Who Wouldn't Like a "Big Cat"

The dark night passed quickly.

As the sun slowly rose from the eastern horizon, Zuo Si finally woke from his sleep.

He first glanced at the soldier who was dozing at the cave entrance and immediately asked in a not-very-certain tone, "Did you stand guard here all night without sleeping?"

"Of course, Master. Your safety is always the most important. I wouldn't dare guarantee that venomous snakes wouldn't crawl into the cave if I fell asleep." The soldier's eyes snapped open, and he stood up and saluted.

Undoubtedly.

Zuo Si was very surprised by his sense of responsibility and loyalty.

Zuo Si had originally thought that the humanoid creatures summoned by cards were just puppets with no intelligence or thoughts, only mechanically obeying commands like golems.

But the soldier before him seemed no different from a real living person.

He even needed to eat and sleep to recover his strength, just like a normal person.

It was clear that the creature cards of a Planeswalker were definitely not like the summoning magic in the spellcasting system, which crudely summoned a creature from elsewhere to fight or serve the caster through powerful contracts.

Nor was it like creating something similar to a puppet and sealing it within a card.

Instead, it used a more complex and profound magical technique.

It was a pity that Zuo Si had never personally made a creature card, so he knew nothing about it.

Not that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

The prerequisites for making creature cards were extremely harsh.

With his current strength, at best he could only try his hand at weaklings like goblins and kobolds, or domesticated animals like house cats and dogs.

Moreover, the mana cost to create a creature card was almost three times that of a magic card of the same level.

Most importantly, the effect of the former in combat was far less immediate than the latter.

Rather than spending precious mana trying to make creature cards, it was more cost-effective to invest it in improving his professional level.

The soldier obviously had no idea what Zuo Si was thinking.

Seeing him standing there motionless and silent for a long time, the soldier took the initiative to ask, "Master, are you hungry? How about I catch a couple of fish, or pick some bird eggs for your breakfast?"

Zuo Si quickly shook his head gently, "No, no need. I ate plenty yesterday and I'm not hungry yet. Also, you must be very tired from not sleeping all night, so you should lie down and rest. I'll take care of breakfast myself."

"Rest? If I stay here to rest, who will protect your safety?" The soldier's face showed a worried expression.

It was obvious that in his subconscious, protecting his master's safety was the highest priority, even above his own life.

Zuo Si keenly caught this and immediately responded, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself. And you're not my only subordinate."

With that, a card appeared out of thin air in his palm.

[Creature Card: Beast - Leopard]

[LV1 Green Card (Upgradeable)]

[Card Quality: Common]

[Effect: Summons a large leopard until it is killed or its summon is voluntarily canceled. You can issue simple commands to it through gestures, such as attack, retreat, hide, or sneak attack, but complex verbal communication is not possible. After all, it's just a beast, you can't expect it to be as smart as an intelligent creature.]

[Using this card requires two green mana, or two generic mana.]

[When the summoned leopard is killed, this card automatically enters the graveyard to wait for rebirth, which takes one day.]

As the creature card was activated, a large feline with yellow fur and black spots instantly appeared at the cave entrance.

Including its tail, it was over 2.8 meters long, with a slightly rounded head, relatively short but strong limbs, and a weight of around 150 kilograms.

Both its sharp teeth and claws proved its identity as a predator in the animal kingdom.

"Roar!"

Upon being summoned, the leopard immediately let out a low growl and gently rubbed the summoner's hand to show affection.

It could be seen that its size was much larger than leopards on Earth.

It was even comparable to, or surpassed, some smaller tigers, such as the Sumatran tiger.

It was unclear what special breed it was, or if it had undergone individual mutation due to the power of magic.

"How about that, are you relieved now?"

Zuo Si raised his hand and vigorously rubbed the leopard's head, which was about as tall as his shoulder.

Unlike the human soldier summoned for the first time.

This leopard had been with him for a long time and had participated in several brief battles.

So they were very familiar with each other.

Zuo Si, who was somewhat of a "furry enthusiast," had even named the leopard Raid.

Meaning "sneak attacker."

After all, who wouldn't like a smart, fierce, and loyal big cat?

Seeing the intimate interaction between the man and the leopard, the soldier showed a relieved smile, "With it here, I am relieved. However, you should still be careful when traveling through the bushes on the island. Sometimes inconspicuous venomous snakes are more deadly than fierce beasts."

"I know, I'll be careful."

Zuo Si waved his hand and turned, leading the leopard down the mountain path.

Perhaps it was because he had been confined in the Mage Tower of the Floating City for too long.

When he saw the green plants and colorful wildflowers around him, he felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation and his mood became very cheerful.

The leopard followed behind at a leisurely pace.

At the slightest rustle, it would immediately lift its head and prick up its ears to survey its surroundings.

But it always turned out to be small creatures like squirrels, rabbits, weasels, and foxes.

Just as the soldier had judged last night, there were no large land creatures on this island.

The most dangerous and numerous were various snakes of different lengths and thicknesses.

Not long after, Raid had killed and eaten four small snakes, half a meter long, and one large snake, a meter and a half long and as thick as Zuo Si's arm.

It never refused these readily available breakfasts.

As for whether these snakes were poisonous, that was unknown.

Anyway, as long as he wasn't bitten, it didn't really make much difference whether they were poisonous or not.

By the time they reached the seaside, Zuo Si, who had exercised in the morning, was feeling a bit hungry. He immediately commanded "Big Cat" to get him two coconuts for breakfast.

As everyone knows, leopards are skilled climbers.

Leopards, with their slightly shorter and powerfully built limbs, are aces among their kind.

Let alone picking two coconuts, they could even drag a deer as large as themselves up to the treetops.

In the blink of an eye, Raid used its standard "Cat Fist" to knock two coconuts down from the treetop and then carried them to its master.

Zuo Si took out a dagger that gleamed with cold silver light from his satchel, found the "soft eye" on the coconut's husk, and thrust it in fiercely.

When he pulled it out, sweet coconut water flowed from the small opening.

He unceremoniously tilted his head back and gulped it all down.

After drinking the coconut water, he naturally peeled the husk to eat the fresh coconut meat inside.

After eating two coconuts, he was about six or seven tenths full.

Just as Zuo Si was about to go get some fish or bird eggs, he suddenly noticed a mast suddenly appear on the distant sea horizon.

At the top of the mast, a long, thin yellow flag fluttered in the wind.

A ship?

His face immediately lit up with surprise.

However, this surprise was quickly replaced by confusion.

Because as the distance closed, Zuo Si could clearly see that it wasn't just one ship, but two.

The first ship had a wide, rounded hull, like the plump bellies of otaku, clearly designed and built for increased cargo capacity – a merchant ship.

Following closely behind and rapidly approaching was a slender and very fast warship.

The distance between them was about several hundred meters.

The latter was clearly trying to catch up to the former, while the former was doing the opposite, trying its best to escape.

To reduce weight and increase their speed, some sailors were throwing heavy stone blocks, like ballast stones, into the sea.