look at the building, wondering if it could be one of Yun City's landmarks: the Bell and Drum Tower.
The gray Bell and Drum Tower, with its enormous clock face on each of the four sides, had stopped working since the earthquake five years ago. At the time, the Yun City government decided it was a fitting memorial and chose not to repair it, leaving time frozen at that moment.
As a Yun City native, no one could fail to recognize the Bell and Drum Tower. Even Sophia Johnson, who didn't go outside much, had seen it countless times on the news.
"...It's really true..."
"Haha, it's really true!"
Sophia Johnson murmured to herself, repeating it over and over. She couldn't stop herself from laughing, and if it hadn't been for the game console in her hands, she might have clapped.
In that moment, an excitement she had never felt before surged through her mind, making her heart race, her adrenaline spike, and her pupils dilate. She only realized how shallow her breath had become when she started to feel suffocated. It was only then that she recognized she had gotten carried away with her excitement.
While the Dog's level-up did bring small improvements to its physical stats, those alone weren't enough. She needed to keep her emotions in check and not let them get too intense.
Sophia Johnson put down the console, closed her eyes, and took deep breaths to steady herself, pushing the ideas racing through her mind to the back of her thoughts. Slowly, as her excitement faded, fatigue began to flood in, and she instinctively rubbed her temples.
There was still half an hour left until the settlement for Little One's progress, so she decided to rest for that time.
Sophia Johnson wasn't entirely satisfied with her greatly increased energy bar; why couldn't she just stay awake 24/7 without needing food or sleep?
Leaning back in her wheelchair, Sophia Johnson closed her eyes, intending to rest for just a moment. But before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
It felt like only a minute had passed when she woke up, but to her surprise, half an hour had already gone by.
"...Looks like high-intensity gaming does drain a lot of energy."
She exhaled deeply, picked up the handheld console, and saw that the progress bar at the bottom-right corner had been running for seven hours.
She chose Little One from the menu, and the settlement screen popped up.
**"Your familiar has completed a long hunt on its own. Here is its hunting reward list."**
**Evolution Points: 1700/1000**
**Trait Upgrade: Bloodthirsty +1, Cunning +1**
**Special Item: None**
**You may evolve or rest for three hours before another expedition.**
**"Due to the Bloodthirsty trait upgrade, your Bloodthirsty level has also increased. Now, when you enter a Bloodthirsty state, your strength will temporarily increase, but after leaving this state, you will experience weakness."**
After reading the results, Sophia Johnson's eyes sparkled with excitement.
She hadn't known that familiars could find special items through hunting, so she didn't expect much from that. But what thrilled her was the **Bloodthirsty +1** trait upgrade, which granted her the strength boost she needed!
Although it was only usable in the Bloodthirsty state, and with a debuff afterward, this was exactly what she had been longing for.
She was desperate to increase her power.
As for whether to evolve Little One or let it rest—of course, she chose evolution.
After making her choice, a twenty-minute progress bar appeared in the center of the screen.
A golden sun icon also appeared on the right side of the screen. Sophia Johnson clicked the icon, revealing two portraits: Snake and Dog.
"Oh~" Sophia Johnson understood now. It was like a directory.
She clicked on the Dog's portrait, and the game interface shifted to the Dog's side. The Snake's progress bar shrank to the bottom-right corner.
"Very convenient," Sophia Johnson praised.
Just as she was about to continue leveling the Dog, a familiar sound suddenly rang out.
—Bang, bang, bang!
It was someone knocking at the door.
Sophia Johnson tightened her grip on the game console, and her face darkened.
As expected, someone was here again.
She had anticipated this, knowing that the person would persistently come back. That was why she had been so eager to gain strength.
She was also surprised to find that the knocking had become clearer in her ears.
It must be because Little One had reached level 10 and improved her hearing.
The knocking stopped after only five seconds, and a familiar female voice immediately followed.
"Hello, my classmate came to see you yesterday. Do you remember?"
The voice was crisp and polite, and a picture of a gentle, well-mannered high school girl formed in Sophia Johnson's mind. But her face remained unchanged as she calmly maneuvered her wheelchair to the kitchen, carefully selecting the sharpest boning knife in her hand.
She had to thank the fact that her younger brother loved meat; otherwise, having only a kitchen knife would have been a problem.
While the girl kept talking, Sophia Johnson stood up carefully, did a few light jumps, and waved the knife a few times, confirming that her body was now strong enough to attempt a surprise attack.
She sat back in her wheelchair, hiding the knife behind her, and expressionlessly controlled the chair toward the door.
She needed to confirm how many people had come and whether any hostility was shown. If it was just a few people, and they showed malicious intent by trying to break in...
A cold, ruthless gleam flashed in Sophia Johnson's eyes. She thought that maybe, just maybe, it was time for her to take the initiative.