6 A cat's name

Chapter 6: A cat's name

Steve hadn't put this much effort into anything ever since he studied for his college finals. One more time he grit his teeth as he slowly walked back, crouching down before leaping towards the tree at full speed. He immediately hooked his claws into the bark and used his momentum to carry himself upwards, jumping off when it was out and reaching for the lowest branch. Then, when his claws were only millimeters from touching it, gravity called for Steve and he hit the ground soon after.

Vitality 8 -> 9

A pop-up called out to him and announced  his increase in Vitality. This could only mean that vitality actually was a mix between general fitness and the body's ability to take a hit. He had actually increased his defense from falling so often then. And, as he failed at climbing once more, another pop-up appeared as if on cue.

[<Fall damage Reduction lv.1> has levelled up!]

This was… infuriating. Actually, it made him absolutely livid. He had gained more resistances to damage than Strength, the stat he had been seeking to improve. He couldn't even be that mad given the upgrades he had gotten, but he still needed Strength. And so, he kept glaring at the tree all throughout his breaks, almost piercing it with his eyes. Who did it think it was, making him fail so often? It was a tree, nothing more and nothing less. Simply a tree. How dare it stop his progress?! And when he came back, Steve was always a little more motivated than the last time. But even that couldn't defeat his drowsiness that day.

The next morning, Steve furiously racked his brain while running. He tried to come up with solutions, but couldn't figure any out. Even if his climbing technique was wrong, that hardly mattered. He wanted to conquer the tree with pure physical prowess, not something like Skill. What he needed was more power, and quickly at that. In the end, he couldn't figure out a solution. He could only steel himself and try again with renewed stamina.

And thus, Steve slowed his steps in front of the tree once again. By now its bark was already full or scratch marks from his countless attempts at pulling himself up. , but they all stopped once he looked higher up in the tree. A small amount of sap had seeped out and crystallized to fill the holes, the overflowing beads glistening orange in the morning sun. Steve looked at the tree for a while, viewing it no longer as a piece of wood but instead as a milestone he had to surpass. This thing would mark the beginning of his growth, the start of his path to conquer the forest bigshots. And then, Steve took a few steps back and bent his knees to lower himself to the floor. 

He glared at the tree, waiting for a few seconds until his eyes shot open wide and he leapt off the ground with all his power. After his short run-up he reached the tree and hooked his paws into it before leaving the floor with his second pair of paws as well. Without missing a beat he again put power into his legs to carry his momentum further up the tree, leaping up its side three more times before almost reaching the lower end of the first branch. But he refused to give up. Even with his momentum killed he pushed himself off and hooked his front paws into the bark further up. He paused, then contracted his stomach muscles to pull up his lower body while also pulling it up with his front legs. Then, he did the same thing again, his muscles already pulsating in pain. Steve didn't blink. He simply repeated the motion one more time, forcing himself just a little further up the tree. Then, when he did it one more time, his claws grabbed onto something before he had touched the bark. 

Steve had reached the branch he was so desperately aiming towards. He grit his teeth for a moment, flames burning in his eyes as he pulled upwards two more times, and during the protest of his muscles, Steve placed himself on top of the branch and let out a victorious roar. Or rather a screech, given his stature.

He had done it. He had fucking done it. He had reached his goal with a stellar performance and won against this bastard of a tree. And there was something that made his victory even sweeter.

Strength 8 -> 9

Willpower 6 -> 7

He had increased not just one but two stats. He couldn't have gotten any better news. His training was effective. Now the only remaining question was how effective it was. 

For the remainder of the day, Steve kept moving up and down the tree. He did manage to reach the branch a few times, actually, but his amount of failures was still far higher. After a while he also figured out that running up the tree might be good to gain height, but actually hardly increased his strength, so instead he opted to fully climb up the tree without a running start, continuously pulling himself higher. This led to him not seeing a single success that day anymore, but he didn't mind. After all, he got to see the pop-up once more, which was way more satisfying in its own way.

Strength 9 -> 10

He had reached another increase in Strength. It was understandably going faster than increasing his Dexterity, since the running simply took longer to exhaust him, but without any way to make it harder he couldn't really make it increase more quickly. In other words, the point at which his strength would start to plateau was also further away. And thus, after hunting down two mice for dinner, Steve went to bed again.

When he woke up again his muscles still ached from the day before, but after stretching a little he still went for his morning run. Of course, he was still training, so after his morning snack of another mouse he went straight back to the tree. Just like yesterday, he started climbing up from the bottom without running towards it and failed. Then he failed again. And again. And again. When midday rolled around he got himself another mouse and continued attempting to climb his tree, which he failed at. But at the end of the day, there was yet another pop-up.

Strength 10 -> 11

He was growing stronger, bit by bit and step by step. So he continued with his training day after day, slowly becoming stronger. And after a week, he had gotten quite a few pop-ups.

