[Your familiar has completed a solo, long-duration hunt. Below is its hunting reward list.]
[Evolution Points: 1700/1500]
[Trait Improvement: None]
[Special Item: Attribute Core +1]
[Due to injury, your familiar will be able to set out again after six hours of rest or evolution.]
The evolution points are still at 700, meaning this time the hunt only earned 1000 points, a bit less than the previous time. No trait improvements, and it's injured—but…
Sophia Johnson's gaze fell on the special item section.
"Is it because of this energy core?"
An unfamiliar item; was this why the rewards were less than last time?
She opened the game warehouse and indeed found a small, gray crystal. It looked a bit like a fragment of a diamond, but unlike the brilliance of a diamond, it emitted a dull, flowing gray hue.
She selected the core, and one word appeared next to it: Moth.
"Attribute Core?"
Sophia immediately thought of the attributes that her two familiars had, both of which were Blade.
She clicked "Yes" to the prompt, and the next line of text appeared swiftly in the center of the screen.
[All things have traits and affinities, which can be broadly referred to as: Attributes.]
[Energy also has attributes, and all aberrant monsters may develop corresponding attribute energy cores inside them. The stronger the monster, the higher the chance of this occurring.]
[Attribute Cores are rare and involve an unspeakable secret. They divide the formless power, allowing it to descend into the mortal realm.]
[There are eight primary attributes. Every creature will be drawn to the attribute best suited to them. You have obtained the Moth core—was it drawing you in, or were you drawing it in?]
The text faded, and a new option appeared.
[Would you like to learn more about the Moth attribute?]
Sophia stared at the word Moth and felt confused. She certainly needed some clarification.
After confirming, the voice in her game continued.
[Moth: Wild and dangerous, a principle of chaos and longing.]
[Moth embodies change, imagination, irrationality, intuition, search, chaos, longing, passion, nature, and the laws of the wild. It is associated with forgetting and shedding unnecessary things. Its characteristics lie in secretive, unstable behaviors.]
[You have learned a simple explanation of the Moth attribute. Other attributes will unlock after you obtain corresponding attribute cores. As for the core's specific purpose, it's for you to explore.]
"That's it?"
Sophia couldn't help but mutter aloud, but the voice gave no further explanation.
The description of Moth on the screen made her eyelashes flutter slightly, a subtle sign of unease.
At first, she instinctively felt that everything related to Moth was irrelevant to her. After all, she had always been a well-behaved, suppressed, and quiet child. But then, she realized—it resonated with her current self.
Or rather, it resonated with her inner self, not her external image.
Now, she would take dangerous actions based on intuition and guesses, and since being trapped in this dead city, her thoughts had been changing constantly. Her ideas were unstable, and her actions had become less rational. Even killing that girl—though she could no longer be called human—had left her with little fear. What she recalled now were the excitement and intensity of that moment, not the terror.
She recalled the voice in the game: Was it drawing you in, or were you drawing it in?
Sophia's gaze lifted, no longer focused on the game screen. In fact, she had occasionally felt, in this empty house and this abnormal city, that she was undergoing some unexplainable change. But before this moment, she hadn't seriously examined that change. It was only now, when the voice had pierced through her self-awareness, that she realized she had transformed into someone else in just a few days.
No, that's not right. She had always been herself—the version of her that had been suppressed, and the one gradually releasing her true nature.
Upon realizing this, Sophia smiled.
She was beautiful by nature—her face distant and aloof, her amber eyes carrying a natural air of mystery and detachment. However, her frail body and pale complexion added a sense of gloom, and her cheap, outdated clothes were carelessly draped over her thin frame. Her hair was unkempt and slightly yellowed, and anyone who looked at her could tell she was malnourished.
Like a fragile porcelain figure, barely holding onto its delicate appearance, but internally cracked and teetering on the brink of shattering. It felt as though a small misstep would cause her to fall apart.
Yet, no matter how rough she appeared, her smile was still captivating, and at this moment, it carried an undeniable sense of clarity, even softening the sickly air around her.
Sophia suddenly didn't care so much about being abandoned by her biological parents. This didn't mean she had forgiven them, but she had finally realized who she was and what she should be doing. Why cling to resentment when she had more important matters to attend to?
If she ever encountered them again, she would still take revenge. She would never forgive those who abandoned her, no matter their excuses.
But that was all there was to it. She didn't need to waste more time and energy on it, not when there were far more pressing matters.
She had been living with that hidden truth about herself for so long, and now that it was exposed, she felt as though she had undergone a complete transformation.
