Ansel, knowing that discussing it more would just make them worry, decided to change the topic.
He turned to Althea with bright eyes. "I heard you defeated a level 30 elementalist. What's your level now?" he asked, and this made everyone turn to her.
She cleared her throat. "First of all, I had a lot of help from Gochi. And, second, I only leveled up once."
To be honest, when he heard that Althea defeated Belize, he was half-expecting her to suddenly rise to level 20 or something.
"So… you defeated an Elementalist 20 levels higher than you were, but you only leveled up once? And didn't you already have a good amount of experience before killing him?" he asked. From what he knew, she already had around a third of the experience requirement filled before the war!
When she nodded, Ansel looked at her with a face full of disbelief, wanting to shout injustice to the world.
However, Althea didn't seem to be too affected by this fact. She was quite rational about it.
"According to our data, a monster will only give 20-30 more experience points than a monster with a lower level. The only exemptions are monsters in milestone levels, which can give slightly higher rewards, but overall it's more or less the same."
That was to say: Even if they defeated a monster 3 levels higher they'd only receive extra 60 to 90 experience!
Ansel almost cried at this analysis, and the others were also pouting. "Such small experience for fighting against monsters that could kill us in a few bites! What's more: Our experience requirements every level up is, like, 5000 more than the previous level. That's so not fair! What the heck is with this world?"
It wasn't like the monsters were getting weaker! Annoying!
Then he looked at Garan with renewed admiration. Going from 0 to 20 in four months? They probably grinded day in and day out, right? And, considering their levels, they probably grinded around towns!
Did he really still have complete limbs?
Garan caught his stare and an eyebrows rose.
While Ansel and the others mourned for their future, Althea thought a bit more. "It's very inconvenient, but it's not like it's completely a bad thing. For one, if monsters can level up faster, how screwed will we be? We can't think humans would get some sort of natural advantage over other races, right?"
There were so many races in this world—some of which were stronger than humans. Unlike in Terran, they simply couldn't afford to assume humans were the 'central race' of the universe anymore.
This made them look at her, pausing in thought. Looking at them , Althea told them a few more theories she had. "One of the things I noticed about the system is that it doesn't promote killing."
"Think about it. What if some organization decided to hunt powerful people? Especially, powerful people but at the end of their lifespans and has become weak. If the bonuses were even larger, I can imagine a lot of people stuck at their levels would begin hunting these poor people.
Ansel looked at her. "You know, the fact that you can think of that makes you a little psycho, sis."
Garan glared at him, and then turned to gently look at Althea. "I love you regardless."
Their in-depth discussion was cut short when they heard some scuffle coming from the verandah. They stared in its direction, listening as it went closer to where they were. They were a little guarded, but they didn't react too harshly.
After all, the people who could enter the house without them being led inside were only members of the group.
The scuffles and scuttles got closer and closer and—
Their shoulders slumped at the same time as they saw the large dog entering through the verandah door.
Fufi was big but as adorable as always, his tail wagging wildly as he stared at them. Surprisingly, a sight of white fur appeared behind him.
It was then that they realized: Their mascot actually had a guest.
It was the white wolf from before. A very beautiful one with a good form and silky fur. It wasn't much bigger than the standard Terran wolves, but it was majestic.
Ansel immediately sat up, laughing at the sight of the wolf. "Hey! It's you!" He exclaimed before turning to his sister, "You know that wolf we found near Bright? It helped me out a lot during the war!"
Althea's eyes brightened at this. Then she looked at how well-behaved the dog was… and how much Fufi's tail was wagging.
Hey, that rate of wagging is even faster than when he was with her.
"You like her very much, eh?"
Althea's lips twitched and she shook her head, turning to stare at the wolf who was standing proud at a safe distance from everyone.
Ansel had detailed the fight earlier. While her defense and attack wasn't nearly as strong as Fufi's, it had rare stealth skills.
It was even better than Horus, and it was no wonder it managed to survive so long with its (currently) low level.
A light of idea flashed by her head, and she looked at Ansel.
"Why don't you try to turn her into your battle pet?" She asked and Ansel's back straightened at this.
"Right!" Ansel had always been envious of Althea and Fufi. He also wanted a battle pet!
He stood up and approached the wolf who just stared at him. He put out his hand with a friendly and handsome grin.
He was wearing his usual seductive grin, wearing his favorite cologne for good measure.
"Come on, bite it," he said, waving the palm in front of her, as if not afraid the wolf would just open its mouth and eat it.
However, the wolf ignored his 'sacrifice' and turned around to ignore him.
Althea laughed, Garan's lips twitched, and everyone else cackled.
Ansel was taken aback, but he wasn't one to give up easily!
He immediately recovered and smiled again, this time with softer voice and smaller movements. He went around to stand wherever the wolf was facing, 'wisely' presenting his hand as 'something delicious to bite'. "Come on, pretty girl, take a bite."
He even got a jerkey out. This made the wolf pause and look at him. Ansel's heart was raised, excited when the wolf began approaching him.
"Good girl, that's it…"
The wolf opened its mouth but it only took the bacon, before immediately turning away.
Ansel almost lost his footing. He was very depressed.
Unexpectedly, the wolf went to Garan, jumping over Ansel's hunched body, and nibbed the man's hand instead.
The next thing they knew, light surrounded the two critters, finalizing the contract.
Ansel gasped when he realized what had happened.
"WHAT! TRAITOR!" he yelled, glaring at both Garan and the wolf as if he had been cucked.
"Why? Why choose him?!"
The wolf growled and howled and they all stared at Garan, knowing that the pets' masters could understand what they were talking about.
Garan's face didn't change as he looked at the wolf, likely absorbing the answer. He nodded before turning to Ansel.
"She said you smelled."
And they all cackled, laughing at Ansel for his bad luck.