Fang's tail was on fire!

The instant the white light faded, Fang took off at a dead sprint, tail arrow-straight behind him as he tried to escape the burning sensation capping it.

"He's pretty lively for someone who was dead a minute ago," Angela commented. The party was clustered around the blood splatter where Fang's body had fallen. Alex's shield-arm still dangled by his side and was starting to swell but the rest of the party was intact, if a bit battered. Their expressions ran the gamut from relief to annoyance to amusement as they watched the revitalized black cat tear around the room. Fang was doing an admirable impression of the wild and unpredictable swerving their teachers had taught them to use when dodging the attacks of light or lightning mages.

That is, right up until Fang noticed that the burning on his tail didn't actually hurt. At that point, he decided it was time to lay down and relax. Of course, to the simple-minded humans looking on it may have appeared that his paws got tangled up in a moment of confusion and sent him tumbling into a sprawling flop. Such pitiable beings were thoroughly incapable of appreciating the finer points of true feline grace.

The four idiots burst into laughter, followed swiftly by a round of winces and grunts of pain as their bodies reminded them of the close shave they'd just had. "Uggh, it hurts to laugh, I think I cracked a rib," Alex grunted through gritted teeth, "Hope you still have enough mana to get the rest of us looking as spry as your furry friend."

The aforementioned fuzzy feline had not risen from his spot on the floor, instead electing to begin grooming the pumpkin chunks and ash out of his fur.

"Sorry, I don't think I can. I can set- any broken bones and do my best to stave off the concussions, anything more than that will have to wait until we get away from the dungeon, all this negative energy is going to make it too hard for me to recover enough mana, there's a lot more of it than before now somehow," Lillian replied, to a chorus of groans.

Charlie grumbled, "Well, do what you can for now, then we're out of here. This whole dungeon has been a mess. First the swarm, then this negative energy, and then rather than a normal boss fight, the core overloads itself as soon as we walk in. Let's just hope we can get out before the negative energy spoils my dumplings."

As Lillian performed her round of triage on the party, Fang inspected himself. His tail was definitely burning, but it looked fine and didn't actually hurt. He could sense the tingle and intense heat focused around the tip of his tail, but now that he focused on it, it felt closer to extreme sunbathing. The heat was pleasant, energizing. With that comparison cemented in his mind, Fang moved on to ignoring his tail and ensuring the rest of him was at peak feline perfection. He had already rasped away the singed fur, leaving his coat a little uneven, but for the rest, he was in fine condition. He stretched to make sure everything held up under pressure, and in the process, he stretched the fifth limb he had recently gained.

Name:

Chairman Meow

Age:

6

Class:

Cat (+)

Level:

10 (Max)

Hit Points (HP) / Max HP

35/46

Mana (MP) / Max MP (Mana Regen)

89/2264 (+0.137/minute)

Stamina (SP) / Max SP / Peak SP

113/174/174

Status

Healthy, Marked

Strength (STR)

53

Intelligence (INT)

31

Dexterity (DEX)

188

Perception (PER)

164

Constitution (CON)

87

Charisma (CHA)

121

12 Ability Points available.

1 Skill point available.

Assign points automatically.

View skills

Fang jumped, flipping over in the air and clawing wildly at his surroundings. Once he landed, Fang glared at the box, chastising it with a yowl for startling him. Then he looked at the box more closely. Some things were different. One of the numbers gave him a bigger headache than before, so he studiously avoided looking at that corner of the box. There was also a thingy next to "cat." He didn't know what it was, but it seemed like it wanted to be pressed, so he ignored it.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There was one of something called a skill point. Fang liked one. It was a good number, easy to understand. There were also Ability Points. The number was something big so Fang didn't really care for it, but something familiar tickled the back of his mind. He gave his mental limb a little twitch, and his dexterity went up by one.

Confirm changes?

Yes

No

His pet box was back! Fang gleefully hit no, then put the point back in, delighting in having such an obedient blue minion. After several more dismissals and re-summonings, and one yes to keep the box on its toes, Fang left his minion summoned to enjoy its company.

Speaking of minions, his human pets were doing something. He picked his way across the pumpkin-strewn floor, avoiding getting his freshly groomed fur dirty. As he got closer he felt the faint tingle of his pet's pleasant mana and sped up. Lillian had her hands on Charlie's head, glowing slightly with positive energy. Fang meowed up at her, demanding some positive-infused pets, but his human's hearing was evidently too poor to notice him, as she didn't acknowledge his presence. Fang set out to rectify this by sliding up and rubbing his cheek on her ankle, beginning to purr as her aura tickled his fur. He twined around her legs and meowed insistently, but Lillian's attention was solidly fixed on his bed's head.

That would not do at all. Fang disengaged from her ankles and took a few steps away, sinking into a crouch and wiggling his butt as he gauged the height of his bed. Angela looked on with interest, then broke out in giggles when one powerful leap propelled Fang up onto a very startled Charlie's head. Once there, he gave another loud meow, effortlessly resisting the fat human's instinctive attempt to buck him off. He lightly swatted at Lillian's hand, insistently staring her down.

Lillian froze momentarily at the predatory eyes fixed on her, but after a few moments, she hesitantly lifted a hand off of Charlie's battered cranium and awkwardly patted Fang's head. Fang happily pressed up into the pets, rubbing against his familiar's hand as he soaked in the trickle of wonderfully pleasant mana. Lillian did nothing for several seconds, before coming to terms with her fate. She continued petting Fang with one hand, while she channeled her healing through the other. Using two hands was more of a habit than anything, picked up from her priestly mentors. She could heal Charlie just as well with one hand, or even by thwacking him with her staff, though she had never actually practiced that version, no matter how much Alex tempted her.

