The ship finally docked. I carefully walked out onto the wooden platform after the other creatures. Everything was still spinning a bit. “I will be back in two days at midday and then midday for the next three days after that,” Paladin Bloodclaw said as the boat took off.

Sharpfang and Grizzle immediately took up straight up the road towards the center of the island and the lake. They were aiming for the peak. Even though I was dying on the boat I had heard them talking. The others looked about and were looking at their maps.

That was foolish. Paladin Bloodclaw hadn’t said how long the other creatures had time to prepare for. Waiting around or heading towards the best spot was foolish. I made my way off the dock, slowly getting my hind paws back under me. My stomach was heaving, but finally getting under control. Cats weren’t made for the water.

Water was the absolute worst. I didn’t even know I could feel that ill on water. I didn’t notice any figures wearing all white and settled into some rocks at the beach. ‘Avatar,’ I thought, and Mes appeared. The small floating, glowing blue cat floated in front of me.

‘Any chance you can help me out?’ I asked Mes.

‘Well, an Avatar can provide limited aid. Even without a map upgrade. There are three presences on the island that might be able to detect me.’

‘How can you tell?’ I asked out of curiosity.

‘They are able to manipulate small amounts of energy. I don’t know how, but if they can manipulate energy, then they might be able to sense me. Like Paladin Bloodclaw can. But for this, passive scans should be enough with no one nearby.’

‘That is surprisingly helpful. I thought you weren’t the paw holding System?’ I asked. I hadn’t risked speak with Mes for a while and I wanted to understand them better. What were their limitations.

‘I am using a workaround. I am just labeling this event an interactive tutorial. That allows me to assist in ways I normally wouldn’t be able to without you purchasing specific upgrades. Like Passive Map Generation for 25,000 EXP and Map Threat Detection for 50,000 EXP.’ That was a lot of killing, if they were only worth 100 EXP each.

‘Oh, thanks. How many and where are they?’ I asked.

‘I am excluding your companions and the individuals who might be able to detect me. Besides those creatures there is a count of 24 creatures in approximately 10 groups. There are two moving along the coast, you are positioned on. Please hold up your map,’ Mes asked me. I did and it pointed their location on the map.

‘They are not moving from this location. High chance of an ambush.’ I figured as much.

‘Anyone else moving to the coast and their weapons?’

‘No and unknown. I would have to perform an active scan and that is too risky. If they move from their positions I will alert you,’ Mes said, and I nodded at this.

‘Thanks,’ I replied and set off at a jog. I needed to get the stiffness and sea sickness out of me. It would take about two hours to reach the other creatures. I focused on my breathing, I could do this. I had to do this. I had every advantage.

Having to kill other creatures was scary. Before it was my father I had seen running around while I had been in the car. Training was just training. But this was real, they were tossing me right into the deep end. Without Mes helping me I would have been struggling a lot more.

I would have made it this far, but with a lot less skill and confidence. The weather was quite nice, a light breeze, the sun slowly climbing up into the sky and the warm air. I didn’t let myself get too distracted even with Mes keep watch. I was working to improve my Listening, Movement, Balance, and Danger Sense skills.

The first three were just about focusing and listening carefully. Using Danger Sense like this was like trying to pick up a stray scent in the air and trying to work out where there was more danger. I followed the shore, which was made up of small rocks.

After about an hour of traveling I stopped and got some water to drink. ‘Any change?’ I asked Mes.

‘No changes to the group you are going after. However, the count is now down to 23 individuals.’

‘People are getting busy,’ I thought.

‘It appears there was infighting in the largest group of six, now five.’ I couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing. While it would be nice to kill everyone else, I didn’t think that was going to happen. I would just do my best one group at a time, making sure I was safe.

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‘I wonder what they use this island for regularly?’ I wasn’t expecting an answer, but just wanted to chat with Mes while they were free to interact with me.

‘Passive scans indicate several corpses. My guess is a training ground.’ Question answered. I suppose it made sense since the Covenant Church were ultimately in charge. They would want to keep training contained to an island like this. That way people couldn’t escape, and collateral damage would be limited.

I put my water away and set off again, making sure to be quiet and pay attention to my map and relative location to the group I was approaching. The closer I got to their location made it so I could see why they had set up here. The shore was fairly narrow and there was a large cliff next to it.

‘On top or the bottom of the cliff?’ I asked.

‘At the top,’ Mes helpfully replied. I backtracked a bit and went up on top of the cliff. I sniffed the air. Nothing, but there was a breeze coming in from the ocean side. I slowly and quietly made my way away from the cliff and looped around their position.

