Celine woke me up the next morning. I was still a little sleepy, having slept late because I had been thinking for a long time about the drawing of the blue system window. The drawing proved that the system was common knowledge in this world and I wasn’t a weird anomaly in it.

Getting turned into a cat does count as an anomaly, though.

There was also the probability that everyone had a system, maybe even Celine. And given how I, who was in the body of a cat, had a system, other animals might have it too. Moreover, the system was called the guide in this world. The word guide sounded spiritual, rather than the cold and computerized word -system, which I called it.

At least some of my questions are answered now.

Celine patted my back as I stretched on the bed, trying to undo the knots in my body. A little sunlight filtering through the window cast long shadows in the room. I lazily watched the motes of dust dance in the air, trying to shake away the sleep from my eyes.

But with every question answered, more questions pop up in my mind.

Why is there a system in this world? Why haven't I seen anyone else use it? I hadn’t once caught Celine messing with any windows or menus. Well, no one was going to answer them for me, not now at least. I had theories, of course. Maybe the people were discreet when using the system or had some other custom about using it publicly. But that wouldn’t explain why Celine didn’t use it. Being in a cat’s had many pros, but for now, the cons outshone them. Cons like not being able to ask questions.

Celine picked me up and posted me on the table. Breakfast was already served on the table. I picked up a turkey leg and started nibbling on it. I looked out at the tavern square from the window. The wagon stalls were back with people selling and buying this and that. A lot of people had put up tarpaulins as roofs for their makeshift wagons. From above, it looked like an artist had splattered random colors on a canvas. The tarps weren’t there the day before. I looked up in the sky to find it full of dark clouds on the horizon.

That explains the tarps.

I looked back down at the square. The number of people was slowly decreasing every day. There were fewer faces in the crowd, fewer wagons, and fewer voices and shouts. The numbers of people last night were lower than the night before. And the number of stalls were also lesser this morning than the previous day. I wondered if it was because of the approaching storm or some other reason. Something like the end of a festival or a trading season.

Well, another question that I want an answer to.

We were soon finished with the breakfast, and Celine cleared the table with her usual efficiency. I got down from the table to follow her out. As we neared the door, she blocked my way.

"Meow?" I looked at her inquisitively.

She shook her head and said something while gesturing to me and then at the room. I was horrified understanding what she was trying to say.

"Hiss!" I hissed and tried to run past her legs, but she quickly blocked my path with inhuman speed. I hissed again hitting her leg. She shook her head again and pushed me away with her leg. She then quickly ran out the door and I heard it lock.

No! No! No! No! No! Shit! Fuck!

I stared at the door for a few seconds, frustrated about my terrible luck. I had things I wanted to do and being stuck in a room like a house cat wasn’t on the agenda. Being confined somehow also felt like an affront to my feline nature. Nature which demanded freedom, exploration, and adventure.

I forced myself to breathe, my anger subsiding as I looked around for a way out. My eyes landed on the window. It was the only other way out of the room. But it came with its own set of problems. It was a window divided into two halves vertically. Only the lower part opened and that too by sliding up parallel to the top half. Since it was made of glass, it was bound to be heavy for a cat. That was, notwithstanding, a couple of iron bars jammed above the lower part to stop it from sliding up.

Sigh, goddamnit.

I searched the room. My tail swished in frustration as I looked for something to help me until my eyes rested on the books.

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They might work as props, helping me hold the window up, but how do I take them to the table?

I can probably climb to the table from the chair with a book in my mouth. But climbing the chair itself will be a problem. It’s too high for me.

My eyes rested on the table drawers and I had an idea build up in my mind. There were three of them and if I could stack them on top of each other, I could use them as steps to climb to the chair. It wasn’t the best of the solutions, but it was better than sitting around in this room all day.

I rushed to the chair, flung myself up to catch its seat, and pulled myself up. Now that I was on the chair, I went to the leftmost drawer and pulled at its knob with my jaw. It was a little difficult because the drawer was a bit above my natural height so I could stand only on my hind paws, which isn’t easy being a cat because your body's natural balance isn't made for you to be on two paws. Having twenty years of experience as a human helped, but not much. I finally managed to pull out the drawer with all my jaw strength and it fell on the chair with a thud. Thankfully, there wasn't a lock at its end to stop it from completely sliding out.

