Hearing this, a hard look flashed in Nancy Priest's eyes. "Evelynna will be the Federation's [supernova] this year. To clear the way for her, using a few small tricks is nothing."
"Aren't you afraid Natalia will stop the arena match and come after you?" Raven's eyes were still full of worry.
Nancy patted Raven's shoulder and smiled. "You don't understand that woman. She's a real opportunist. If it helps her goal, she'll compromise anytime."
With that, Nancy leaned on her staff and slowly left the Temple.
As she passed the training grounds, she saw the lights were still on.
She stopped at the door and looked toward the center. Evelynna was holding a sword, sparring with the angel Diana and the elf Siel.
After the shock of the Blood Cultivation Realm incident, Evelynna had quickly steadied herself and returned to her usual training. This made Nancy feel very relieved.
Unfortunately, on this trip to the Blood Cultivation Realm, the Temple didn't gather enough spatial fragments.
Without the boost of a familiar space, it's not realistic for Evelynna to win 100 matches in a row with just two A-level familiars.
Opponents in the familiar tamer arena may not be as strong as some Blood Cultivation Realm monsters, but their tactics are flexible and they have more experience.
If a tamer decides to drag the fight and wear Evelynna down, she'll be forced into a passive spot.
Thinking of this, Nancy Priest gripped her phone and bit her lip hard.
In the end, her brow relaxed and she let out a soft sigh.
Nancy opened her messaging app and sent a message to the Temple leadership: "I can accept your terms, but you have to pay me a batch of resources first. I want to make sure Evelynna opens a purple familiar space—100%."
...
While the Temple was busy getting ready for the arena match, Logan was already sleeping soundly on the big bed in the villa.
It wasn't until noon the next day that he moved Lilith's leg aside, got out of bed, and went to wash up.
But before he could wipe the water off his face, Kerparos's urgent voice sounded in his mind: "Master, how long are you going to sleep? Hurry into the familiar's space and take a look!"
As Kerparos kept chattering, Logan quickly wiped his face, grabbed a beef bone from the kitchen, and slipped into his familiar space.
In a flash of dark-golden light, Logan was back standing on his island.
When he opened his eyes, everything looked completely different.
The lush, overgrown jungle had been cleared into a large open space.
Piles of stone, wood, unknown plant roots, and vines were stacked like little hills.
Kerparos was squatting in the middle of the clearing, looking at Logan with a proud, smug face.
"You did all this?" Logan asked in surprise, casually tossing the big beef bone in his hand to Kerparos.
Seeing the bone land in front of him, Kerparos's expression shifted. All three heads rolled their six eyes. "Master! I am a dignified Three-Headed Hell Wolf. Wolves love meat, not gnawing on bones!"
Hearing Kerparos complain, Logan rapped him on the forehead with his fist. "From today on, you're not a wolf—you're a dog. Got it? Go look around—what dog doesn't chew bones?"
After being harshly scolded, Kerparos wanted to talk back, but then he remembered he had even given Logan his soul crystal. He could only accept it with a sigh.
Kerparos lowered his head and sniffed the beef bone. It didn't smell that bad. There were bits of meat and tendon on it, and it was fresh. He opened his mouth and started gnawing, muttering, "Master, next time can you bring three? I've got three mouths—one bone isn't enough."
Hearing that, Logan nodded.
With Kerparos's size—and three heads—one big beef bone really wasn't enough.
He watched as Kerparos finished the bone like a snack in under two minutes. Logan slapped his forehead.
Looks like when I go explore the Blood Cultivation Realm, I need to make a point of collecting edible parts from monsters. With an appetite like that, Kerparos could eat me out of house and home.
After cleaning up, Logan asked about the materials in the clearing.
Turns out Kerparos doesn't need regular sleep.
When he's tired, he just takes a nap and gets his energy back in ten minutes or so.
So in his free time, Kerparos claimed a bit of territory for himself on the island.
The stones and wood here were the materials he planned to use to build his own palace.
He asked Logan to come over partly to show off, and partly to get his permission.
After all, the whole familiar space was created by Logan, and Kerparos knows his place here.
"So, you want to build a palace here?" Once Logan understood what he wanted, he nodded right away. "No problem. It's your call."
Seeing how freely Logan agreed, Kerparos got a little embarrassed. "B-but…you human familiar tamers care a lot about space efficiency in your familiar space. To set up more Rune Arrays, you usually leave your familiars only a simple place to live."
He looked at the clearing—about the size of two soccer fields—and his heads drooped.
As a familiar, he had to think about Logan's growth and spell out the pros and cons.
But as a proud Three-Headed Hell Wolf, he also wanted respect.
After taking it all in, Logan laughed. "Others care about space efficiency because their familiar space is only a few hundred square meters at most."
"My island is nine square kilometers, and it's still growing. No need to be so stingy. From now on, this clearing is your turf. Do whatever you want with it."
Logan glanced around and promised, "For now our resources are limited. Build a temporary place and make do for a few days."
"When I earn money at the Genius Training Camp, I'll build you a separate manor. You'll have your own space to roam, and your own set of Rune Arrays."
"The whole manor will be your domain. How does that sound?"
His voice wasn't loud, but in Kerparos's ears it sounded like thunder.
It was such a surprise—way beyond what he expected.
It was downright lavish. Not only had Kerparos never seen this in his long life, even in the records of the Three-Headed Hell Wolves, no human familiar tamer had treated a familiar this well.
Thinking of this, Kerparos's eyes filled with tears, and his voice caught. "Master, you are so wise."
"We don't have to wait until you have money. Our conditions are a bit rough now, but we can still set up some basic Rune Arrays."
"The stone and wood in your familiar space were born after absorbing a lot of energy, so they're already good magic materials."
As he spoke, Kerparos stretched out a paw and began to draw lines of cryptic symbols on the ground.
After looking it over, he said they could use local materials to build three simple Rune Arrays in Logan's familiar space.
First, the energy storage array.
It can slowly absorb and store some magic power without hurting the familiar space's stability or growth.
Logan can draw on this magic power anytime. He can use it to refill his familiar's mana in a pinch, or use it himself to cast special magic skills.
Second, the skill array.
It can imprint any one of the familiar's skills into the array in rune form, so the familiar tamer can use it.
As long as the tamer channels enough magic power to activate the skill array, they can use the same skill as the familiar.
When this array is used, a phantom of the familiar linked to that skill will appear behind the tamer.
Third, the defense array.
It can take on a share of the physical damage for the familiar tamer, which boosts the tamer's defense in a roundabout way.
But if too much damage builds up and the array breaks, its effect will vanish completely.
...
After introducing the three Rune Arrays, Kerparos looked at Logan with a proud face. "Master, your arena match is the day after tomorrow. Which array should we build first?"
Seeing Kerparos's tail sticking up, Logan slapped his thigh and said, "Do I even need to say it? All three!"
Kerparos: "???"
...