Full-Time Psychic Martial Artist

Lorne thought Nelly was distressed about the food, so he extended two psionic tentacles, picked up the rabbit leg and chicken leg from the cage, and returned them to Nelly.

Nelly carefully brushed the dust off the food and put it back into her Shadow Pocket, but still looked at the snow leopard cub with a troubled expression.

This was the first time Lorne had seen Nelly value things other than food and a safe haven so much, but when he thought about Nelly's background, he instantly understood.

When Neri was 5 years old, her parents and entire clan were killed by the Chaos Beasts, and she was the only one who survived.

Her experience is so similar to that of the snow leopard cub in front of her.

Having learned this, Lorne decisively abandoned the crude solution of directly converting the snow leopard cubs into contract servants.

He carefully dismantled the bone cage with his psionic tentacles, making sure not to hurt the little guy.

The snow leopard cub didn't quite understand what was happening. It huddled up nervously, alert to every tiny movement around it.

When the cage was completely dismantled, the little guy suddenly ran a few steps and buried his head in his mother's arms, rubbing his little head against the mother leopard's neck and cheeks, making soft whimpering sounds.

The scene before her eyes quickly brought tears to Nelly's eyes, and Lorne also felt a pang of sadness.

This snow leopard is too young to understand that its mother can no longer protect it.

"Brother Lorne, can you save its mother?" Nelly looked at Lorne with hopeful eyes.

Lorne shook his head regretfully: "I don't know resurrection magic, and even if I did, its soul would already be gone."

Resurrection spells require the deceased's soul to be completely severed from the body, and he could not sense any soul fluctuations on the snow leopard's corpse using his psychic senses.

Neli stared intently at the snow leopard cub, remained silent for about ten seconds, then suddenly took a deep breath and said very seriously, "Then Neli will be its mother."

Lorne was slightly taken aback, but then he understood the significance behind Nelly's decision.

When Neri lost her biological parents and all her relatives, it was the dark goddess Nevani who became Neri's new mother and saved Neri's life.

Now, Nelly must also save this helpless little snow leopard, just like her goddess mother.

After figuring this out, Lorne nodded seriously: "Okay, then I'll be a good mother to Nelly."

After saying that, he sat down cross-legged, extended his psionic tentacles, gently touched the snow leopard mother's corpse, and activated his ability.

You have successfully refined a Level 5 Snow Leopard (Tier 1, Corpse) into [Alien Body - Substitute Body].

The next second, Lorne in his elf form lay down on the ground, while Lorne in his snow leopard form opened his eyes.

When the snow leopard cub saw its mother wake up, it immediately cried out joyfully.

Lorne quickly accessed the snow leopard mother's memories and understood what the snow leopard cubs meant.

The little one is saying, "Mommy, I'm scared, please chase them away."

So Lorne began grooming the cubs in the way a mother snow leopard would, while speaking in the snow leopard's language:

"Don't be afraid, they are your new mom and new dad. They will take care of you and protect you when your mom is no longer around."

"Mom, where are you going?"

"Mommy has to go save the world and won't be able to come back to see you often. When Mommy isn't here, you have to listen to your new daddy and new mommy. If you don't behave, Mommy won't come back to see you."

"Mom, what does it mean to save the world?"

"Uh... it's about eliminating evil and protecting good."

"Mom, what is evil, and what is good?"

"Uh...you're still young, you'll understand when you grow up."

"Mom, why do you want to save the world?"

"You're still young now, you'll understand when you grow up."

"Mom, why do I have to grow up to know?"

"There is no why. From now on, you are not allowed to ask 'why' anymore."

"Mommy, when will I grow up?"

"You can grow up by listening to your new dad and new mom."

"Mom, but I can't understand what they're saying."

"Yes, you can communicate sincerely."

"Mom, what does it mean to communicate with your heart?"

"You brat, if you're going to communicate sincerely, then you're communicating sincerely. Go and acknowledge your new mom, and stop bothering me!"

