The moment Ethan logged into the game, a video call from Lyla popped up.

'Already?'He smirked. 'We just separated a few minutes ago, and she's already missing me? Guess my charm really is something else.'

Feeling pleased with himself, he answered.

"Check the leaderboard," Lyla said immediately. "The pet rankings."

"What's up?" Ethan asked, already skeptical. The pet system hadn't even been unlocked yet, nobody should have a pet right now.

"Just look!" Lyla insisted.

Giving in, Ethan opened the leaderboard and navigated to the pet category.

And sure enough, there was one pet listed. The only one. Standing there all alone at the top.

Pet Name: Myrga Nair

Species: Dragonkin

Description: A powerful dragon with mastery over poison and water magic.

Owner: Moonbeam

Ethan blinked. That name looked familiar. Then he read the description and bam, it clicked.

Wasn't this the Winter Queen's pet?!

Seeing the owner's name, Ethan froze for a second before excitement surged through him. "Lyla! How the hell did you get her?!"

In Ethereal, it was possible to tame wild creatures, but nobody had ever managed to tame a boss before.

Once the pet system opened, 99.99% of players would get their pets by purchasing an egg and paying a ridiculous amount to have it hatched by a pet trainer.

But Lyla? She somehow got a top-tier boss to pledge loyalty to her. Ethan was ecstatic.

Through the video, he saw the little dragon perched on Lyla's shoulder, chubby, deep green, and looking adorably smug.

"I have no idea," Lyla said, equally amazed. "I logged in, and the system just told me I had a pet."

Ethan finally understood why the boss hadn't shown up at Larson Basin yesterday. It was off finding its new master instead.

The real question was why. What kind of ability did Lyla have to make a monstrous creature willingly swear loyalty?

First, there was that pendant from the Underworld that bound itself to her. Now, the Winter Queen's pet had done the same. Was there some connection between them?

Ethan was starting to think that maybe Lyla was the real chosen one here.

And him?

He was just… some guy.

For a moment, he didn't even know what to say. Eventually, he just told Lyla to start leveling up with her new pet. Sure, it'd slow down her experience gain, but once it grew stronger, it'd be a massive asset, strong enough to help her fight enemies way beyond her level.

Lyla, of course, didn't seem too worried about her level. "I don't mind leveling slowly. It's nice having a little pet to keep me company."

She sounded casual, but Ethan didn't feel the same way. No way he was letting her stay low-leveled. Especially not when he had a legendary weapon meant just for her.

They were supposed to fight side by side, carve out a legend together, make every single single player in the game jealous.

If he wanted Lyla to level up faster, there was only one solution, getting her a unique growth ability.

Ethan already knew where to find one. Problem was, that place was currently out of his reach. Walking in now would be the same as signing his own death warrant.

But as for finding a low tier growth ability, That wasn't a problem.

Lyla getting this pet had Ethan in such a good mood that even his Sin Value being maxed out didn't bother him anymore. Sin Value could be cleared eventually. Speaking of which, he quickly reminded Lyla not to let her pet die.

If its Loyalty dropped too low, things could get ugly. Pets with low loyalty didn't just disobey orders, they could turn on their own masters.

And that was a mess neither of them wanted to deal with.

In his previous life, Ethan had seen plenty of players get killed when their pets suddenly turned on them.

But Lyla? She didn't seem worried at all. "It's fine," she said casually. "Her loyalty stat doesn't have a number. It just says 'Cannot Decrease.'"

Ethan's jaw nearly hit the floor. He'd never heard of that before. Regression was really messing with his understanding of the game.

Since Lyla didn't need him worrying about her, Ethan said his goodbyes. He had his own problem to deal with, washing away his Sin Value.

In Ethereal, simply staying online gradually reduced Sin Value over time. But at max Sin Value? That would take forever. He didn't even want to think about how long it'd take to clear it naturally. Farming monsters was a much faster option.

Speaking of farming, he suddenly thought of a place where monsters dropped Mutated Cores, an item that boosted pet growth.

Excited, he called Lyla again.

She picked up instantly. "Ethie, again? We just hung up."

"I know, I know, but listen. Don't level up your pet yet. Put her away and focus on getting to level fifteen first. I'm heading out to clear my red name, and while I'm at it, I'll see if I can farm some Mutated Cores. If I get some, it'll boost her growth before she levels up, making her even stronger."

Lyla considered this for a moment. "Alright, but… her Growth Stat already says '(50) Max.' Can it even go higher?"

"…What?" Ethan froze.

"Yeah, it says 50 Max," Lyla confirmed.

"…Forget everything I just said. Go ahead and level her up," Ethan sighed, feeling completely defeated.

In his previous life, he'd heard that the highest possible Growth Stat for a pet was 50. It worked similarly to a player's Star Growth system.

Every time a pet leveled up, all its attributes would increase according to its Growth Stat.

That meant Lyla's pet—this absurd Growth 50 freak, would gain fifty points in every single stat per level-up.

For context, the strongest pet in the previous timeline, the number one ranked pet in the entire game, had a Growth Stat of 35.

Fifty was beyond insane. The higher her level got, the bigger the gap between her and every other pet in existence.

That's why most players, upon obtaining a pet, didn't rush to level it up right away. Instead, they focused on increasing its growth potential first.

After all, each player could only ever have one pet for life. Even if a pet betrayed its master, the player couldn't obtain a new one.

The only solution? Never summon it again and try to restore its loyalty, an obscenely expensive process involving a high-tier pet trainer. Losing a pet meant losing a huge combat advantage.

After ending the call, Ethan set off toward Ashen Gorge. It was a level 20–30 monster zone, perfect for grinding and lowering his Sin Value.

The moment he stepped inside, the name made perfect sense. The entire landscape was cast in shadow.

Unlike the Plaguewood Forest, where darkness came from an eerie atmosphere, Ashen Gorge was dim because of the towering trees. Their thick, interwoven branches completely blocked out the sunlight.

Yet despite the lack of light, the gorge was lush, vibrant greenery, rare flowers, and exotic herbs filled every corner.