The two iron cages were large enough to hold eight grown n, yet each contained only sixteen or seventeen Sweet Dream Cats.
But due to the influence of their mutual Spiritual Force Fields, all sixteen or seventeen Sweet Dream Cats were spiritually drained, lying there sick and weak.
However, the Sweet Dream Cat with heterochromia that had just t Zhong Yi’s eyes didn’t seem affected by the Spiritual Force Field, yet it remained slumped in a corner of the cage.
The cat with the mismatched eyes stared intently at the food and water bowls hanging from the cage. Every ti it tried to shakily move toward them, it was attacked by the other Sweet Dream Cats.
Sweet Dream Cats are a type of Household Beast that can only be sold after being raised by their mother for a full year, once their Spiritual Force Field has stabilized.
A one-year-old Sweet Dream Cat is typically full-grown. Yet this little cat with mismatched eyes, whose fur was a ssy, dirty tangle like weeds, was only the size of two palms—half the size of the others.
Through All Things Exploration, Zhong Yi learned that the little cat with mismatched eyes was in a state of extre starvation.
It was extrely weak from a prolonged lack of Energy, and it had nurous wounds from being bullied by the other Sweet Dream Cats.
But Zhong Yi had been right about one thing: this little cat wasn’t a Sweet Dream Cat at all.
It was a mutated version of the Sweet Dream Cat—a Dream-Acting Cat!
[Guardian Beast Na]: Dream-Acting Cat
[Guardian Beast Species]: Viverridae/Dream Cat Species
[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (1/10)
[Guardian Beast Type]: Spiritual Elent
[Guardian Beast Quality]: Unranked
Skills:
[Dream Performance]: Influences a target’s mories by releasing a Spiritual Force Field and weaving a ticulously constructed dream. Upon waking, the target accepts the dream’s events as reality.
Individual mutations occur in all sorts of creature populations, but they are extrely rare events.
The probability of a Dream-Acting Cat appearing as a mutation within the Sweet Dream Cat population was far, far lower than the chance of a white humpback whale appearing among the humpback whale pods in Zhong Yi’s past life.
A white humpback whale would be bullied by the pod, but it could still survive after leaving it.
If a Dream-Acting Cat’s special nature isn’t discovered after birth, it will be bullied to death by the other Sweet Dream Cats.
It wasn’t that the Dream-Acting Cat was naturally weaker than a Sweet Dream Cat. Rather, it needed to feed on dreams or consu materials of the Spiritual Elent to stay healthy.
Right now, this Dream-Acting Cat looked utterly wretched. Its fur was a mottled mix of black, gray, and yellowish-brown, like a tortoiseshell cat, and its texture was barely better than dried grass.
Yet, if it had enough dreams to feed on, a Dream-Acting Cat’s fur would typically be either moon-white or ink-black.
A healthy Dream-Acting Cat was not only far more beautiful than an ordinary Sweet Dream Cat, but its potential was also incomparable to that of a re Household Beast.
A Sweet Dream Cat’s Basic Skill is Beautiful Dream.
[Beautiful Dream]: Soothes a target’s mind by releasing a Spiritual Force Field, allowing the target to relieve ntal stress by having a pleasant dream.
This Ability to soothe another’s mind primarily serves to aid rest and improve a Guardian Beast Master’s quality of sleep.
But in contrast, the Dream-Acting Cat’s skill, Dream Performance, treated the dreams of other Creatures like a painter’s canvas.
It allowed the Dream-Acting Cat to scribble on that canvas as it pleased, altering a target’s perception of reality by tampering with their dreams.
The target would mistake dream events for their own mories, or for things that had actually happened in reality.
The Ability of the Dream-Acting Cat’s Dream Performance to alter and influence a target’s dream was dependent on the target’s Spiritual Power. However, even a minor alteration at a critical juncture in a dream could trigger a massive butterfly effect if it influenced reality.
Moreover, as a Dream-Acting Cat’s Tier increased, its Ability to alter and influence a target’s dreams would only grow stronger.
Seeing Zhong Yi’s eyes fixed on the filthy, trash-like Dream-Acting Cat, the stall owner quickly chid in.
"I know this little fella doesn’t look like much, but it’s a genuine Sweet Dream Cat, I swear. I can guarantee it ca right out of a Sweet Dream Cat."
"These ones that don’t look so good don’t get the best care here. If you take it ho and look after it carefully, it’ll probably fatten up in no ti."
"If you buy this one, I can knock off ten thousand Federation Coins for you. Forty thousand Federation Coins to take a Sweet Dream Cat ho—you won’t find a deal like that anywhere else!"
"If you seal the deal now, I’ll even throw in five bags of cat litter. This litter clumps really well—it won’t fall apart even if you tap it. It’s not like that other stuff that’s a pain for a Cleaning Mouse to sweep up with its tail."
The stall owner was desperately trying to sell the heterochromatic cat, afraid that if he didn’t sell it today, it would be dead on his hands in a couple of days.
A nearby custor saw Zhong Yi still looking at the cat with mismatched eyes and quickly chid in with a warning.
"Is that really a Sweet Dream Cat? Its size doesn’t seem right!"
"And it doesn’t seem to be affected by the other Sweet Dream Cats’ Spiritual Force Fields either!?"
"Its eyes are nice to look at, sure, but its fur is so ugly. If you take it ho and it can’t even relieve your stress or help you sleep, aren’t you just buying sothing useless?"
"And this guy isn’t always here. Even if you manage to find him again to return it, do you think he’d give you a refund?"
The stall owner reacted as if soone had stepped on his tail and imdiately shot back.
"If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Soone else will."
"If it ca from a Sweet Dream Cat, what else could it be but a Sweet Dream Cat?"
"Let be clear up front. All the Sweet Dream Cats here aren’t in pri condition. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be selling them for this cheap."
"Look carefully before you buy. Pay up if there are no problems. Once you’ve paid and taken the cat, you’re responsible for any issues that co up. No refunds or exchanges!"
Zhong Yi crouched down. He could feel the little creature’s body, huddled in the corner of the cage, trembling faintly.
It was like rootless duckweed adrift in the world, stubbornly enduring all the misery life had thrown at it.
It didn’t just lack the strength to fight back; it was nearly out of the strength to even endure.
Among the three types of Household Beasts in the Xin Xia Federation, Sweet Dream Cats are the most intelligent.
As a Spiritual Elent Guardian Beast, a one-year-old Sweet Dream Cat has the intelligence equivalent to a human teenager.
This poor little creature had to endure not only the bullying and rejection of the other Sweet Dream Cats, but also the scorn and criticism of potential buyers.
eting the little creature’s gaze once more and seeing the sorrow, desolation, and helplessness in its eyes, Zhong Yi spoke without hesitation.
"Open the cage for . I’m taking him with ."
At Zhong Yi’s words, the small, weed-like ball of fur abruptly lifted its head, a glimr of light flashing in its eyes.
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