Chapter 44

  I decided not to return directly to the library after eating. I was wandering through the busy streets examining the wares at the many stalls. I took advantage of the noise to communicate with Lynn.

  [The room is bugged][We need a different][Non-voice form of communication]. I said each set of words quietly in a different language. Seri knew about seventy different languages, so I might as well use that knowledge. In the game, everyone got the psi translator at the start and it handled any language problem that might arise. From Seri’s memories though, one couldn’t always use a psi translator and some races had more favorable opinions when working with people that they could truly communicate with. She stopped at learning only as much as she did because they were the most used languages in the area of the galaxy she operated in. The others weren’t exactly friendly to the human vocal system.

  “So that’s why Mistress didn’t enter her room to eat! I see. I already possess an answer to this predicament! Tada!” Lynn announced.

  On my vision, a keyboard had appeared. I could see how this would work, but wouldn’t it still look weird to tap along at it? I maneuvered around in the crowd and typed as much. I was typing slowly and disguising my movements as I did so too. Not like anyone could really take notice of my moving fingers with how packed in we all were. Actually now that I think about it, wasn’t this the perfect environment for pickpockets?

  “That is true, Mistress, but I believe the detail that it would be completely impervious to being spied on is well worth it. Any voice communication can be deciphered given enough time or, as much as I loathe to say it, possibly magical means.” Lynn responded with clear distaste in her voice.

  That was true. I still didn’t have a good handle on the more subtle side of magic. I had only seen a few different types of magic circles for enchanting and offensive magic. Well, there was also that note back at the fortress. {What is your opinion on the bugs in my room. Should I remove them? Personally I think it’s a futile effort to do so, but they could have more sinister effects than merely observation.} I entered.

  “My first reaction would be to get rid of them immediately, but like Mistress said, it would be inevitable for them to come back. I do suggest setting up a bug of your own to observe anyone that might enter. I can prepare a suitable one right now if you wish.” Lynn offered.

  {Please do so.} I typed.

  “The other reason I don’t think Mistress should eliminate them is because doing so would remove one of Mistress’ cards. It would reveal that you possess methods to detect them, which means they would know to set up even more advanced bugs in the future.” Lynn continued.

  {That’s true. I can’t afford to have this keyboard on my vision all the time, so let’s work out some signals as well. First, for the keyboard, let’s do if I rub the inside of my right eye for making it appear, left eye to remove it. If I pinch the bridge of my nose, that’s asking you to report on what you’ve learned or anything happenings. I can’t really think of anything else we’d need signals for with you watching through my eyes.} I keyed.

  “Affirmative.” Lynn replied.

  {That aside, I’m going shopping. What kind of items would you like?} I wrote.

  “Potions would be nice, but I believe Mistress already picked some up for that purpose. Some metal ore or ingots of unknown types. I’d also like some fabric, cloth and thread to play around with.” Lynn stated.

  Fabrics? Cloth? {Why do you need clothing materials? Especially ready made stuff?} I asked.

  “Just interested a bit.” Lynn answered with an odd tone of voice.

  Hmmmm. Suspicious, but I know she won’t explain any real reasons if I press her. {Alright. I’ll see what I can do about that shopping list.}

  Wandering around the bazaar was pretty enjoyable, surprisingly. Finding the stuff for Lynn didn’t take all that long, though I couldn’t find any new types of metal at least that weren’t already processed into something. I ended up buying a pot made out of something called aether steel along with a few other random doodads. I also picked up some more odd potions. One was something called an elemental ward potion that would supposedly keep the elements from harming you. Not like I needed something like that with my shield, but it did sound like a neat effect. I ended up buying enough that I bought a separate pack to toss them all in. I couldn’t use a bag of holding yet so I had to make do with a simple, well-made leather one. I did buy a cheap one to send to Lynn though.