Lorne growled, grabbed the snow leopard cub by the scruff of its neck, and carried it away.

The little guy immediately became well-behaved.

Lorne carried it to Nelly and put it down. Upon seeing this, Nelly immediately squatted down and stretched out her hands.

The little snow leopard instinctively backed away, but was stopped by Lorne with his paws.

"Go quickly," Lorne urged.

"Mommy, I'm scared." The little snow leopard looked back at Lorne pitifully.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not as cowardly as you!" Lorne growled, his eyes glaring sternly at the little snow leopard.

The little snow leopard tucked its neck in and hesitantly shuffled forward.

Nelly opened her arms and whispered encouragingly, "Don't be afraid, come to Mother Nelly."

Although the little snow leopard couldn't understand Elvish, it could sense that the black-haired Elvish in front of it was very kind to it, even more so than its mother.

So it grew a little bolder and stretched its nose over to sniff Nelly's hand.

Nelly didn't move, afraid that a sudden movement would frighten the little snow leopard and ruin all of Lorne's efforts.

After the little snow leopard remembered Neli's scent, it stuck out its little tongue and licked Neli's palm. Its eyes suddenly lit up, and it licked even more diligently.

While licking, she said to Lorne, "Mommy, new mommy's hands taste so good."

Lorne paused for a moment before realizing that this was the smell left behind when Nelly fed the snow leopard cub rabbit and chicken legs.

Taking advantage of the snow leopard's inattention, he switched back to his original body and secretly told Nelly through his telepathic network: "Take out the rabbit leg and feed it."

Nelly immediately transformed the shadow in her palm into a shadow pocket, from which she extracted the roasted snow rabbit leg that she had previously failed to feed.

When the little snow leopard tasted the real snow rabbit leg, its eyes lit up and it began to eat it in large mouthfuls.

"Mommy, this is so delicious, you should have some too." The little snow leopard called out to its mother while eating a rabbit leg.

Lorne, who had already switched back to his snow leopard body, smiled and said, "Mom isn't hungry, you eat."

The little snow leopard was so engrossed in showing off its rabbit legs that it completely let its guard down around Nelly.

At Lorne's prompting, Nelly gently stroked the snow leopard cub's back, and the cub did not resist at all.

The child must have been starving, because he devoured a rabbit leg and two chicken legs before letting out a string of burps with his round belly sticking out.

Nelly was worried that it would get cold lying on the ground, so she picked it up. It didn't resist at all; instead, it comfortably closed its eyes and dozed off.

Seeing this, Lorne spoke in the tone of the leopard mother: "Mommy is going to save the world. Be a good girl and listen to your new mommy. Mommy will come back to see you when she has time."

"Aww..." the little snow leopard responded groggily, wriggling its body to find a more comfortable position in Nelly's arms.

Seeing that his mission was accomplished, Lorne switched back to his elven body and put away the substitute body of the Leopard Mother.

"It's a female leopard, let's name it." Lorne smiled as he looked at the little snow leopard in Nelly's arms.

Nelly tilted her head and pondered for a while before saying, "Nelly doesn't know how to name things, so Brother Lorne will name them."

The Elvish language in this world, like Chinese, is written in square characters and uses the surname first and the given name last, but when put together, it still has a Western-style pronunciation.

Lorne originally wanted to name the little guy "Ling" according to the naming custom of snow leopards in his hometown, but he was not satisfied with any of the names he came up with.

Either it sounded nice but didn't sound like Elvish, or it sounded like Elvish but didn't sound nice. In the end, he had to settle for second best.

"How about calling her Xue Ling?"

"Mmm." Nelly immediately accepted, and then happily called out "Xueling, Xueling" to the little snow leopard in her arms.

The little guy was sleepy after eating, but Nelly's gentle and pleasant voice lulled him to sleep, and he quickly fell asleep.

You have completed the adventure event [Being Both Father and Mother], and gained 10 x 10 experience points. (100/1000)

Lorne silently rolled his eyes at the system in his mind.