I panic jumped. The sudden rush of the hidden predator just as I was starting to relax caused me to jump straight up like a frightened kitten. I’m ashamed to admit it, but for all my newfound intelligence, I was simply not above reacting in the same way any other startled cat might.

That isn’t to say I wasn’t above a lot of things though. For example, I was far above my attacker. Far above the forest. Far too far above the ground. In my panic, I’d accidentally activated my grandmaster jump skill, dumped 30 mana into it, which sextupled the normal limit for my already double strength jump. Then take a moment to consider that I was already 3x stronger than an average cat. The result? I jumped approximately 36x higher than I should normally have been able to. This was a full strength jump too, not like I gave a minor hop because my legs spasmed. No, activating the skill automatically forced my body to give it my best effort jump. I skyrocketed into the air.

That’s not just an idle boost, the system agreed with me because as I was sailing into the air, I received a system notification.

You have performed a vertical jump of greater than 100x your body height! Even the gods are impressed. Title “Rocket man!” has been earned. +2 Strength and +1 rank to your jumping skill. Your jump skill has evolved to (Epic)

I had a lot of time to think about things as I flew through the air, several seconds in fact. As best I can remember it, my chain of thought was; I’m flying! Wow this is a really big cavern. Is that an underground lake in the distance? This cavern is the size of a city, maybe bigger. What the hell is that thing below me? Is that a dog standing on two legs holding a knife? Did a dog just force me to jump sky high in a skyless world? I hate that thing. I’m going to die because a bipedal dog startled me. Oh great, now I’m going down. If I survive this, I swear by all the deepest darkest doggos, I will kill that smug obnoxious canine that spooked me! Can I at least land on that stupid dog staring up at me? Yes, I think I can, that dumb doggo is still directly underneath. Can I activate pounce while falling? I can!

*BOOM*

The ground actually shook with the force of my impact. Well, maybe it vibrated a bit. At the last moment, the bipedal dog realized I was about to destroy it, and dodged back. I missed hitting the vile canine, but the force of my impact actually created a crater large enough that the loose rocks and dirt blasted in all directions by my attack smacked the kobold.

Whimpering, it grabbed it’s snout where a rock had hit hard enough to make it bleed, dropping its crude stone knife. It was also knocked on its ass. The combined effect of the impact nullification and the fall damage negation from my two skills meant I’d somehow survived without a scratch despite the incredible kinetic impact I’d just caused. I won’t bore you with the math, but I was moving at over fifty miles an hour when I hit the ground, then my pounce skill multiplied that energy by nearly 4x. The resulting blow rivaled that of a slow car crash, and I walked away unscathed.

Furious, I stalked toward the canine, who was staring at me in abject terror. I hissed loudly, with my hair fully puffed. As it shook in fear, a pool of arid smelling urine formed below the terrified canine humanoid.

You have terrified a sapient creature. It has lost control of it’s bladder. Intimation skill (master) has been awarded.

The dog thing scrambled to its feet and yelping loudly, ran away. That felt good. I was still a little shook up from having been skyrocketed into the air, and my new title caused my muscles to clench painfully as my strength surged from 6 to 8. That felt less good. But the pain was quickly over, though my resentment remained. I watched it flee and felt the urge to run after it, despite the fact that it was larger, I wanted to give chase.

I’d gotten a good look at the little monster, and it resembled a human toddler with the head replaced by a pointy eared dog head. It was covered in short brown fur and had short stubby hands and feet. It was dressed in a dirty fur loincloth, now dripping as it ran, and it had a tail that was tightly curled between its legs.

You have closely examined a creature. Identify skill (novice) has been awarded. Kobold lvl ??? has been identified.

My muscles relaxed. With my heightened perception skill, my tracking skill, my acute nose, and the trail of urine it was leaving behind, I knew I could follow it. I suppose some part of me, a tiny rational part that was quite new, argued that it might not be worth it to follow the kobold, but a deeper part reminded me that it had been a dog that had chased me away from my first real home. Dogs that had barked at me and terrified me when I roamed the streets. Dogs had been the bane of my existence, my greatest fear, and my nemesis. I would not forgive this kobold, for it too was a dog, it had humiliated me, it had wanted to eat me, and I loathed it with a passion.

Your hatred of canines has met the threshold of vendetta. Would you like to take the optional Enemy of Canines title? Title confers 1.25x damage multiplier against any canine type creature and you gain 1.25x more exp from killing any canine. Title automatically generates a hostile reaction (passive taunt) from any canine type creature that sees you. Warning, this title will cause loss of karma points. Yes/No

Yes. I would find the dog and eat him. For I was hungry, and I have long feared being eaten by dogs. It was justice.

Title Enemy of Canines awarded. 10 Karma points deducted. Your alignment rank is now; mildly cruel.

But first, I would groom myself for a while, for I was quite dusty, and grooming would settle my nerves. I knew that the kobold would not escape, I could wait a little longer so that it could marinate in it’s fear.

A while later, I was stealthily following the scent trail.

You move with total silence. Stealth skill (master) has been awarded.

The system acknowledged my excellence, but I paid it no mind. My target had been given enough time to feel safe, but it was not safe. For the first time in my life, I was hunting a dog as prey, and it felt amazing. Truthfully, I was not certain that I was powerful enough to kill the dog, but I had waited until my mana refilled, so I had four chances to pounce on it.

