After storing away Katrina yet again, I made my annoyance with Jason clear by deliberately depositing a slimy sandy hairball on his sandaled foot.

*Cough**Weeez**Blegh!*

“What are… are you ok? Are you sick or something? Ah! Gross! You did that on purpose!” Jason jogged back to the lake and washed my little gift off. He’d gone from being my double savior after rescuing me from the lake and drying me, to a human I considered annoying enough to deserve to be hairballed. Our relationship had soured quickly.

Jason took the time to gather the fish and fishing pole from his broken canoe. I noticed that the fishing pole was actually also a harpoon, with a barbed “V” shaped metal tip. It probably required a great deal of strength to properly handle while fishing, since it wasn’t light or flexible like a normal fishing rod, but it did have a string and hook attached. Jason used that string to tie up the fish into a bundle, which he carried suspended behind him as he slung the harpoon fishing rod over his shoulder. I didn’t know this at the time, but the string on that harpoon was magic, nearly unbreakable, and could change it’s length as Jason willed, allowing him to reel in fish or pull back his harpoon quickly. In combat he would wrap that string around his wrist.

The barbs on the tip could also retract on mental command, allowing him to convert it into a spear. The weapon was weighted for throwing, but balanced enough to be used for melee as it had a metal ball weight on the opposite end that could be used to club someone too.

“If you’re done playing around,” Jason told me angrily, “let’s get going.” With that, Jason took off, jogging along the lake’s shore at an impressive speed. I obviously didn’t have much to compare it to, other than a few animal control personnel that had chased me in the past, but Jason was running at speeds that surpassed my old world’s olympic runners. Using his jogging skill, he was doing around 30 miles an hour, or a mile per two minutes, and he was doing it over sand. “Don’t fall behind!” He called back.

Well now Jason was insulting my pride and upsetting my understanding of how the world worked. Cats were naturally supposed to be much faster than humans. Even in my old world, this had always been true, but the speed Jason had effortlessly achieved, looked to be almost as fast as my maximum speed back in the old world. I tore down the shore to catch him, unwilling to be outdone.

In relation to your size, you are blazingly fast, outperforming most any other creature that lives. Skill sprinting (grandmaster) awarded.

And with that, suddenly my speed nearly tripled. In but a few seconds, I actually zoomed past Jason, until terrified, I slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop with a spray of sand. I’d just outperformed a human car, not in top speed, but in acceleration, I realized.

Jason caught up to me and just commented, “Not bad, but pace yourself, we’re a few miles away still.”

Of course, he was right, a cat could outrun a human, but cats have much less stamina. A fit human would have no trouble catching a cat if the chase was in an open plain and lasted longer than a few minutes. At least that would be true in my old world. I don’t think that’s true in this one. My thoughts at the time were; Doggo to that! I wanna see how fast I can go.

So, for about a minute, I literally ran circles around Jason in what I would later describe as “the super zoomies”, a blur of cat hyperactivity that should have left me exhausted. Jason’s lips pressed into a thin line, but he said nothing as he continued jogging along.

At this point I made another discovery, one that made sense of what Katrina had said about running; I was losing mana, but at the same time, I didn’t get exhausted. Putting two and two together, I realized why stamina wasn’t a stat in this world. Mana was a universal resource.

As soon as I got tired from doing any sort of physical activity, my body was able to somehow start burning mana instead. I would later learn that the efficiency of that process, the conversion of mana into fuel for physical exertion, was the sum of my coordination and constitution stats as a percentage.

This mana burning ability, combined with the speed boost from my sprinting skill, meant that I could move at upto 80 miles an hour, for minutes at a time, just by spending mana. How did my grandmaster sprint skill compare to my epic jumping as a means of crossing distances quickly? If my target was within range of one jump, that was fastest. Over medium distances, sprinting was faster, because it took less effort to accelerate. Over long distances, on terrain that was suited to it, epic jumping was faster, because it didn’t burn as much mana, and I could eventually hit higher top speeds.

I would later work out the mana costs for sprinting at different speeds, at 10 mana per minute as I pushed sixty, 15 mana per minute at seventy, and hitting eighty would burn about 20 per minute, later tests would reveal. My ideal cruising speed would end up being 55 miles per hour, costing 7.5 mana per minute, which matched my current mana regen rate.