  If there was one annoying detail that came up as I was going about the shopping, it was that I had not just one, but six separate offers from people wishing to buy Coa. One of them was so persistent that I had to use a quick snap of psi to slip away from her.

  Once I had cleared the shopping list, I headed toward the library. I should be able to get another hour or two of study in.

  Unfortunately there was a commotion along the way.

  “I’m telling you that you must give this to me!” A woman’s voice shouted.

  “And I’m telling you missie, that if you can’t pay, then I’m not selling.” A man’s voice argued back.

  “But that is-” The woman’s voice attempted to reason.

  “I don’t care about any sob stories you might make up, missie. Now get out of here before I call for the guards. You’re disrupting my shop.” The man said.

  At this point, I finally got through the crowd and got a glimpse of the scene. It was the girl in the cloak from the tailoring shop along with her maid and that knight.

  The maid came close to the girl and then tugged on the cloak. “Y-”

  She was interrupted from whatever she was about to say by the knight knocking her on the head. “Milady, we must leave.”

  “But, Wymund, it is right there!” The girl pleaded.

  “I understand, Milady, but we have no choice but to retreat for now. We must first procure more funds in order to acquire it.” The knight responded.

  The girl huffed and stomped her foot against the ground. She angrily whirled back to the merchant. “You absolutely must not sell that item to anyone else! Do you hear me? You must not! I shall return post haste!”

  The crowd made way for the irritated, and obviously noble, girl. The maid did a slight bow expressing apologies to all concerned before quickly following.

  I caught the merchant saying “Stupid, spoiled noble brat.” under his breath.

  With the show over, everyone started going back about their own business.

  I was a tad curious about what the fuss had been over, so I decided to hang about a bit and talk to the merchant. Whatever the item was, that girl had expressed a very strong attachment to it.

  The merchant was selling small accessories and jewelry. All his merchandise was displayed in glass cases. There wasn’t anything that jumped out as being particularly special. He gave me a look when I came up to his stall. His thoughts were expressing annoyance with all the sales that scene might have lost him and all the people badgering him about it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  This was easily remedied though. “Do any of your accessories have protection enchants? I was looking to buy a simple one as a present for a young girl.” Might as well get Rie something useful.

  The merchant immediately brightened up. “Of course! I recommend one of these items over here.” He moved a certain case over for me to examine.

  I was bit surprised that the accessories in that box were made of wood or leather. “They’re not made of metal?”

  “Since Miss Customer specified a simple enchanted charm. Wood and leather made from beasts is much better for these types of enchants. Is there any that catches your eye?” He inquired.

  “This one right here.” I pointed to a wooden bracelet that had blue lines running along it.

  “A fine choice. This one has a minor magic resistance enchant. I can let you have it for five silver.” The merchant said.

  “Five silver huh? Do you mind if I examine it more closely?” I asked.

  “Not at all.” He withdrew a key and unlocked the case before holding it up toward me. He wasn’t handing it to me, just raising it closer to my eye.

  This was pretty much a sham. I had already decided to buy it. I could tell that the merchant enjoyed showing off his wares. I was happy to oblige. Whatever worked, as long as it put him in a better mood to sate my idle and likely dumb curiosity. “It’s very well-made. It’s perfect for what I had in mind so I’ll take it.”

  To my surprise, he placed it in a small box before taking my coins and passing it to me. “Miss Customer did say it was intended to be a gift.” He said with a smile.

  “Thank you.” I replied. “If you don’t mind me asking, what was that fuss about earlier?”

  He sighed. “Just someone raising a ruckus because they saw something caught their eye. Came up to my stall and pointed at this necklace here.” He indicated a necklace with a large dark blue gem as the center piece. “Then started yelling about how it belonged to her and I had to return it.”

  “And there’s no way that would be the case? If it was possibly acquired through others?” I asked.

  “Of course not! Every item on display here was crafted by myself! None of the merchants I have contracts with for supplying me with gems or other raw materials condone buying or selling stolen goods either. Just a spoiled noble trying to get something she wants.” He whispered the last bit in a bitter tone.

