Well, the Werecat's meow, anyway.

John wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to come through his door. A giant Khajit-type man-cat? A feral, intelligent, but mostly unchanged wild cat? Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't what he got.

A large chunk of the door was torn away from the bottom, and the creature that popped through was so odd looking that John didn't immediately leap to swing at it. The creature looked like a feline version of a werewolf… except that it was only two feet tall. The creature was still intimidating, brandishing its razor sharp claws as it barreled through the tiny opening and then leaped directly at John's face.

-5 HP!
-4 HP!

"…Ow," John thought as his health decreased. That was the first bit of damage that he had taken since he first got his new abilities and, surprisingly, Gamer's Body didn't prevent pain... or blood. He knew because as the claws raked across his face his entire head lit up with pain, and a spray of red covered the fake walls of this alternate dimension. A moment later it stopped, but the realization was there - something had struck John, and he was ready to strike back, if more by instinct than skill.

John lashed out with the bat just in time to catch the beast that had struck him. Despite their small size and feline nature, they didn't appear overly nimble, because he was able to blast the werecat with his aluminum bat, knocking it straight into the wall.

18 DMG!

The werecat looked hurt, but it didn't stop. It limped away from the spot on the carpet where it landed, back toward the door. Meanwhile, another one was starting to cram itself in through the hole. John was on top of this one, jumping forward and slamming his bat into the gap, knocking the werecat back to where it came from. Another set of white text popped up from the spot where his bat had connected.

19 DMG!

John turned at the sound of mewling and swung his bat just in time to connect with the first creature, which was mere inches away from him when he hit it with the handle of the bat.

Glancing Blow! 9 DMG!
+30 EXP!

"Well, that wasn't so-"

-7 HP!

John was caught off-guard as the werecat from earlier leaped through the hole in his door in a swift and smooth motion, latching onto his leg with a solid bite that pained him and made him raise up his leg. Not wanting to actually smash a bat into his own leg, John simply set his leg back down and smashed his foot into the werecat over and over again. By the time he finished off the bleeding cat, he'd lost another four points of health.

+30 XP!

Unsurprisingly, like the skeletons these werecats were vanishing but leaving something behind. John saw scraps of fur and some leather-like material on the floor near where both items fell, plus a few lost claws.

Werecat Claws ~ Claws of a werecat, just as sharp as they look too.
Crafting Material.

Werecat Fur ~ The fur of a werecat. Did you **** a half-animal to get this? Sick bastard.
Crafting Material.

Werecat Hide ~ The hide of a werecat. How many ways to skin a cat did you find?
Crafting Material.

"Huh. So those are things… but if Abyss creatures aren't real, is this the first ever… actual sample of werecat?" John asked, but decided it was better not to know. He came here for EXP, not to think too deeply about things. That would come later, when Moira and her father were far enough along in their trust of him that he wouldn't have to worry about being murdered for his unique abilities…

A howl came from further inside the house. John grimaced and checked his stats. His HP was regenerating at a whopping half a point per minute, and was already down below 40. His mana was still full since he had waited for it to regenerate, which seemed like it was going to come in handy, because already he could hear the sound of soft, almost inaudible footsteps creeping up the stairs. John decided to wait for them in his room, confident in his ability to deal with them as they rushed the doorway.

The werecats, however, proved to have at least some level of intelligence - the first one to rush through met with a swift end as John brought his bat down on its head, but the second and third started clawing at the door, opening a wider and wider hole as the wood gave in and was shredded slowly to splinters. John waited until one of them created a new opening big enough to fit his arm through, and punched his fist out through the jagged hole.

A breath of fire emanated from his outstretched fist, and despite how piss poor he thought his aim would be, sailed directly through the opening. It actually curved through as he pictured where he wanted it to go, much to his satisfaction, and seared the entire other side of the doorway. He heard yowls of pain, and numerous text bubbles popped up - thankfully they were all on this side of the wall, giving him a chance to read them.