I finally got a whiff of another creature. Most of the time I just filtered out the background smells, but since I was trying to find the smell of another creature, it was easy enough to home in on. It was tempting to ask Mes to help me pinpoint them, but I wanted to try and spot them first myself. They had made it clear the help I was getting from them this time was unique. I couldn’t count on it all the time.

There was also something that resonated within me, hunting and tracking down prey as the ancient purple eyed mountain cats had done ages ago. My ancestors were not weak creatures needing their paws held. They were brutal, savage, and cunning fighters.

I slowly advanced through the forest at the top of the cliff. Several large boulders impeded my sight as well. That was when I heard a tail move slightly. I adjusted my movement to slowly approach them directly from behind while making sure not to make any noise. My Movement and Balance skill were quite helpful.

There were two creatures laying down on the top of the cliff next to each other. One had a single bolt action rifle with no sight. The other had a sword laying down next to them. The creature with the rifle was a rat and a fairly large one. The other creature with the sword was a weasel if I wasn’t mistaken. They weren’t that common around Wilbur High School, so it took me a moment.

The biggest threat was the weasel with the sword. Up close it would be easy to handle the rat with the rifle. I was already fairly close, peaking out from around a tree. If I rushed them, it would take about four seconds to close the distance.

I flexed my claws out of my paws, careful not to make any noise. One thing I had learned was that hesitation was a fatal weakness. I couldn’t hesitate here. I kicked off the ground and shot for the weasel, while trying to keep as silent as possible.

They heard me moving right away. The weasel reached for his blade while the rat tried to get up quickly. Just as the weasel picked up the blade, I paw slashed out, drawing a massive gash along their back. Blood rushed out, but I didn’t slow down my attack, if anything I sped up. Fur, skin, and muscle were all ripped apart by my claws.

“Ahhh,” the weasel let out a scream, but I was already moving to the rat. I kicked out at the gun. My paw hitting it and pushing it to the side along with his arms. My paw came down, and I ripped open the rat’s face and wrecked his right eye. He let out a scream as well, but I quickly followed up, with another slash across his gut.

The rat fell to the ground and quickly rushed forward since I felt a threat behind me. The weasel had thrust out his sword, but he was too slow. I spun fully around and advanced. The weasel swung, but it was a weak swing.

I easily knocked the blade to the side and swiped at his throat. It was ripped apart and he instantly died, collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. I stood there breathing heavily. I felt a bit queasy from the sight of blood and guts. But I had to be strong, I had to be.

Before I could hesitate any longer, I got their pendants off their necks and found their packs. They had similar supplies. I washed off my claws with some water and took the perishable goods. I almost spoke out loud, but then realized there were cameras around. I had seen a couple up some trees.

‘Did…did I do okay?’ I asked Mes while getting my breathing under control. Mes floated into view eating something. Why did they need to eat something?

‘Good job, which is 200 EXP you have earned. Since this is a tutorial area, gains have been standardized. One of the downsides of me helping you. Otherwise, it would have been 237 EXP.’ I didn’t care about that. Being safe was far more important. I finished packing up my pack and securing it.

‘Why are you eating? What are you eating?’ I had to ask.

‘I am an Avatar, an interactive representation of Mes. Eating like this is to show that I am processing your experience currently. If I am studying something, I will put on a pair of glasses and look much more intense. This is to make you the user feel more comfortable while interacting with me.’

That was incredibly creepy and thoughtful at the same time. Whoever made Mes really put a lot of thought into it. ‘Will the gun impact things?’ I asked.

‘Great question. A ranged weapon will reduce the amount of EXP I am able to collect on your behalf. But the choice is ultimately yours. Why don’t you check the Interface,’ Mes suggested.

‘Interface,’ I thought.

Experience: -18,300 EXP (+200)

Features: Interface, Avatar, Skill Attunement

T1 Skills: Movement (57/100) +4, Listening (38/100) +4, Balance (36/100) +3

T2 Skills: Danger Sense (25/100) +5

T3 Skills: Claw Combat (24/100) +6

‘My skills shot up,’ I thought in surprise.

‘Indeed. Using skills in combat helps integrate them into your subconscious. A skill at level 100 should feel completely natural. Since that means it is fully integrated with your mind and body. Good job on getting the experience. You are doing great Mittens.’ I felt my confidence growing at that. I could give up now, but I wanted extra points.

Paladin Bloodclaw had mentioned the record was ten. I wanted at least another eight to beat that record, possibly more. If this was going to be my life now, then I was going to be the best. I pulled out my map as Mes floated over and pointed out the next closest group. It was completely unfair, but I wasn’t going to not use my biggest ally.