  “I see. Thank you again for the bracelet. I’m sure my acquaintance will be pleased with it.” I said by way of concluding the business deal.

  With that short detour done and my curiosity satisfied, I returned to the library. I spent the next couple hours until the library closed flipping through more books. I was making decent headway, but I really hadn’t made much progress when considering the sheer number of books. It would probably take me at least a few days at this rate to go through all these shelves. These are only the books on Spirits too! I still have to look at the other sections afterwards.

  Rather than head back to the inn though, I took a detour and went to adventurer’s guild. It was evening now, but it was still open as I had expected. I went to the counter, instead of checking the request board. I had no idea what the locations on the requests would be about, so it was easier asking the guild staff for suggestions.

  I didn’t have to wait in line very long. Only a few people were here. Most adventurers were probably getting drunk, as per the stereotype, at this time of day.

  I ended up with a super muscled old man for receptionist. Where are the pretty girls!? “Show your ID and then state your business.” He said in a gruff voice.

  I had expected that, so I already had my card ready. He only gave it a brief glance. “I was looking for any jobs that might be available in the surrounding area. I would have checked the board, but as I’m new to the city, I was hoping for any suggestions.”

  “You’re in luck. The Guard just dropped off some requests. They’ve got their hands full with the anniversary celebration, so they passed some non urgent work to us.” He pulled out a sheaf of notes. “Let’s see here. There’s a herd of elkan over at the Dhona Woods causing some problems for the farmers on the outskirts. Then there’s a celea up north along the coast that attacked a fisherman. Lastly, if you follow the coast in the opposite direction, there’s some blast jellies. Any preference?”

  “The elkan one sounds good.” Being in a forest would be less observable than on the coast and would make it easier to do the exchange with Lynn.

  “Okay. You have sufficient rank to accept it, so it’s fine. There’s no real rush on completing it, but try to get it done within the next week if possible.” He explained.

  There was something about what he just said that bothered me. My rank. Wasn’t I still a bottom level adventurer? “What rank is the request?”

  “It’s a rank 3. You’re rank 3 as well, so that’s all sorted. Right?” He said.

  Rank 3? I was absolutely sure the bottom rank was rank 5. I think the guild leader back there said you had to take a test of some kind to reach higher ranks too. I definitely never did that. “How am I rank 3? I only joined the guild recently.” I asked.

  “I can’t say for sure. Odds are that you received some commendations and requests to be ranked up by notables like guild leaders or nobles for services that weren’t affiliated with official requests. That’s not all that uncommon really.” He explained with a shrug.

  It’s the event with the kids rearing its head again, isn’t it? This probably isn’t the last I’m going to see of the aftermath of that either. “I see. One last question. Directions to the area the beasts were seen at and a description of them, if you could.”

  The guy was startled. “You’ve never seen an elkan before?”

  I was saved by a timely assist by Lynn. “Mistress, elkan came up in one of the books. They look very similar to the terrestrial elk you may be familiar with.”

  Thank you Lynn! “I’m not positive about the official names for beasts really, but were elkan the somewhat equine looking monsters with large antlers on their head?

  He nodded. “Yep, that’s them. As for where they were spotted. Near the large forest close to the city, but down at the southern fringes of the farmland area. Witnesses saw three of them, but there may be be a few more. Contact the farmers around there for more information. Remember to collect their antlers as proof of subjugation.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” I said before leaving.

  Before I left the city, I stopped by the inn and let the inn lady know that I’d be out of the city tonight. She accepted that, but was inwardly afraid that I was aware of everything. The guards at the gate were surprised to see me leaving the city so late, but they let me through. I was lucky there. It was close to the time where they locked down the gate for the night.