Given that the system kept using my size to judge my accomplishments, I briefly paused to ponder if this meant that my second favorite prey from the old world, the common squirrel, was like a streak of lightning. Luckily, I would later discover my species was actually at the lower limit of what that the system was willing to integrate. The system only interacted with things about ten pounds or larger and they had to be related to one of the thirteen species with a patron deity. The only other species of around my size that were tied to the system’s magic were rats, rabbits, snakes, and birds (the rooster deity claimed any species with feathers).

The ability to integrate with the system was the reason why all eligible species had evolved to not exist in any size smaller than roughly fifteen to twenty pounds as an adult. That allowed their young to integrate sooner, and have better odds of surviving. System integration also meant that any animal related to one of the 13 deities was enhanced by the system’s magic to be at least intelligent enough to understand how to operate a status screen, which is why Jason automatically assumed I could understand him when he first saw me.

Creatures and plants not tied to the system could have magic of their own, but they were at a disadvantage, as they couldn't level, get skills, blessings or titles. That system-free magic had the ability to greatly accelerate the rate at which things could evolve. Bugs in particular had evolved to fill many ecological niches, which is why giant insects were commonplace in this world.

Well, all of that wasn’t anything I knew back then, at the time I was just happy to make Jason look dumb by zooming past him, pausing to meditate for several seconds, then zooming past him again as he caught up.

In this way, we reached the remains of the village fairly quickly. The cluster of perhaps fifty homes was completely burnt to the ground, except for the docks. As a fishing village, their main source of income was exporting the wide variety of fish that lived in this underground lake. Most of the food, that was not fish, used by the town was imported but there were no roads connecting to this village so the village owned a few merchant cargo ships. As such, the fishing and merchant fleet that should have been moored to those docks was the lifeblood of the town, yet not a single ship remained, burnt or intact. The kobolds had destroyed the town but stolen anything that could float.

“Bring my mom out of storage,” Jason instructed, “She was an elite scout for the royal army before she retired. She’s a better tracker than me, she might find clues I’d miss.”

I popped Katrina out of storage, who gasped upon seeing the town. “This is horrible," she exclaimed, but she didn’t grieve, instead her face turned hard and determined. “We have to figure out how to punish the dogs responsible for this.” She muttered in a hard voice.

“Agreed,” Jason said in a cold voice, “I will make sure everyone involved pays.” He promised. “For now, help me find any clues that might tell us more than what we already know.”

Katrina nodded, but I stepped in front of her, blocking her legs. “What is it?” She asked me.

I meowed plaintively and lifted a paw to point at the fish that dangled behind Jason’s back. I was feeling hungry, and wanted Katrinia to make me some breakfast.

Jason saw this and looked angry, “How can you eat after seeing this? People were slaughtered here, lives ruined! We have to hurry! Here,” he added, spitefully, “Eat this.”

Jason called forth a jet of fire and incinerated the smallest of the fish with a blast of flame.

”Jason! Don’t be ass. Onyx is only helping us because I promised to feed him. We can spare a minute.” Katrina pulled a knife out of Jason’s belt and she then grabbed a piece of lightly charged wood from a collapsed building and used that as a cutting board. In quick order, she’d skinned and deboned the fish, removing the charred parts, and prepared them into simple strips. There was no seasoning, but the lightly seared fish was still pretty good. I purred and rubbed Katrina’s shin after I’d had my fill. She bent down to take the last few slices for herself and to give me an affectionate rub.

I caught Jason’s jealous look. He didn’t seem to approve of the attention I was getting from his mother, but he hid it well once Katrina straightened up and proceeded to examine the area's tracks.

“The tracks show they all arrived here together,” she finally said, “same as I remember from the night of the attack. But it’s interesting that they all left the village in separate packs. Each pack of half a dozen or so kobolds was given one or two of us villagers. This trail here though,” Katrina added, pointing to a thick trail of prints, “Was at least thirty or forty kobolds with just as many villagers, mostly young ones.” She frowned in distaste. “If I had to guess, I’d say this group was heading to a kobold village where they might keep the survivors for a time in hopes of fattening them up like scrawny livestock. Kobolds probably don't realize we don’t grow as fast as they do and it would take years for our kids to be as big as an adult. I’m pretty sure their village is somewhere in that direction, kobolds wouldn’t bother to try to lay false trails.” Katrina pointed off in a random direction. Jason consulted what was probably a compass, as he lacked her innate sense of direction.

“So that’s the group where we can rescue the most survivors then,” Jason said thoughtfully, “They probably haven’t started killing them yet, if the gods are merciful.”

