Chapter 354: Byeol Takes Charge

Dad let me come in. Is he preparing food for me...

A toy...

Or...

Hwi stretched out a paw and slapped Gaemi away.

Can’t eat her. Dad told me to cultivate. He didn’t tell me to eat anything...

Bad ant, trying to tempt me into becoming a bad cat!

A simple minded brain found it difficult to judge a complicated situation. It could only contain that small amount of poor information. No matter how chaotic its Mental Power became, there were only so many pieces of information inside its mind. Even if it could not sort them out clearly, it did not affect its thoughts very much.

Cultivate...

Dad told me to cultivate...

In the end, as Hwi’s Mental Power continued to decrease, his thoughts instead became purer and purer. Without the interference of all those chaotic thoughts, his will became as pure as glazed glass, and this actually accelerated his absorption of energy.

[ System Notification: You have passed a Willpower Check from the Lord of Deep Darkness, Mental Power +5. ]

[ System Notification: You have been affected by [Fervent Embrace] and [Madness Surge], permanently losing 10 Mental Power. Your current Mental Power is -1. ]

[ System Notification: Excessively low Mental Power will cause irreversible effects. Please pay attention to recovery. ]

Hwi completely ignored it. The aura around him continued to rise steadily, while his violent aura swept through the entire Energy Pool like a hurricane.

Gaemi, who had been slapped against the wall, slid down from it with a squeak and quickly crawled toward the exit.

Whoever liked this damn place could come here in the future. She was never coming back again!

That soldier ant was far too domineering.

Was it not just a matter of acknowledging someone as Dad? She would immediately go back, lower her status herself, return to being a princess, and acknowledge Joo Joowon as her adoptive Dad!

Just wait and see if she did not find a way to torment that guy to death later!

Did he really think she had risen above so many other princesses without ever fighting for her mother’s favor in front of the queen ant?

If she had not fought for the queen ant’s favor, how could her initial physique possibly have been stronger than the other princesses?

It was all transcendent resources that she had squeezed out of the queen ant through palace intrigue.

I, Gaemi, will remember this grudge! Just you wait!

...

Joo Joowon did not pay any attention to the information that had appeared in the system channel under Hwi’s pet panel. After returning, he simply picked Byeol up and held him in his arms.

Among all the creatures currently living in his territory, Byeol was the one Joo Joowon trusted the most.

After all, it was obvious at a glance that the other little ones could never become strategists. Byeol was the only one who not only listened to him, but could also genuinely think about problems on his own.

"Good boy, Byeol. Let’s discuss something."

Joo Joowon carried him to the sofa and sat down.

"Meow?"

Joo Joowon told Byeol about the situation with the red mist boss. He hoped that afterward, Byeol could take turns going there with him to apply debuffs to the red mist zombies and prevent them from continuing to grow stronger.

Byeol frowned solemnly and could not help cursing Hwi in his heart.

That stupid cat! After talking with him for so long, how had he not even mentioned that the enemy was expanding its territory every day?!

This family still had to rely on me!

Byeol raised his head and licked Joo Joowon’s chin.

"Meow, meow!"

I can go by myself. You stay here and guard the house!

Joo Joowon froze for a moment.

"Can you really do it alone? I mean, can you really do it by yourself?"

He had only intended for the two of them to take turns using their skills. He had never thought about letting Byeol go there alone. It was far too dangerous for him to go by himself.

After all, Byeol did not have any particularly offensive skills.

"Meow!"

Byeol glanced at Joo Joowon and proudly raised his chin.

He had never returned empty handed when he went hunting! What cat could possibly compare to him?!

Unlike that litter box cleaner, did Joo Joowon really think he did not know that the cat treats he brought home every day were things he had taken out of the house himself?

He did not even bother hiding the cat treats by putting them in his bag. Did he really think he was as stupid as Hwi and could not figure it out?

"Ah..."

Joo Joowon widened his eyes.

"You actually noticed?"

Back then, he had still been an ordinary cat, yet he had already been this clever?

Byeol could not help giving Joo Joowon a disdainful look.

If he could not figure out something this obvious, would that not make him incredibly stupid?

Did he think he was Hwi?

He licked Joo Joowon.

"Meow~"

Just stay home and wait for me without worrying!

Joo Joowon thought about Byeol’s skill and reluctantly nodded.

"All right, then. But you must be careful outside. Don’t let yourself be discovered, and if anything happens, run straight back immediately. Understand?"

Byeol: "..."

I’m not Hwi, that idiot.

Joo Joowon was still somewhat worried. Before leaving, he had originally planned that after returning, he would teach Byeol how to use the system and let him slowly learn how to manage the territory.

However, now he could only put that aside temporarily and first teach Byeol how to read the map.

This was a function Byeol had never paid much attention to.

It was not that he had never explored it. In fact, quite the opposite. He was nowhere near as carefree as Hwi.

As soon as the map had loaded onto Byeol, he had already studied it. He had quickly discovered that the structures shown on the map corresponded to buildings in the real world.

However, for cats, they could smell scents, and their eyesight was not exactly poor either.