Additionally, as I paused to examine my new skill, it told me that if I launched an attack while using stealth, on a target that was not aware of my presence, I would deal triple damage. Active pounce skill gave me 280% bonus damage, or a 3.8x damage multiplier, which in turn would be multiplied by 1.25 for my new title, then 3x more if I succeeded in my sneak attack. I paused to activate my math skill and the system told me;

The total damage multiplier from all effects is 14.25x normal damage.

I may only be a cat, but I was 4x stronger than I had been yesterday. Maybe about as strong as the typical teenager. And all that force would be focused into my tiny paws. I expected that the Kobold would die, for I could leapt with the force of a rocket, and land with the force of a meteor. Albeit a small, furry, meteor… of doom! Should I use active jump skill again to add to my damage? No, I might be spotted flying through the air, and the experience had been rather traumatizing last time. No high jump would be needed, I would strike from the shadows. I was confident yet cautious; a silent invincible killer. My efforts to bolster my courage were succeeding.

You have been awarded courage skill (novice)

The new skill helped calm my nerves a bit more, and I continued to follow the trail. But when I reached the end of the trail, gaining another notification…

Your tracking skill has evolved to (apprentice)

…I was confronted by a small problem. There were five Kobolds, sitting around a campfire. This was a problem, for there was one more Kobold than the number of times I could pounce. Not to mention that I was unlikely to be able to use sneak attack on all of them. What’s more, they appeared to be eating something. My stomach growled loudly. Ah the smell of cooked meat. That could blow my stealth. I tried to resist, but my stomach continued to growl. Luckily the dumb canines were all talking loudly with their odd yelping language. I found I could somehow understand what they were saying.

“Krok tell Nuuk, it was a tiny god! It flew up high and broke ground when fall! It made noise that made Krok’s water leak. Krok ran here as fast as Krok could! Krok and pack should run!”

“Krok eat mushrooms that make Krok see strange things, or Krok lick toads. Next time, Krok give Nuuk some.” The other Kobold said dismissively, to the yelping laughter of the other three Kobolds.

“Krok need new knife! Krok still shaking. What if tiny god follow?”

“Krok make own knife and shut up. All Krok make now is bad smell. Krok yap like puppy scared by rockfall far away.” Another Kobold quipped, adding to the general laughter.

My target Kobold gave a weezing sigh, then said dejectedly, “Krok go find a grey shaping rock for new knife. Krok return quick.”

I edged around the camp to try to get in position to ambush Krok as he left the group, when I noticed something. The smell of cooked meat? It was from some creature shaped like a human, except it had triangular ears on top like a cat. A cat eared human? Too burnt to really be sure, except, nearby, there was another cat-eared human.

The uncooked one was a young woman in appearance, except for her cat ears, and she was tied and gagged, as well as crying. I was no judge of human age, but her mammaries looked full and plentiful so she was of age to bear young, and her skin was not wrinkly or loose. She was probably in her prime and would grow no bigger.

I didn’t really care that a human was about to get eaten by doggos. I had been planning to simply ambush Krok as he went looking for flint, but the desperate way her cat slitted eyes were staring into the dim forest, right at me, proved she knew I was there. Had the light of the fire made my own eyes glow? Did she think I was another one of her kind come to rescue her? It was possible, for I was perched on a three foot tall mushroom in the shadow of a larger mushroom, and my eyes were about the level of a crouching human.

I turned away to hide my eyes. I wasn’t going to do anything dumb. For now, I would kill Krok, then maybe, I would sneak back and see if the strange cat eyed human was still alive after the other Kobolds went to sleep. They would surely nap after eating, as was normal for all creatures except humans. I felt nothing for the woman, but maybe she reminded me somehow of my human, who had owned me in the long ago days before the dreaded doggo had chased me away from my home. Could she give good chin scratches? I wondered. I was feeling a little itchy. It had been a while since I’d last convinced a human to groom me.

Stealthly, I followed Krok.

I did not have to wait long, for soon we were out of earshot from the fire, as Krok was in a hurry to reach a nearby cluster of rocks. I could see now that these grey rocks were special in some way, for they bore the evidence of repeated blows that had broken the larger ones in many smaller chunks. Krok searched around for a lump of about the right size.

Seizing the opportunity, I leapt while stealthed, activating my pounce skill. I was right, the force of my blow was mighty enough to kill Krok. Although, to be fair, it might also have been the fact that the impact pushed him back with some force, causing his head to bash against a large rock with a wet thud.

Either way, either from the force of my mighty pounce that definitely cracked a few ribs in the scrawny Kobold, or the impact of his ugly dog head on the rock, Krok was dead, and I felt avenged for my humiliation.

You have slain a higher level enemy. Bonus XP. You have committed your first murder. Bonus XP. You have slain a canine. Bonus XP. You have gained 2 levels! Titles, Jobs, and Blessings Insect Necromancer Provides skills related to the reanimation of dead insects. Dimensional Traveler +2 to all stats, also provides understanding of all languages. Unlocks dimensional storage inventory system. First of Your Kind +2 to all stats Rocket Man! +2 to stregnth, +1 rank to jump skill Enemy of Canines 1.25x damage towards canines, and 1.25x more exp from killing canines. Hostile reaction and passive taunt effect on all canines that see titleholder.