Rise and shine.

I slept with a girl again…

No, not like ‘that’!

We simply shared a bed, because there was only the one.

That’s all there is to it.

Nothing weird happened.

More like…

If anything WERE to happen, I would be rolling on the ground in pain right now.

I saw what happened to that ogre.

It didn’t look fun.

Well, Ignis is still asleep and the scarred cat from last night left after leading us here.

I’m not sleepy anymore, so what should I do?

Wander around Kuro’s base?

…

No.

Absolutely not.

These ‘hallucinations’ I had yesterday were enough for me, thanks.

…

Also…

No.

I’m not going to ask Kuro what that was about.

He wouldn’t be able to answer anyway.

And I mean…

There must be a good reason for it, right?

He isn’t some villain who would lock up innocent people and cats for no reason, right?

He’s been so nice to me…

There’s just no way!

…

He has a secret underground base?

And an army of cats at his disposal?

Whatever!

It’s fine!

If they he ever tries to do something bad, like kidnapping orphans or taking over the world, I can stop it with just a word!

Right!

He can’t go against my wishes as long as I have this blessing!

Well, then…

Now that I have my daily dose of reality denial, let’s do something more productive.

Let’s see…

I should check my status.

And actually, I should do that more often, shouldn’t I?

Since this world has a status screen, there’s no reason to ignore it.

Yes, that’s right!

From now on, I’m going to check it every five minutes!

…

Wait.

No!

Stop it!

This image of a modern day phone addict…!

Get out of my head!

This is not what’s going to happen!

I swear!

Name: Nina

Level: 15

Strength: 32/32

Endurance: 33/33

Speed: 45/45

Magic: 26/26

Equipment:

Kat underwear

Kat dress

Kat ear headband

Kat gloves

Kat slippers

Enchanted handbag

Skills:

Cat soul+

9 lives

Special:

Blessing of the Kat

Let’s see here…

Level fifteen.

Huh…

Now that I look at it closer.

Isn’t that really low?

Considering I pretty much took down that ogre all on my own, I expected forty or fifty at least.

Hmm…

Well, I did set the experience requirement to get exponentially higher as the level rises…

But isn’t this a little too much?

Doesn’t that mean that regular people don’t even reach twenty or thirty?

Argh, this is lame!

What kind of RPG has you already grinding experience at level ten?!

Nobody would play that!

Sigh…

Well anyway…

Let’s look at cat soul.

Maybe I got another variant?

Just kidding.

I only want to examine panther soul more.

Available variants:

Panther soul

Tiger soul

…

Is this what they call deja vu?

I feel like this has happened before…

Isn’t this exactly how I discovered panther soul?

…

Anyway…

Tiger soul?

I’m intrigued.

Tiger soul

In addition to cat soul effects, it allows the use of blaze magic and enhances physical strength.

Ohhh, blaze magic?

Does that mean fire magic…?

No…

Since it has a fancier name, it must be better than fire magic!

That’s right!

All games work like that!

Well, this isn’t a game but…

Anywho, it doesn’t say ‘turns you into a cold-blooded murderer with no empathy’, so that’s a plus.

But at the same time…

Panther soul

In addition to cat soul effects, it allows the use of shadow magic and enhances stealth at night.

This one doesn’t say it either…

But I think I somehow get it now.

Cat soul and its variants alter my personality when active.

That’s right…

I’m an innocent maiden!

How could I fight a herd of wolves with my bare hands like some savage?!

It’s only possible because of cat soul!

Cat soul+

Temporarily turns you into a wild animal. You gain bonus agility for the duration.

You have mastered this skill and are now able to unlock its variants.

‘Turns you into a wild animal’.

That’s it.

But.

Then, there’s panther soul.

I already anticipated it would be stronger than cat soul.

But I didn’t expect that it would empower this ‘wild animal’ part as well…

Seriously…

Will this new tiger soul do the same?

I hope not…

That would make it just as unusable as panther soul.

Well…

I don’t even know how to activate it.

It might simply turn on by itself like panther soul.

So when that happens, I better be careful.

But, I wonder how I got it…

If it isn’t based on my level, then there must be something unlocking these variants.

Let me think here…

Maybe it’s meeting a strong monster?

I noticed Panther soul unlocked after Fenrir tackled me and I ended up in a hospital…

And now… I got into contact with a blue ogre…?

No, that doesn’t make much sense…

Since this tiger soul is somewhat fire based, I doubt it came from killing an ogre, who has nothing to do with fire…

…

But, there WAS someone who specialized in fire nearby, wasn’t there?

Did meeting Ignis give me this variant?

Hmm…

But then…

What about my healing based variant from that wolf pup?!

Or an enchantment based one from Vincent?!

…

Argh, I don’t get it.

I don’t get it at all.

Maybe I should stop trying to figure out.

Yes.

Let’s save up my precious brain power.

I’ll get back to this puzzle once I gain yet another variant.

And since now I’m checking my pho- err, my status screen every five minutes, I will know right away if I gained one!

Great plan, me!

No need to rush anything!

Patience is a virtue!

Now…

Let’s close the status window.

Aaand…

Gee!

I JUST looked at the list of cat soul variants!

SURELY, there is NO WAY I already gained another one in those few seconds, riiiight?!

Status!

Available variants:

Panther soul

Tiger soul

Aw man…

It didn’t work this time…

Well, it was worth a try.

Hmm…

Hmmm?

Ohhh…

S-surely!

There’s no way the nine lives skill leveled up or gained some variants, riiiight?!

9 lives

Upon death, you will be granted a new life again. This can happen up to 8 times. It’s possible to replenish your lives by sacrificing another living being. This living being has to be emotionally close to you for this to work.

Lives left: 8

Nope.

It’s the same as bef-

Wait!

Why are there only eight lives left?!

What happened?!

Did I secretly die while I wasn’t looking?!

Did someone assassinate me?!

…

Ignis?

…

Wait.

Hold up…

Wasn’t it at eight when I initially checked it as well?

Now that I think about it…

Yeah…

It was already at eight when I first arrived in this world.

I think I was just too overwhelmed with all of that info and didn’t really react to it at all.

But now that I stop and look at it…

It’s weird, isn’t it?

Why would the NINE lives skill start off with just eight lives?

Did that god make a mistake?

Or…

Did my previous life count?

…

Does that mean I had this skill in my previous life as well?!

I’m confused!

Argh!

This isn’t fair!

Isn’t a status window supposed to give you information?!

I feel like I’m walking away with more questions than answers after this!