Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

‘That should be enough.'

Xiaomao resupplied fish and food for the long journey. He also gave some to Lucky and Shepherd just in case their satiety bar was low.

After filling their inventory slots with food and spare weapons, Xiaomao and his group proceeded to the adventurer guild to make a report.

Unfortunately, they arrived late. It was nighttime and the guild was closed.

‘Eh. Too bad. I guess I should head back to the labor guild's apartment and log out for the day. I need to prepare for the marathon. I also have to adapt to my new abilities and adjust my transformation.'

Xiaomao guided Lucky and Shepherd to the labor guild. Unlike the adventurer guild, this place was open 24/7.

After entering the guild, Xiaomao went to the receptionist right away. He disabled the chameleon skill to show himself.

As soon as Xiaomao revealed his appearance, the guild receptionist gasped.

"Sir Xiaomao. Everybody has been looking for you. Where have you been?!"

Xiaomao jumped from Lucky's shoulder to the table.

"Tell me about the emperor's edict, munya. Why is the emperor looking for me, munya?"

"Ah, that. I heard he wants to ask you a few questions about the shipbuilding commission. I don't know the detail, though."

"Oh."

Xiaomao could finally guess what had happened. It seemed that the emperor was curious about the purposes of Xiaomao's warship as it affected the country's security and order.

"Is it urgent, munya?"

"Very urgent. You should go to Siren City and seek an audience with the emperor right away, or he will brand you as a traitor."

"I see. By the way, do you have a teleportation rune of Siren City for sale, munya?"_.

The receptionist dryly laughed, "I'm so sorry. Teleportation runes are restricted items. Only the royalties and the Pangu priests can possess or distribute them."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Anyway, can I purchase another room for my servant, munya?"

"Of course, sir. However, since this is your second room, it will cost you two PACTs."

Xiaomao put materialized PACT tokens on the table, and the receptionist took them. She turned around opened a counter drawer and gave Xiaomao a room key.

"Would you like to purchase extra an extra magic chest from us? It cost 10,000 PACT to expand 1,000 additional inventory slots."

In this game, P2W players had the advantage over free players in terms of inventory slots and warehouse slots. By purchasing an additional lodging room for a new slave, Xiaomao could permanently expand warehouse spaces by purchasing new magic chests.

One room allowed one default chest. Two rooms unlocked the second chest. Three rooms enabled the third chest, and so on.

Moreover, the labor guild's rooms were the limited first-come-first-serve type. Once players occupied all rooms, no new players would be able to obtain them from the guild other than purchasing from the previous owner. This trend would continue until the Land Lord patch.

Extra inventory slots sounded promising, but Xiaomao didn't have enough PACTs.

"Maybe next time, munya."

"I see. Very well. Please visit us again."

Xiaomao took the key and brought Shepherd and Lucky to their rooms. Then, he gave them free time.

"I'm going to log out and rest, munya. You two can do whatever you want from here. I'm giving you one million gold coins each, so spend away, munya!"

After shoving coins to his servants, Xiaomao logged out. The adventure today taxed his mental health, and he wanted to have a few hours of sleep.

DING

Xiaomao vanished, leaving the two retainers in the game.

Lucky pouted. She looked around and entered her room to rest. As for Shepherd, he grinned and walked around the resting quarters of the guild, searching for his new targets.

During the stroll, Shepherd saw so many dull retainers, who returned from their journey to their rooms. Some of them were so exhausted that they had Panda's eyes.

Shepherd waved his hand. Then, he wrote texts on the wall with his water-gathering skill.

<Hello, sir. Do you believe in cats?>

The panda-eye retainer stared at the message. Then, he frowned at Shepherd.

What the heck was this retainer doing?

<Magdalene ask you if you believe in God.>

"???"

Shepherd brought out a blank paper, which he had secretly stored in his clothes. He transformed a small portion of water into ink and painted it into a leaflet.

The retainer received the leaflet and read it.

[Free Baptism! Join the Cat Church and Become Cat Slaves Today!]

"…"

The retainer raised his brows. He found it sketchy but interesting.

.

Xiaomao opened his eyes and found himself in his game capsule. He pushed the hatch open and sat up.

He rubbed his eyes as the room was strangely bright. His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, but everything seemed yellowish.

