1 Chapter 1: A furry friend

The noise of quick footsteps on concrete reverberated through a grey desolate residential area. Remi learned to be used to the emptiness that surrounded the air even in a place that hundreds of families had lived in only a few months ago. Of course, it was easier to keep such things off his mind while he was being chased by a squad of blood-thirsty goblins. He became annoyingly aware of his heavy breathing as he looked back to see 7 green-skinned monstrosities, speeding at him with enough fierceness to make even their 4 foot nothing stature look threatening.

Thinking back to when this race across the town started it seemed plainly obvious that a small part of the squad had detached from the main group. The threatening shrieks and uncontrolled slabbering happening behind him didn't give the impression of high intellect but that didn't necessarily mean that they were incapable of cunning.

This thought brought Remi an increasing awareness of how simple the path he was taking while fleeing for his life. He certainly didn't want to be flanked. He thought himself perfectly capable of taking on one or two goblins, but all they would need to do is slow him down until the persuing group caught up to mess him up real bad.

Unwilling to fall prey to such a trap, he made a sharp turn and run directly at one of the desolate houses beside the road. He had no intention of driving himself into a corner by entering the house, he had decided now was a good time as any for innovation. As any other certified hunter, Remi had access to a mystical source of energy called mana. Few experts had emerged after the conduct who had learned to manipulate mana to perform all kinds of marvelous feats. Remi was not one of those experts. He had been keeping ahead of the inhumanly quick goblins though the only use of mana he had learned. The continuous circulation of mana through his body granted him a spike in his physical ability that had kept him from being skewered by a number of crudely made bone daggers. While sprinting towards the abandoned building, the man in Remi's body had deen mostly redirected to a much smaller and compressed mana circuit that was limited only to his lower limbs. The feeling he felt from this man application was vastly different from the intense exuberance he had always felt when circulating mana, he could imagine that this is what it was like to have your legs spontaneously explode under you. With his lower muscles being painfully stretched out, jumping wasn't as much of a strenuous action as it was a release. His plan had worked. He was now more than 20 feet in the air and still leaping through the air after passing the house that had put a momentary stop in the chase of the ugly green bastards.

Remi thought himself pretty good at avoiding injury on landing from all his experience jumping fences, getting chased down the streets was a kind of trouble he had found himself in way before the world started collapsing in on itself. The learned skill of not having a bone pop out of his legs did not make his landing any prettier. He had rolled harshly on dusty concrete at least 8 times before feeling his back crash against a bricked fence perfectly placed to give him a couple of extra bruises. Through the entirety of the rough fall, he had kept his arms wrapped against his chest in a way you would if had to protect something valuable.

Clutched under his arm was a kitten with matted black fur that could not have been more than 6 months old. At a first glance, it was obvious that this wasn't an ordinary domestic animal. The deep lilac eyes which had a glowing effect in broad daylight were common tells for a mutated beast. Pure curiosity about a mutated beast and its abilities had driven him to recklessly grab the kitten from an encirclement of goblins, having to clock one in the back of the head before making a run for it. Another reason that compelled him into getting into such trouble was that no matter how much of a tough guy Remi liked to pretend he was, there was no way he could let a cute little thing like that be eaten in front of him.

Now that he had lost the pack of monsters on his tail he started to navigate through a number of tight alleyways until he reached a shabby garage shed at the back of a partially demolished grocery store. This was the base that he had put together for the operation that had suddenly become much harder after being made by some goblins. The bestiary said that goblins had the ability to retain the smell of an individual for months. This meant it would be challenging to scout the situation without getting into a few scuffles.

After scuttling into the garage through the rusty gate which refused to budge over halfway open, he moved towards a desk with a few scattered maps and reports and placed the kitten on its surface. The cat didn't seem too bothered with its new surroundings, now looking up unblinkingly at Remi.

" Now you, are gonna be the most adorable sidekick in the world," said Remi as he started to pet the little beast.

The kitten only tilted its head at Remi, clearly not understanding a word coming out of his mouth. Seemingly in tune with the cat's thinking, Remi move the hand that he was petting the cat with to place his thumb over its head.

"The key to a good partnership is communication," mused Remi, as started calling onto his mana again. This time, however, it was a much more natural process, one that he seemed highly familiar with, even though that couldn't be true since Remi had only awakened six months ago." I read that is a magazine before so it must be true".

He used his 'calling', this is what people decided to name the unlearned abilities that people manifested after the conduct.

Initially, nothing happened. Silence filled the room as the cat stared at the man now looking even more confused. Suddenly, however, there was a change in the kitten's expression. It could feel a stream of thoughts, one that it was clearly aware was not his own. The purple-eyed cat instinctively knew that these thoughts had to belong to the long-limbed acquaintance he had just met. It being no more than a few months old, it had not had the time to master many skills, especially not something as obscure as telepathic communication. Despite this, it found it instinctual almost instinctual to reply to what he had perceived as a greeting with a vague inquisitive thought.

Another stream of thoughts emerged in the kitten's head, the thought was formless, somewhat vague, but understandable. The last thought could it received communicated an offering of friendship along with a reply to its question that could be translated as "it complicated".

On the other side of this silent conversation, the young telepath was ecstatic at this new step he had taken in the mastering of his calling. His ability was very malleable, compared to his peers at the brigade he seemed to be much better at manipulating it to fit different uses. He had had some experience in creating a two-way telepathic channel, this, however, was something different. What he had done just now was create a more permanent link between him and the cat, he could still remove it if he wished, but until then he and his "familiar" could share thoughts and feelings any time. This was a connection that he had not explored yet and didn't understand the limits of.

Remi spent the next half hour sharing a few barely coherent conversations with the kitten, which, although being surprisingly keen and aware for its age, was still basically a baby. After a while though, the now bored young cat decided that it was time to walk on every flat surface present in the garage and went about its business without a peep.

Left on his own, Remi decided that he should collect the details of what he came across while it was still fresh in his mind. He found himself a spot on the concrete floor that was not covered in dust and residue of what Remi hoped was petrol like the rest of the garage and sat down into the lotus position.