10 DMG! Burn inflicted!
12 DMG! Burn inflicted!
3 DMG from Burn!
4 DMG from Burn!

The notifications continued to pop up over several seconds, until culminating with another 60 XP. John had willed himself to stop mentally commanding the fire as soon as the first batch popped up, leaving him with 85 mana, but the fire did not dissipate. It seemed elements he summoned didn't disappear afterwards. Experimenting, John waved his hand and watched the fire (and another 10 mana for the gesture) disappear ahead of him. The now scorched and torn door was barely standing, so rather than opening it (and risking burning himself on the metal handle) John dislodged it from the lower hinge with one solid kick; the damaged door gave way immediately, collapsing to the floor. Hearing distant sounds, John lifted his bat and proceeded further into the hall.

The werecats outside hadn't dropped much loot - all he found were a few pieces of claws, and a Burned Werecat Hide, which apparently was only good to sell, judging by the Junk tag on it. Unlike the bits of human he found from the skeletons he didn't feel so bad about taking these, so John stowed them in his inventory before beginning to proceed through the rest of the upper floor.

John used his best Call of Duty skills to perform room checks, but there were no other werecats lurking. It wasn't until he reached the stairs that he realized he was now alone inside the house, unless the werecats on the first floor had learned to hide. He doubted it, somehow.

"Am I alone?"

John figured that if he was alone - now that he had collected all the loot - there was no point in sticking around, so he tried to activate his new "Dismiss Barrier" skill.

Error - Insufficient Mana

"Well, guess I'm not alone… what the hell is keeping me here then?"

John ventured down the stairs, keeping an eye out for any hiding werecats. He found none, but as he reached the bottom of the stairs he finally noticed a crunching sound coming from up ahead. John readied his bat as he headed toward the kitchen, where the sounds seemed to be emanating from. He only made it halfway through the living room when he spotted them.

Dungeon Mini-Boss Located! Werecat Twins!

John saw two werecats on the floor, munching on what looked like leftover chicken wings. The refrigerator had been clawed open - probably while he was busy dealing with the incursion upstairs. These two had torn through the metallic door, which meant they were definitely stronger than the werecats upstairs, and were munching on everything they could get their hands on - the pantry was almost entirely empty as well - which meant that they were probably smarter, too, since they had actually opened a few of the containers without destroying them. The werecats didn't look significantly different than the others, one a raggedy brown and the other a dirty calico, but they were slightly larger and therefore (by video game logic) probably more powerful.

They hadn't noticed John yet, which gave him the opening he needed. If these were mini-bosses, he wasn't going to take any chances, considering he was already almost down to half health. John threw out both of his hands and summoned as much flame as he could using his skill.

Unfortunately, using two hands seemed to cut the amount of fire he spewed forth in half between the two, rather than doubling the total. Two small sprays of fire coated the werecats, igniting their fur and making him smile almost insidiously as notifications began to pop up about the damage they were taking. John used Observe on both of the werecats as they scrambled to their feet and almost immediately noticed the threat. Thankfully they spent a few seconds rolling around on the ground to put out the fire, giving him time to take in the barrage of windows that were popping up.

6 DMG! Burn inflicted!
8 DMG! Burn inflicted!
3 DMG from Burn!
5 DMG from Burn!

Mithra
Level 3 Werecat Twin
<Creature of the Abyss>
41 / 50 HP
Relationship: N/A

A Skill has leveled up!

Observe - Level 3: Now displays alignment scores! Mana Cost now 3 per use.

Maera
Level 2 Werecat Twin
<Creature of the Abyss>
32 / 45 HP
Relationship: N/A
Alignment: -31

John didn't have time to appreciate the upgrade to his skill because the two werecats were now charging toward him, and their speed was impressive even considering what he had already been dealing with. By the time John was ready to swing the bat both of them were almost on him, and it was all that he could do to dive to the side. Claws caught his midsection as he rolled, barely keeping hold of the bat.

-6 HP!

"Shit, gotta slow 'em down somehow!" John said, throwing his free hand out. Water sprayed from his fingertips and engulfed the more injured cat, which hissed with a feral scream. John prayed that his plan would work as he willed the water to solidify. To his glee, the water that now soaked most of the werecat's fur did solidify into ice, which not only changed the tone of the yowl coming from the cat but also noticeably slowed its movements. Combined with the fact that it actually gave the werecat's twin pause, and John had the perfect opportunity for a counter strike. He brought himself back to his feet and brought the bat down hard on the werecat, trying to ignore the squelching sound that it made.