It didn't have many things in it. Just some small tools like hooks, picks, and small wrenches which I assumed were for lock-picking. There were also a few wood carvings. These looked like humans with wings, and I was confused about their significance. But seeing that there wasn't anything fragile in it, I pushed the drawer to the edge of the chair and threw it down. It flipped and landed upside down, the tools and the carvings scattering in all directions.

Perfect.

The drawer was about half a foot high.

Not enough.

I now went to the middle drawer and again pulled at the knob with my mouth. It was heavy and budged only slightly, even when I applied all my strength.

Fine middle drawer, you win.

Giving up after a few tries, I moved to the only other drawer. It was lighter, thankfully. I pulled at it with all my strength and a couple of minutes later it was lying on the chair. This one had many fragile things. I saw some makeup stuff, the box in which Celine put her eye lenses, and some peculiar stuff like fake eyebrows and lashes, some fake jewelry, and so on. Most stuff was in glass boxes.

Sigh. I have more work to do now.

I carefully picked everything out of the drawer, one at a time. It took me some jump-ups and climb-downs, but I was finally able to put everything up on the table.

I then rested for a bit, trying to catch my breath. Once recovered, I pushed the drawer off the chair and thankfully it landed upside down on the first one.

Small mercies. Guess my luck isn’t entirely bad.

I then arranged the drawers in a way that made it easier for me to climb up. Picking up one book at a time in my jaw, I then climbed up the drawer, hopped up the chair, and finally made my way onto the table. Once I had a few books on the table, I was satisfied.

Now came the second ordeal for the morning. I lined up the books near the window and after climbing up on them; I started hitting the two bars above the window used to restrain its movements. Once I hit them a few times, the bars got dislodged and fell. One of them hit me on my head. I cursed Celine for what was the hundredth time, rubbing my head with my paw.

I then undid the latch and used all my jaw strength to try to lift the window. It slowly lifted, millimeters by painful millimeters. But it was so heavy that I had to put all my weight behind it. Once it was lifted a bit, I pushed one of the thinnest books below it. I then took a break and again went to push the window up and put another book on top of the previous one. Repeating it a few times, I had all the books jamming the window from closing and I had enough space for me to get out of.

I rested for a few seconds before I exited the room. Fresh air entered my nostrils, and I felt energized. The sky had darkened a lot by now and I could smell the hint of rain in the air. I surely didn’t have this ability as a human.

I stood on the ledge examining the marketplace below me. It seemed that no one had seen my shenanigans. One reason being the lower number of people than before, probably because of the bad weather. Another one was that the tarps used as roofs by vendors were blocking most of the view.

There were a few tarps near the tavern wall I could jump down on. I looked at the biggest one, which was also the highest, and was only a couple of feet below the ledge. It was on the left corner of the tavern, though. I edged forward on the ledge sticking close to the wall, fearing falling down.

Guess I have developed a bit of basophobia.

The wind had picked up a bit, making my walk over a little precarious. I came across another room while moving on the ledge. Looking through its closed window, I found it empty. I saw some trunks below the bed though, which meant it was occupied. Once I reached the corner, I pushed with all my strength and jumped on the tarp. I rolled around for a bit in it as it dipped under my weight. Walking on the tarp was awkward as whatever spot I put my weight on suddenly dipped a bit.

Thankfully, I’m a cat. If I was a human, I would’ve fallen through.

I moved to the edge of the tarp, aiming for the nearest one. Reaching the end, I jumped on the next tarp.

As soon as I landed on it, it fell.

One of the knots tied to a corner was a little loose, and it opened under my weight. As soon as the corner fell, I also slipped on it and rolled down the street. The world became a

Hearing the owner curse behind me, I quickly scrambled to my feet. The first raindrops had now begun to fall. I didn’t sit back to listen to whatever the vendor had to say and disappeared among the crowd.

Freedom at last. Though not quite as elegantly as I had hoped. But then again, when did anything in my second life ever go to plan? Except for the fish theft. I’ll always be proud of that.

The storm was here now. As heavy rain started falling I walked towards my destination. The same place I had first woken up at.

Yup. Sewers.