I sat there for a moment, letting my mana tick up and going through my thoughts. I had thought that this would be easier but something about the cat being so big compared to me made it much more relatable, it was not some small animal or a pest or a pet, it was its own creature. I never really realised how much my size had affected my outlook on the world around me and how I thought of other creatures before.

I had always held much more awe and respect for tigers than I had to cats before arriving here, even when I'd seen them at the zoo but seeing this cat up close and personal had transformed it into a terrifying predator that deserved as much respect. I was just lucky that it was clearly not very well versed in combat against things that could fight back as I thought it would be in a world such as this. Maybe these woods aren't so dangerous.

Its collar spoke to an owner, it had written on it that was in a language I had never seen before but I assumed it was an address or something similar. That meant there were probably people nearby, would they attack me on sight if they saw me? Probably, they would think that I was a monster and that would be that but maybe not.

Just as I was thinking this something changed inside of the cat, I had not previously been able to see inside of it before, something that I hadn't even questioned until now, it had been the same for the trees and the plants that I had come across, but now I could see through it as if it were dirt. I could see all of its muscles and skeleton, its blood and its organs. Everything was exposed to me. It was rather gross but since I was no longer capable of being nauseous that didn't bother me. It did give me an idea though.

Maybe I didn't need to heal this body, maybe I could just take that one. I decided to try if nothing else it would be educational. I probably wouldn't stick with it in the long term, the idea of reanimating corpses didn't sit well with me but maybe I could use it temporarily to at the very least get me somewhere I could find better materials for a body. First, I needed to get my mana back and for that, I would need to wait. Whilst I was waiting though, I could investigate something else. I now had 10 evolution points.

It took a few attempts but I managed to find a mental trigger for it.

Evolution Points Name: Cost: Description: Full restore 2 Restore health, mana, and stamina of body, core, and soul and heal all injuries. Boost 2 Boost mana, health, or stamina by 100% for 1 hour (can be extended by 30 minutes per extra point) Improve statistic 5 Increase one statistic of choice by 1 Learn Random spell 10 Learn a random rank F spell Learn Random Skill 10 Become proficient in a random activity Fix core 20 Remove (Flawed) status from core Improve core 50 Improve core from (Lesser) to (Average) Evolve N/A Evolve from your current form

Almost everything on the list was educational, I knew there were spells in this world from how I had been summoned but now I had the opportunity to learn one. I didn't know if skills were a discrete thing, with levels and the like here or if they were more like they had been at home. I was reassured that I could raise my statistics and that I wouldn't be confined to just the stats that I had now, especially for my core and my soul.

I was particularly interested in the two core improvements, I was almost certainly going to go for those as soon as possible, I had a feeling that it would be a much bigger change than just improving my statistics would be. Finally, there was the evolve option. It was currently barred to me and I had little idea what it did. Presumably, I would evolve into a new creature that was stronger and suited to my skills and abilities whilst still being similar to how I am now. Like a pokemon or something, that was sort of cool and a little scary at the same time. Maybe I would be able to choose what to evolve into when I chose that option?

I eventually decided not to choose anything just yet, whilst I would be a fool if I died because I was sitting on points I could have used to be strong enough to beat an encounter, I also didn't want to waste my points just because I was being hasty. I closed the window and looked around me. I really couldn't see inside of any of the living things around me, did that mean that everything had a soul? Maybe it was something else but that seemed like the most likely answer to me.

I had been an atheist before coming here but for some reason, the idea that even grass had a soul seemed weird to me whilst the idea of animals having them didn't really. Probably just a holdover from growing up in a Christian country, I guess. I inwardly chuckled at the idea of grass heaven and hell where good and bad grass went when it died. I dragged myself over to a dead branch. Unlike my stick had been this was old and dried out, very clearly dead. As soon as it cam inside of my radius I could see inside of it, all the bugs milling around and everything.

I quickly retreated, I very much did not want any of those bugs digging around inside of ME,they could stick to their log. I dragged myself back over tothe cat and decided on a short nap whilst I let my mana recover.

I woke to full stats (except body health) and dark sky so I quickly got to work, I pushed my mana into the body of the cat, every cell, hair and fluid. It took all of my mana and another hour of putting every regenerated point into it. In this time I noticed that I was wasting mana, a significant portion of my mana would leak out of holes around myself that I didn't want it to and seep into the air, ground, or be lost.

Eventually, though, I had the body fully saturated with my mana. I also realised that I now knew what the inside of a cats left kidney tasted like and tried my best not to find it gross. I caused the flesh to part and used my dirt body to push my core inside. When I did a familiar screen popped up.

Compatible body detected

Body scanned

Claim body?

This time though I got a new screen

Organic body

Claim body as Undead or Living

I chose living.

New body claimed Body Type: Flesh (Ginger Tabby) Body stats: Body Rank: F+ Strength: 4 An organic body that had been killed and restored by the core, it retains none of its memories of its previous life. Though it was beloved and well taken care of by its family is certain. Vitality: 3 Dexterity: 8 Health: 23/30 Health regen: 3/hour Stamina: 60/60 Stamina regen: 1.5/sec

When I claimed the body my perspective suddenly shifted to the eyes of the cat and I could suddenly see significantly better past my 3-foot radius, even in the dark. The injuries the cat had sustained were mostly healed though some of the more serious injuries in the head were not quite restored fully and I was suddenly reaccustomed to a feeling I had not felt in a while, pain. It was exceptionally strange having a headache when you didn't think with your head, it felt more like a pain in a limb than an actual headache. The last sentence of that description didn't help how I was feeling either.

After I had gotten over that, yet more sensations returned, hunger, the need to relieve my bowls, breathing. Fortunately, I had expelled the water from my new lungs when I was saturating my new body, I would not like to experience drowning. It was also quite lucky this cat was a boy so I had an idea of how to go about relieving myself. I stood up from the floor and wavered slightly before I found my footing. It quickly felt just as natural as my old body had, though I was pretty sure I was beholden to the way my joints actually moved now.

I went over to the river and drank my fill, it would at least stop me from feeling hungry for a while and did my business inside a dense clump of grass. I felt my body want to start flicking up grass at my poop with my back paws but managed to resist doing it. I also resisted grooming myself despite the fact my new body seemed to practically do it on its own, Even if I could already taste everything, which was something I still tried to block out, and I didn't feel nauseous, I still didn't want to get a hairball. That would be embarrassing.