16 Rewards

I opened my eyes, and a string of notifications filled my mind.

<Completed quest: Defeat the boss.

All stats increased by 2

Obtained ability [Powerful Mind]>

[Powerful Mind]

For every 3 points of intelligence all other stats increased by 1. >

<...>

<Completed Quest: Form a sword force core.

You have obtained a sword core

Your innate ability Devour has been refreshed.>

I forced myself to my my feet as I hobbled over to the body of the Hobgoblin. I had been tortured both physically and mentally for this reward, and I was not about to let it slip from my grasp.

With great effort I finally forced my body to reach my meal, but I did not even have the strength to keep standing. I laid there panting on the body of my prey. Thankfully Selena seemed to know what I wanted as she cut small pieces of the Hobgoblin and put them in front of me.

It took far more effort than I wanted to admit, but I ate until I got a message from the system.

[Chantless casting]

Magic is the most powerful force in the universe, but it must be harnessed through chanting. You have learned to cast magic without chanting, but at a great cost. Magic cast without a chant cost 2x the normal amount of mana, and only do 1/4 the damage.

The ability was completly shocking. It was by all means a powerful ability, but the cost of it was equally high. Tigress was equally shocked.

"Your claws were going to hard enough for me to compensate for, but with these new abilities.. I will have to rethink EVERYTHING."

I paused, I did not even have the energy to think. "Are they that good?"

"GOOD? They are amazing. [Great Mind] means you do not have to put any of the attribute points you gain from levels into anything but intelligence. Your Dexterity and strength will automatically be upgraded, not to mention the other stats."

"And [Chantless Casting]? It's almost a waste for a swordmaster to have such a powerful ability. Do you realize that mages are the most powerful class? A single one of their spells is enough to sway an entire battlefield. But there are not many mages, do you know why? Its because the shortest chant takes 5 seconds to complete."

"Earlier you took advantage of this to attack the Hobgoblin. If you had not acted the weakest level of spells, the level he was casting, could have easily destroyed your partner. Their weakness is this chant time. In a battlefield there is too much going on, and a spell is far too easy to interupt."

"As a swordmaster you will have similiar things to spells, We gather swordforce in our bodies, and release it with a strike. Chantless casting will nullify the need for you to gather your swordforce, though your mana will be spent at a much higher rate, and the damage will be much lower."

I nodded as I listened. "It sounds legit. What is sword force anyways?"

Tigress wore a serious expression. "The old man would tell you that is a quantified existence that is a byproduct of your own energy that radiates through your body, and interacts with the world around us. However, I honestly have no idea what that means. All you need to know is that it is a form of energy that uses your mana. It is much like fire energy or water energy."

I looked at Tigress for a moment before speaking. "So...what you're saying is.. You're too stupid to know what Sword force is."

A killing intent suddenly filled my mind, and my tired body was forced further into the body of the hobgoblin underneath me.

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME STUPID."

I put a shocked expression expression on my face, while hiding my own horror. "I would never call my brilliant Master Stupid. I was just saying that the man had needlessly used overly complicated words to explain that sword force is the form that mana takes in a swordsmaster."

Tigress eyes me for a moment before speaking. "Thats right. That old man likes to make normal people feel dumb."

I was pulled out of my conversation as I could feel my body being lifted up. I found myself looking into Selena's beautiful green eyes.

"Little cat I have an important question to ask. It is time for me to leave. Would you like to come with me? That would require you becoming my familiar. Your life would be bound to mine. You would essentially be my knight. You do not have to, but life will be hard for you as a simple monster. Not all dungeons are this easy."

I did not hesitate to nod, reinforcing the nod with a loud meow.

Selena looked at me for another moment before nodding back at me. "Prepare yourself then. This will be painful."

The girl put me down on the ground and put the bracelet on her arm. I could feel her gathering mana, pushing it into the bracelet. She began to chant softly in a language I did not understand.

A large pentagram made of fire formed underneath me, and I could feel a scorching pain deep in my soul. I did not resist, even as I felt my existence pouring from my body to the pentagram underneath me.

At the same time I could feel another existence pouring into me. I was shocked as I could feel the girl who was currently staring at me. I could feel her shock as she felt the entirety of me, just as I could feel the entirety of her. Her thoughts, feelings, and even memories were completly open to me.

She blushed as she looked at me. "It's not supposed to be like this! A familiar bond is supposed to more timid. You're supposed to be my knight, and I your lord. This is more like.. This is a marriage bond? But you're a kitten! I can't be married to you!"

I was as equally shocked as she was. Not because of the marriage bond, honestly I had no idea what that was. I was shocked because of her stats.

Name: Selena Riverwood

Race: Human

Age: 18

lvl 0

Class: Apprentice Arcane Warrior

Trait: Fire touched

Core: fire

Hp: 130 Mp 150

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 15

Constitution: 13

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 14

abilities:

[Mana strike]

[Weapon training]

[Mana circulation]

[Fire Touched]

You can imbue your weapon with the element of fire. This does not have a cost, nor a cool down.

[Mana Strike]

You can infuse your weapon with mana, causing your weapon to deal more damage, but lowers the durability at a much higher rate.

[Weapon training]

You have been trained in the arts of combat with most forms of weaponry. You deal 10% additional damage with all forms of weapons, and attack 10% faster.

[Mana Circulation]

By entering into a meditative state you can recover your mana 10x faster than it would naturally. Cannot be used while in combat.

Her stats were far higher than my own, but I did not have a lot of time to admire them as the system sent me a new notification.

<You have accepted the binding to another being. Because you have met the minimum requirements you have the choice of one of the three following options.

1. +5 to all stats

2. A Unique ability

3. Obtain a humanoid form. >

Options one and two might have been tempting to others, but as a hell cat it was much easier for me to gain these things. I never really had a choice to begin with, as I happily selected the third option.

The pain in my body grew more intense, as the fire that burned my soul also began to burn my body. The pain caused me to scream in pain as the scorching heat devoured the entirety of my being, I could feel the life draining from the body I possessed and in my again the only thought I could muster was that this is how death must feel.

The searing pain seemed to go on for an eternity, but like a Phoenix I rose from the ashes. The body I now owned did not look like my human body, nor was it the kitten body I had previously resided in. It was an odd mixture of both.

I could see the blond locks of hair that gently fell over my forehead, and through feeling alone I could sense the triangular cat ears on the top of my head. As I moved my hands in front of my face I could feel my tail twitch behind me.

My examination was interupted by a rather loud scream.

As I turned to look at my partner her face was a bright shade of red, and she was covering her eyes. Though it was obvious she was still peeking through her fingers.

"Why are you naked!!!"

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