I gingerly laid the silver cat down on the sheets my mother had prepared. My parents were hysterical when I came back all filthy and bloody, but their bodies moved without thinking when I explained the situation.

My mother shoved my father and I out of the room, saying she had to focus. When the door closed, my vision faded to black and a familiar set of screens popped up. I couldn't help but let out a groan; it was finally getting good.

Congratulations!

Your skill(s) have evolved.

Mana Cultivation (Low – High) - > (Intermediate - Low) – the ability to increase and purify mana in the body

Mana Application (Low – High) - > (Intermediate - Low) – the ability to control and shape mana effectively

Congratulations!

The gods have rewarded your valor in battle

Title: Tenacious: Created - +1 strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Vitality

Congratulations!

You have gained an alias: Little Elf

Name: Vandlind Cyprus

Alias: Little Elf

Titles: Tenacious

Height/Weight: 183cm/190 lbs

Race: Royal Fae

Class: Mage (???)

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Strength: 16

Agility: 16

Endurance: 17

Vitality: 17

Dexterity: 18

Reflexes: 18

Intelligence: 22

Wisdom: 20

Attunement: 8

Enhancement: 6

Mana: 25

Charisma: 14

Skills: Elven Language, Common Language, Primordial Language, Swordsmanship, Spearmanship, Bowmanship, Unarmed Combat, Mana Cultivation, Mana Application

Unique Traits: Enhanced Senses, Enhanced Physique, Transfiguration

Huh? I thought there was no leveling up of attributes without training?

"Oh, there isn't," Restia teleported behind me.

"Gah!" I fell on my ass, "Don't do that!" I pointed at her accusingly.

Restia put her hands up innocently, failing miserably to suppress her laughter, "Sorry, but you should've seen your face."

I dusted my pants off as I stood up, "Yeah, yeah, just explain."

"Right," she coughed. "The boost you received was a blessing for an admirable performance. They're quite rare, actually. We usually don't give them out during players' backstories because it can stunt your natural growth, but the opportunity was too good to pass up."

"How can it stunt my growth?" I questioned. Maybe getting this boost wasn't a good thing.

"Many players get drunk on the instant increase in strength. This causes them to use CP to buy attributes instead of training. Your body will plateau faster, making improvement difficult past a certain point." She explained carefully.

"Wait, you can use CP to gain attributes?" I asked annoyed, "Shouldn't you have told me that earlier?"

"Didn't you just hear my explanation? If you knew, you'd never bother to train," she replied, equally annoyed.

I sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyway, what's up with my skills? I couldn't use magic when I tried at first." It's not like I could have died there, but still, it was troubling. If that had happened during an actual battle, I would've died.

Restia grimaced, "That's the price to pay when you gain memories through time dilation. Knowing the mechanics behind riding a bike, and actually being able to ride a bike are two different things."

Ah, that's why everything but my unarmed combat skill sucked dong.

"On that note," she continued, "You'll get to have one year of normal time progression on this next session. It's mostly to familiarize yourself with your bond, but your skills should suck less dong after too. And, before you ask, doing more could result in altering the backstory I've crafted so that will be it."

"Sounds good to me. Now, send me back." I hated to admit it, but I felt more alive during the fight with the drake than I'd ever had before. My new life was getting addicting, maybe too addicting.

"Hold your horses, cowboy. I need to explain some of your choices first. You'll get the choice to choose between two sub-classes: Mana Warrior or Magus. Whatever one you don't pick will be delegated to your bond. Also, you won't completely ignore any of your skills, regardless of choice."

Before I could ask what both did, more screens appeared.

Mana Warrior – Study combat under the tutelage of your father.

Benefits:

- Large proficiency increase with all weapon skills

- Large increase to physical attributes

- Large bonus to combat enhancement magic

- Unlock: Race Skill – Shifting (Personal)

Magus – Study Magic under the tutelage of your mother

Benefits:

- Large proficiency increase to all magic skills

- Small increase to mental/magic attributes

- Medium bonus to proficiency with all types of magic

- Unlock: Race Skill – Telepathy (Universal)

I had a strong inclination to the Mana Warrior class, though I knew that was just the vestiges of the old human fighter in me. The best choice for my new body was obviously the Magus class. With that in mind, I told Restia, "The Magus, I suppose."