  I started jogging. I needed to reach the forest quickly, but not quickly enough to draw attention to my speed. No one was still out in the farms, so I just had to be cautious of the guards at the city. I wasn’t sure how far they could accurately see, but I could expect that they’d have methods of observing the open, expansive farmland from atop the walls.

  Ultimately, I reached the forest around midnight. I pushed in deeper and deeper until I found a decent location to rest for the night. I hunkered down and started preparing my campsite. Once I had dinner started cooking, I decided to talk with Lynn.

  “Lynn, can you send the car to collect the goods?” I said for a start.

  “It’s already on the way, Mistress. I’m being cautious about the route I am taking due to the inability to go to higher altitudes.” Lynn replied.

  “That makes sense.” I handed a slice of fruit to the gluttonous dragon on my lap. “Can we go over the information collected today?”

  “To begin, the spirits don’t appear to follow any pattern for when they arrive, unless a number of them hid their identities which is an option. They appear out of thin air, possessing an odd Class and usually weird equipment. A lot of times, they are also a race that doesn’t exist here. Sometimes, they are accompanied by others as well. The highest number of spirits that appeared at once are what are referred to as the Divine Spirits. According to the notes, they were a group of forty-five that were sent to ‘oversee the birth of the world’. That Airin that Mistress has heard of, was said to be the leader of that group.” Lynn recounted.

  “The ‘birth of the world’? That kind of sounds ominous to me. Is that explained at all?” I inquired.

  “Sadly not. All that remains to this day are legends and various details like blessings and the like. From the accounts though, it was at least several millennia ago, if not longer. Since then, spirits have come that have changed the world, for good or ill. A lot of times their impact has been relatively minor, limited to showing off by fighting strong monsters or clearing high level dungeons, but some stand out by founding empires or even going as far as trying to conquer the world. One of them even destroyed a kingdom for simply offending her.” Lynn continued.

  “So they’re not universally good then. Was there any commonality between their arrivals?” I asked.

  “None that I could determine from the books today. Possibly, we might discover one.” Lynn paused for a moment. “Mistress, the scariest detail that I’ve learned, wasn’t about the spirits. It’s about what it revealed about the people of this world.” Lynn announced.

  “What do you mean?” I questioned.

  “The people of this world revere the spirits to a ridiculous level. They will wholeheartedly follow even a crazy, insane one that does unspeakable things. That woman that massacred that kingdom is seen as being justified because they had the audacity to offend a spirit!” Lynn explained.

  “That is simply terrifying.” I answered honestly. “With that level of devotion to take advantage of, don’t people try to pose as spirits for the benefits?”

  “It’s an anathema to them. In addition, they wouldn’t be able to imitate the non-standard classes of the spirits even if they overcame their feelings.” Lynn concluded.

  I sighed. “I really wish you had said something that would have eliminated the possibility that I could be considered a spirit.”

  “Regrettably, Mistress, you and possibly even myself, both seem to fit the requirements to be considered such.” Lynn said hesitantly.

  “Fuck.” That summed up my feelings pretty well. Don’t drag me into your shitty religious fervor, stupid world!

  Spoiler: Spoiler

  The young man sat on his bed as he stared at the medicine bottle in his right hand. It said to take three tablets before bed. His family was against him participating in this experimental medication, but he was desperate. His sleeping was too erratic and he couldn’t continue living like this. He couldn’t even keep a job! When you could drop asleep from one moment to the next at any time, it was hard to keep regular work hours. Not to mention how impossible it was for him to drive. His license had been taken away when he fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road into a shallow ditch. The police had been notified and they had found him still sleeping peacefully.

  That was only half the problem. Some weeks he went barely sleeping at all. A normal human isn’t supposed to operate on only five to ten hours of sleep for a whole week. He had a rare case of severe hypersomnia mixed with severe insomnia.

  Suffice to say, he had major issues. His therapists and psychiatrists had all agreed that the condition had developed out of his major depression disorder. They had never seen a case as bad as his own though.

