With a pleasant breeze of the wind, a leaf slowly fell and made it's way down on top of a sleeping black cat's back.
The black cat's fur twitched for an instant causing the leaf to slowly slide down to the ground once more.
Soon, the black cat's ears moved and its heavy eyelids slowly opened.
"…"
The cat made a blank and tired expression for a few seconds while blinking it's eyes, and then finally extended his paws and raising his butt to stretch while yawning.
Ummm… That was a lot of alcohol. I can't believe those bastards actually dragged me from one bar to another. That was my first time bar hopping and they forced me to drink all the way.
I probably drank a year's worth of drinks and got wasted so bad that I can't even remember much of what happened after the fifth bar last night.
I swear I have some monstrously drunkards as friends.
"…"
Another wave of a gentle breeze made the slightly taller grass below the black cat dance and tickle his black fur.
"?...nyaa?~"
Is the window and curtains open? It's a bit breezy, and why is the sunlight a bit too bright today?
The cat thought with half-close eyes.
Now that I think about it, I don't remember going home last night… Don't tell me, I slept outside?
The cat's eyes suddenly opened wide in shock, and his unfocused irises took a bit of time to fully adopt to the brightness of the sky and vibrant-green color of the meadow.
"…?"
What is going on? Where the hell did I fall asleep?
Those bastards! They let me so drunk but did not even take the responsibility in taking care of me where I sleep?
The cat's eyes narrowed in anger an showed his cute carnassial teeth with a "grr"
I swear, I will ditch them if ever they invite me again to drink out next time…
By the way, where is this place?
The cat moved his gaze from left to right and scan his surroundings.
He found his now wider sight's radius weird but more than that, his sight's angle is a lot lower than usual even now that he sit up.
This feels odd.
Also, wherever he look, he could only see green grass, blue sky and the slightly darker forest from the distance.
He tried standing up to get a better view but found himself unable to.
He felt his body somehow different from the usual. Balancing on his feet was never this hard before.
Hangover? No, He can only feel comfortable with "standing" in all fours.
"…"
The cat is very confused. His mind is as clear as the day today but he could feel his body is not what it used to be.
"…"
The cat turned his head behind to see what's that big shadow that's bothering his subconscious and found a huge tree standing tall and wide behind him.
The tree is abnormally bigger than what he can usually see from day to day.
What was it called again? It was general something… Sherwoman?
This huge tree made him remember a scene from a TV program about a giant tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in California.
But this tree before his eyes is obviously a different kind from that tree.
Plus, this one is a lot bigger. Its shadow even reached as far a the forest that he can see from the far distance.
If that sherwoman tree… or something is taller than the leaning tower of Pisa, then this one in comparison is like the Burj Khalifa in Dubai…
"…"
Wait, I don't remember any tree this big in the city before…
Did someone from one of the bars drugged, kidnapped, and threw me out of the city?
Forget the city, there's no such tree in the country!
International abduction?
Wait, why would anyone would want to do that to a useless middle-aged man like me? I lived my days in a low profile.
I'm not even rich to be targeted by thieves or ruffians. It's sad to say but I barely make money to get by day-to-day.
The black cat's tail is swaying from side to side restlessly behind his back without him knowing.
Although he feels the urge to panic, surprisingly, he is not as scared.
Perhaps, he still can't grasp his sense of reality. He feels like all of this is just a dream.
"mmm~"
Oh, right my phone. I could ask those brats what happened last night!
The cat started patting his sides to find his mobile phone while deep in thought but he felt a strange sensation from his hand and hip.
"mmm~"
It's soft? Where's my pocket?
He looked down but can only see a shiny, short black fur.
"?..."
He stared down at a black furred round paw for a little while.
Thinking that it looks very adorable, he tried reaching out to touch it.
Surprisingly, his hand did not come in his view but it was the cute paw that moved instead?
"M… Meyeow?"
He actually wanted to say, 'what's this?' but a cute meow sound came out.
"…"
Ahh?... I know that I like cats very much but to think… I turned into one in a dream… it's definitely a first time experience.
I miss cuddling with cats since my apartment doesn't allow animals inside, however, it never occurred to me that I wanted to become a cat at all. Where is this dream coming from?
Do I actually want to become a cat deep inside?
Right, I once thought enviously when I saw a cat having an afternoon nap at a busy day inside the company.
"?..."
What's this?
After realizing he turned into a cat inside his dream, his mind finally settled down for a bit.
And then, the cat finally noticed the square button on the corner of his vision.
"mm…meyow?"
What is this?
He tried virtually clicking it with his mind and it surprisingly worked.
After clicking the square button, it triggered a window screen to appear and transparently cover a large portion of his vision.
There, a few slightly familiar words was written and the image of a round clearing of green, surrounded by a darker shade of the forest appeared in a map-looking format.
Noticeably, in the center of the round clearing of green is a Burj Khalifa tree look-a-like miniature.
"…"
The cat started scanning the surroundings again through the transparent window screen to compare the scenery outside and inside the screen. He found out that they are identical.
"!... nyan!"
Not only I'm in a dream and turned into a cat, it's also a dream about a similar 'tap-tap build' game that I got into recently as stress relief!
The cat's tail happily swayed up and down from his left side.
He knows how this game works quite a bit.
He clicked the Burj Khalifa tree icon and a description window appeared.
