: Pet Dog
ACT 1 Pet Dog
[TL Notes: I made a small edit to the previous chapter. The skill slots for Racard’s blood-sucking skill increased to 2, not by two.
Also for those who don’t know what ‘chaebol’ is when it is mentioned in this chapter. It is like a family lead huge corporations commonly found in South Korea. If you want more information then you can look it up in google.]
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Shortly after Karakul met his end.
According to the rules of a vampire’s duel, Racard inherited all of Karakul’s possessions. It meant the Karakul’s territory, castle and the Bloody subordinates all belonged to Racard. The Bloody swiftly changed their attitude after the duel finished.
“Oh, the shining charisma, it is wonderful!”
“As expected, the people who make their own fortunes are different.”
“It will be a great honour to serve such a fine Lord.”
“I thought it would be like from the beginning.”
“I’ll offer my whole body to our Lord.”
The Bloody prostrated themselves on the ground and shook their tail. They didn’t seem like subordinates who had served Karakul for 100 years. Well, the Bloody and Karakul’s relationship wasn’t one of loyalty but was more like a forced blood contract.
“Earl….. Earl Racard….”
Racard looked like it still hadn’t sunk in. But after a moment, his face brightened as the Bloody continued praising him.
“Earl, yes I am now an Earl. Hahaha, this castle is also mine! Everything is mine! Hahaha. Eh? What’s that nasty stuff? Why is it in my room?”
Racard looked around the room and frowned as he saw a black lump. Then one of the Bloody twisted its hand and replied.
“Yes, that is Karakul who was the previous Lord.”
Karakul had been a powerful vampire who controlled portions of the Dark Earth. However, the triple combo of the cross, garlic smell and illumination had turned him into unrecognizable ashes. Racard farted at the Bloody’s answer and muttered.
“Bah, what are you guys doing? This is my room. Quickly remove the mess. Clean up the room.”
“Yes, I understand. I’ll remove this messy thing.”
The competent Bloody was also a professional maid so the room was quickly cleaned up. The broken household goods were removed while the various blood spots were neatly polished. Then the strong vampire Karakul was separated into non-flammable trash and dragged out. It was a world where losing was truly disastrous.
“Huhuhu, I’m an Earl…..should I talk like an Earl?”
Racard sat down in the chair used by Karakul and laughed. Then he spoke to Ark and the Wolrang.
“Ah, did you see? Did you see? I’m now an Earl. But there’s no need for you to be tense. I’m not an authoritarian vampire. In addition, I’m thankful to the Wolrang who helped me. So you can live comfortably. Hahaha!”
However Ark didn’t feel like laughing.
‘Damn, this is bad.’
Ark sighed with a mixed expression. Of course, Racard’s evolution was an inspiring event for Ark. 170 total stats were added when Racard evolved. It was like he gained 17 levels at once. However, the important thing for summons wasn’t the level but the ranking. Recently he learned that the ranking that appeared in a summons’s information window wasn’t simply a classification.
The combat ability of monsters wasn’t just determined by their level or stats. A user’s skill was affected by the ranking of the skill. This was also applied to the monster rating system. A monster’s skills, agility and ability to cope with different situations would depend on the ranking. That’s why a level 80 user could fight against a level 100 monster without difficulty. However, it wouldn’t be that easy for the user if they were dealing with a level 100 intermediate monster. If the monster was in the advanced ranking then its power would increase by approximately 20 levels and a party might be required to hunt it. It was one of the reasons why Ark used Racard’s satellite surveillance mode in battles. Most of the monsters Ark was currently dealing with were intermediate ranked. Because Razak also involved, he now had two intermediate ranked summons.
But he wasn’t entirely happy about Racard evolving to an intermediate rank. If Ark attacked an intermediate ranked monster, the damage wouldn’t be applied or not all of it will be applied. On the other hand, there was a possibility of receiving additional damage if he was in a critical condition. The rankings of the monsters would also increase in the higher level regions. It would be impossible to exert his full power no matter how much he raised his stats through food. In the end, the evolution of his pets was necessary if he wanted to use them in higher level regions. It was the reason Ark chose evolution even though he could raise their stats through food.
