I launched myself from Raina’s shoulders just in time to avoid being crushed by the thick sheets of plate that covered parts of the woman’s body. From the table, I watched Raina get squeezed in a hug that nearly turned her face blue.

“OH, MY GOODNESS! I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HERE!” The woman bellowed.

“Thanks?” Raina squeaked.

A moment later, the woman released her and held her at arm’s length. Raina gasped in sweet air as the paladin stepped back sheepishly. She was an amateur adventurer, much like Raina, with mismatched pieces of armor that had clearly been handed down from someone else. However, despite the raggedness of her armor, the holy symbol she wore about her neck, as well as the several golden strings of beads woven into her dark braids, practically shone with care and divine power.

“I’m sorry, I got so excited!” she said, scratching the back of her head. “I’m Aelisra, Paladin of Valencia…or trying to be, anyway.” She held a hand for Raina to shake, which my witch took.

“I’m Raina. It’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m a witch,” she said. “And this is Malzy, my familiar.”

“Awwww! Such a cute kitty!” Aelisra reached out to pet me, and I hissed. If she was going to get handsy with me, she better hope her armor was resistant to Enervation. She withdrew the hand. “Oh, not so cute kitty.”

“Malzy! Behave yourself!” Raina scolded.

“She started it,” I answered.

Raina ignored me and turned back to the paladin. “I’m sorry. He’s perpetually grumpy.” I growled my indignation at being so casually dismissed like that.

“No worries! He has boundaries. I can respect that,” she said, slowly offering a hand for me to sniff. I refused, turning my head away. “Anyway, Raina, right? Welcome to Team New Blood! That’s Cithrael.”

The other man at the table just nodded at us. To me, he slowly blinked his eyes before returning to the arrow he was fletching.

So, he was a man of taste. To immediately show a gesture of trust and respect to me showed his incredibly perceptive nature. I stood and padded across the table to see what he was doing.

The man’s long, ginger hair was tied back from his face, but still flowed down his back and shoulders. In fact, I think it might have been even longer than Raina’s, a peculiar trait to see in mortal men. Furthermore, his ears were strange. They were pointed.

Curious, I inspected him.

Name: Cithrael Elrana

Species: Elf

Type: Humanoid

Level: 7

Titles:

None

Aptitudes:

Environmental: 2

Internal: 2

Energetics: 3

Enervation: 0

Abilities:

Sharpshooter

Resistances: None

Description: An archer from a dying race with a keen eye and a love for the forest and all its creatures.

The ears must have been what made him an elf and not a human. I’d never met an elf before, and if Cithrael’s description was any indication, I might never again.

I sat with the silent man, showing him my favor as Raina and Aelisra continued to yammer on to one another.

“So, you’re a witch. You into healing magic?” the paladin asked.

Raina shook her head. “I know some spells to cure poison and such, but my magic is more focused on avoiding harm before taking the opportunity to harm the enemy.”

“Ah, so you’re a patient one! There’s value in that!” Aelisra pounded on her chest plate, just next to the shield pendant of Valencia. “I’ll be needing your cleansing spells, though. I tend to stay right up close with my enemies. Better to keep them where I can see them, you know?”

“Better you than me!” The two women laughed together.

Once they’d shared their moment, Aelisra pointed to the pile of papers on the table. “Say, take a look at these jobs. Anything there strike your fancy? Cith won’t give his opinion.”

“My opinion is to please use my full name,” he said softly. “As for the jobs, I tried to tell you my thoughts, and you didn’t listen.”

“Oh, really?” Aelisra scratched her head with a sheepish smile again. “I must not have heard you, sorry! I can get ahead of myself.”

Cithrael gave her a cold look that brought warmth to my heart. I could learn to like this man a lot. He was quiet, he gave me the proper signs of respect, and he didn’t reach for me with grabby hands.

He sighed. “I told you that I work best with longer sightlines. The rat cellar likely has rows I can shoot between, as would the mine, however my highest preference is for the farmer dealing with the handful of fire sprites, as it would involve wide open fields and no one to get in my way.” His input given, he returned to wrapping the binding on his arrowhead.

“Awesome! Information locked in my mind. It won’t get out now!” Aelisra said. “What do you think, Raina?”