Restia had a stupid grin on her face, "You really do have a high intelligence score."

I tried to make a quip back, but my vision faded, and I woke up back in my avatar's bed—my bed, I guessed.

I scanned my recently implanted memories, realizing that three days had passed during my conversation with Restia.

I tried to shift my weight to rise, stopping when I realized there was a visitor curled up on my chest. The small silver cat lifted her head, let out a yawn, and then began to stretch her body.

"Morning, Veylin," I scratched her head, recalling the name I had conveniently learned, "You know, you shouldn't be in here. My parents will kill me." The similarities between our names surprised me at first, but I figured it was just the goddess being fickle.

Veylin swished her tail angrily before vacating my chest and slipping out of the room. I stood up slowly, looking at the body-length mirror in front of me. According to my parents, the bond didn't always manifest physically, but it did for me. Silver swirls adorned my left forearm, crawling up my arm like a snake. The bond would continue to develop the more time I spent with Veylin. Eventually, tattoos might cover my entire body. I just hoped it stopped before the face. I wasn't a face tats type of guy.

Abilities would also be manifested as the bond strengthened. Right now, I could grasp a basic understanding of Veylin's emotions. Each bond was unique in the abilities they shared, so an unknown road of strength had just appeared in front of me, which was nice. Getting stronger would be a priority in a world where giant lizards could spew poison.

I stared a bit longer into the mirror, taking a good look at my new body for the first time. I had the black hair and violet eyes of my mother and the facial structure and body of my father. I thought being a type of elf would give me incredibly angular features and a thin body, but my features were fairly human. My cheekbones were high, my jaw strong, and my nose symmetrical.

My face was a bit more feminine than my father's, but it looked quite good. My body was also slightly lither than my old human one; however, the rippling muscles that wrapped it assuaged my disappointment. If one word could describe me now, it would be... elegant. I cringed at the thought.

No wonder my charisma value was so average originally, I'm like a Greek god or something now. I continued to inspect my body from different angles.

The six point jump from eight to fourteen was incredibly evident. Beauty wasn't everything, but it would surely help. After mentally congratulating myself for not selecting a monster race, I threw on dark pants and a white shirt; the only color clothes I appeared to have.

I froze when I walked through the door of my room. Veylin was standing there, in human form, waiting. Nekomata weren't true shapeshifters, but they could alter their form between cat, humanoid, and anything in between via their unique spirit magic. I still wasn't sure how spirit magic worked, and my mother said practitioners were incredibly secretive so I might never figure it out.

I expected cat ears or something... I thought disappointed. Veylin had only ever gone into human form once to talk with my parents, but she never showed me. That was probably a personal decision from my loving overseer.

Alas, the woman in front of me had only a normal human head, an incredibly gorgeous woman, but a woman nonetheless. Actually, she looked almost identical to Restia: silver hair and eyes with the same strikingly attractive features. And though her body was more athletic than the goddess's, the sensuous curves remained.

Perhaps the goddess did that on purpose? I mused. I'd gathered that she was quite the tease.

"What are you looking at?" Veylin asked, annoyed. Her voice sent shivers down my spine; it was even smoother than Restia's.

"Ah, nothing. You just look familiar." I brushed past her and went downstairs, trying to hide the heat that adorned my cheeks. I'd seen more beautiful women in this world than Earth, and I hadn't even left my place of birth.

I began making breakfast, Veylin quietly helping me. When I was done, I clambered outside and climbed the tallest tree I could find, which was pretty damn high. Miles of forest spread out in every direction, except to the West, where a mountain range rested.

I took a deep breath, trying to breathe in the new world around me. In thirteen years, this new world would be mine to explore. A twinge of excitement settled in my stomach; I could hardly wait.