I Can Control Resources

"Beat you?" Gao Neng faltered for a moment, then smiled.

As the saying goes, when you’re feeling sleepy, someone brings you a pillow. Gao Neng felt that way right now. He’d been looking for a reason to get a little violent, and Gao Xiaomeng had just offered one up herself.

’Can’t beat a cat?’

’What a joke!’

Gao Neng was extremely confident.

And yet, he was also somewhat surprised.

After all, Gao Xiaomeng was very familiar with his strength. If she wasn’t confident, how would she dare to make such a request?

Besides, the system had also said that Gao Xiaomeng’s ability was the key to his survival. So, did Gao Xiaomeng truly have some special ability she hadn’t yet revealed?

"Alright, let’s give it a try." Gao Neng nodded. A fight was definitely the most direct way to find out what Gao Xiaomeng was truly capable of.

"Gao Neng, don’t you go crying if you lose!" Hearing Gao Neng agree, Gao Xiaomeng gently stroked her whiskers with her paws.

"You’re the one who’s going to be crying," Gao Neng retorted, not holding back. While still in flight, he reached out to grab Gao Xiaomeng by the scruff of her neck.

’I’ll pet you into submission!’

Gao Neng sneered inwardly.

But this time, his hand missed.

Because, in the instant Gao Neng reached for her, Gao Xiaomeng shot up like a bolt of lightning, landing on a rock jutting from the cliff face.

And then, Gao Xiaomeng’s form changed.

A deep blue light flashed in her eyes as her entire body began to grow rapidly. In the blink of an eye, she had transformed into her girl form.

"Gao Neng, don’t you want to know this Queen’s true power? Then I’ll let you see it!" As Gao Xiaomeng spoke, she swiped a hand sharply at the cliff face behind her.

BOOM!

With a massive crack, the ice-covered cliff face was ripped open.

’Holy shit! Gao Xiaomeng... is that strong?’ Gao Neng was taken aback. Even he would need to put in some effort to break through the ice-covered cliff.

’And Gao Xiaomeng shattered it with a single swipe?’

More importantly, after Gao Xiaomeng tore open the cliff face, Gao Neng instinctively sensed a strange aura.

It felt as if...

...something was about to burst out from within the cliff.

Gao Neng’s brow furrowed.

Although he couldn’t see what it was, his Spiritual Power was connected to the Magnetic Mountain, allowing him to sense a mass of energy.

’Could it be...’ Gao Neng instantly thought of a possibility, but the moment the idea occurred to him, his expression changed.

"A Magnetic Heap. You should recognize this!" Gao Xiaomeng spoke again, her short, silver hair fluttering. A crystalline mass of energy then floated to her right.

"Your... ability is to control... a Magnetic Heap?!" Gao Neng’s mind went blank as he unconsciously swallowed hard.

"Not exactly! I can just do this..." As Gao Xiaomeng spoke, she slowly reached a hand toward the floating Magnetic Heap.

A bizarre scene unfolded.

Before Gao Neng’s very eyes.

Gao Xiaomeng’s hand passed completely into the mass of energy, and then she pulled out a set of silvery-white, short-skirted battle armor.

"!!!" Gao Neng was speechless.

’Space Travel?’

’Energy plasma... positive and negative poles?’

’Is she carrying a whole Magnetic Heap Civilization around with her?’

For a moment, Gao Neng was at a complete loss for words.

He had always known Gao Xiaomeng was special and that she came from a Magnetic Heap, but he’d never imagined she could interact with one like this.

"Scared now? Gao Neng, it’s not too late to surrender!" Gao Xiaomeng tilted her head back, then casually slipped on the silvery-white battle armor.

"That armor, where did you get it?" Gao Neng stared intently at the armor on Gao Xiaomeng. The materials were clearly from Earth.

"I made it," Gao Xiaomeng replied.

"You made battle armor? Who did you learn from...?"

"From you, of course." As Gao Xiaomeng finished speaking, two silvery-white short sabers appeared in her hands, crackling with electricity.

"Electric Sabers?" Gao Neng’s eyes narrowed, and a slow smile crept across his face. "Looks like you’re really not holding anything back this time, Gao Xiaomeng."

"Of course. Defeating you has always been my dream!" Gao Xiaomeng smiled back, her mouth parting slightly to reveal two rows of small, sharp, white teeth.

"Excellent. Then bring it on!" Gao Neng didn’t hold back any longer.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hold back.

He just couldn’t afford to.

This cat, Gao Xiaomeng, had a shocking number of secrets. If he couldn’t beat some sense into her this time, there was no telling if she would ever listen to him again.

"Bring it on!" Gao Xiaomeng bit her lip, her face alight with excitement.

"Thunder God Domain!" Gao Neng shouted, raising his long black saber. Centered on the blade, a domain of lightning enveloped his body.

"Thunder God Domain!" Gao Xiaomeng echoed the shout. Holding her two short sabers horizontally, an equally powerful Thunder Domain enveloped her.

"Holy shit, Gao Xiaomeng, you’re not half bad!" Gao Neng had been somewhat prepared for this. He remembered Gao Xiaomeng being by his side the whole time he was evolving his secret arts.