Katrina nodded. “It also suggests that the werewolf shaman isn’t with the kobolds anymore, as kobolds aren’t normally able to organize into a large group. If the werewolf left, it would explain why they dispersed like that. There’s also a lot less prints leaving the village than entered it, they must have taken the boats. Their best warriors and the shaman are going somewhere with all the boats…” She added thoughtfully.

“Not our concern,” Jason pointed out, “Those kids must come first.” Then he turned to look at me, and my half eaten burnt fish on the ground. He frowned, “Can you store the rest of the fish as well my mom? I brought them to feed any survivors we rescue.”

I shook my head, not if he wanted me to store Katrina. My inventory was completely full. I scratched the dirt; “Your mom is too big, no room.”

“Is that a joke?” Jason frowned, “Are you calling my mother fat?”

I stared at him in confusion. I didn’t see Katrina as being fat, other than in her chest area. That probably wasn't what he meant though, and I certainly hadn't meant to imply that Katrina was fat either. So why would he take offense, I wondered, is he just looking to pick a fight?

“Jason, the ability probably has weight limits.” Katrina said tiredly, “Could you at least try to get along with Onyx while lives are at stake? You’re sixteen years old now, not six.”

Jason scowled at me. I started grooming myself to show my indifference. If he keeps scowling at me like that, I thought to myself, I’ll roll on my back and give him a nice view of how I groom my rear end and naughty bits.

Luckily for him, he looked away. “Fine, I’ll leave the rest of the fish here, we can cook them when we get back. Store my mother, and let’s follow the large trail to the kobold village.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler : Skill List Jumping (Epic) Passively multiplies by 2.5x the distance and accuracy of jumping. Allows for powered jump using mana for even greater distance (max 8x jump for 40 mana), also negates fall damage when jumping great distances. Perception (Journeyman) Passively increases the effectiveness of all senses. Can be activated with mana for additional bonus. Pounce (Master)

Passively increases pouncing speed and accuracy. Also provides an active skill that consumes 10 mana to provide +200%+(20%xm.amplitude) bonus kinetic damage.

Math (Apprentice) Assists with mental math that involves simple algebra. Activate with mana to use system calculator. Swipe (Novice) Passively increased damage from swiping targets with a clawed paw. Increase skill to unlock magically boosted attacks. Intimidation (Grandmaster) Provides bonus when attempting to inflict fear, or persuade via threat of violence. Can be activated with mana for additional bonus. Resisted by courage skill and willpower. Identify (Novice) Allows system to display simple basic information about a target when used. Stealth (Master) Provides bonus to avoiding detection. Attacks made while stealthed against an opponent who is unaware of your presence have a 3x damage multiplier. Can be activated with 5 mana per minute for additional bonus and resistance to magical means of detection. Courage (Novice)

Provides passive resistance to fear effects. Increase skill to unlock active effect.

Meditation (Novice) Increases mana regen rate by 25% while in use, must be used while stationary and awake, can be used while being carried or transported, prevents accidental loss of awareness due to falling asleep. Bite (Journeyman) Passively increases bite damage by 75%. Activate with 5 mana to provide additional 75% + (7.5*amplitude)% damage bonus. Swimming (Novice) Provides a small boost to swimming effectiveness. Increase skill to unlock active ability. Haggling (Journeyman) Increases the effectiveness of any negotiating tactic. Resisted by opponent's willpower and Haggling skill. Activate with mana to appraise the value of items. Sprint (Grandmaster) Increases running speed by upto 200% (effect reduced by air friction at higher speeds). Skill requires mana to use after the first minute, exact amount varies by speed. Abilities List Reanimate Insect (Novice) Reconstruct any dead insect and bring it to unnatural life as your servant. Size of target and number of followers limited by skill, level, and m. amplitude, mana cost varies by size. Duration indefinite. Limit 1 + (0.1 x amplitude) pounds total insects controlled. Dimensional Storage (Master)

Allows for upto 80+(8 x amplitude) pounds and/or 80+(8 x amplitude) individual items to be stored. Increased skill provides additional storage. Objects in storage are frozen in time and do not age or decay.

Insect Bomb (Apprentice)

Force any reanimated insect you control to explode. The explosion deals damage proportional to the ability rank, bonus damage equal to caster’s amplitude x 10%. Damage is also influenced by the level and size of the undead insect being exploded. Certain bugs have additional special effects when exploded. Example; most poisonous bugs will produce a poison cloud when detonated.

Focus ability (Novice) Allows the user to perceive (coordination) seconds of time as if it were (coordination x 2) seconds, allowing for greater coordination during that time. Does not increase the user’s speed, and can only be used once per hour.