Reed was always somewhat slow to get up, slow to start and slow to stop, but deep down she was a morning person. This time she woke up with the distinct impression of dewdrops on her face and a pressure on her chest.
The air was humid and hazy, only barely livened up by the rising sun’s heat. The fire had withered away in the night. There lay the shape of the cat spirit’s body in front of her, underneath the same coat. Reed had considered sharing her mauve blanket, truth be told, but she hadn’t wanted to make things awkward.
Now she was paying for that mistake, because her friend wasn’t a cat right now. She had thoroughly changed, the coat only vaguely covering her legs, and her body now stretched across the old fire. Her arms, tanned and slender, were coiled up against Reed’s chest so that the wrists nearly grazed Reed’s chin. Her head sat atop her upper arms, leaning, and her mouth had dropped open, just barely, to show two sharp little teeth. So had her eyelids, revealing strips of white and tinges of gold.
Hair streamed down over her dew-tipped face. Now it was white, speckled with black and orange. So were the ears that stuck out at angles like antennae.
Reed ran her eyes across the fine fur of her ears, and couldn’t resist reaching over.
Just a little…just to rub it a little. That won’t wake her up.
Reed had always been curious about those ears.
She gave the highest ear a graze with her knuckle.
The ear twitched, but the humanlike cat looked totally untroubled.
Reed whispered out a laugh. She reached out again, but this time just to trace the very tip of her finger around the edge of the ear. How lightly could she touch it? How much until it flinched again?
Playing these lazy games with her ear had her getting up even later than usual. A thoroughly enjoyable morning.
***
“Mreep!”
As I startled awake, I made my weirdest sound on record and involuntarily nipped the air right in front of me. What I saw gave me another jolt.
Ack! Reed’s face is right there all of a sudden!
And she’s awake! So she saw that!!
Okay, but more importantly…what just startled me awake?!
I went on the alert, head twitching, my eyes shooting this way, that way.
Reed snickered, right in my face. It was, after all, about two centimeters away from mine at this point. Her squinchy eyes lit up with early-morning tears.
For an instant, my concern and confusion melted away from me. Ah, her pure-hearted laughter. Too innocent to realize I had just been awakened by a potential threat.
I had the sudden urge to rub my ears…
Hm. They felt different somehow. Maybe something had shaved some HP off of that.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 30%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-color: rgba(158, 92, 111, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%; text-align: center">HP</td>
<td style="width: 75%; text-align: center">100% (570/570)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%; text-align: center">SP</td>
<td style="width: 75%; text-align: center">94% (485/515)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Oh my gosh! Some new kind of foe had just blown through and taken 30 SP from me—I didn’t know that kind of Skill was even possi—
Nope, never mind, my fleshy head was lying on top of my fleshy arms.
I realized with a third jolt that my nekomata face had contorted into a grimace. A grimace of confusion and surprise. Huh, so expressions like that really were automatic…?
The fourth jolt came when I realized Reed had front-row seats to my changing face this entire time.
Don’t forget the fact that all along, my arms had been grazing her front.
A strange warmth entered my face. I snapped my body away, straightened, and with the near-involuntaritude of a fight-or-flight response, un-Morphed. A puff of steam, and I transformed right in front of the fireplace.
Either my unconscious mind had engineered an embarrassing situation for me, or the goddess overhead had engineered an embarrassing situation for me. Neither of these gave me comfort!
Reed, having risen herself, snickered again. And then she started laughing harder, and shaking her head. “Sorry!” she said between peals. “I didn’t know this would happen—I just wanted to—your ears…”
She made a grazing motion with her free hand, the one that wasn’t covering her mouth.
The mystery was solved in that moment.
My feline eyebrows twitched. Reed was a little rapscallion! A rascal trying to rub on my ears! All along! From the very beginning, from the first time she’d seen my human form—no, from the first time she’d seen me period—had she been planning this?
