Chapter 251 – Cat Dad, Tiger Man, and Catnip!
Jeju Island, Hallasan National Park
Xiaomao opened his eyes and found himself in the same cave where he had stayed the last time. The bit marks and traces of him eating the dirt were still there.
"ACHOO!"
The moldy rock and the damp air annoyed his nose. Xiaomao covered his mouth and nose with his jacket sleeve and walked out of the cave.
The outside world was still bright. Xiaomao looked at the desolate cliff below him, admiring the winter scenery. Everything was covered in snow, including the trees and rocks.
Despite the cold weather, the man in a t-shirt, jeans, and a thin jacket looked indifferent. Xiaomao stood on the freezing cold mountain as if he was chilling in the breezy autumn wind.
"I guess I'm quite strong now, munya? No. I still have a way to go. I don't have good physical attack skills other than the thousand arrows."
Despite being a superhuman, Xiaomao was modest. He reminded himself that he needed more variety of spells and skills for his game character. So far, all his skills and spells focused on AOE damage, but he lacked weaponry skills for his sword.
WHOOM
Behind Xiaomao, eight tentacles emerged from his back and pierced through his clothes. The eight bracers of Sun Wukong on the tentacles hummed.
Xiaomao glanced at the tentacles. His expression turned dark as, somehow, he could control his eight arms on his back.
TWITCH
In addition, his cat ears wiggled and swatted away the snow on his head.
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<strong>Battle Bracers of Sun Wukong</strong>
This set of bracers experimental item, made for Sun Wukong when he served OG-Buddha. Each bracer provided weapons, shields, and necessary forces to protect the user against attacks from immortals. Unfortunately, Sun Wukong didn't like relying on the power of equipment and materials, he exchanged these items for a drop of Ifrit's blood essence.
These bracers can automatically adjust their size to fit any user. However, it depends on the user's abilities to make use of its full potential as they're the tools to amplify one's Qi, mana, and life force.
<strong>Item Type:</strong> Armor
<strong>Rarity:</strong> Legendary
<strong>Requirement:</strong> Level 2,000 or higher.
<strong>Effects:</strong> By wearing all eight pieces of the bracers, the equipment provides the following abilities;
- Generate a layer of a barrier with the same HP as the user. Each bracer can generate one layer per charge and can stack up to 8 layers. Current charges: 100/100. (Rechargeable)
- Generate a long knife that can cut through all defensive equipment under level 2000. Inflict combined damage of ATK, M.ATK, and Qi attack upon hit. Damage depends on the user's stats.
- Extend and shrink the user's arms at the user's will.
- Steal lifespan and life force of your enemy. Require the Dao of Gluttony.
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The bracers didn't give him stats, but it allowed Xiaomao to use various skills. Moreover, the 100 charges of barriers could come in handy if Xiaomao had to fight a crazy strong foe like Joan again.
Xiaomao closed his left eye and inspected the synchronization rate.
95%
Judging from the growth rate and his latest improvement, it was surprising to see that his synchronization rate was so high. He touched the two cat ears on his head and looked at his humanoid body.
"Thank god I've learned Mimir's techniques. Without it, I would have lost my human form."
Xiaomao paced his breathed and thought of Mimir's cultivation method. He focused on his tentacles and his cat ears.
The tentacles and the eight bracers slowly shrunk back into his body. The back of Xiaomao's clothes still left behind eight holes.
Xiaomao took off the cat hoodie, which also automatically expanded its size to fit his head. As it was too cute, he didn't want to keep wearing it as a human.
He tried to use his game inventory next.
"Inventory."
DING
It worked!
The game inventory menu appeared in front of Xiaomao. He brightly smiled and put the small cat hoodie back into an empty inventory slot and picked a new set of clothes to change into.
After changing his clothes, he brought out the flame sword and was about to ride on it to visit a city.
WHOOSH
Suddenly, a large silhouette of a beast jumped down from the top of Hallasan Mountain and landed in front of Xiaomao. A half-man half-white tiger stood up, patted his shoulders, and shook his fur to get rid of the snow on his body.
"Brrrr. I hate cold weather!" Complained Jungwoo.
Xiaomao stared at the white weretiger. He readied his sword, preparing for battle.
"Whoa! Easy there!"
As Jungwoo spoke in Korean, Xiaomao didn't understand anything. The latter shouted in English.
"Which god sent you, munya?! Pangu? Solomon? Odin?"
Seo Jungwoo broke a sweat and panicked for a moment. He opened his game menu option and turned on the auto-translator. Then, he tried again by speaking in his native language.
"Err, hello! I've come in peace. I'm a good guy! ME.FRIENDLY!"