‘Anyway, Racard has an intermediate ranking now. There will be no penalties applied if we face an intermediate monster.’
It meant that he could use Racard more aggressively in fights.
‘There is also an additional skill slot in Blood-sucking.’
Until now, there had only been one skill slot for Blood-sucking so it was very inconvenient. If he wanted to preserve the skill saved in the slot then he couldn’t use Blood-sucking. Now that there were two slots, he could divide it into one slot to use and one to save. It also had a 10% probability of blocking a random skill. Ark had experienced the effect of blocking skills through Karakul so he was aware of its power. Although it blocked a random skill so luck was needed, it could be used to properly neutralize the enemy.
‘Blood Lane is also a wide area curse magic!’
The evolution was undoubtedly successful.
‘Okay. Karakul is defeated and my pet evolved into Racard…..everything is good. But…….’
Ark released a sigh and looked at Racard absent-mindedly. No, he looked at Racard who was now wearing a red tuxedo. The reason Ark was dissatisfied was because of the tuxedo.
Blood Red Tuxedo (Rare)
Armour type: Special Costume
Durability: 23/60
Defense: 30
Weight: 15
User restriction: Vampires only
A vampire’s tuxedo dyed in his favourite colour, blood red. It appears to be clothes that Karakul who possessed great power preferred and is a luxury clothing using the finest fabrics. There aren’t many vampires who wears such luxury tuxedos in Dark Earth. The dignity of the vampire will increase just by wearing this.
‘The rare item I got was exclusively for vampires……’
The vampire wasn’t a race that users can select. In addition, Ark was the only user who can summon vampires. In other words, the vampire-only items were created exclusively for Racard. Of course, Ark was also intending to gather equipment for his summons.
‘But why did a boss monster drop a rare item for my pets?’
He would be able to receive hundreds of gold from rare items if it wasn’t a vampire exclusive item. Now he had to equip all of them on Racard! Ark felt anger well up as he saw Racard wearing the tuxedo.
‘First I had to spend 700 gold on a summoning port and now I have to give a rare item to my pet? Am I a chaebol? What the hell? Why was there suddenly so many maintenance costs on my pets? On the other hand, Racard has become a Lord.’
In this situation, it was impossible for Ark not to consider profit. Ark bit his lips before a brilliant idea popped into his head.
‘Wait, this castle? Aha, I see.’
Ark’s eyes shone brightly as he looked around the room. Karakul was quite a well off vampire in Dark Earth. Like most vampires, he had a lot of items that appealed to his vanity. There were quite a few unnecessary paintings and statues. And the current owner of those decorations was Racard! Ark thought of an idea and smiled wickedly at Racard. In the meantime, Racard had lost his sassiness and became more arrogant.
“Haha, that’s right. I’m already an Earl! Dedric used to only live in a small hideout and now I am an Earl! Ohhhh, look at me now!”
Dedric who had abruptly risen in the hierarchy seemed to think he had become the founder of a new religion. It was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ohhhh, hooray Earl Racard!”
“We swear allegiance to the new Lord!”
“We’ve never mentioned it but we never liked Earl Karakul.”
Dedric became even more arrogant after hearing the Bloody’s reactions.
“Huhuhu, lower your heads even more!”
“Hey Racard.”
Then Ark approached.
“What? What bastard dared call my name so informally…..Hik, M-Master!”
“Oh, aren’t you arrogant? Have you become so big that I can’t say your name anymore?”
“No, that’s not it…..”
Despite being an Earl, Racard was still Ark’s summon. The suffering that Racard received after evolving into Dedric and becoming cocky had been carved into his bones. Racard thought that Ark was going to beat him up again and stuttered while shrinking back.
“I didn’t know it was Master. Really.”
‘Yes, the mental training I gave before is still working.’
Ark liked Racard’s expression.
‘I was looking for signs that he had become cocky again after evolving but now’s not the time for that.’
“Well, okay. You went through some trouble this time so I won’t find faults in such a trivial thing.”