Strength 11 -> 12

Dexterity 13 -> 14

Strength 12 -> 13

Strength 13 -> 14

Willpower 7 -> 8

Vitality 9 -> 10

Strength 14 -> 15

This was where he reached a plateau. His Strength took three or more days to actually increase by now, so it simply wasn't highly feasible to keep increasing it. Same went for his Dexterity. He wasn't focusing on it too much, of course, but it had still only increased once during an entire week, meaning that it was more than just hard to increase. Luckily, those stat increases weren't everything he wanted to upgrade, there was still <Throw> left and it had plenty of room to grow. And thus, after a day of throwing rocks at trees and carving runes into them, <Throw> had reached level 5 and he had made ten more runes. On the next day he only focused on Throw, not really needing to rest as the Skill hardly consumed Sp. But it didn't level-up. The reason was simple, throwing the small rocks he had collected before was no longer exhausting. Then again, from a human point of view he threw stones more akin to pebbles than rocks. Now he could probably throw stones a little smaller than a human fist, though finding ones perfectly suited to his current level might be a little hard. Well, at the very least he would like to find one before tackling any of his targets. 

Speaking of said targets already, he would really like to actually fight one of them soon, at least after regenerating the muscle he damaged during his Strength training. He definitely needed to heal that up if he wanted to do anything, so for now a few days of rest would be in order.

For once, Steve actually stuck to what he said, but he actually only took two days to regenerate. After a week and a half of nothing, two things happened. The first was simple.

[Level Up!]

He had gotten stronger again. This also shortened the time needed for his recovery to be non-existent. It came at the perfect time.

Status:

|Unnamed|

Lv.: 7 -> 8

Species: Common Mopaaw 

Titles: <Tutorial Completer>

Hp: 30/30

Mp: 32/32

Sp: 50/50

Strength: 15 -> 17

Vitality: 10 -> 11

Dexterity: 14 -> 15

Agility: 25

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 8

Willpower: 8 -> 9

Luck: 8

Ability points: 11

Skill points: 450

Gold: 294

It was a good level-up at that. He got good stats and both the Ability and Skill points could come in very handy. This already had him excited. 

The second occurrence was an even rarer one actually. On the day after he received his level-up Cherry was waiting outside his log when he got up. She immediately jumped up and smiled when he stepped outside, taking a few steps back to give him his space.Now, while Steve had been sceptical of her before, this tipped the scales. She was respecting the boundaries he had set as if she was interacting with another human instead of a cat. It was clearly showing that she didn't think of him as someone she could simply tame and take home, but as someone she respected almost. This was good. Very good, actually. She could now technically be seen as his first companion.

After looking at him for a moment Cherry signed Steve to wait while she rummaged through her backpack. After a moment, a bright smile spread across her face and she pulled out a small, blue gemstone, cut into the shape of a rhombus. She gently placed it down on the floor and took a step back, prompting Steve to get closer to this mysterious new object. For a moment he hesitated, but remembering her consideration towards him he deemed the stone as probably harmless. After another moment, he tapped it with a claw of his.

[Activated skillstone: <Language Comprehension>. Use?]

A skillstone? That was more than new. Appraisal? Please?

[Skillstone: This is a magically treated gem storing information related to a Skill. By using it, the Skill can immediately be obtained. Level of the Skill is dependent on the creator's Skill level and the creator's Skill level in gem cutting.]

So it would simply allow him to learn <Language Comprehension> again? He already had the Skill though. Well, at the very least it would be interesting. Use, please.

[Acquired the Skill <Language Comprehension lv.3> from a skillstone. Skill already acquired. Fusing Skills.]

[<Language Comprehension lv. 1> has levelled up thrice!]

As soon as he selected to use the stone, it suddenly dissolved into blue light and smoke, which quickly wrapped around him and seeped into his body. Every bit of smoke carried information in it and as the seconds ticked by he could feel his head being filled with more and more words from various languages, so much so that he was still milling over them when the smoke had already disappeared. He only snapped out of his daze when he could hear a soft voice ringing out in the forest.

"Can you understand me?" Cherry asked. Steve nodded without hesitation. He could, thanks to her, so there was no need to lie.  Just like that, a smile spread out on the girl's face. "So it worked! That crystal was sooooooo worth it. Now we just gotta find out a way for you to talk!" Cherry's smile widened and turned into a beaming grin so bright it threatened to melt Steve's face off, but he endured. This was the first time they were able to really talk after all. "Oh, where are my manners," Cherry interrupted herself, "My name is Cherry Silvers, the girl you saved from a bear a bit over a week ago. I live here with gramps and he's teaching me hunting. My tracking is fairly good by now but my stealth needs a lot more practice. Nice to meet you!"

For a moment, she actually reached out to Steve as if to shake his hand, before realizing again that he was, in fact, a kitten. After hurriedly pulling her hand back and putting on a crooked smile, Cherry plopped down on the floor. After a moment she tilted her head to the side a little and spoke again. "What should I call you, mister mop- oh right, you can't speak. Well, that makes things a little harder for sure…"

No shit Sherlock. Wait, she probably didn't know Sherlock, damn it. Did it matter though? He couldn't talk anyways, so telling her about it proved rather difficult. Oh well, unlucky. 