But being prepared was one thing...

...this feeling of ’I paid the tuition, but you got the education’ was still incredibly frustrating.

The key issue was that after learning all his combat techniques, Gao Xiaomeng was now turning around to challenge him with them? Who could put up with that?

"I learned it all from you. So, what do you think? Am I a fast learner or what?" Gao Xiaomeng was incredibly smug, as if savoring a long-suppressed satisfaction.

"I refuse to believe you learned my Three-Slashes-in-One too!" Gao Neng wasted no more words on Gao Xiaomeng and charged straight at her.

"You guessed it. I do!" Gao Xiaomeng charged forward to meet him.

"Three-Slashes-in-One!"

"Three-Slashes-in-One!"

BOOM!

Gao Neng felt an immense force travel up from Gao Xiaomeng’s two short sabers, so powerful it made the webbing of his hand go numb.

This sent another shock through him.

’I have five different alloys fused into my body now,’ he thought. ’With this level of physical strength, how can I be shaken to the point of pain?’

CRASH!

Gao Xiaomeng’s body slammed violently against the cliff face.

Gao Neng, on the other hand, was only knocked back three meters.

At least for now, it seemed that while Gao Xiaomeng had learned his combat techniques, she hadn’t mastered the "Life Element Fusion" from the system.

Gao Neng’s physical strength was greater than Gao Xiaomeng’s.

With the same technique...

...Gao Xiaomeng naturally came out worse for wear.

"Hmph, see how strong I am now? Gao Xiaomeng, you’re the one who should be surrendering!" Gao Neng said, a brilliant smile spreading across his face as he looked at Gao Xiaomeng embedded in the cliff wall.

’The student surpasses the master? Bullshit!’

’I’m still the master!’

"MEOW!!!" This time, Gao Xiaomeng didn’t reply with words. Kicking hard against the cliff face, she once again shot toward Gao Neng.

"Watch this!" Gao Neng bellowed.

"Huh?!" Gao Xiaomeng’s body faltered for a split second.

At the same time, two identical figures appeared to her left and right, in the classic pose of the Ghost Shadow Step.

"Playing dirty? Some big brother you are!" Gao Xiaomeng seemed furious. Her body suddenly plunged downward, and she began to flee.

’Huh? Now *this* is what you call playing dirty,’ Gao Neng realized. It only just occurred to him that both he and Gao Xiaomeng were in mid-air.

’So what good is attacking from the left and right?’

’I should have attacked from above and below!’

Gao Neng dove after her.

He chased after Gao Xiaomeng at top speed.

As Gao Xiaomeng fled downward, she continuously launched counterattacks.

The man and the cat-girl fought like this for ten rounds, one chasing and the other fleeing.

Then, Gao Xiaomeng stopped running.

She stood her ground, grabbed the floating mass of energy, opened her mouth wide, and swallowed it in one gulp.

’You can do that?!’ Gao Neng was stunned once again.

What had he just seen?

Gao Xiaomeng had just eaten a Magnetic Heap?

Even though this Magnetic Heap was tiny—at least several thousand times smaller than the ones in the Magnetic Mountain—it was still a goddamn Magnetic Heap!

A ball of pure energy!

VMMMM!

A wave of energy pulsed outward.

After swallowing the Magnetic Heap, Gao Xiaomeng’s eyes changed from deep blue to an inky black, as utterly dark as a black hole.

"The energy of I, the Xiaomeng Queen, has been replenished! Now, let’s settle this once and for all!" Gao Xiaomeng declared, her short silver hair whipping in the cold wind.

At the same time, dark-gold patterns began to trace their way across the silvery-white battle armor she wore.

Though he had no idea what damn good it did...

...it certainly looked more impressive than before.

"Gao Xiaomeng, give up! You can’t possibly beat me!" Gao Neng was utterly fearless. He was certain Gao Xiaomeng was using a cheat code.

But that didn’t matter.

He had his own cheats!

’We’re both cheaters, so what makes you so special?!’

"I, the Xiaomeng Queen, am invincible!" Gao Xiaomeng roared and charged at Gao Neng. As she rushed forward, she flickered twice.

WHOOSH!

Two Gao Xiaomengs appeared before Gao Neng.

It was the Ghost Shadow Step!

Just as he’d thought, Gao Xiaomeng had stolen this combat technique as well.

Gao Neng wasn’t as surprised as before.

Since Gao Xiaomeng could learn his Thunder God Domain and Three-Slashes-in-One, there was no reason she would pass up on his Ghost Shadow Step Body Technique.

There was an old saying: when enemies meet on a narrow path, the brave one is victorious.

And Gao Neng was the brave one.

’Once Ghost Shadow Step is active, I’ll jab, I’ll jab, and I’ll jab again...’ Gao Neng no longer cared about looking graceful. He attacked from every dirty angle he could find.

The air was filled with afterimages of him and Gao Xiaomeng anyway.

The first to land a solid hit would win.

But as he kept jabbing...

...Gao Neng felt that something was off.

Because he had the strange feeling that every image of Gao Xiaomeng was gradually changing, evolving from a mere afterimage into a solid entity.