Was it all a trick just to touch my…
I Morphed again, appearing cross-legged and practically wedged between Reed and the dead fire. Then I touched my ear. The awkwardly large appendage that wasn’t even very hairy or squishy or soft.
It flicked on contact.
Okay, I could kind of get why that might be fun to play with, in a cat-toy kind of way…like jumping after a toy fish on a pole that you might never catch. Or a dragonfly.
I’d been automatically rubbing my ear for the last five seconds, hadn’t I.
Reed laughed harder, rocking forward and almost crashing into me. “I’m sorry!” she said desperately, though I hadn’t asked, and threaded through rest of her high-pitched laughter were endless apologies and reassurances that I looked very cool, actually.
I blinked, feeling flat-out overwhelmed by her laughter and streaming tears. “Maow…”
I considered patting her on the back, but maybe that’d be awkward unless she started hacking and choking. Instead, I decided to pull back and…um…check out my Stats and Traits.
There was a lot to catch up on there.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Evolution Complete!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(83, 83, 83, 1); text-align: center">Calico Ranger
Style: Deduce and Doodle</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">No calico is truly a stranger in a strange land. Thanks to their cartographical powers, they are the ultimate fusion of jaguar and eight-year-old with a notepad. At the core of their adventurous spirits lies a steady calm, a promise that the world is good and a determination to fulfill that promise.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 60%; border-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(104, 30, 52, 1)">
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; background-color: rgba(214, 181, 151, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="background-color: rgba(104, 30, 52, 1); border-collapse: collapse; border-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-style: solid">
<td style="width: 98.0985%; background-color: rgba(104, 30, 52, 1); border-collapse: collapse; border-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-style: solid; text-align: center">Stats</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 48.0812%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.9823%; text-align: center">Taipha</td>
<td style="width: 49.9823%; text-align: center">Calico Ranger</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 49.9823%; text-align: center">Lv. 20</td>
<td style="width: 49.9823%; text-align: center">EXP: 34% (1029/3000)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 48.0812%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 23.5509%; text-align: center">HP</td>
<td style="width: 76.5239%; text-align: center">100% (570/570)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 23.5509%; text-align: center">SP</td>
<td style="width: 76.5239%; text-align: center">92% (500/545)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(104, 30, 52, 1)">
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">ATK</td>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">105</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 49.9836%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">INT</td>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">61</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">DEF</td>
<td style="width: 48.1324%; text-align: center">74</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">WIS</td>
<td style="width: 48.1324%; text-align: center">69</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1)" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">SPD</td>
<td style="width: 48.1302%; text-align: center">86</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(158, 92, 111, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-color: rgba(158, 92, 111, 1); text-align: center">Traits</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); text-align: center">Morph (Stage 3/5)
Perfect Human Language
Perfect Human Vision
Inventory (Stage 3/5): Can carry up to 10 item types in a personal magical vacuum. Max quantity of each item: 9.
Meat Locker (Stage 2/4): Can carry up to 5 meat types in a personal magical vacuum filled with a preservative ozone that “locks in” freshness. Locker also reveals flavor profiles and cooking tips. Max quantity of each item: 1.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Stealth: SPD increases when alone and unseen.
Mapmaker: Can track up to 3 entities on the Map using Markers. These Markers last for 72 hours or until dismissed. Can also draw on the Map, as well as change the names of Map locations and sub-locations.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
These Stat gains just felt unholy.
And to be honest, the changes that came with Mapmaker tickled my brain in just the right way. Leaving aside the tracking ability—which had some obvious power behind it—I had drawing on the Map. Drawing on the Map!
On top of that, I found a new Skill at the bottom of my list…
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(158, 92, 111, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); border-color: rgba(158, 92, 111, 1); text-align: center">Skills</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(129, 57, 77, 1); text-align: center">Swipe
SP Cost: 100
Leap
SP Cost: 60
Catnap
SP Cost: 60
Guard
SP Cost: 30
Meditate
SP Cost: 30
Slash
SP Cost: 120
Air Cutter
SP Cost: 60
Leap
SP Cost: 60
Cloak
Effect: User cannot be sensed by 1 living entity of their choice for 1 minute.