  He stared at the bottle again. He had tried other medications, but none had done the slightest amount of good. Some of them had succeeded in helping lessen his anxiety and depression, but none had aided his sleep. He held up the paper in his left hand and read it over again. The side effects included all the usual subjects such as headaches, stomach pains, dizziness or unusual dreams. He had seen those and others on all the sleep meds he had taken over the last few years.

  He laid the paper down on the nightstand. He opened the cap of the bottle and shook it until three pills were in his left hand. He fastened the bottle closed and sat it down before picking up his glass of water. “Bottom’s up.” He put the pills in his mouth and drank the water.

  A minute later he had finally managed to swallow all of them. He felt a glorious lassitude spread through his body. This medication was working fast! He laid down and attempted to pull the covers up. He failed. He had passed out the moment his head hit the pillow.

  On the paperwork, he had neglected to notice a very, very important little detail.

  “Do not start at full dosage immediately. Work up to full dosage over the course of two months. Take one pill to start, then up the dosage to two pills the following month. Up it to three pills the following month. Do not take full dosage immediately.”

  ^^^^^^^^^^

  It was warm. I couldn’t feel my body, but I couldn’t seem to be bothered by this. I was just so comfortable. There was a rhythmic beating close by. It seemed to lull me into a deeper sleep.

  ^^^^^^^^^^

  I was stirred from my peace because it felt like I was being pushed through a tight hole. It was cramped and it was definitely not comfortable at all. Suddenly, as soon as it had come, the feeling was gone, but so was the warmth. The temperature had dropped astoundingly. I felt my body begin shivering.

  Something else took my attention away from the cold though. I realized I couldn’t breathe. It felt like there was something covering my face. I attempted to pull it off, but my body didn’t seem to move the way it should. I felt so weak and helpless. Had something gone wrong with the medication?

  I felt something grab and pick me up. Whatever it was must be gigantic, because it had lifted me effortlessly. I was laid down on something fuzzy and then a rough and damp towel was rubbed along my face. It removed whatever was on my face and I finally took in a deep breathe and felt my body shudder. Then I shuddered again. I was still cold, but I was now ravenously hungry as well. I was unable to move since the towel was rubbing all over my body. I tried to let out a cry, but I couldn’t hear my own voice. I couldn’t hear anything. What was wrong with me? I can’t hear or see and I felt cold. Too cold. All my current warmth was coming from this fuzzy thing I was resting on.

  There was a pinch of pain and then I was lifted and placed down away from the fuzzy object. Too cold. I tried to get back to the source of heat I could feel not far away, but my body was still not moving the way it should. I finally managed an awkward crawl and pulled myself forward, one arm stretch at a time. As I reached the entity responsible for the heat, I found myself in a crowd of bodies that were all moving, pushing against one another to get as close as possible to it. I shoved aside one and hit another with my arm to get past it.

  I was now up against this giant wall of fuzzy fur and heat. Driven by some instinct, I placed my head forward and opened my mouth and began searching the wall for some object. I searched by placing my hands on the wall and feeling around. Eventually, I found a nub and put my mouth on it. I sucked at it and was reward with food. I kept sucking at it until I no longer was hungry.

  I felt a languor descend upon me. I was no longer cold due to all these other bodies huddled around me and my hunger had been sated. I drifted off to sleep.

  ^^^^^^^^^^

  I was not sure how much time passed, since all I did was sleep and wake up for brief moments to eat, but I became aware of the fact that I was not human. It was pretty obvious in retrospect. I still wasn’t able to see and my hearing was still quite bad, so I wasn’t positive about what exactly I was. What I knew was that I was covered in fur and had four legs. I think I had a tail too, but wasn’t sure on that particular detail. These facts did not narrow it down much. I had to admit that this was one of the odder dreams I’d ever had. Oh sure, I’d had dreams where I was an animal in the past, but never one so lifelike. It must be due to that new medication.

