"Oh, wow! The painting colored itself!" Selina's eyes lit up in joy. "How did you do that, Mr. Mater?"
"It is simply a process of inscribing a spell." Aurora answered on Mater's behalf.
"What is it saying on the page?" Selina couldn't read the Dark Grimoire. It was written in Mater's mother language and magical symbols. Those that didn't exist in this world.
Mater meowed.
"Why don't I show you?" Aurora translated.
The black cat climbed on the dish washing sink and turned on the faucet. Its hand hovered over the water.
The black fur emanated a green energy. The same color as the green sphere from before.
Water flew to Mater's paw and formed a ball of water. He threw the ball onto the floor. It took shape and received color while in mid-air.
When the ball landed on the floor, it had turned into a black cat that was identical to Mater.
"Eeeeeeek!" Selina couldn't contain her happiness. She picked up the new kitty.
"Oh my gosh! Another Mater!" She hugged the cat tightly. Its face was devoid of emotions, lacking the usual contempt and annoyance of Mater.
Selina observed the clone closely and quickly noticed its lack of expression.
"This kitty seems much dumber than Mater."
Mater hissed.
"My Master said, 'Hey!'" Aurora translated.
"Hehe. Don't worry, Mr. Mater. I always like you the most." Selina said.
Mater rolled his eyes then meowed at Aurora again, telling her something.
"Master said he needs your help to construct a Glacial Shrine for me. It is a place for me to rest and regain my power." Aurora said to Selina.
"A Glacial Shrine? What is it exactly?" Selina said.
"The details are unimportant but that place needs to be cold. Extremely cold. As cold as possible. Preferably with ice and snow." Aurora said.
Selina rubbed her chin in deep thought. "I can only think of one thing like that. Those cold storages inside the restaurants or meat shops."
"Cold storage, huh…" Mater jumped to the couch and placed his hand on Selina's phone. The black cat surfed the web and looked for information relating to it.
"Walk-in refrigerator. I see. Similar to that ice box Selina had. The humans of this world construct larger ice boxes that can regulate cold air to keep their meat fresh.
An average cold storage should be sufficient to conduct a Glacial Shrine for Aurora."
Once Mater found what he needed, he began to look for more information on how to obtain one. There were many options to buy one out of the gate but that would require finding a place to put it in.
The cost of setting it up would also be very expensive.
Mater ignored those options and only looked for ones that could offer a working cold storage out of the gate.
He found a few butcher shops and meat distributors that looked to sell their establishment. They had cold storages with acceptable size to conduct a Glacial Shrine.
Mater opened those up and gave the phone to Selina.
"10,000 credits?!" Selina almost fainted when she saw the price. That was the price for the cheapest one.
"We don't have this kind of money right now, Mr. Mater. Even with all the reward we recently got, we only have around 2,000 credits. That does not even count our daily expenses."
Mater stroked his whiskers. "Selina is right. We need more credits. I can hack the central banking system to steal some credits. But the people of this world monitor their money very closely. A sudden large influx of credits will attract unwanted attention from the government.
But maybe we don't need to buy a cold storage…"
Mater grabbed Selina's phone again. Instead of looking to buy a cold storage, he checked if they could rent anything.
A few options showed up on the phone.
"2,000 credits a month? This is very expensive but reasonable." Selina looked at one of the options on the phone and said.
There were people who rented out cold storage for a price. Big logistics companies that rented cold storages to smaller businesses or butchers in peak seasons. Smaller companies offered minor cold storages with more privacy and security.
Mater was only interested in the second type. The first type had a bigger size but it was usually in public warehouses that could attract too much attention. Mater definitely didn't want that. He didn't need that much of a space for the Shrine either.
The second type was smaller but usually located in individual separated buildings that wouldn't raise too much suspicion.
"We can definitely do 2,000 a month." Selina said. "We only need to figure out how to live after settling the initial payment."
Mater meowed a lot, which Aurora translated to human tongue.
"You still haven't claimed the reward for the case in NEO Mall yet. We should have no problem with money this month." Aurora said.
Selina tapped her forehead lightly. "You're right. I almost forgot about that. Let me check the Bounty Site. They should send the reward already."
Selina logged into her computer. She quickly saw the new message that the ACPD had sent her.
"Reward for Neo Mall Bounty.
Credits: 5,000.
Tokens: 100."
Accompanying the message was a letter from the ACPD, summarizing the situation and also explanation of the reward.
"5,000 credits?!" Selina blurted out.
As it turned out, the families of the missing people were very grateful and personally sent credits to Selina. They also would like to meet her but Alister already refused them politely. He told them that they could meet her if she wanted to later.
Alister also mentioned that her account had accumulated 145 tokens and could be upgraded to Bronze Rank. However, all Bronze or above Bounty Hunters must have a Psychic Certificate from the Institute of Supernatural Phenomenon.
"I already set up an appointment for you in the ISP. Just go in there and tell them your name. They will guide you over the examination and issue you a certificate." Selina read out Alister's email.
Mater meowed loudly.
"Master said. 'Well. Well. I think it's time we find out more about your power, Selina'." Aurora said.
"Power? What power are you talking about? I am doomed! How can I pass this examination now?!" Selina clutched her hair in a panic.
Mater meowed again. "You do have power, girl. Do you remember how you saved me back in the cave under David Rendell's house?"
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