I was in a white tunnel. It was very clinical and smelled like ozone.
Achievement Granted!
Achievement: A Lion's Pride
Achievement Bonuses: Congratulations, by linking two territories on two different worlds, you have populated both worlds with Nekos!
Achievement Granted!
Achievement: Superspreader
Achievement Bonuses: Congratulations, you have assisted the System to expand into two worlds. Unlocks the Superspreader title.
Achievement Granted!
Achievement: Race to the Finish
Achievement Bonuses: Congratulations, you have created a new race and unlocked breeding options. Unlocks the Registered Breeder title.
Main Quest Completed: A Kindle of Kittens
Objective: Populate the world with cute fluffy Nekos!
Calculating Rewards
Bonus Experience Points allocated.
Congratulations. You have Levelled.
New Level: 9
You have 2 points to assign. Please assign them immediately to continue.
I shrugged and put two into Intelligence and then then one each onto Stamina, Strength, and Agility. I was fairly sure this was all a waste of time. But the System had its system…
Do you wish to make any changes?
"No, I'm good. Ding me, maybe?"
The universe seemed to pause around me.
Level Up failed.
You have died.
And there it was. My death. Printed right there in silver words in front of my eyes. Not that I had any eyes anymore.
I wondered what would happen to me.
Would I be sent somewhere? Like, to Heaven or Hell?
Or was I just going to fall into a slumber and never wake again?
I shuddered at both options.
Had Jade been right? That thought bothered me. I thought I'd been freeing them all. Had I really been killing people and… what? Resurrecting them like a Necromancer?
It didn't make sense.
Why would I do that?
I felt a heavy pressure descend on me, like the palm of a giant hand. To protect them. That's what I had to do. It was in the spell description.
Permanently Transform Target into an obedient (and cute!) Neko. Protect her at all costs!
I felt tired. So tired.
I wanted to sleep.
"You promised," I murmured, as I felt my consciousness begin to drift in different directions. "You promised I'd see Sapphire again."
Or was her name Jewel?
I couldn't remember. What was her name?
All I could remember was her fluffy warm fur as I pressed my face against her side while I hugged her. I was curled up on my bed. My back was bleeding from where the belt had flogged the skin off.
My mother was in another room, screeching at something else now.
It was just me and Jewel.
Me and Sapphire.
Together.
I wept into her purring fur and felt lighter than air as she let out a cute little mew.
Then my mother soared into the room, her belt flailing as she started screaming something about how the cat had pissed on her shoes. And I hunched over Sapphire.
I hunched over Jewel.
I had to protect her.
I had to hold her.
I had to squeeze her close.
She was yowling and scratching, but I held her.
As my back was flayed to ribbons, I held her.
Even when the cops came, I refused to let her go.
Then my aunt was there. She prised my arms open and Jewel sprinted for the door.
Sapphire ran and I never saw her again.
I was alone.
It was quiet. So quiet.
Like the room they put me in after I was taken away from home. The cold room. Clinical. White walls. White floor. White sheets. White blanket.
They kept me in the white room until I turned eighteen.
I'd forgotten all about the white room.
And the man in white who told me something important before I left. What was it? It was on the tip of my tongue.
Something about pills.
The memory fizzled away, leaving me floating in the dark and thinking about cats. I'd always liked cats. I wished I could have had one when I was a kid, but my mom wouldn't get me one.
Feeling a sense of loss brush my soul, I stared out at endless void and wondered if I was in a Workshop. Was I, like my Nekos before me, standing in a void while someone used sliders to change pieces of me?
What were they doing to me?
I peered harder, trying to see something.
Anything. And the more I stared into the dark surrounding void, the more convinced I became that it was staring back at me.
My voice, dry and cracked, exhaled into the dark. "What did you do to me?"
An electric hum trembled softly, with an occasional crackle of distant static.
The hum built, and pressure filled me like a balloon.
Which popped.
And silver letters emerged sparkling in front of me.
Would you like to reroll?