The Stranger the Ability, the More Fox Fox Loved It

At night, atop an office building.

"I really am a genius, Fox Fox!"

The golden-furred Fox Fox muttered to herself, fiddling with a marionette in her hands, a smug grin spread across her face.

"You're pretty impressive. You could even summon something like this." Hellcat sat beside her, eating a bag of chips as she spoke to Su Tianqing.

Su Tianqing happily took hold of the puppet's strings and controlled it into a victorious pose.

"Hehe~ This is the ultimate weapon I specially prepared for Hyacinth! Not bad, right~?"

"It really was pretty good, but I didn't expect her to fall for it so obediently."

The catgirl shrugged and handed Su Tianqing a chip.

The little fox opened her mouth and bit down on it.

"Ah-oom! Crunch crunch crunch... Why is it lime-flavored?"

"I like this flavor better. Crunch crunch."

The two turned their eyes back to the marionette.

It looked completely ordinary, yet it was indeed one of the "strangers" that the Heartmoon Wand could summon:

"[Illusory Dream Puppet]," Su Tianqing spoke its name.

"It can create the most realistic illusory dreams, letting people dream of the deepest 'beautiful dream' in their hearts, and can even make it manifest in reality."

"Pretty impressive." Nan Jiayu offered her praise.

If it had been Iris, Su Tianqing felt this puppet probably would not have been very useful—

Its illusion required preparation time, and Iris, who excelled in firepower, could raise her hand and blast it apart before the illusion took effect.

That reckless close-combat brute Hyacinth was a different story. That was why Su Tianqing had called it a stranger designed specifically to counter Hyacinth.

But the puppet had one fatal flaw: Fox Fox herself had no idea what the dream actually looked like.

That greatly weakened its entertainment value.

"I think this thing should have another ability added to it," Su Tianqing said.

"What ability?"

"At the very least, it should let us see what the dream contains. Otherwise, isn't it no different from the immobilization spell that pinned Iris down?"

Nan Jiayu's cat tail swayed twice from side to side, but she did not say a word.

After playing with the Illusory Dream Puppet for a while longer, Su Tianqing casually tossed it into her magic storage space and said:

"Anyway! Today's villain activity was a huge success!"

"How did you feel, Kitty? Did you find this kind of activity fun?"

"You suddenly asked that..." Nan Jiayu gave a few bitter laughs.

Then she gently nodded.

"It was indeed pretty fun, but my magic power can't handle doing this every day."

"I wouldn't drag you out to play every day, either." Su Tianqing scratched behind her ear and giggled.

After agreeing to continue their villain activities in a couple of days, the catgirl took off and left. The little golden fox wagged her tail as she bid her farewell.

Once that deep-blue silhouette vanished beyond the edge of her vision, the golden-furred Fox Fox took a deep breath and lay flat on the ground, stretching out her body.

Today was truly fulfilling, Su Tianqing thought.

She had perfectly completed the Codex's mission and carried out her first villain activity with Hellcat. It was simply a day worth commemorating.

Most importantly, her relationship with Kitty had taken another step forward! She had even fed her chips just now!

Fox Fox was thrilled.

As long as they kept doing this a few more times, she would definitely tame that little blue cat with ease!

As for Hyacinth?

Though she was a little curious about what kind of illusory beautiful dream Hyacinth had experienced, it probably had little to do with her.

Well, she could not say it had absolutely nothing to do with her. Maybe Hyacinth had beaten her up mercilessly in that dream.

Better not dwell on such details.

"Then!"

Su Tianqing lightly clapped her hands, sat up, and pulled out the hefty Codex from her magic storage space.

She would end this fulfilling day with a grand shopping spree!

The Codex opened!

[Mission: Flawless Cooperation, completed]

[Daily Mission, completed]

Divine Codex Stone confirmed!

"1,900 points!"

Seeing her Divine Codex Stone balance after the mission rewards had been settled, the golden-furred Fox Fox was in high spirits.

This meant she could strengthen the Heartmoon Wand. She wondered what sort of thing that so-called Familiar Summoning could mess around with.

After paying 1,500 Divine Codex Stones, a faint gleam flashed across the wand at her side.

Its appearance did not change at all, but she could feel that the wand's magic power had increased considerably.

She held it in her hand and swung it around with a few whooshes. Su Tianqing felt that, right now, she might be able to have a satisfying close-quarters fight with Hyacinth.

But this Familiar Summoning...

The description said "a living creature or object of any form," but no matter how Su Tianqing thought about it, she could not figure out what kind of fun this thing could produce.

"Anyway, I'll test it first."

"Let's see... Visualize the appearance and characteristics of the familiar you wish to summon in your mind..."

"Using a large amount of magic power allows you to summon it from nothing, while using a small amount lets an object temporarily gain the characteristics and abilities of a familiar..."

It looked pretty interesting.

Depending on how much magic power she used, she could either summon something out of thin air or enchant an object nearby. It seemed quite flexible.

She just did not know what it could actually summon.

She pointed the wand at the railing beside her and poured magic power into it.

The shape was like this... the traits were like this...

"Familiar Summoning!"

After shouting those slightly embarrassing words, the railing suddenly began to wriggle in a twisted posture.

An unidentified creature resembling a python appeared beside her, lying there obediently.

So ugly.

The little fox looked at it with intense disgust, then casually withdrew her magic power. The python immediately turned back into a railing, as if it had never existed.

Oh no! She had bought something ridiculously useless!

Was it because this fox's imagination was not good enough? Impossible!

Codex, can I get a refund? Codex, say something!

The golden-furred Fox Fox hurriedly flipped through the Codex, but could not find a refund page at all.

Instead, her attention was drawn to the next upgrade for the Heartmoon Wand:

[Heartmoon Wand Enhancement · Stage Two: 4,000 Divine Codex Stones]

[Greatly enhances the Heartmoon Wand's magic power and all attributes, granting a new skill]

[Skill Unlocked: Mindscape, a private space belonging solely to you, under your control to a certain extent]

What an expensive price!

But for a skill that looked this insanely powerful, such a high price seemed reasonable enough.

"It should be able to create a setting like one of those 'a room you can't leave unless you XX' situations, right?"

The trashy Fox Fox muttered to herself with a wicked grin.

But if she changed her line of thinking like this, then this Familiar Summoning skill...

The golden-furred Fox Fox pricked up her ears and looked around. She extended her wand and lightly tapped the ground beside her.

"Shape constructed, traits constructed, magic power injected."

"Familiar Summoning!"

Golden magical light flashed.

A pair of sky-blue ribboned Martin boots appeared beside her.

They were gorgeous and cute, somewhat similar in style to the shoes on her own feet, though their colors were Hyacinth's signature sky blue.

Her fox tail curled around the pair of shoes and brought them before her. Su Tianqing stared intently inside.

—Dense, wriggling Slime covered the inner walls of the shoes.

Upon seeing their master, the Slimes immediately quieted down and lay still, making them look exactly like an ordinary pair of cute shoes.

"Hehe... Hehehe..."

The golden-furred Fox Fox could not suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth.

She wondered what kind of expression Miss Hyacinth would make... when she put on these shoes.