****(POV)

"Still, it's crazy! All your abilities are pretty mana hungry, no? Well, besides Mana Cleave but compared with the others we both know it's trash tier. How did you cope?" AIYA inquired.

"It was all about that split second right at the beginning. I'd use Draconic Presence to render them completely fearful of me for 1 second then I'd kill as many while making use of my Aspect of the dragon transformation."

"Wow!"

"But even then it's close to impossible. Once that split second was over I went back to simply dealing with them without using a single skill. Let me tell you, fighting skillless for a few minutes to regenerate mana feels so horrible. "

"So pretty much that fight is both about extreme intensity right at the start of every summoning period and then it soon becomes an endurance game, is that it? But since it's a solo Floor you can't even have any Healer and no matter how many pills one brings it's bound to run out soon. This is truly perverse!"

"Indeed, but it could be really worth it. Extremely worth it in fact. That is actually why we are here. The plan is to test said reward."

As they were talking they had kept destroying totems. They had in fact just cleared the last one of the three and were ready to teleport out anytime they wanted.

"Spit it out, what's the reward?" Curiosity was oozing through AIYAS's pores and he was intently fixing Dario with a glint in his eyes.

"A taming emblem, C- Rank this one. Alright, let's try this." Dario admitted before approaching a Lizardman. Then he quickly defeated it but kept it alive before activating the emblem.

In a flash of blue light, the Lizardman disappeared completely and something new appeared on Dario's panel.

<Pet: Lizardman Lv 44> EXP 0/1000

Just a casual Lizardman, a loyal pet with a sturdy spear!

"Eh…sure it's really neat but soon it won't be useful anymore.", AIYA commented.

"That is where you are wrong my friend, this one has an EXP bar…" Dario grinned.

"Y-you're kidding me?! This is the difference between Heaven and Hell!"

"Exactly my thoughts, but that's not all. I also got something else."

"Please! After that, whatever you take out will feel lackluster."

Dario didn't say a word and simply took the memory fragment out before using it. He could be seen sweating, huffing, and puffing as he tried to absorb all the knowledge inside. Dario felt as if his head was being drilled in real-time by an enormous excavator.

But it was all worth it for soon appeared a line on his status screen:

- U(F): Invincible Pet Master

As long as at least one pet remains standing damage taken reduced by 10%

How incredibly overpowered was that?! It said as long as a pet remained standing! AIYA could see the expression of Dario turn to one of bliss. After the latter shared the details of the ability, he understood why and went back on his previous statement.

Compared to the pet itself that ability was even more vicious! Afterward, they began to roam the Floor trying various things. They managed to figure some things out. To actually gain experience points the pet had to be the one directly killing its victims.

Another point to note was that if the pet wasn't summoned Dario wasn't getting the defense bonus from his new overpowered skill.

Before long Dario's pet became ….

<Pet: Stabby Lizzy Lv 45> EXP 7/1000

Just a casual Lizardman, a loyal pet with a sturdy spear!

Such a thing had huge implications! It meant that it truly could level up and become stronger. At this point even if it had a limit Dario would accept it. Changing the name of the pet could be done at any time too. But it wouldn't change the description.

"Alright, shall we head back to the guild? Can you picture the reaction they will all have?" Dario chuckled.

"Oh my god, they will be so impressed! With reason too! Honestly just looking at your gains gives me the urge to just tackle Floor 45 right now! It's just I feel like it would be extremely hard for me. Man, I'm so Jealous of your Draconic Champion Class!" AIYA added.

"You say that, but your own Class is quite the amazing one too…" On that note, they both exited the Tower. Of course, Dario hid his pet, he didn't want to showcase it to the entire world just yet. He'd probably sell the info either for money or for favors to another guild.

Before long, AIYA got them more coffee and they were making their way toward the area reserved for the Gold members of Draconic. There were surprisingly many of them just loafing around fiddling with their UW.

They sure were free. Then again, Dario had no doubt that they were all true warriors. They were probably looking at Tower-related information at that very moment.

Now, just the way Dario had entered the room told them that something was up. They would alternate between looking at their UW and looking at the confident-looking Dario that had just swaggered in with incredible momentum.

"Hello, all. I have an announcement! As some of you know, I was recently gone to challenge Floor 45 at the highest difficulty. Let it be known, I have come back victorious!" Dario's voice as he declared that was thunderous.

"I present to you the world's current strongest pet!" He then summoned his Lizzard under the stupefied eyes of the others while gazing at all the members assembled with a grin.

That is when Lucas chimed in, not mincing his words as usual: "Won't it be useless like the other pets in a while?" Others could be seen nodding along too.

"Hehe, that is where you are wrong! This pet can level up! It already went from 44 to 45 earlier! How is it? Are you guys jealous?" Dario teased them with a smile. "Ah, but be careful that Floor is truly incredible hard, even for me it was."

That is when Dario felt that the mood of the room had turned extremely peculiar. They kept glancing at their UW and at his pet, apparently contemplating something. Their behavior was truly perplexing.

That is when Lucas raised his UW while politely asking "Guild Master, can you repeat that while saying the date too? This will be a historical moment for this guild"

Dario was truly puzzled but he complied since he did feel like it could truly be significant. "I present to you the world's current strongest pet! We are currently…" That is when a few others commented.

"Hey, isn't that a bit too mean?" (Lily)

"Totally mean, make sure you send me the video afterward." (Kasha)

"I'm just glad there was no real bet involved on that one" (Ronan)

"What are you guys even talking about?" (AIYA)

"Check the guild chat and you'll understand." Lilly conscientiously advised.

"Alright, but seriously what have you guys been PFFFFTT-" AIYA had been drinking his coffee calmly, before reacting to the chat logs. Said coffee was now all over Dario's face.

The victim, rather than get angry, quickly accessed his own UW. But when Dario saw what it contained he couldn't help but be at a loss himself. He had just claimed to have the strongest pet in the world.

Turns out that Josh had gotten a <Godly Pseudo-Pet Rat>. It said pseudo-pet but did fit in the pet slot, plus that could either be something worse or better than a normal pet.

On one hand, it probably wasn't as strong currently since Josh had obtained it on Floor 11 (How?!) but on the other hand, it had motherfucking godly in its name! Where was the justice!

Dario couldn't help but feel that his own lizard didn't sound that great suddenly, not when there was such a bizarre and magical sounding pet out there. His face changed consequently from extreme pride to confusion and slight disappointment.

Such reaction wasn't logical considering all he had gained from this one trip of his but still. Unconsciously, he couldn't help but shortly think about life itself: 'Who am I? Where am I? What have I been doing with my life?'

The best part (or worst) was that Lucas had gotten it all on camera and was currently happily sharing it across the guild members. Said video was titled "Face-slapping the guild master so hard he might not ever recover.", and yes the title was accurate!

That is when a new message appeared in chat:

-Josh MF Malum: But seriously guys, anyone knows what the Hell I'm supposed to do with it? I don't need such a useless pet…

Somewhere in the D District Josh was currently busy muting his UW. For some obscure reasons, the others thought he was taunting them. At least, someone had explained the Floor 45 thing to him real quick.

Josh figured right now wouldn't be the best time to pester Dario about his reward so he turned to Hegel.

"Say, how is Floor 12? Can I solo it?"

"Floor 12? Lots of white sticky stuff everywhere! I'm sure you'll be fine."

"…."