SP Cost: 120</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
So I could just…turn totally invisible? Including ear-invisible and nose-invisible?
Okay, it only hid me for one person, but again, the applications could be game-changing. If I ever found myself in a tough situation and couldn’t handle a single hit, I could chain up to four Cloaks and give myself four minutes of getaway time. Using it mid-battle, I could confuse any opponent very, very deeply. And if the mood ever struck me, I could prank the cabin something fierce.
Were there ways to counter the new Skill? Yeah, duh, there had to be. Hiding the cat doesn’t hide their footprints, and there was a high chance that Vencian magic could sniff me out. But the average squirrel would need to step up to get on my level.
But my more immediate concern—as I retreated away from Reed and gnawed on a slab of precooked Nova Bull bacon (I know bulls aren’t pigs, that’s what my Meat Locker called it, shut up), and Reed set her back against a rock and gnawed on mixed meat and grits—was messing around with my Map.
No longer did I have to wait for some future cantrip to present me with passable hand-eye coordination—inwardly, I could do that myself. I could take my Map and doodle all over it!
And that’s what I did immediately.
…My mind-eye coordination wasn’t the best either, apparently.
Well, whatever. I’d get better eventua—hold on!
The Trait had said I could “draw on the Map,” but it didn’t mention anything about erasing! What if I was…stuck with this? A prison of my own making?!
Delete Map—I mean DELETE MAP DOODLES!
Bloop.
Oh. That solved it. If you believe it hard enough, you might just achieve it.
What if I just imagined the idea of a certain shape appearing riiight…there?
Perfect! A little book with a bug head on it appeared in the Kaugs, slightly southwest of DeGalle’s camp.
This was amazing. I mean, I knew this was just the same kind of thing my System did on its own for me, putting rabbit icons and tree icons and stuff wherever it felt like it. But there was a key difference now: I could do it myself. And my choices for Map names would be way better.
Map names? …Map locations?
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">The Vencian Wood
Explored: 37% (11/30)
Locations with question marks in the default name are Unexplored.
Locations:
S.A1: Beacon Mountain
A massive, low-rising mountain pockmarked with caves and wolves.
Sub-Location: The Beacon
S.A2: Memorial Grove
A dense copse teeming with squirrels.
Feature: “CAT” War Memorial (Quest Attached)
S.A3: Drippy Flats
A valley whose watering holes grow and connect after heavy rain.
S.A4: ???
S.A5: The Kaugs
Slender, jagged mountains that capture cold mist and send back bitter rains to the rest of the wood.
Sub-Location: DeGalle’s Camp
S.B1: Rust Point
More info needed.
S.B2: Mirror Pond West
This pond, known as the Clantisere to locals, is framed in the west by pines and Beacon Mountain’s rise.
Sub-Location: Treasure Rockfall (Quest Attached)
S.B3: Maggie Rocks
A forest pass keenly watched by raccoons and magpies.
Sub-Location: Lycanborn Mansion
S.B4: ???
S.B5: Sunbull Field
A dry savannah made temperate, and occasionally waterlogged, by the Kaugs to their west.
S.C1: ???
S.C2: Mirror Pond East
This pond, known as the Clantisere to locals, is edged in the east by oaks and plains.
S.C3: Taipha’s Home Base
A loamy patch of woodland.
Sub-Locations: Reed’s Cabin, Taipha’s Tree
S.C4: Stag Swamp
Picturesque forest interspersed with open, sun-kissed plain.
S.C5: Gackern Swallows
Fragile earth and mud give way to water filmy with algae.
S.D1: ???
S.D2: Stinger Field
A field lush with sumptuous flowers which stay in bloom well into autumn.
S.D3: Rabbitfoot Plains
Rolling hills broken up by groundhog dens and the rare tree.
S.D4: Camera Crossing
More info needed.