  I had started trying to open my eyes the last few times I had been awake. It was difficult, but I felt like I was making steady progress. I also tried to walk around but my body wasn’t strong enough for that yet. I tried to crawl, but if I left the pile that was the rest of my siblings, I got cold very quickly, so I immediately returned every time. Occasionally, I was picked up and plopped back down in the huddle by what could only be the mother animal.

  It was after my next feeding and sleep session that I finally managed to open my eyes. My vision wasn’t all that clear yet, but I could make out the shapes of my siblings around me and a giant shape we were all lying against that must be our mother. It felt a bit weird to think of some dream animal as my mother. Regardless, what I could see with my blurry vision was that our mother was gigantic compared to us. I had no real idea of what our exact sizes were, but she was definitely bigger than I would have expected. I don’t think a full grown animal was supposed to be close to twenty times the size of the baby. That was only a very rough estimate though. I immediately passed back out afterwards due to the amount of energy it took for me to keep my eyes open that long.

  ^^^^^^^^^^

  My vision and hearing continued getting better over the next ten or so times I was awake. I didn’t seem to have the strength to do much else when awake. My other siblings had only barely started opening their eyes for small moments so I was ahead of the curve. When it came to other things though, I think I was behind, by a lot. I had taken my waking moments to examine everything as closely as I could. I had discovered that I was some kind of cat. I had no idea of the exact breed. The other thing I had realized was that I seemed to be maybe a little over half the size of my siblings. I could tell they were bigger than me based on lengths of our limbs. That kind of bugged me. If I was going to have a dream about being an animal, the least it could do was not have me be the runt of the litter.

  Our mother was just as big as I had guessed. She didn’t look like any kind of cat I had ever seen either. She looked like a cross between a lynx and a tiger with the addition of a thick tail longer even than her body. She was orange with black stripes which was where the comparison to a tiger came in. There were places that had a mass of dark red hair, like her back and lower legs. Her coloring was a bit different than us. I wasn’t sure what color I was, but I knew I had dark paws at least. My siblings were a variety of colors and not all of us had stripes. Three of us had spots instead for example. The only feature that we all seemed to share was the long tail.

  As for the other things that I could see, well, we appeared to be living inside the hollow of a tree. The pile of kittens, that was my siblings and I, was laying on a mound of furs. I don’t really want to consider where our mother acquired said furs. I had already noticed that her claws looked very long and sharp when she idly scratched them against the wood of the tree. The tree had deep indents left behind from that activity.

  The bright side to all my time spent crawling and working my eyes and ears was that I was finally taking my first wobbly steps. It was weird to stand and walk with four legs instead of two, but it seemed to come to me naturally. Mother seemed to watch me fondly at times like that and would pick me up when I collapsed from the exertion after only a few steps of travel. She would usually lick me clean and then plop me back into the kitten pile.

  I progressively managed to walk further and further and my wobbly steps became more confident. Soon I was moving easily around our tree hollow while my siblings were just beginning their own baby movements. I felt a little afraid of my siblings as they started to catch up to me. Seeing them stand up and tower over me reminded me of how tiny I was compared to all of them. It didn’t seem very fair at all. I decided to push myself even harder in my exercises.

  I was all too aware of how litters would establish dominance among each other and resolved to not allow any of them to dominate me. If anyone was going to be the top of the pack, it was going to be me! What was a group of cats called anyway? I followed Mother’s example and started scratching the wood of the tree, sharpening my tiny kitty claws.

  I also tried to follow Mother outside once. She turned around and took me back. While she was happy to see me moving around, she did not want me leaving the nest yet. After getting a good look outside though, I was happy to stay here for now. Outside did not look safe for a small kitten. It appeared to be a tropical rainforest out there! The thick foliage and hanging vines looked sinister in the darkness. And there was a part of me that really didn’t care for the wet, humid atmosphere that was out there. I was much more content being in our nice and dry tree hollow. Though the scariest detail was actually the heaps of bones around our tree. Mother seemed to be something of an apex predator if that was any judge. I did not want to make her upset with me.