[Cat's dungeon tree: Gathers Mana in the atmosphere and converts it into 'Dungeon points'.
10a DP/Hour
Upgrade cost: 10,000 DP]
"…"
How come the first upgrade costs 10,000?
And this dungeon tree only produces 10 DP per hour! Let me contact the developer! Let me leave a review!
The cat irritably clicked his tongue and found out that clicking his tongue feels quite different than when he was a human.
He glanced up at his current DP.
[DP:110
10 DP/Hour
First DP production reward: 100 DP]
He actually received hundred DPs without doing anything.
But thinking that his DP production rate is only 10 DP per hour still bothers him.
It will take forever to upgrade the dungeon tree at this rate!
He explored his gaze at the whole window screen and found the item store.
He hurriedly clicked it and browsed trough the list.
[Cat food: 10 DP]
[Bottled water: 10 DP]
…..
…..
…..
[Cat house: 30 DP]
[Dungeon Crystal: 100 DP]
including food and basic necessities, a dungeon crystal is the only item that he could buy with his current DP.
The cat learned that it's better not to lose his temper since there's nobody else to lash out on and there's no point since it's just a dream anyway, clicked and read the description of the Dungeon crystal.
[Dungeon Crystal: 100 DP
Produces 10 DP/hour]
The cat's ears and tail hang low after reading the description.
Upgrading the dungeon tree is still a long way…
He is still bothered by the DP production rate of the dungeon tree despite it's huge appearance.
"…mnn…"
Based on the descent look of the cat house, he is itching to buy it but he thought that his priority should be to raise the DP production even only by a little bit or he won't be able to buy any good items for a while.
He clicked the [buy] button for the dungeon crystal and it went inside his [inventory]
He contemplated while staring at the map for a bit about where he should put the dungeon crystal.
It's still early in the game and he still don't know if he can edit its placement later.
Although, never the less, he thought that the closer it is to the dungeon tree, the better.
Without any more thought, he placed the dungeon crystal on one of the bulging roots of the dungeon tree and clicked [Okay]
Simultaneously, a root of the real dungeon tree that he can see through the transparent window screen started glowing.
A short moment after, a small crystal glowing in bluish hue appeared embedded on that very root.
The cat, gazed at the DP production rate satisfied.
[DP:10
20 DP/Hour]
"meow~"
Thankfully, no bugs occurred.
The '/Hour' still hangs heavily on my heart though.
The cat clicked the square button on the bottom-left of his vision and the transparent window screen disappeared.
He slowly trotted towards the root where the dungeon crystal is imbedded and observed it closely.
"…"
It looks pretty…
The cat's eyes loosened under the blue glow of the dungeon crystal.
Although it's only as big as his paw and seems to be a basic item, it still looks very pretty.
This poor middle-aged salary man could only afford to take a glimpse outside of the jewelry stores all this time.
He never really had any interest in jewelries nor have a lover to gift them to, but still, beautiful shiny things are still beautiful.
He sat down and spent the few hours exploring the item store and the game system in general.
He found out that although this dream's game is quite different from the 'tap-tap build' game he previously played, its system is familiar and straight forward enough for him to know how to go on about it for only a few minutes.
After finding out that he could no longer rearrange the items he placed, and zooming in and out the map a few times to get a clearer view of the location, he noticed an uncomfortable feeling in his tummy.
"grrrooowl~"
A few minutes later, the cat stood startled after hearing a growling sound nearby.
"?!"
"grooowl"
What's that?
He heard it again.
It's quite near.
"grooowl~"
When he heard it the third time, he finally found out that it was his stomach that is making a growling sound.
This dream is quite realistic huh?
The uncomfortable feeling in my tummy is actually hunger.
He glanced at his DP and found that he already have 90 DP.
Four hours passed in the blink of an eye… it just felt like a few minutes.
I can't believe I managed to idle my time just like that.
It's been too long since I had this much free time. I was usually busy with work all week long after all.
Having to get to hangout with my friends to drink is already a miracle though.
Did my excuse about celebrating a close friend's birthday got accepted?
Most probably not. But I still took half the day off.
I just got too tired of work.
Well, it's fine… I'd probably just have my salary cut a huge chunk this month and would have to spend a lot of overtime.
With his thoughts drifting towards an upcoming troublesome matter regarding his job, the cat bought a cat food in exchange for 10 DP in the item store.
In front of him, a sudden bright glow surprised him the second time and when it subsided, a plate full of cat food appeared.
I should probably need to get used to this flashy visual effect.
He looked at it and hesitantly sniffed.
it smells good…
he took a lick.
Surprisingly, it tastes good contrary to its appearance… No wonder cats can't get enough of them.
The cat continued eating while taking a glance at his 80 remaining DP.
"…"
Suddenly, he realized.
Wait, can people taste food in their dreams?
N-no right?... Yet, I'm enjoying the slimy texture of this gelled globs. Humn… what a nice fishy flavor.
This is probably a special dream then…
The cat kept eating with his tail swaying about restlessly.
"…"
Who am I kidding? There's no way a dream could be this vivid!
I would have been awake since I already became aware that this is a dream then!
This couldn't be?... Another world transmigration?
The cat's eyes opened wide in the sudden realization.
However, filling his stomach is still the first priority.
"…"
Thus, he continued eating till the plate is empty.
-END-