At 11.59pm, Zhao Yao was already sitting on his couch with his eyes glued to his BOOK, eagerly antic.i.p.ating the experience points from his monthly mission. Currently, his BOOK read:
Book: Lv4 (2088/5000)
Matcha: Lv4 (1090/2000)
Elizabeth: Lv4 (330/2000)
Dust Ball: Lv5 (220/5000)
Ares: Lv4 (70/2000)
The corner of his mouth curled up when the thought flashed across Zhao Yao"s head, "With the 2X Exp Card, I should be able to upgrade both Matcha and Elizabeth with the experience points from the monthly mission."
Even though the points could be used to upgrade Ares instead, but Zhao Yao was already satisfied with the strength of the current deflective field. On the other hand, Zhao Yao required a strong illusion or some sort of time manipulation ability in order to juggle his commitments between Jiangmen University, his cat café and the refurbishment of his extradimensional belly.
The clock finally struck 12 which signified the end of the month and the completion of his monthly mission. It was time to calculate the experience points earned.
The green tick appeared next to his monthly mission, indicating its completion. A paragraph of words appeared beneath the heading of monthly mission: After deducting the utility bills, the cost of cat food, cat tidbits and all other miscellaneous fees, the net profit for the café was RMB 1,563,333, hence you had earned 300 experience points. Tap on the b.u.t.ton to collect your reward and reset the monthly mission for the new month.
"Even though the café was only in operation for three weeks, I still managed to earn more money than the previous time, which means more experience points earned!"
With a wide grin on his face, Zhao Yao tapped on the b.u.t.ton and collected his 300X2 experience points. Instantly, the book turned to lv4(2688/5000).
"Haha, this is just nice for the two of them." Immediately, Zhao Yao began allocating the experience points to his two cats. He pumped 910 and 1670 experience points to Matcha and Elizabeth respectively. Both the cats had been upgraded to level five, while the book was at lv4 (108/5000).
Zhao Yao immediately tapped on Matcha"s ability branches to find out the new powers awaiting him. The two abilities were:
Time Multiplication: Double the duration of your abilities, increasing your time freeze to 12 seconds and its cooldown to 12 seconds as well.
Multiplication Explosion: After using your power of time freeze, there is a probability that the power would be triggered again at the end of the 6 seconds. This would not affect the ability"s cooldown time.
Zhao Yao"s forehead furrowed slightly when he read the description of the two ability branches. Time Multiplication was easy to understand but Multiplication Explosion would make it even harder for him to control Matcha"s ability. Firstly, Zhao Yao had no idea what the probability was. Secondly, the effects of the power might be activated at inappropriate times.
The variables and uncertainties surrounding the power could only be fully understood if Zhao Yao chose this ability. However, for safety"s sake, Zhao Yao tapped on Time Multiplication to increase Matcha"s time freeze to 12 seconds.
"Wow, 12 seconds is amazing but it would not be very useful for my upcoming missions." Disappointment sagged through him as Zhao Yao flipped the BOOK to Elizabeth"s page to find out what was in store for him. The two ability branches were:
Split: You can control your target from afar for three hours. This is as good as having your consciousness implanted into another person.
Seal: Seal a fixed illusion on an object and the effects of the illusion would continue over the next 3 days. You can cast this power on at most three targets.
Elizabeth"s power could always be cla.s.sified into control and illusion. Zhao Yao had always pumped the points to enhance Elizabeth"s power of illusion.
"The ability to control an individual is a very straightforward power that cannot be enhanced significantly. I can always use the power of illusion to supplement the control." Zhao Yao"s eyes burned with excitement as he tapped on the power, Seal, and thought, "This is great! If the effects of this power are like what I imagined, I would be able to release Ares and his gang."
After tapping on the b.u.t.ton, Zhao Yao ran to the kitchen and took out a cup. He then attempted casting an illusion and sealing it within the cup.
After more than half an hour of experimenting, Zhao Yao was already beaming from ear to ear.
The effects of the power far exceeded his expectations. Any kind of illusion could be perfectly sealed within the object. The illusion would then repeat for the next 72 hours. It was as good as having another Zhao Yao casting an unchanging illusion.
"Good! Good! With this, I"ll be able to connect the extradimensional belly with the dugout. I can also consider releasing Ares and gang. I will not have to worry about Cat Kingdom"s future anymore!"
With this thought at the back of his head, Zhao Yao immediately retrieved three items from his cabinet.
"With three items, I can use one for the dugout, one for the cat café and one more for Ares. This can be used for battle and can even be used to control the supercats. I only have to cast a new illusion on it after the three days expire."
Zhao Yao immediately put his words into action as he began casting an illusion on the three collars.
With one collar in his hand, Zhao Yao"s brain started producing an elaborate illusion before sealing them into the collar.
Even though the sealing effects worked perfectly, the toil it took on Zhao Yao"s brain was immense. Zhao Yao"s entire body was beaded with sweat after just ten minutes.
"D*mn it. The illusion which I can seal within the collar can last for up to three days. This is as good as creating a 72 hours illusion within less than an hour." Zhao Yao glanced at the other two collars resting on the table and thought, "I guess I can only work on one collar today. I"ll just start with the dugout."
Instantly, he picked up that collar and resumed the process.
The sealing process was finally completed after half an hour. Zhao Yao was so tired that he had difficulty keeping his eyes opened. He collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep instantly.
Zhao Yao suffered from a slight headache when he woke up the second morning. However, a smile crept up his face when he took a glance at the collar lying on the table.
"With this collar, I can cast a permanent illusion within the dugout. I"ll be able to release Ares in there. However, this is not enough. My mission required me to establish a cat nation within the extradimensional belly. Hence, I need to create some sort of bridge to connect them."
The bridge would be none other than Dust Ball. By positioning Dust Ball inside the dugout, her mouth would act as the channel connecting the dugout to the extradimensional belly. Cats could then roam freely between them.
There were two benefits to this solution. Firstly, cats from the extradimensional belly could enter the dugout base whenever they wanted, establis.h.i.+ng a connection between them. In turn, this would greatly increase the size of the cat nation"s territory. If not, the current extradimensional belly was barely more than one hundred square meters and could never accommodate more than 10 supercats.
Secondly, this would allow Zhao Yao to enter the dugout instantly by using the extradimensional belly as the bridge. The dugout would become the perfect base.
This base was shrouded in the illusion sealed within the collar. With more and more supercats coming here in the future, this place would provide much-needed security.
On the other hand, the supercats inside the dugout could crawl out of Zhao Yao"s mouth by using Dust Ball"s extradimensional belly as the bridge. This meant that Zhao Yao would have a supercat army waiting as reinforcement 24/7.
"With the illusion sealed within the collar and the size of the dugout, I would not have to worry about the supercats causing a ruckus or getting into trouble. I also don"t have to worry about them not having enough s.p.a.ce to play. By installing more facilities and amenities within it, this place would become a perfect supercat haven."
"However, the roots of cat nation still trace back to the extradimensional belly. I can only complete my mission by increasing the population of supercats within the belly. Hence, I have to strengthen the connection between the dugout and the belly and also enhance their sense of belonging to the belly."
Zhao Yao had to find a solution that allowed the supercats to spend the majority of their time within the belly instead of the dugout to ensure the completion of his chain mission.
Zhao Yao already had a plan to turn the extradimensional belly into a home that the supercats would never want to leave.