  A few rests later, my siblings were finally, mostly, steady on their feet. I think some of them were feeling challenged by the fact that the ‘tiny one’ was better than them. I might have contributed to that feeling by the constant litany of meows I was giving them as I trotted around them all with my tail up. Of course, I knew that this would come back to bite me in the back if all I did was this, so I made sure to spend a lot of time scratching the wood. I wanted them all to get a good look at how long and sharp my claws were and how easily I could use them.

  It was when I was sharpening them for the umpteenth time, that something odd happened.

  Success! Let’s give this a look.

  My stats were low, but that’s to be expected since I’m still only a kitten I guess. Felocine is not anything I’ve ever heard of. No surprises there. My health is at max but my stamina is a bit drained. From all the fooling around and claw sharpening I suppose. That’s a bummer if it drains out just from normal activity. As for my skills, Enhanced Hearing, Olfaction and Night Vision made sense as an animal and as a cat. I already just found out about Sharp Claws, but Balance and Status Resist were new. Balance wasn’t too odd either. I’ve heard the term, ‘cat like grace’ before. Status Resist was unusual though. I can’t think of any reason to have that, unless it’s just something innate to my species?

  What about these unknown titles though? Was one of them runt of the litter? I hoped not. I don’t have the slightest clue on how to examine them. Is it some kind of thought phrase like checking status was? Check title? Show title information? Identify title? I don’t know!

  My ears perked up at some sounds coming closer and I turned my head to see mother’s return. She had blood around her mouth which told me all I needed to know about what she had been up to. If she was back though, that meant it was meal time! She laid down and all of us hurried over to our customary spots.

  Almost all of us anyway.

  One of my bigger siblings was at my spot. I hissed at them, but they didn’t budge. That was the nice way, time for the not nice way. I extended my claws and pushed. My sibling winced from the sudden pain and jumped up and backwards before collapsing. It still wasn’t as good on its feet as I was. It still looked like it was considering attacking me back, but I stamped the ground with my paw and extended my nice, shiny and more importantly sharp claws again. It seemed to get the hint and went to its own spot this time. Our other siblings were too interested in feeding to notice what just happened, but mother had been watching. She was now observing me. I let out a happy little sound, as close to a purr as I could manage, and started eating. After I was done, I saw my stamina had been restored somewhat, but as usual after eating, I fell asleep.

  When I woke up, I checked my status and saw my stamina was now fully restored. I guess making sure to eat and rest properly are important there. My siblings were walking around, sometimes wrestling among themselves, while I spent my time sharpening my claws. After some time doing that, I would start running around the tree hollow. I occasionally tried adding jumping to the routine, but that was too much extra exertion.

  After a few cycles of this ‘train, eat, sleep, repeat program’, I acquired a new skill. It was Improved Stamina. This skill seemed to just give me an extra two stamina. I wasn’t complaining though, going from 25 to 27 was a decent upgrade. It let me do a bit more training. Eventually, I added Improved Agility to the list as well. This only gave me one point in Agility, which was disappointing, but I suppose it was better than nothing.

  Sharp Claws was the next thing to level, reaching level 4. My sharp, kitty claws were the deterrent that stopped my siblings from attempting to bully me. The few that tried had gotten much worse than they had given. Not that I had gotten off totally unscathed from those small matches, but I had used my small size and all my training to my full advantage to slip in and give a nice and pointy stab which usually concluded the fight.

  For the most part, I tended to just ignore my cat family and focus on my own efforts. I wanted to see how far I could get in this dream. It was already a long one, though it was hard to tell how long a dream really lasted. For all I knew, it might only have been an hour or two since I went to bed in reality.

