Shinichi checked for messages before Underneath left the airport and its reliable data connection. He grinned as he read the short message from Danika: "I hope your day is good. It looks nice out here."

She obviously didn't know what she should say, but she was trying. The night before she'd announced her intent to find the King of Cats, without cheating and looking up his location while at work. Shinichi suspected that as a god level NPC the cat could be in multiple places at once, or none.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He checked his in-game messages too, and there was one from Ryullusion and one from the system. He frowned and checked the one from the system first.

Naoki leaned over his shoulder and said uncomfortably close to his ear, "Oh, the way you were grinning and then frowning, I figured that you were talking to your little dragon. You're being invited to the familiar's association? I didn't know this game had associations."

"It's a guild, that's their name, 'The Familiar's Association'," Shinichi replied dryly.

Naoki stood straight and instructed, "Oh, just ignore it then."

"Yeah," Shinichi agreed. He hesitated though. The message hadn't been sent by a player, and he was curious. After a moment he took a screenshot and sent it to Danika.