Ves enjoyed Gloriana's warmth as she pressed against him. Both of them rested comfortably in the backyard of their mansion.
Further ahead, their cats curiously reacquainted with themselves.
The Larkinson Mandate rested on a quaint little garden table. As Lucky and Clixie sniffed and licked each other, the Golden Cat suddenly emerged out of the book.
"Nyaaa!"
The radiant cat that appeared out of nowhere playfully pounced on Clixie and physically rubbed her head against the Rubarthan Sentinel Cat!
"Miaow?!"
Clixie jumped in shocked!
"Nyaaa nyaaa!" Goldie playfully swished her tail.
"Meow." Lucky vouched for Goldie.
"Miaow miaow?"
"Meow!"
"Miaow!"
It didn't take long for Clixie to recognize the Golden Cat. After all, as a pet who Ves had personally inducted into the Larkinson Clan, the organic feline possessed a strong connection to the Larkinson Network.
Soon enough, Clixie no longer questioned how it was possible for Goldie to manifest herself physically. Instead, she teamed up with Lucky and eagerly pounced on the spiritual cat in order to give her a thorough bath!
"Nyaaaa! Nyaaaaaaaa!"
Both Ves and Gloriana observed Goldie appearing and interacting with Lucky and Clixie in shock.
"That's new." Gloriana spoke. "Am I looking at a projection or is she really…?"
"She's the real deal."
"As expected of a female proto-god!"
While Gloriana easily accepted the new phenomenon, Ves was still mired in shock. He never expected that the Golden Cat developed the ability to manifest her spiritual body into a physical form!
He concentrated his mind and studied Goldie's form a little further. He sensed significant changes in her makeup.
A month ago, she sustained severe wounds from her battle against the dark gods. Joshua managed to channel her in a giant energy projection. While that allowed Goldie to manifest herself into reality to a degree, she also became exposed to damage.
Now, she not only recovered from her wounds, but also grew stronger!
There were several reasons why. First, she personally took part in a battle against a comparable spiritual entity. Even though she lost, she gained a lot from the confrontation.
She might have stolen the technique to manifest herself from battling the Unending One!
Yet that was not enough for her to be able to materialize herself into a physical form. The gulf between the imaginary realm and the material realm was considerable. The former was where spiritual entities like her were anchored. The material realm operated by different rules and did not support the existence of spiritual entities.
She needed a source of energy.
"The expert pilots." He whispered.
"What?" Gloriana asked.
"The strength of the Golden Cat is directly related to the strength of our clansmen. When we grow our numbers, Goldie gains more energy, but normal people don't really add that much. It's the expert pilots that are key to her evolution. The high-quality energy they produce is a great tonic to entities like her. Half a year ago, we didn't have any expert pilots. Now, we have five all of a sudden! This is a massive upgrade to Goldie and any other entity tied to those expert pilots!"
Ves briefly checked up on Qilanxo and could already sense that she had grown stronger as well!
The difference wasn't as dramatic. Goldie was young and only existed for over a year. Qilanxo was a seasoned sacred god who lived for several centuries. Due to the latter's greater strength, the addition of three expert pilots who formed a bond with the big lizard did not make much of a difference.
This would definitely change once Venerable Jannzi, Venerable Orfan and Venerable Dise progressed their force of wills.
Right now, Goldie happened to be the biggest beneficiary out of the design spirits. While her bonds with the expert pilots weren't all that strong, she had equal access to everyone. This meant she gained access to multiple sources of high-quality spiritual feedback that was also supplied in considerable quantities to boot!
Before the Nyxian Gap Campaign, Ves and Gloriana were the only members of the Larkinson Clan who were able to supply her with premium feedback.
The new sources of feedback differed because it did not just consist of spiritual energy. The expert pilots also supplied a small amount of their will!
The addition of will opened several new possibilities for the Golden Cat. While willpower was very hard to work with, being able to leverage it so that she was able to create something similar to an energy projection was very impressive!
Of course, that didn't mean that Goldie suddenly turned into an omnipotent commando cat like Lucky.
When Clixie attempted to bite Goldie in the scruff of her neck, the radiant cat's form couldn't handle the pressure. She exploded!
"Miaow!"
"Meow!"
Both Lucky and Clixie were frightened at the display!
"Nyaaaa."
Goldie emerged out of the Larkinson Mandate again without showing any discomfort. Nothing happened to her, causing everyone to feel relieved.
It turned out that her physical manifestation was still too weak. Once it sustained too much damage, it popped like a balloon. Goldie simply turned back into a pure spiritual entity and lost a bit of energy.
Even without sustaining damage, Goldie couldn't hold her form for long. Her physical manifestation fizzled out as she reached the limit of her endurance.
Nyaaaaa….
"Miaow…"
Clixie looked upset. Unlike Lucky, she possessed no remarkable spiritual potential at all, which meant she wasn't able to interact with Goldie.
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