“Any of them would do,” she answered. “I don’t really have conditions that would suit me better. The mine and the cellar sound dark, but Malzy can guide me.”

It was in that moment that a familiar scent drifted to me. Immediately, I leapt to my feet and raced to the far end of the table where a man with mint green hair was approaching.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite feline!” greeted the same green-haired man who’d carried me to the Temple of Valencia when my Soulbond was draining me. “You’re looking so much better, little guy!”

“Terrowin, right?” asked Raina. “What brings you here?”

“Same as you, I suppose. Found myself in need of work, and figured this might be a good place to find it.” Terrowin proceeded to introduce himself to the rest of the party with a bow. Sure enough, Aelisra pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, as well, and Cithrael just nodded in acknowledgement.

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

I meowed to Raina. “Hey, ask him if he learned how to use a map after our last adventure.”

She just laughed. “Malzy is wondering if you had any more trouble navigating Aldar.” My tail twitched. That wasn’t what I’d asked, and she knew it.

“I’m getting there, I think,” he said. “I’ll admit, it was a little rough to start.”

“Try miserable,” I finished for him, knowing that nobody but Raina could actually hear me. Maybe it would be worth trying to find a spell to communicate.

“So, are you going to be our fourth?” Raina asked.

Terrowin nodded. “Lizzie sent me this way. What are we working with?”

I yawned and laid down on the table as they discussed their options. I had little preference between Cithrael’s preferences. I would be able to tackle anything they threw at us. It was only to be expected of such a magnificent being.

Halfway through their discussion, I grew even more bored. I inspected the last two members of the party, just to pass the time.

Information hidden due to Divination Resistance X

Name: Terrowin Misolef

Species: Human

Type: Humanoid

Level: 7

Titles:

Hidden

Aptitudes:

Environmental: 0

Internal: 4

Energetic: 2

Enervation: 1

Abilities:

Hidden

Resistances:

Divination Resistance X

Description: A cryptic man with a hidden past.

Seriously? That’s all I got from him? A cryptic man with a hidden past? It seemed my rescuer was more interesting than I’d originally thought. With ten upgrades in Divination Resistance…I’d need to keep an eye on him.

But, there was still one more person to inspect.

Name: Aelisra

Species: Human

Type: Humanoid

Level: 8

Titles:

Champion of Valencia

Aptitudes:

Environmental: 2

Internal: 4

Energetics: 0

Enervation: 2

Abilities:

Bravery

Resistances:

None

Description: An outgoing disciple of the Goddess of Heroes who works tirelessly to live up to her deity’s image.

Outgoing was an understatement. At least she had the correct aptitude allocation for her own description of her abilities. Internal spells would keep her nice and safe taking hits for the rest of us. She was expendable. Raina and I were not.

The humans, and Cithrael, gathered their things, having decided to deal with the fire sprites at the local farm. I jumped onto Raina’s shoulders, settling myself down for a long ride to our destination.

* * *

We saw the smoke before we reached the farm. It rose in a great black plume over the horizon, and we began to pick up the pace.

“Damn,” Aelisra said as we crested the rise to see three large swaths of flames in a field of crops. “They said that the ambient mana had begun to concentrate into fire aspected mana, but the job said ‘handful,’ not ‘swarm.’”

“I count at least ten of them in the nearest blaze, likely more,” Cithrael reported.

“How can you tell? I can’t see a thing,” Terrowin wondered, squinting at the blaze.

“With great difficulty,” was the elf’s only response.

“We’ll be overrun if we split up. We should take each blaze as a group,” Raina offered. “I’ll do what I can to cleanse any burns.”

Aelisra pulled a shield and a hand axe from her back while Terrowin drew the bag from the end of his polearm. A beautiful glaive blade was revealed, trimmed in gold and silver. It was no doubt an heirloom of some kind, with tiny dragons depicted along the blade’s spine.

“Nice blade, mate!” the paladin praised. “Beautiful craftsmanship.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, let’s see if you can use it!”

With a ferocious war cry, Aelisra charged into the field, running straight for the closest inferno. The rest of the party followed, Terrowin just behind with Cithrael and Raina bringing up the rear.

