A familiar one.
“My poor Cutie!” I exclaimed in horror when I saw that there was a small cut on her side that was leaking slime.
“Chuuuu…” My pet slime’s eyes were watery with tears, and she was clearly in pain. I hurriedly consulted the System’s pet tab for a remedy and took out a magic [Pet Sticky Plaster] that I applied to the small wound.
[Pet Sticky Plaster:
Does your pet have an ouchie or a boo-boo? Apply this medicinal bandage. Peel off one side and stick it on your pet.
Recovery time: 12 hours]
I took her in my arms and petted her, murmuring soothing words as I bought some [Swifter Pet Healing Elixirs] from the Cash Shop that would speed up the plaster’s effects. The maximum number I applied to Cutie brought the healing time down to just one hour. After I used all the elixirs, she fell asleep, making soft “chu” sounds now and then, like she was snoring.
On the table beside the door was our food and a small note signed by Kharli saying that she had left Cutie there because she was hurt.
“Eggy, don’t worry, this is a monster, but I’ve tamed her. She’s a golden angel slime.” I nodded to Prince Baiyu, who was carrying the breakfast tray, and he proceeded to explain where Cutie came from and how she came to live with me on Emberstone Farm.
We went back inside, where the food was put on the dining table, and I put Cutie in a basket on the floor that was full of clean cloth diapers that we wouldn’t be using now. Eggy kneeled in front of the basket and peered at my pet, his face alive with curiosity.
“Mom,” he whispered. “She said before she got cut from a sharp plant.”
“It must have been a thorn or something of the sort. She’ll be better soon.” I wasn’t surprised he could understand my pet since he was always talking to animals in the dream world. “I’m gonna eat, okay? I’m super hungry. Do you want some milk?”
“Mom, I don’t eat or drink anything.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why not?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Okay, sweetie.”
Breakfast was a simple meal of rice porridge with ginger, chicken, boiled egg, and small bits of vegetables. It was boring stuff compared to my usual fare, but the Demon Chef made it delicious. My husband, of course, had his usual meat-heavy meal.
Eggy joined us after a while.
“Mom, I have soooomething for you!” Giggling, he handed me an iridescent glowing carrot.
I turned it over and tried to use the System’s [Examine] function, but it didn’t trigger. “What a nice carrot! Where did you get this?”
“It’s from the dream! It’s a dream carrot.”
“But do you have one for your dad, too?”
He pouted. “But tigers don’t eat carrots.”
The object of our discussion smiled. “I like to eat meat.”
“I don’t have meat,” said Eggy.
Prince Baiyu lifted Eggy from his seat and pretended to bite his arm. “You are meat.”
Eggy squealed in delight and turned into his dragon form to escape. He flew to my shoulder and said, “Cheep.”
“Cheep to you. But let’s not play during meal time. I need my food,” I said.
He turned back to his human form and sat down beside me again. “Yes, mom.”
After we finished eating, I checked on Cutie again, who was sleeping soundly, and I put on warm clothes before we went out to the courtyard. I retracted the ceiling so that it was now open to the sky.
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“As I was saying, your dad is very strong, and he can fly.”
To demonstrate, I placed a barbell on the floor whose weights were the size of Eggy.
“Try to lift this.” Prince Baiyu pointed at the smallest one.
Eggy and I both attempted it, but neither of us succeeded.
“Watch me.” Prince Baiyu lifted it with two fingers.
“Wow, you’re strong!” Eggy gave him an admiring look.
My husband smiled. “That’s nothing, watch this.”
He signaled me, and I proceeded to place bigger and bigger weights that let him show off his strength. The last one was comically large, easily twice the size of Prince Baiyu.
“Mom! How does he do that?” Eggy went under the barbell and tried to lift it.
“There’s more.” Prince Baiyu picked up the Eggy-sized barbell. “Let me show you tiger-style flying. Do you want to try it?”
Moving with slow, deliberate motions, he threw it up. The barbell moved in slow motion, and I knew that he was manipulating it using qi. Then he flew up to catch it, his white hair and long, wide sleeves fanning up before throwing it higher, again in slow motion so that we could see it happen.
Eggy was already screaming, “I want! I want!”
Prince Baiyu continued to throw it up until he was so high he disappeared into the clouds. Eventually, he descended and floated to the ground, as slow and light as a feather. Dropping the barbell, he smiled cockily and said, “My son, shall we go flying tiger style?”