  Sharp Claws 4 was succeeded by Sharp Claws 5 and both Improved Stamina and Improved Agility leveled up as well. Out of boredom, I started playing with my siblings and was actually enjoying myself. I won a lot of the wrestling matches, oddly enough. I got the feeling that my siblings were letting me win out of fear of my claws. Our mother gave me the impression of being both confused and amused by my actions.

  Our mother began weaning us. It started by bringing back pieces of meat which then led to her dragging back entire carcasses for us to eat off. I was disgusted at the idea of eating raw meat at first, but that feeling faded away after I tried it and found it to be delicious. It wasn’t like I was eating raw meat in reality and I was a carnivore. I had no real reason to make a fuss over this.

  Everything was going well until I got the idea to try climbing up our tree hollow. I figured my claws were sharp enough to grip the wood so why not? I managed to climb pretty far up before I realized I had no clue how to go back down. I tightened my grip on the wood reflexively and began mewing pitifully. What an idiot I was! My siblings were bouncing around underneath me, crying as well. It was like they were encouraging me to hang on. Our mother rushed into the tree hollow with a growl. She seemed surprised upon not finding an obvious threat. Once I saw mother appear, I was so filled with relief that I loosened my grip and began to fall. Next I knew I was hanging from her mouth. She had been at the entrance to the tree a moment ago, but now she was here holding me.

  She sat me down in the middle of the tree and then sat on her haunches staring at me. I tried to express my happiness and thankfulness for the rescue by rubbing against her and meowing, but instead found myself pushed to the ground under her paw. It wasn’t a strong amount of force, but more than enough to keep me from escaping. She was growling and hissing at me. I think I’m being scolded. It went on for a bit of time, but then she stopped, released me, and picked me up and started cleaning me. She seemed to be relieved I was safe and sound too. She just had to get the punishment out of the way first.

  After that embarrassment, I redoubled my efforts, but found that none of my skills seemed to want to level further. I was stuck. I tried doing more exuberant physical activity like jumping and pouncing on my siblings, but it was still no good. I started taking my frustrations out on my siblings, but received another punishment time from Mother.

  Mother began letting us explore the area around our tree. She wouldn’t let us go far, and to be honest, I still didn’t much care for the wet atmosphere, but I put up with it for the sake of leveling.. I tried my claws on everything I could around me. I cut the hanging vines, the bones, which weren’t as hard as I was hoping for, and even tried a rock, which was a dismal failure and instead I hurt my paw. I got another scolding for that.

  The most interesting event to come from my outside time was that I finally got a good look at myself in a puddle. I was all black with small gray spots on my body. The tufts on my ears were white and my eyes were a light blue. I opened my mouth to examine my teeth. My canines were long and my other teeth looked pretty jagged too. I was definitely not a plant eater in any shape or form. From my examination, I aso learned that I seemed to be female. If this wasn’t a dream, I might be freaking out right about now!

  One day, our mother gathered all of us together in the tree. She made us all sit up and watch her as she stalked around us. I was annoyed that I was still so much smaller than my siblings. I wondered if my training had had a negative effect on my development by using the nutrients that should have gone to growth. Mother stopped and picked up one of us and then carried it off. Eventually she returned sans sibling. What had happened?

  This repeated over and over again until I was the only one left. I was terrified. It felt like something important was happening, but I had no clue what it was. She returned once again and unlike the rest of my siblings she made no move to pick me up. We engaged in a furious staring competition. She rumbled out something which of course I had no way of understanding. I tried running, but I was scooped up before I even took a step. I struggled in her grasp as she carried me through the foliage.

  She stopped. From my dangling position, I came face to face with a cliff with a long drop down. Down below I could only see trees.

  Oh no. Oh no. Please don’t do what I think you’re doing! Oh please no!

  It was exactly as I feared, she turned her head and then flicked me off the cliff. As I fell I heard her rumble something again, but I was too busy mewing and crying my heart out to care.