I leapt to the ground, running alongside my witch. With the tall stalks of…corn or wheat or some equally mundane plant matter…I could hardly see anything of the fight ahead. The crops came up to the humans’ waists, but I wouldn’t let that deter me. I was no stranger to battle, and my spells were mostly short ranged anyway.

I heard Aelisra’s axe swing through the air, slicing at the sprites. Racing towards the paladin, I came to a halt just within the cover of the underbrush. I watched for several long minutes as the would-be adventurers battled their foes.

Aelisra swung her axe at a tiny ball of light and heat that darted at her from the blazing inferno before them. The enemy was small, but that didn’t mean they would be simple to deal with. There may yet be hidden dangers.

Inspecting hostile creature: Level 5 Fire Sprite

A nature spirit imbued with the essence of fire. By feeding off mana tied to heat and flames, they can whip up an inferno hot enough to melt steel.

This place was suffused with fire mana. That’s what Aelisra had said. No wonder the Fire Sprites had come here. They wanted to eat it and grow stronger. But, how to use that?

I crept around the battle. Aelisra and Terrowin were both struggling to deal a blow to the tiny creatures, fatal or otherwise. I wasn’t convinced that flailing massive weapons around was the best path to deal with tiny creatures built for speed and fire.

My suspicions were confirmed when an arrow shot through the air a moment later, skewering one of the tiny creatures and sending it to the ground. Cithrael, as the one favoring precision over strength, had drawn first blood among the would-be adventurers. I spied a sprite on the side of the inferno. It hovered and danced in place, growing brighter and hotter by the second.

I repositioned my paws as it gorged itself on fire mana. My own mana surged inside me as I leapt at it, my strong hind quarters carrying me straight to it before it could notice.

If these things fed on fire, then I would bring cold. My jaws clamped down on the creature, the power of Chill I snuffing out much of its fire. Even still, I winced as it burned my mouth before it died.

Congratulations. Level 5 Fire Sprite defeated. Experience gained.

“Malzy! Get back before you catch your fur on fire!” Terrowin shouted. Sure enough, a fire sprite darted at me from the flames. I scrambled back to the relative safety of the underbrush, but even then, my tail was slightly singed from the encounter.

So maybe that wasn’t the wisest strategy. My wounds would heal, but my pride would be slower to recover. I just needed to figure out how to deal with these monsters.

My strength lay in cleverness. If I could just think hard enough, I could overcome any enemy, any challenge placed before me. It was one of the things that made me such an inspiring cat to behold…if anyone would notice, that is. So far, I wasn’t sure even Raina fully grasped my brilliance…

It was time to show them, but how? If my cold mana couldn’t snuff the fire out, what could? I consulted Amsiii, trying to see what my options may be.

Available Aptitude Points: 3

That’s right. I still had the rewards from defeating the dungeon. I almost put them straight into Enervation to increase the potency of Chill, but paused. Chill still required me to touch my enemy, which had burned my tongue something fierce. In theory, Environmental might have been able to allow Chill to be used at range, but I’d never tried mixing magics from different aptitudes before. How could I be sure that it would work? Besides, Chill would allow me to kill the ones I could sneak up on, but what about the rest? There were at least eight more in this fire, not to mention the other two hot spots. Wouldn’t it be much more efficient to take them all out at once?

Aelisra cried out in fury before slicing the air with her axe. Two of the creatures were unfortunate enough to get caught in her attack, just as Terrowin sliced a third in half. The adventurers were slow compared to me, but they could attack the things without burning their teeth and paws. Their problem was that the creatures darted about, seemingly at random, forcing the adventurers to attack only one or two at a time.

What if I could change that?

An idea began to form in my head. It was a reckless, terrible idea…one that relied entirely on Raina’s ability to cleanse my burns until I had a chance to use Feline Favor.

Allocating 2 aptitude point to Energetics

Allocating 1 aptitude point to Enervation

I took a deep breath and stared down the inferno. I was about to be far more reckless than any non-expendable person should be, but if it worked, everyone would be forced to recognize my genius.

I raced into the fire, drawing upon my mana and shifting it from cold to heat.

Inspecting them had revealed a critical detail: fire sprites were attracted to heat.