Eggy ran to him, and my husband immediately threw him up, and they went flying together, with Prince Baiyu tossing and catching Eggy repeatedly until they were both out of sight. They returned, hair tousled and clothes in disarray, before going back up again since Eggy pleaded, “Again, again!”
I knew where this was going. There was no way Eggy would get tired of this novel way of flying any time soon, so I settled down on a couch with a classic romance novel and a cup of the herbal tea the doctor had recommended. Cutie recovered and kept me company, bouncing around with a lively “boing boing” sound and drinking from her water bowl.
My husband and son kept on playing, making “tiger-dragon” style variations where they went sideways or zig-zag, or the bit where Eggy stepped on Prince Baiyu’s head to launch himself up into the air. They didn’t stop until the doorbell rang for lunch, and by that time, Prince Baiyu was looking quite the worse for wear. Those tangles would take hours to fix for normal people, but as a peak-level cultivator, he could manipulate every part of this body. Thus, tangled hair was never a problem these days.
“Come, my dears, let’s answer the door. I need my lunch,” I said to them.
Eggy once again pulled me behind a pillar while Prince Baiyu opened the door, saying, “Mom, let’s hide!” but this time, there was nothing there but trays of food.
“Why does he think it’s dangerous?” asked Prince Baiyu after we had put the food on the dining table.
“Doors are different in the dream world. They’re more like this.” I put five doors on the outer inner wall of my bedroom using the Cash Shop and made tiny rooms behind, which had wall and floor murals. Two featured scary monsters, and two had bucolic scenes of blue skies, fluffy white clouds, green grass, and trees with pink trunks, blue leaves, and silver and gold fruit. One room was a treasure trove of gold and jewels. “Now, pick a door. It can lead you to riches, danger, or fun.”
Eggy and I hid behind a sofa while Prince Baiyu opened his choice, which turned out to be the door into the scary red monster’s room.
“Close it! Close it!” yelled Eggy.
I cupped a hand on his ear and whispered, “But you know that’s just a pretend room?”
He giggled and cupped a hand on my ear to whisper his answer. “I’m just playing.”
“Okay.”
Prince Baiyu sighed and said to Eggy. “I was unlucky. Why don’t you choose a door?”
Eggy pointed at the middle door, which also led to the monster’s room. “Bad door!”
I laughed, and we got up to open the other doors.
“I like the treasure one,” said Eggy.
“We all do. Now let’s stop here. I want my food.” I yawned and headed for the table where I ate a meal of simple steamed white rice, minced ginger pork, and chicken soup.
This time, Prince Baiyu ate the same thing, and Eggy played with Cutie while we dined. I almost choked when I saw Eggy turn into his dragon form and talk with my pet, exchanging his “cheeps” with her “chus.” It was too cute!
“Do you think he’s accepted me as his father yet?” Prince Baiyu asked me.
“He seems close to it. I think it’s time to play your trump card.” I gave him a mischievous look. “You need to show him your animal form.”
We finished eating and put the dishes on the table outside. I picked up Eggy, who was still in his dragon form, and put him on my shoulder. “Sweetie, there’s one last thing I need to show you about your dad.”
I spread a large carpet on the ground, and we all sat on it.
“Have you ever seen a real tiger?” I asked Eggy.
He shook his head, which was Prince Baiyu’s cue to turn into his white tiger form. His fur was a pure, almost luminous white, with faint grey stripes running across his body and subtly accentuating the powerful muscles beneath the skin. His head was the typical cat shape, with a strong jawline, pink nose, and large blue eyes rimmed with thick dark eyelashes. His round ears had fur on the inside, and he was not a giant tiger like many others. Instead, he was the exact size of a real tiger, which meant he was ten feet long from nose to tail and around three and a half feet in height.
I stroked his neck, which Eggy copied after he turned to his human form.
Cutie was horribly spooked and ran off, so I helped her outside by opening the door for her.
“Poor slimy got scared,” said Eggy as he waved goodbye to my pet.
We returned to the carpet where we sat down with my son leaning against Prince Baiyu, whom we petted. His fur looked fluffy, but it was thick and rough.
I scratched him beneath his chin and said, “My son, observe, this beast has sharp fangs and claws!” I said.
Prince Baiyu bared his teeth and raised a paw to show off his claws. I took out a wooden log from my inventory, and he cut it into firewood with one swipe of his paw. Eggy wasn’t particularly impressed.
It was time for the pièce de résistance.
*****
Author's Note:
- One more Eggy chapter then back to farming. ?
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- Thank you very much for reading.
- Please let me know if there are any errors.