The cabin occupied the central twenty-five square meters and could not be moved.
Ten plots of Farmland were arranged in the southeast corner of the territory, occupying a total of ten square meters.
The warehouse was built on the east side of the cabin, making it convenient for her to store and retrieve items.
Other buildings could wait until the territory was upgraded, but defensive and offensive structures had to be completed before she set off for the Holy City. She didn't want to come home after fighting monsters outside only to find her base gone.
The shield was the last line of defense. The earth walls she had built earlier wouldn't block large corrupted creatures at all; a couple of random collisions would reduce them to rubble.
She still needed to find Stone to build stone walls, and then place a watchtower at each of the four corners equipped with trigger-based offensive spells. Although the effect wouldn't be amazing, she had nothing else on hand, so this was the best she could do for now.
But thinking so much was useless. She didn't have nearly enough Stone, so she might as well continue going out to map the area.
The Cursed Forest, now renamed the Moonlight Forest, was simply massive. She had no idea when she would ever finish her purification quest.
Since the goblin sisters hadn't arrived yet, she planned to purify another patch of corrupted Moon-Silver Wood.
This time, she only used the Lightweight Spell, shuttling through the forest and bringing rain everywhere.
Just before dawn, a flashing red warning icon appeared above the territory icon.
【Territory shield triggered. Detected the approach of goblin Tiechui and goblin Tongque.】
Wu Yao's eyes lit up. Stacking the Lightweight Spell and Wind Wings, she launched herself toward the territory like a cannonball.
In less than two minutes, she rushed back to her territory.
Then she saw the two sisters huddled around a black lump, doing who knew what.
Wu Yao's approach kicked up a gust of wind. The two goblin sisters turned around at the same time, their faces lighting up with pleasant surprise and excitement when they saw her.
The two of them looked travel-worn, with messy hair and heavily wrinkled travel robes. The dark circles under their eyes were visible even through their gray skin, and their eyes were bloodshot.
Yet, their spirits were incredibly high. They babbled away, wishing they could pour out everything they had seen on their journey and all the praise they had received at headquarters in a single breath.
Tiechui gesticulated wildly, and in her excitement, she almost stepped on the black lump, only to be quickly pushed aside by the sharp-eyed Tongque.
Only then did Wu Yao realize that it wasn't a lump of coal. It looked like a... cat?
The cat was incredibly tiny, not even the size of her palm when curled up, and completely pitch-black without a single stray hair of another color.
Only its eyes were emerald green, so large they took up nearly half its face. Its pupils were perfectly round; at first glance, all she could see were two glowing green circles.
At the moment, it was glaring at the two short, gray-skinned figures in front of it, letting out threatening “Hiss— hiss—” sounds while its tail puffed up like a feather duster.
“Is it your pet?” Wu Yao walked straight to the little black cat, bent down, and picked it up by the scruff of its neck.
“No!” Tiechui quickly denied it. She instinctively straightened the brand-new badge on her chest before raising her head to answer.
“When we arrived, we saw this cat crouching in front of the territory. We were also wondering why there would be a kitten in the Cursed—uh, Moonlight Forest!”
She corrected herself just in time and sneaked a peek at Wu Yao's expression. Because of the name “Cursed Forest,” they had been thoroughly scolded by their mother when they returned, and now they had committed it to heart.
Wu Yao wasn't really listening to her; her attention was entirely focused on the little creature in her hand.
The kitten's body was light as a feather, practically weightless. It was very well-behaved when held up, with its limbs relaxed and its tail hanging down.
Wu Yao turned it around to face her. Its large emerald eyes locked onto hers for a second, and then it opened its mouth, letting out a low cry.
“Meowrr—”
It sounded like sandpaper rubbing against its throat, completely mismatching its small and cute appearance.
“Why does it make that sound?” Wu Yao brought the cat closer to her nose and sniffed. There was no strange odor; instead, it had a faint, fresh scent of vegetation. “Is it hungry?”
Tiechui and Tongque exchanged a glance, looking bewildered.
In their thirty-one years of life, they had seen the rock lizard mounts raised by dwarves, the jellyfish lanterns of the merfolk, and the purebred horses of human nobles, but a cat—especially one this small—was something they had truly never seen.
“Uh...” Tiechui scratched her messy hair, stammering as she dodged the subject. “My—My Lady, there's no rush about the cat. Why don't you take a look at the goods we brought first?”
Tongque immediately chimed in, hurriedly reaching into her Inventory.
Wu Yao's gaze swept over them briefly before settling back on the kitten.
The kitten's paws were still stained with dirt and grass clippings, so Wu Yao casually cast Cleaning on it.
After the film of water swirled around the kitten, its fur puffed up significantly, shining so black that it looked like a piece of newly polished obsidian.
“Meowrr?” The kitten blinked, seemingly slow to react.
Wu Yao tried holding it in her arms. The little black cat kneaded a couple of times against her, its claws lightly snagging her robe, before finding a comfortable spot and curling itself into a tiny ball.
Feeling a sense of novelty, Wu Yao wanted to pet it. But as soon as her hand touched its back, a strange sound started.
“Purrrrr— purrrrr—”
It was low, like distant rolling thunder, vibrating from that palm-sized body and making her chest feel slightly numb.
“What's wrong with you now?” Wu Yao looked down and poked the cat's head. The cat opened its eyes a crack, swept a glance at her, and closed them again, its purring growing even louder.
“Are you sick?” Wu Yao turned the cat over and back, forcing the kitten to give up sleeping and start kneading its paws alternately on her arm. Yet, the purring never stopped, sounding like a broken engine.
Tiechui scratched her head anxiously. If there was anyone on this continent who knew cats best, it would definitely be a witch!
They shouldn't make things difficult for goblins over cat matters!
Spending every day underground, the only things they ever saw were worms and beetles!
“My Lady, we don't understand either...” The goblin looked wistfully at the fluffy ball snuggled in the witch's arms. They certainly didn't get that kind of treatment.
“Maybe it's swearing at you?” Tongque mumbled softly, only to be secretly kicked by Tiechui.
The cat's purring was like a low-frequency white noise, making Wu Yao feel strangely relaxed.
Her entire family, including herself, was allergic to animal fur, so they had never kept any living creature other than humans at home. She hadn't expected to be able to get close to a small animal in a game.
“Do you want to come with me?” Wu Yao gently pressed the cat's head.
The kitten opened its mouth and let out a “Meowrr.”
“Alright.” Wu Yao lifted the kitten up and solemnly declared, “From now on, your name is Xuanmiao!”
The moment she uttered the name “Xuanmiao,” she felt a strange connection, as if an invisible thread now linked her to Xuanmiao.
Xuanmiao stared at her for a couple of seconds and slowly blinked.
It felt as though something had changed.
Wu Yao quietly curled her lips into a smile and brought the cat back into her arms. She stroked down her back, the texture so soft that she simply couldn't bring herself to let go.
Xuanmiao clearly enjoyed it as well. Not only did she close her eyes completely, but her round head also began to droop lower and lower until she simply buried it in the crook of Wu Yao's arm.
Rate on N.U.