Soon she was finished healing Charlie and beckoned Alex over. "All right, that's everyone. I'll do what I can for you with the rest of my mana, then we can--EEP!" Charlie had begun to move away without Fang's permission. It would be too much trouble to correct his bed right now though, so Fang simply leapt over to Lillian's shoulder. However, the timid mage was not expecting that, and flinched back, forcing Fang to dig his claws into her robes just a bit for purchase. Moments later, he was purring away and rubbing himself on her cheek as though nothing had happened.

Lillian made a half-hearted attempt at shooing Fang off of her, but she transitioned to petting him once the cuddly feline simply took it as attention. She healed Alex one-handed, just like Charlie, and then the group started the trek out of the dungeon.

Once she stopped channeling her magic, Lillian's pets lost their charge of mana, so Fang spread out his attentions around the room, gathering attention and affection from his various pets. Alex was a bit reluctant, but after winding around his feet a bit and tripping him up for a bit, the man was convinced to pick Fang up and carry him. Fang accepted the ride and the couple scritches that came with it, at least until they exited the dungeon.

Then he saw a bird.

Fang's purring stopped and his ears flicked forward. His pupils grew until his eyes were full circles of black as he took in the small, colorful bird pecking at the ground a dozen meters away. It was foraging at the edge of the small clearing surrounding the dungeon entrance. He squirmed in Alex's arms, abruptly falling through his grasp as though he had turned to liquid. He kicked off of the magenta-robed man's knee with the same sinuous, liquid grace, though substantially more force. He flew through the air, blinking twice to close the distance. His second brought him out right next to the mini flashy bastard, allowing him to smack down onto it just as it began to flap its wings. He couldn't quite pin it down with his first pounce, so he swatted it aside, leaping after it and pinning it properly this time, ending the struggle with a swift bite to the back of its neck. He gave it a quick shake to make sure it wasn't faking it, then trotted proudly back to the group, tail held high as he showed off his victory over his vile nemesis. He meowed through his mouthful of feathers to ensure the humans appreciated his hunting prowess, then dragged it along into a tree to eat. He was suddenly extremely hungry, trying to recruit all of those rotting pets must have really taken it out of him.

And so, the fates of the woodland critters in the vicinity were sealed.

Charlie looked up at Fang as he chowed down, an eyebrow raised in surprise. "Is that a baby Flash Phoenix? If it's that young there should be a mother or even a flock around. Keep an eye out, they're rare enough that their feathers can sell for quite a bit. If we find one we should try to take it down."

Lillian looked up from her spell focus at Charlie's words, startled from her meditation. "Phoenix? Like the legendary immortal beasts? We can't handle an adult of something like that, can we? I can't revive a pile of ashes!"

Angela shook her head, chiming in, "A Flash Phoenix. Maybe it's a distant descendant, but more likely some melodramatic noble wanted to make his kill sound more impressive and the name stuck. It can't revive itself, and its only affinity is for illusion magic. It would actually help me unlock a class I've had my eye on if we can slay an adult, and it'll sell for a pretty penny, so I'd like to make finding it a priority if we get any leads."

Lillian sighed and nodded, "All right, that's more reasonable, and it fits into our monster-hunting plans, so I guess we can try to find it." She returned to focusing on her staff, drawing in the mana of the surroundings and purifying it, "I think it'll take about an hour for me to have enough mana to get everyone back in top condition. Are you all OK with waiting?

There was a chorus of affirmation from her battered party, and they slipped into their usual friendly banter, while Fang slipped away into the forest, setting himself to the task of ridding the surrounding woods of any and all small and delicious potential threats.

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

Fang had an extremely productive hour as the party rested up. He killed seven mice, two squirrels, numerous delightfully crunchy bugs, a delightfully sunny extra large rat, and best of all, over a dozen of the mini flashy bastards. He had chewed up all their feathers as he enjoyed doing, and the sunlight had trickled into him, but something was not quite right. Before, the sunlight had flowed through every part of him, giving him the sensation of warm sunlight from his toes to his tail. Now though, it all went straight to that little point inside him. That one spot felt wonderfully sunny, but the rest of him didn't get to bask in the warmth anymore.

As he sat on the ground, licking the blood of his fourteenth flashy bastard off his chops, for the first time, he tried to mentally poke the sunlight inside him.

It didn't work.

Fang tried meowing at his sunlight, breathing sunlight, pissing sunlight against a tree, licking the spot on his chest over where the singularity of sunlight both was and was not, all with similarly underwhelming results. He started flailing around at random in frustration, trying to get some reaction out of his sunlight, and surprisingly, it worked. Sunlight splashed out of his core, spreading its warmth throughout his body. Then, just as quickly, it flowed back into that strange point in not-quite-space.

Fang froze, confused. Then, naturally, he began flailing around again, jumping and swiping and squirming at random in an attempt to recreate the effect. And once again, it worked!

Fang tried several more times, and after around twenty minutes of random flailing noble scientific endeavor, he figured out that the sunshine responded the moment he started flailing around with that strange fifth paw he used to command his blue minions. After a bit more experimentation, he could push the sunlight out of his core at will and even push it around while it was outside, but no matter what he tried, anything he wasn't actively pushing at flowed straight back into his core.

Before he could get too frustrated, the call of his familiar pierced through the forest, "Chairman Meow! We're moving, please don't get lost!"

Naturally, Fang wasn't going to do something silly like listen to her and follow them. That was what she wanted him to do, and besides, Fang was a cat, and thus incapable of being lost. He proceeded to dash off after a particularly colorful butterfly that fluttered by in no particular direction. It was time to continue his small and fluffy woodland genocide.