Then, Xiaomao remembered. He didn't turn on the light when he entered the game. Everything in the room was supposed to be dark as it was nighttime.

‘Oh, my night sight ability is active. How convenient.'

Xiaomao got out of the capsule. He blinked several times and closed his eyes to summon the status menu.

‘What is my synchronize rate, system?'

A notification message appeared behind his eyelids.

<Current synchronization rate: 12 %.>

It was on the low side as Xiaomao had just upgraded his character. Fortunately, his brain wasn't fried from the increase in INT and other stats.

He sniffed and twitched his nose. The room had the strong smell of a female cat's urine.

Xiaomao walked toward the wall and flipped on the light switch. The light bulb on the ceiling turned white, illuminating the room and showing the mess that his cats made.

As Xiaomao had guessed, Nyanko peed on his pillow again.

"Nyanko, you have your toilet. Why do you keep peeing on my pillow, munya?"

Nyanko had been sleeping on the bed. Upon hearing his voice, she snapped open her eyes and gazed at Xiaomao.

Nya (That's because you smell weird, papa. You don't smell like me at all.)

"You can rub your fur on me later, but don't pee on my things! I don't want your pee on me, munya! Think about the hygiene!"

Purr (What is hygiene, papa?)

"You get sick if your pee is stuck on your skin or fur for a long time, munya."

Nya!? (I can get sick?)

"Of course! You can get a terrible headache, and your body gets hot. You will feel very cold all the time."

Nya-Nya! (I don't like headaches. I don't want to get sick. Papa, help me!)

"Then, don't pee on my pillow and on the bed, okay? Pee in the toilet, so nobody will get sick."

Nya! (Okay! I will not pee here again!)

"Good girl!"

Xiaomao sat on his bed and petted Nyanko. He felt like he was talking to a child.

Everything so far sounded crazy as nobody should be able to communicate with cats. However, Xiaomao didn't care since it was convenient.

‘My life is getting crazy lately. Oh, well. At least, Nyanko never treats me as a slave. She's a good girl.'

He flipped the pee-stained pillow to the other side, where it wasn't touched by Nyanko's pee. Then, he slept on it.

Nya (Papa, you will get sick.)

Xiaomao groaned as he wanted to sleep.

"The other side is clean. Nothing to worry about."

"…"

Nyanko walked toward Xiaomao and kneaded him.

Nya (Wake up, papa. You will get sick!)

It was too late. Xiaomao subconsciously activated his game skill "Catnap" and was fast-asleep.

.

6 AM

RIIIING

The annoying clock woke up Xiaomao from his deep slumber. He opened his eyes and found the black butthole of Mama Cat, who was sitting on his face.

DING

<You have received a catnap blessing.>

<Your health and stamina recovery rate is double for 6 hours.>

Xiaomao ignored the system sound and pushed the cat away. For some reason, his head felt heavy as if he had a hangover. Although Xiaomao had a severe headache, he dragged his feet to the bathroom for a morning bath routine.

He stopped at the mirror and stared at his current appearance.

Once again, Xiaomao's sclera turned black, his pupils stayed yellowish, and his iris was as dark as the abyss. They were the eyes of Chaos Demon God's followers, but Xiaomao believed they were different.

The followers' pupils were like fiery yellowish fire, but Xiaomao's pupils were pure bright gold.

‘I don't have enough time to adjust my eyes, so I'll roll with it. If someone asks, I'll just say I had a sclera tattoo or something. At least, I'm not a werecat anymore.'

Xiaomao's appearance remained human. No cat ears or a cat tail came out, which was ideal.

He took a long bath to wash away Nyanko and the other cats' smell. Then, he rushed to his room to toss the bed sheets, pillow sheets, and the pillow into a washing machine. As for the spring bed, Xiaomao dragged the entire thing to the balcony and put it there.

After restocking a cat feed gadget and changing clean water in his cats' bowls, Xiaomao put on his school uniform and put on his shoes, preparing to go to school and meet up with Wei Zhi.

Munya! (I'm going, too!)

Suddenly, Mu-Nyang latched on his back like a baby monkey. His claws dug into the jacket.

"Mu-Nyang. Your food is in your bowl. I can't play with you today."

Munya! (I need to go with you today, or you will die again.)

"As I said… wait what?"