21 DMG!

Use the skill, you idiot. Before you die.

"Wait, what?"

John glanced down and saw the werecat he had hit limping away, one of its legs at an awkward angle from the hit. The second werecat hissed furiously, and its fur began to shift, going from that rough brown to a slightly reddish brown, and continuing to get redder.

Enraged!

That popped up under the werecat's HP bar, and it lunged at him, even faster than before. Its claws caught him in the arm, but he was able to punch with his free hand twice before it detached itself from him.

-9 HP!
7 DMG!
9 DMG!

The werecat circled back around. Its health was barely below half and it looked pissed - which it proved when it lunged forward and bit hard into John's calf, running away before he could respond. John fell to a knee from the pain, although Gamer's Body seemed to have already stitched the holes back together.

-12 HP!

"Shit, I'm… I'm really hurt here," John said, panicking as his life total dipped to about a quarter, and trying to stop the bleeding out of habit even though he now knew his Gamer's Body wouldn't let him bleed for long, or enough to matter. Was this how it ended? An easy dungeon, falling to a Mini-Boss, of all things?! He was still in the fight, but the sudden realization of how much damage he had taken-

USE THE SKILL.

"Fine, it was… fuck, it was… Purify!"

John held out his hand at the enraged cat that was leaping toward him. He covered his eyes at what he assumed would be a powerful, maybe even finishing blow. Although something did hit him in the chest and knock him to the ground, it did not hurt him - aside from the weight of it, which was far more than before, when the werecat latched onto his arm. It felt oddly large too - despite their increased size those werecats had been more like large dogs on all fours, or like young teens on two legs. John waited for a moment, sure that the werecat was about to start attacking him, slowly deplete his life bar, and he would've reacted far too slowly to prevent it…

But the blow never came. John slowly opened his eyes, not sure what to expect. A dead werecat? Maybe. A "purified" werecat? Sure, whatever the hell that actually was - his skill couldn't have possibly been more vague. What he didn't expect was what he ended up getting.

A naked catgirl laying across his body, legs tucked under her as she propped herself up, looking around quite confused. Her black hair swished lightly back and forth, and her golden irises - despite looking confused - pulled off an air of boredom and disinterest mixed with just the slightest bit of contempt. That expression was almost as catlike as the ears twitching on her head.

"I- what the- what the fuck?" John shouted, causing the catgirl to leap soundlessly off of him, plodding calmly over to the living room where she promptly climbed onto the couch, her fluffy black tail swooshing back and forth lightly as she circled around on one of the cushions before finally settling, glaring at him with an ear twitching. John finally took notice of the window in front of him and glanced at its contents.

Purification (Twin-Soul) Successful!

Mithra
Level 3 Werecat Twin Neko Warrior
<John's Creation>
50 / 50 HP
Relationship: 4
Alignment: 0

Maera
Level 2 Werecat Twin Neko Warrior
<John's Creation>
45 / 45 HP
Relationship: 18
Alignment: 0

John noticed the second werecat had been purified into a beautiful Neko as well. Her calico fur had turned into pure white, and her eyes were blue with streaks of white that made them look as if they were glowing. She was naked too, but unlike her twin sister (Were they still sisters? That question was far down the list of questions John now had) she was brushing up against John. That was how he noticed her - with her newly human size and weight she nearly knocked him over as she rubbed her sides and face into his calves.

The skill description popped up in front of John.

Purify
Purifies an Abyssal creature. This purification causes them to become a permanent, living creature of a new (similar) species, sets their alignment to zero, and sets their relationship to a value equal to "50 - (True Value of previous alignment)". To purify a creature its missing health % must be equal to or greater than the true value of its alignment. Magically bonded creatures must be purified together, adding their levels, current / maximum HPs, and the true value of their alignment scores for the purposes of this ability. The creatures created are non-hostile but not necessarily loyal to the user, and may attack again if provoked. Mana Cost: 10 x Level of creature being Purified.

"The… the fuck? What am I?" John asked. He didn't get an answer. All he got were more windows, a veritable flood flying in to greet him.

(Character sheet will be back next chapter)