Everyone just stared at Karl as he stood next to a growing puddle of blood as the cleric worked to heal the cadet in preparation for resurrection.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were serious?” One of the others demanded.
“Did everyone think that I was joking about you dying if the cat disagreed? I wasn’t lying. I am also not joking about you only getting one chance. The token won’t work for you again if you fail and live. But there are other beast species options here, if you want to try one of them.” Karl reminded them.
One young woman stepped forward as she wrapped her hands in some sort of cloth.
“I would also like to try for a Moor Cat kitten. The young lady with the white stripe on her neck.” She insisted.
The kitten turned to stare at the audacious upstart of a human kitten.
It didn’t particularly dislike this human, but to think that a human thought they could be partners in any meaningful way? Ridiculous.
The cleric pulled the body out of the cage and began the hard part of his work while calling for reinforcements. Resurrection took a huge amount of energy, and for some reason, healing this victim was harder than usual.
If he couldn’t do the resurrection alone, he might need to cast the Reincarnation Ritual and have the cadet reborn in a new body.
The tokens that Karl was using appeared to be some sort of divine blessing, and the Gods themselves were interfering in the casting of his spells.
That should have been expected, Karl thought. Both the Nature God and the God of Death approved of permanent death by stupidity as a punishment. They also both rewarded those who were brave enough to try anyhow.
Assuming that they survived.
The mottled black and grey kitten with the white stripe on its neck marched over to Karl, demanding he use his spell so she could find out if this fake monk was worthy.
[Do you think she’s getting eaten?] Cara asked.
[I think that she knows something about that cat in particular. If it was a lingering injury or deformity, she wouldn’t have chosen that one as a life partner, so it’s likely about personality.] Karl suggested. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
When both appeared ready, Karl used a token on them, and the cat pounced, only to have the cadet punch her paw.
In the next few seconds, dozens of strikes were parried, and the girl nimbly dodged strikes with the jaws, as well as a four footed pounce, intended to pin her to the ground.
Interestingly, while the barrier was up around the cage, Karl was not blocked this time. He could move freely around the cage, but chose to sit along the wall between the mother cat and the action.
The cadet was beginning to sweat heavily with exertion by the end of the second minute, but the kitten was losing focus. It had forgotten that it was supposed to be making the monk prove that she was a worthy partner, and had reverted to simply playing with the human like she did with her other siblings.
Two minutes after that, the cat vanished and the girl smiled. [Name] Nikki
[Class] Tiger Monk
“Congratulations, you have succeeded, with only minimal injuries.” Karl informed her.
The girl was actually bleeding very heavily, and was likely to pass out from blood loss soon. It was only adrenaline and joy keeping her conscious right now.
A newly arrived cleric cast a healing spell on the exhausted monk, while Karl warned away a few of the other cubs that thought it might be a good opportunity to eat a human while they were exhausted.
After all, defenceless humans were basically just giant steaks, and they loved it when the white coats fed them steaks.
Karl saw the longing looks as the kittens backed away, unwilling to start a fight with the powerful male. So he took a small sample of Commander Rank meat, the lowest grade that Hawk had in his repository, to cut and toss to the others.
“There, a little treat for everyone. Thank you for helping us so far.” Karl whispered, like it was some secret he was feeding them.
Then he tossed a larger steak through the bars to the mother cat, who rumbled in joy that Karl was kind enough to give her a decent portion for her body size.
Too many of the workers tried to give her little bites that wouldn’t even cover half her tongue.
After a few seconds, the monk gave Karl a weak thumbs up, and the kitten appeared in front of her with a flash of green light, a phenomenon that didn’t happen when Karl’s beasts left their space.
It marched over with all the imperious pride that a kitten could muster, then gave him a pleading look and whined for food.
Everyone else had gotten a snack, but she was stuck in a separate space.
Karl patted the Moor Cat’s head, and then fed it chunks of meat as it hung from his arm, attached with long black claws that were unwilling to let him escape.
“Fascinating, it has become so gentle after being bonded.” One of the University staffers noted.
Karl laughed. “Don’t be mistaken, its claws are pierced deep into my arm. But I have Trollish regeneration, so it’s doing less damage than I regenerate.”
He was also immune to this level of damage, but that wasn’t a fact that they all needed to know.
“Who would like to go next? Any volunteers?” Karl asked.
Silence.
Then one of the boys spoke up. “I got to meet your Thor once before, could you do the same for the Lightning Cerro hatchlings?”
[Haha, I knew they were all herbivores. But it’s a shame we don’t get to watch more of them commit suicide.] Cara joked.
[You can’t expect everyone to be able to handle a strong personality right off the start. But I’m sure that they will make for an excellent herd of Elites with their Lightning Cerro partners.]
“Yes, if that’s everyone who would like to try for a Moor Cat as their partner, we can move on. I am certain that the army will be overjoyed, no matter what you pick.” Karl agreed.
The mother Moor Cat gave a derisive snort, and Karl winked at her, letting the beast know that they were on the same page about the competence of this group. Karl just understood the limitations of humans better than the Moor Cat did.
The Moor Cat kitten climbed up Karl’s arm to sit on his shoulder, much to its new partner’s dismay.
“Will you come down here? Monarch Karl isn’t going to give you more food just because you’re close.” The newly minted Tiger Monk demanded.
The cat gave her a skeptical look, then rubbed up against the side of Karl’s face while the mother cat looked away, unwilling to be associated with such shamelessness, even if this strange man did have the best snacks.
Cara dropped a small bit of meat in front of the kitten as Karl stood up to walk out of the cage, and the beast gave its partner a smug look.
“You are stronger than you look.” The Monk noted, confused at the ease with which Karl could stand while carrying a twenty – kilo cat draped over his back and shoulder.
“Soon you will be as well. If you advance along with your partner, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to become a proper Royal Rank Elite.”
Her eyes lit up with excitement as she followed him back to the group, envisioning the day when she was one of the powerful ones.