The buff is permanent, and you start the game with a fountain of water.

Just as Huan Cheng was frowning in thought, a series of chirping sounds came from not far away. It was the little fox tumbling and crawling towards him.

Fire Cloud Steed followed slowly behind, occasionally using its hooves to push the little fox that had fallen to the ground up, its face full of helplessness.

With the help of the Fire Cloud Steed, the little fox practically rolled all the way to Huan Cheng.

Huan Cheng smiled, squatted down, and curiously examined it.

The little fox wasn't shy at all. It tilted its tiny head back, wiggled its body happily, and even stuck out its pink little tongue to lick Huan Cheng's fingers when he stroked it.

Huan Cheng stared intently at it.

【Three-Tailed Ice Fox Cub】: Level 1 Gold Rank, growing, naturally ice-type affinity, skilled in ice magic.

"Ding! Congratulations on completing the mission [Life Extension]."

A system notification came, but there was no reward.

Huan Cheng held the little fox in his hands, stroking its soft fur with his fingertips, pondering how to settle the little creature.

"Ding! Player Riding the Wind, a three-tailed ice fox cub wishes to acknowledge you as its master. Do you accept?"

"Um?"

Huan Cheng was taken aback and subconsciously looked down, only to meet the little guy's blinking eyes.

"Agreed!" After thinking for a moment, Huan Cheng chose to agree.

"Ding! Congratulations to player Huan Cheng for successfully capturing the Gold-level pet [Three-Tailed Ice Fox] and unlocking the pet system ahead of schedule."

"Server-wide announcement: Player Chengfeng has unlocked the pet system ahead of schedule and will be rewarded with the special skill [Soul Contract] and 1000 reputation points."

"Server-wide announcement: The pet system is now live ahead of schedule. The pet leaderboard is open, and the pet shop is now open in the main city. You can learn taming skills or form contracts with pets. There is a small chance that killing wild monsters will drop pet eggs."

"The pet system is open ahead of schedule?" Huan Cheng noticed the word "ahead of schedule" in the system announcement and his heart skipped a beat, as if he had thought of something.

Opening the leaderboard, I found that a new pet leaderboard had been added next to the level leaderboard.

Clicking on the leaderboard reveals only Huan Cheng's name.

First place: Three-tailed Ice Fox, Grade: Gold, Level: 1, Owner: Chengfeng.

Huan Cheng opened the system interface, and a new pet section appeared on the character panel.

【Three-Tailed Ice Fox】(Can be renamed): Level 1, Rank: Gold, Health: 500, Mana: 200, Magic Power: 100, Defense: 20, Skills: None, Loyalty: 100.

Looking at the attributes of the Three-Tailed Ice Fox, Huan Cheng clicked his tongue in amazement!

As expected of a gold-level creature, it's so small, yet at level 1 it has 500 HP and 100 magic attack.

I vaguely remember that when he first entered the newbie village, he only had 100 points of health and 15 points of physical attack, which was far worse than the little fox.

Huan Cheng casually named the three-tailed ice fox Ahri and then continued to check the special skill [Soul Contract] awarded by the system.

【Soul Contract】: A pet-exclusive skill that allows you to enter into a contract that reaches the very essence of your soul, with the pet's complete consent. Once the contract is established, the pet's loyalty is locked to absolute loyalty. The master and pet can freely share experience, transfer damage in both directions when attacked, copy one pet skill, and randomly acquire some of each other's traits.

"That seems like a pretty interesting skill?"

Compared to his current strength, Huan Cheng's skill set is extremely poor.

Even including equipment bonuses, he only has a handful of active skills, which any average player could easily surpass in terms of skill quantity.

Soul Contract is a special skill directly rewarded by the system, unaffected by Heavenly Sin, and can be used directly.

After thinking for a moment, Huan Cheng looked at the three-tailed ice fox.

The soul contract requires the pet to be completely willing, and Huan Cheng didn't know exactly what "completely willing" meant, so he could only try it out first.

Having chosen Ahri, Huan Cheng initiated the Soul Contract.

The little fox was stunned for a moment, looking at Huan Cheng with some confusion in its eyes. After a moment, it suddenly realized what was going on. Huan Cheng then received a system notification: the soul contract was successful!

"That simple?"

Just as he was wondering what was going on, he saw the little fox, as if it were drunk, swaying its little head and falling into Huan Cheng's palm.

"Ding! You are affected by the Soul Contract. Your affinity for ice magic increases by 1000, and your resistance to ice magic increases by 10% permanently."

"Hmm?" Upon receiving the system notification, Huan Cheng was startled and looked at the little fox with a strange expression.

Percentage spell resistance—Huan Cheng hasn't seen any increase in that stat since he became the Lord of the Abyss.

Signing a soul contract with the little fox actually increased my stats by 10%?

Before Huan Cheng could react, a new system notification appeared: "Your pet, the Three-Tailed Ice Fox, is acquiring some of its traits through a soul contract. Do you wish to allow it?"

"Isn't this automatic? Why do I need to give my permission?"

Upon hearing the system notification, Huan Cheng was somewhat puzzled, but he still manually selected "allow".

Acquiring traits is more like copying and pasting; it doesn't affect Huan Cheng himself. Why would he refuse such a good thing?

The next moment, the little fox was suddenly enveloped in a soft white light, and a system notification followed immediately: "Ding, your pet Three-Tailed Ice Fox has entered evolution mode. During evolution, it cannot be stored in the pet space. Please go to a safe area to avoid being attacked and affecting the evolution."

"That's how it evolved?"

Huan Cheng glanced at the little fox sleeping soundly with its body upside down, limbs outstretched, and pink belly exposed, and was filled with questions.

After thinking for a moment, Huan Cheng simply sat down on the spot. He wanted to see what this little fox could evolve into today!

Surely you wouldn't go so far as to create a vixen, would you?

Time passed second by second, and the little fox was still evolving. Huan Cheng, having nothing else to do, decided to take a look at the official forum.

Sure enough, everyone is having a heated discussion about the pet system.

After the pet system was launched, pet shops were simultaneously refreshed in major cities, selling pet items, pet food, and pets.

However, the pets sold in the pet store are ridiculously expensive, and the highest grade they can get is only one-star elite.

The system's attitude is clear: if you want a high-level pet, you still have to rely on your own efforts.

While browsing the forum, a message suddenly caught Huan Cheng's attention.

[Thank heavens, thank earth, thank the system, thank you riding the wind, the pet system is finally open, it's time for me to take off!]

The post was made by a player named Coffee.

According to him, his talent is called pet training, which can add an extra pet slot and improve the pet's rank through training.

Before the pet system was available, this talent was completely useless, which is why he's still just a level 15 Karami.

Now that the pet system is open, he can finally shine.

Below the post, Huan Cheng saw many comments from large guilds, all with similar content, inviting Coffee to join their guilds.

Besides this coffee, Huan Cheng also saw a lot of talent related to pets.

For example, some increase pet intimacy, some increase pet combat power, and there are all sorts of other methods.

One of them has a very interesting talent: he can armor his pet, which is equivalent to having an extra equipment slot.

Huan Cheng suddenly realized that as players level up and more and more system functions are unlocked, those talents that were useless in the early stages begin to shine.