"…"
Xiaomao raised his brows as he finally remembered where he saw this weretiger. He slightly lowered his sword.
'Ran Tae?'
He knew about Ran Tae, but he never learned about Ran Tae's real name. Seeing Seo Jungwoo in person, Xiaomao was surprised.
Seo Jungwoo transformed back into a human. He grabbed something from his inventory and pulled it out.
It was a 50-centimeter-long raw green jewel. He shoved it to Xiaomao and gave him a thumbs up.
"Friendly gift!"
Xiaomao reluctantly accepted it and looked at Jungwoo's face in suspicion, "What's this?"
"Mu-Nyang asked me to give it to you. He said that it's your final piece of evolution material or some sort."
"WHAT?!"
Xiaomao looked at the green ore in his hand. With over 80% synchro rating, Xiaomao could clearly see the game items' descriptions.
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<strong>Crystallized Catnip Essence</strong>
This crystal can be found on Mount Tian Yuan. It is said that the catopuses and the cathulhus could kill to get their hands on one of them because of its hidden power and its smell.
Be warned. Catopuses may get intoxicated if they lick the ore.
<strong>Item Type:</strong> Evolution Material, Crafting Material, Consumable
<strong>Rarity:</strong> Ultra-Rare
<strong>Effects (1):</strong> If you are from a feline race, consuming this crystallized essence can grant you the following effects;
- Permanently increase all status attributes by 1,000.
- Permanently increase all spiritual roots by 1,000.
- Awaken the Dao of Catnip and Dao Feature.
<strong>Effects (2):</strong> If you are not from a feline or related race, keeping it in your inventory grants you the following effects;
- Permanently increase all status attributes by one every 24 hours.
- Permanently increase all spiritual roots by one every 24 hours.
- Permanently give you the abnormal status effect - [Tipsy].
<strong>*[Tipsy]:</strong> All your attacks and magic attacks are 30% stronger. Your defense and magic defense is decreased by half. You are immune to [Fear] and [Intimidated]. You are vulnerable to [Rage], [Charmed], [Depressed], and [Confused] abnormal statuses.
<strong>Effects (3):</strong> If you are from a feline or related race, keeping it in your inventory grants you the following effects;
- Randomly increase one of your stats by 100 every 24 hours.
- Randomly increase one of your spiritual roots by 100 every 24 hours.
- Permanently give you the blessing status effect - [Melatonin]
<strong>*[Melatonin]:</strong> You are immune to all negative physical status effects. If you try to fall asleep, you will sleep like a log. If you take a nap, you will wake up fresh without fail.
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Aside from the permanent stats, it didn't look that impressive compared to other evolution materials. However, Xiaomao was overjoyed.
Finally, all 7 dragon balls had been assembled. It was time for summoning Shenron!
"Ahem!"
Jungwoo's cough snapped Xiaomao back to reality. The cat dad looked at the tigerman and bowed.
"Thank you very much, kind sir! I've been looking for this, munya!"
"Haha! It's nothing. I simply return the favor. That stealth skill saved my life several times. By the way, I'm Seo Jungwoo. My in-game name is Ran Tae. Nice to meet you, Mister Miao."
Xiaomao and Jungwoo shook hands. The former put the crystal in his inventory.
"You said something about Mu-Nyang. Where is he, munya?"
"He said he had businesses in World Two and World One. The situations over there didn't look so well. Oh, talking here is inconvenient. How about we chat at my house, so I can show you around. You need a place to settle down in this world, too, right? You can't possibly hide here forever."
Xiaomao dryly laughed in embarrassment and nodded.
"Follow me. Let's fly back to my house. Oh, don't forget to use the chameleon skill."
"Okay, munya!"
Jungwoo transformed into a humanoid white tiger again and vanished. Xiaomao also took off his clothes and reverted into a half-human half-tentacle monster. The latter hopped on his flying sword and tried using a game skill.
DING
Again, Xiaomao had no issue using a game skill with his real human body. He rejoiced and tried controlling the flame sword.
As both men were invisible, they started using their sixth sense to detect the surrounding for aura and traces of mana. Instantly, Xiaomao found Jungwoo, who was floating and waiting for Xiaomao in the sky.
Finally, Xiaomao understood how Bush Cox and others easily found him when he was invisible. No one could see them with naked eyes, but his aura was as bright as a sun. Looking up, the blue aura of Jungwoo was also noticeable when Xiaomao circulated Qi into his eyes.
"Umm, can you see me? Did Mu-Nyang or Mir teach you about a cultivation method and how we can allocate Qi to our eyes to see an invisible aura?"
"It's fine, munya. I can see you."
"Good. Follow me."
The men flew in the cold weather, heading back to Seoul.