"Hm, I have an idea! How about I start listing names and you nod when you like one?" The girl kept chatting on and leaned forwards a little, seemingly excited about the idea. Steve didn't really mind it so he nodded somewhat absent-mindedly, prompting the girl to rattle off names.

"Mister Flufferbutts!"

It was her first suggestion.

Maybe he could have taken it had it come a bit later, but she just had to make it the first. Steve snapped out of his daze then and his head slowly turned towards her. After a moment he started shivering and got goosebumps. What did she just suggest? Steve's eyes started to twitch as he stared at the girl. What fucking name did she just say? He even subconsciously activated <Bloodlust>. This girl. Was she fucking serious? The first goddamn name she came up with was Mister Flufferbutts? His suspicions were correct! Humans could not be trusted! She needed to be punished for this grave offense!

Cherry actually flinched back when Steve glared at her with scornful eyes. Something about him sent shivers down her spine. Combined with the quiet snarl he let out she had a strong feeling that he disliked the name.

"Uh… how about Captain Pawlister?"

The shivers down her spine got even worse as a shadow seemed to lay itself over Steve's eyes. The girl hurriedly corrected herself and blurted out the first thing that came to mind when her life flashed before her eyes.

"Forest!" she yelled in desperation, "Forest Silvers!"

In a moment, the ominous feeling she got stopped and she realized she had leaned as far backwards as she could. For once, the mopaaw in front of her seemed to actually consider the name. Then, he gently shook his head. It wasn't that the name was bad, he just disliked the thought of being named after where he was. I mean, what sensible person would name their child something like that? Village Smith? City Johnson? Desert Turner? The concept was weird so he had to decline, but at the very least they were on a better track now. While Cherry was sitting up again he tilted his head lightly and gave her a curious 'meow' as if he was asking her to go on. And after a moment of hesitation a smile formed her face before she continued on. After a while she seemed to get closer to a good outcome after understanding the kind of names the mopaaw liked. It immediately refused anything that even remotely mentioned his fluffiness and shook his head at things that were related to terrain features, while gems or metals he considered at the least. 

"Ruby?" He shook his head. "Opal?" Another failure. "Quicksilver?" He paused, but denied it. "Soulsteel?" He cocked his head to the side but shook it. "Uh… how about Mercury?" This name he stopped at. He didn't pause to consider but actually stopped. It was a good name. It sounded cool, first of all and didn't hold just one meaning. It could be the metal meaning he was flexible and malleable though dangerous. It could mean the greek god showing he was fast and mischievous. It could mean the planet, too, showing that he was a force to be reckoned with. It was a big name that he would first have to grow into, but he liked it. He nodded. Cherry's face immediately lit up as she jerked her elbow down and yelled out: "YES!! Mercury Silvers then, right?" 

Mercury shook his head and immediately Cherry's enthusiasm disappeared. "Argh whyyyyyy?? Okay, okay stay calm Cherry. Just one more name. Just come up with one more name and it'll be good. How about… Flufferbutts?" She said it jokingly, but after Mercury stared her down again she relented. "Okay, jeez, it was just a joke. How about Rainfall? Or Starlight?" The girl impatiently suggested two names at once, holding her hands in front of her face in hopes of shaking off Mercury's menacing stare, but after not seeing his reply she paused. The fear she felt disappeared. When she slowly turned her head to the little ball of fur in front of her, she saw it in deep contemplation. Starlight or Rainfall? He actually liked both of them, which is why he was being indecisive. The girl looked at him for a while until she understood and her jaw dropped open. 

She stuttered when she spoke again: "Y-y-you like b-both the names I came up with?!" She was absolutely surprised when the cat nodded and still weighed his options. This was his rebranding after all, he wouldn't get this chance all the time so he had to make a good choice, but he just didn't know. Both of them sounded really cool and he didn't want to give up either of them, so he simply decided to use them both. Now he had to decide the order. After nodding to the girl twice, agreeing to both the names, she spoke up once more. "So Mercury Starlight Rainfall? No, that sounds weird. Mercury Rainfall Starlight. Way better. You agree?" And the man who was once Steve nodded once more. Mercury Starlight Rainfall. Back on earth he would have laughed at someone with such a name, but now he himself was called so. Well, it sounded good enough and with the girl in front of him named Cherry Silvers it felt a lot less weird. 

Yeah, this was his name. And just when he decided so…

[Your status has been updated!]

[Name changed from "|Unnamed|" to "Mercury Rainfall Starlight". Confirm?]

[Name has been confirmed. This can be changed later by expending a vast amount of Mp.]

Mercury smiled happily at this. Naming himself felt quite a bit more fulfilling than he had expected. This was quite fun. Though now he had to fulfill the expectations his name put on him. He was Mercury Rainfall Starlight and he would not rest until he was the king of this forest!