From this moment on, she would leave her past behind. The demands and behavioral standards constantly repeated by her parents were now seen as unnecessary things to be discarded without a second thought.
Even her parents were included in that.
As though her mood could influence her body, Sophia felt a lightness inside her, as if something had been released.
At that moment, the game screen suddenly displayed a line of text.
[You have undergone a transformation. You've lost certain things, but gained others.]
Sophia, upon seeing the message, chuckled.
"...What's with all the riddles?"
She quickly switched to her familiar, Xiao Yi.
With accumulated evolution points ready for another upgrade, but with midnight approaching, Sophia had Xiao Yi come over before the witching hour. She planned to upgrade Xiao Yi and then let it rest, while she arranged for the dog to find a safe spot. After that, it would be her turn to sleep.
"...Feels like I'm working a shift," she muttered as she pulled the covers over herself and set her alarm before falling into a deep sleep.
...
The alarm rang, and Sophia struggled a few moments before dragging herself out of bed.
She quickly retrieved the game, waking her two familiars. She sent the dog off to hunt and called Xiao Yi to meet her at the door.
As she placed her suitcase on the wheelchair and rolled it to the door, she felt a little nervous.
This was her first time meeting her familiar in person!
Though she knew Xiao Yi's size was comparable to that of a large boa in the game, it had always been in pixelated form, and there was no real sense of scale.
This was the first time she'd seen the snake in real life—a massive boa!
With some excitement and curiosity, she opened the door. But as she laid eyes on the black serpent coiled outside, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She had feared the game's modeling might have been too accurate, making her familiars identical to their in-game counterparts.
But it was real.
The familiar was truly standing there.
Even though it had only been less than 24 hours, she could already smell the odor of the nearby corpse.
With a calm expression, she stepped out the door. Xiao Yi, at around five to six meters long, didn't seem frightening at all, and Sophia felt a sense of familiarity rather than fear.
Yet, when she saw how the snake was eyeing her—its long, slit-like pupils locked on her—it was almost as though it was longing to get closer, though for some reason, it didn't dare. Instead, it gazed at her with eager eyes, almost as though seeing her as prey.
"Strange feeling, but not a bad one," Sophia muttered under her breath.
Xiao Yi, being a snake, had no hands to help her with her luggage, so Sophia placed the suitcase on the wheelchair herself.
But after Xiao Yi's latest upgrade, she had more strength, enough to walk some distance. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had the energy to escape.
Xiao Yi, however, didn't think of that at all. The serpent's tail moved, and with a quick motion, it grabbed the suitcase from the wheelchair and moved it behind itself, even showing off by tossing it into the air and catching it again with ease.
Sophia was startled by the display.
"Stop! I know you're strong! But there are fragile items in there!" she shouted.
Her face was a bit exasperated—she hadn't expected her familiar to be so "childish."
But now that Xiao Yi had reached level 12, her stats had improved, with health at 640 and mental capacity at 160. A suitcase was nothing for her.
The elevator in the building still worked, likely because backup power hadn't been used up yet. Sophia pressed the button and settled back in her wheelchair.
Why stand when you can sit, especially when you're not feeling well?
The elevator moved quickly, far faster than Sophia could walk.
While waiting, Xiao Yi would occasionally emit a soft hiss, almost as though trying to grab her attention. Although she didn't hear the sound, she could sense the creature's emotions—essentially, it was saying: "Look at me, look at me, come closer..."
It was childish, and a little noisy.
Sophia couldn't believe it—she never thought she'd find a snake so... clingy.
After tolerating the noise, she reminded herself that it was her first time meeting her familiar, and it was understandable that it was excited.
Suddenly, she felt something cold and slightly slippery brush against her ankle.
Startled, she felt goosebumps rise along her back.
Without a doubt, it was Xiao Yi's tail.
Sophia's temple throbbed, and she turned toward the snake, irritated.
"What are you doing?"
Xiao Yi looked at her, tilted its head innocently, and hissed.
Before Sophia could continue, the elevator arrived with a chime.
Reluctantly, she entered and wheeled herself out of the building, only to be met with thick black fog flooding in through the elevator doors.
The world outside was indistinct, shrouded in darkness, with buildings barely visible even at five meters away.
Sophia understood that Xiao Yi, with its upgraded vision, could see clearly in the fog, and it was now able to observe far ahead.
She looked at the serpent and said, "Xiao Yi, lead the way, stay alert."
With her first familiar by her side, Sophia Johnson stepped into the black mist for the first time.