Edit options available.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
What? I had all this information inside my headzone this entire time, descriptions and all? Was it unlocked when I Evolved, or was it just…in here sitting behind a keyword?!
How did I never know that?! Why didn’t anybody (or one very specific body) ever clue me in?!
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(146, 126, 172, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(76, 44, 121, 1); text-align: center">Message from Sierra, the Goddess of Nekomata</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(109, 81, 146, 1); text-align: center">See, this is why most deities prefer to reincarnate humans or humanlike beings. They’re not only extremely curious, but very into experimentation. Oh, and they’re like the progenitors of complex verbal language, so that’s an obvious boon when you’re working with Systems with linguistic foundations.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I got about halfway through reading that before wishing Sierra had said that out loud, so I could interrupt her.
What is your point.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(146, 126, 172, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(109, 81, 146, 1); text-align: center">That a moderately clever human would’ve tried lots of codewords by now!
And they probably would’ve outlined this whole plan for exploring the whole Wood…and exploited the village of Outlast to develop a pipeline for getting superior Equipment and crafting resources delivered right to their door.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
That sounds like a lot of work…and really boring.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(146, 126, 172, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(109, 81, 146, 1); text-align: center">It tickles someone’s brain the right way. But if I’d have wanted or expected you to do it, I wouldn’t have made you like this.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
…That weirdly meant a lot to me. It made me feel like I was doing okay.
Good thing Sierra couldn’t read all my thoughts…is what I told myself with frantic desperation.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(146, 126, 172, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(109, 81, 146, 1); text-align: center">Ah! Your gratitude! Thank you for the early Mother’s Day gift!</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I squinched my eyes shut. Error: Taipha, Cat of Cats, is currently unavailable. Don’t call back, she doesn’t have a phone.
After that digression, I turned my attention back to the Map and all its boundless options. Giddiness welled up in me again.
When Sierra’s last dialogue box disappeared, the Map Locations menu still remained. I looked back at the bottom. Edit options available?
Edit Sunbull Field.
There was only one tweak I could make, and it was downright incredible:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Change name of Sunbull Field?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Yes! Yes!! From this day forward, I’d be metaphorically rubbing my scent all over this Map!!!
Actually, “Sunbull Field” was a pretty awesome name…hmmmm…
L-let’s choose another one!
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Change name of Mirror Pond West?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Yeah! Okay, I had an actual good one for this. I’d rename it to “The Pond of the Sapphire Queen”!
Although…it had taken me this long to realize that that title would describe Bayce too. Maybe she was more purple? A dark queen? Or just a threatening queen? Thunder queen? Bug queen? Sister of shadow???
Okay, back up. Maybe it was a bad idea to make the name too elaborate and too cool. I didn’t want to accord a potential supervillain that much respect. So “Thunder Queen” and stuff like that was out. At the same time, I didn’t want some crap like “Nasty Bug Queen” on my Map forever.
So I’d go with “Pond of the Queen of the Night”! No, “Pond of the Night Queen”!
I locked in my answer.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Mirror Pond East” to “Pond of the Night Queen East.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Mirror Pond West” to “Pond of the Night Queen West.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Cool.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Change name of Stag Swamp?</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Yeah…there was something about that name that grossed me out.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Stag Swamp” to “Cheelic’s Domain.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Now we’re living in a fantasy novel!
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Camera Crossing” to “Place with the Confused Photographers.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Taipha’s Tree” to “Rival Clubhouse.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Drippy Flats” to “Savannah of Future Victory.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Rival Clubhouse” to “Destroy this at Level 30.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: rgba(150, 150, 150, 1); border-style: solid" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: rgba(114, 114, 114, 1); text-align: center">Name changed from “Memorial Grove” to “SQUIRREL REMATCH.”</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Heh. This was outlandishly fun. And increasingly useless, but it pepped me up. I was going through one of those phases again—hyped to Level Up and get stronger. Hyped to be ready for anything.