With everything that had transpired, Adam had lost his focus on reading and quickly left the Mirror Tower.
It wasn't long before Adam found the cat in question.
At this moment, the cat sat slumped next to its food bowl, its round belly protruding, its legs splayed, eyes lowered as it stared at something, completely ignoring the several birds hopping about nearby.
Every now and then, the cat would lazily swipe at the air with its paw, but the power it had gained through happiness seemed absent.
When Adam entered, he saw the scene, and upon sensing his return, the cat immediately looked up at him, its eyes glimmering as though on the verge of tears.
In that moment, Adam felt a strange sensation, but he quickly approached, picking the cat up.
In the span of a single morning, the cat's weight seemed to have doubled. It was so heavy that any ordinary person would have struggled to lift it.
"It's not even orange." The cat, a typical wild creature, had brown fur with black stripes and yellow-green eyes that met Adam's gaze, as if it were about to cry at any moment.
Though Adam had enhanced its digestive capabilities, the speed at which the cat had gained weight was astonishing.
Adam placed the cat on the table, thoroughly inspecting it.
"Could it be a benign mutation?"
What had initially been a fleeting inspiration had led to this. Now, it seemed the results were favorable.
The Dustless Shield spell model had influenced the cat's vitality operating mode, and in turn, the spell model had altered itself.
The mutual influence had created a surprisingly harmonious effect, with the changes being entirely beneficial.
"However, its mental power is still limited, and it doesn't know how to replenish the magic's consumption." Adam observed that the magic model within the cat's body, though perfectly integrated with its vitality mode, hadn't collapsed due to this fusion. It simply needed sufficient mental energy to continue performing magic.
"Still, being naturally generated, this model does have some flaws." Adam studied the cat's condition carefully but refrained from rushing to make corrections.
The cat's vitality stores were insufficient for another surgery, as this could cause its life cycle to collapse entirely.
Adam picked it up again, giving it a couple of strokes before placing it down. This wasn't because it had grown too heavy for him, but because Adam had replenished the cat's magical model with mental energy once more.
He intended to study this hybrid model of mental power and vitality to understand its effects better.
The Dustless Shield spell performed by the cat, unlike typical shields that gather natural forces into a protective barrier, had become something different. While it still gathered the natural force around it, the shield wasn't as solid, and its strength was diminished.
Adam noticed this when the cat attempted its double-jump. It wasn't just dust that clung to it; even small insects became stuck in its paws.
For these insects, the cat's paws were like a death grip.
To the outside world, this accumulation of natural energy, though thick, was fragile—like oil, it could be punctured with a single poke. But for the trapped insects, it was a hopeless prison.
Of course, this alteration introduced problems, such as excessive energy consumption.
After a few jumps, the cat stopped, staring at Adam with wide eyes, seemingly expecting him to replenish its mental energy once again.
Carrying the heavy cat, Adam tossed it outside the door, his mind now deep in thought.
This method of continuously replenishing the cat's mental energy was not a sustainable solution.
One cat was manageable, but Adam had no intention of limiting himself to altering just a single life.
"Therefore, I must find a way to make this cat learn to slowly refill its own mental power model." Adam opened the door again and retrieved the cat, which had been scratching at the door.
Looking at the cat, Adam felt a bit of a headache. The cat's mental power was so limited, and it didn't know how to self-learn. Relying on it to meditate and draw out its own mental energy seemed unfeasible. Perhaps he should abandon the life modification technique altogether.
"Should mental modification now take priority?" Adam thought. His original goal had been to use external forces to transform an animal's mind and vitality into forms suited for meditation or the Command Diagram.
But mental modification was far more difficult, which is why Adam had initially chosen to focus on life modification.
"However, with this cat as a case study, it shouldn't be too difficult." Adam began sensing the magical model embedded within the cat's vitality operating mode.
"Performing surgery on mental energy isn't ideal," Adam reminded himself, unwilling to let his partial success with life modification cloud his judgment.
Compared to vitality models, the mental energy operation mode varied greatly between individuals.
Thus, mental energy modification didn't lend itself to a one-size-fits-all approach. It had to be tailored to each individual's differences.
The surgical method—cut and sew—was prone to issues and high-risk complications.
"Therefore, mental modification should focus on hypnosis and curses," Adam reflected. "But researching these techniques will take time."
"For now, I'll use hypnosis as a supplement, and later, in the second-phase surgery, I'll further modify the cat's vitality model, while adjusting its magical model to better align with its mental energy mode."
"Alpha, that's your name." Adam decided to give the cat a name after some thought.
After using hypnosis to help it accept the name, Adam moved on, leaving the cat to its own devices.
He glanced once more at the birds fluttering around the room. He still wasn't planning to perform any surgeries on them.
Birds were small, their life cycles short, yet still complex. Surgery on birds was a delicate task that required more practice.
After his work with Alpha, Adam felt that returning to the Mirror Tower would be a waste of time.
Instead, he opened the box containing Jin's temporary body and took out the clay, beginning to practice the clay doll magic once more.
After his initial failure, Adam's skill with the clay dolls had improved dramatically. At least now, the life cycle he formed was much more convincing.
Soon, a doll the size of a person stood, moving freely under Adam's control.
"The mental energy model is still too rudimentary. Many commands can't be completed, like splitting for a split jump," Adam mused.
After all, it was still a very basic clay doll. To make it more agile, the structure would need to be more sophisticated.
"Of course, the primary goal now is to use this as a substitute for my avatar. I need to ensure that no one can easily detect its true identity."
At this stage, the doll resembled a terracotta warrior—large and clumsy. Anyone would instantly recognize it for what it truly was.
"Jin was able to turn this into an avatar because of his black smoke, but I'll need to find something similar to serve the same function."
Jin had freely shared all his techniques with Adam, including how his black smoke worked to create avatars, but this was based on a very flexible ability—black smoke.
Adam didn't have black smoke, so to replicate Jin's avatar technique, he would need to substitute it with a similar form of magic.
Though Adam had searched, such techniques were rare. There were similar spells, like Mirror Magic, which summoned an image of oneself, but these lacked life energy and had a short duration, useful only for brief distractions.
It seemed that relying on existing magic would be futile. Adam would have to adapt based on Jin's experiences.
Jin's black smoke could perfectly replicate him, so using clay as a medium might create an ideal avatar. But what kind of magic could highly replicate oneself?
After considering the various spells he had learned, Adam realized that few, if any, met the requirements.
As Jin had said, his black smoke had almost become a ritual itself, and a simple spell wouldn't achieve such a result.
"It seems I'll have to settle for a compromise," Adam thought. "After all, the mysterious fugitive monk has always worn a mask."