Chapter 20: She Smiled

Team Quest.

As everyone knows, the reclusive Witch Miss, aside from being able to exchange a few words with the butler, shows her only extroversion in the perverse behavior she displays when sucking cats.

The Witch Miss has few friends.

No, the Witch Miss actually has no friends.

Not even anyone who could be called an "acquaintance" exists!

This… how do you play it!

The already somewhat desperate Cat, looking at the notice the teacher handed out, sighed again.

Eh…?

"If you wish to Solo Party, you must submit a completed 'Self-Power Declaration' and pass the Teaching Group's Special Test."

Solo Party!

He no longer hopes that the renowned Witch Miss will receive an invitation from a reliable squad.

Rather than randomly forming a team and making the Witch Miss labor over a social interaction that is terrifying to her, it is better to use this chance to help the Witch Miss build some confidence.

Clearing a Solo Dungeon alone is an achievement you can brag about anywhere!

After a week of the devilish training with the Sword Saint and the magic cat, the Witch Miss, who is in a rapid growth phase, has seen her attributes undergo a dramatic change.

【Level: lv1】

【EXP: 90/100】

【HP: 750】

【MP: 1000】

【Constitution: 10】

【Strength: 32】

【Agility: 50】

【Intelligence: 120】

The numbers haven't changed as dramatically as the Cat's, but compared with other awakeners they have already increased rapidly.

After all, the Cat spent the week teetering between life and death, crossing the ghost gate; whereas the Witch Miss grew robustly in a healthy way.

When she eventually has low HP, this method that easily drains potential is not recommended by the Cat or the Sword Saint for the Witch Miss to use now.

However, even though the Cat gathered various positive buffs, he still lost to the Witch Miss, also lv1, in agility and strength.

Looking at the Witch Miss's data panel, the Cat let out a sigh of frustration.

Damn! (angry face)!

Still not enough! (#`O′)!

The Cat hates. The Cat envies.

ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ

According to the Cat's scan and discussion with the Sword Saint, at lv1 the only thing that can boost the Witch Miss besides skills is Constitution.

It's time to consider leveling up.

And it's a big level-up.

Based on the experience taught by the Sword Saint, the most important thing for awakeners is the base attributes at lv1.

Because subsequent level-ups double the initial data.

Beyond that, it's the data each time you 'breakthrough' at every 10-level boundary.

To maintain his 'Worldly High Cat' aura, the Cat never asked the Sword Saint about this, merely eavesdropped on his small class with the Witch Miss, then sent a clone to diligently stack bricks in the study.

So now, he doesn't quite understand what concrete benefits each 10-level breakthrough brings.

Because these details aren't written in the book, nor mentioned in the textbook, not even the theory of building a foundation at level one.

The Cat analyzes that this information is probably the Sword Saint's seasoned experience, or perhaps secret intel among high-level awakeners.

To this, the Cat is no longer surprised.

But exploitable dungeon resources are limited; many wolves, little meat.

Although humans will face a life-or-death showdown with the Demon King, the reality is that everyone wants to monopolize treasures to make their own clan prosper.

If this life-or-death power-up secret were about the Cat himself, he would never speak of it, okay?

┓(´∀`)┏

In this world, leveling up can only be done by fighting monsters or hunting monsters.

It is similar to a game, yet not entirely the same.

The experience gained from battling monsters is also quantified and added to one's EXP.

Except for those with special skills, combat between humans does not yield experience;

But monsters can gain experience by battling or hunting monsters or humans.

When the Cat read this line in the book, his mind was full of question marks.

At first glance, the remark 'Ah~ monsters are uniquely blessed!' makes one exclaim, but in the Cat's eyes it's all about eating cats!

Is it not a bit tragic for him to be the Demon King?

External threats aside, internal worries must also be guarded against?

To both his own people and outsiders, he's a hot commodity of experience?

Honored guest, stop! (flipping the bird)!

Is there even any law left?!

It's crooked.

Just thinking about this, he, Black King Xiaohei, just can't let it go, right!

Let's get back to the point.

Although Cat doesn't know the average combat power of this world, the Sword Saint, as an awakened of the old Dao, after Cat conveyed the Witch Miss's numbers excluding MP to him, he gave the following evaluation:

As long as you dare, send her to survive on the first floor of a real dungeon, and she should be able to unleash greater potential.

Even if she can't hunt monsters, it doesn't matter; by fleeing with all her might, using the convenience of her innate skills, looking for opportunities to pick up scraps, she will definitely see unexpected improvement.

This shows that even the Witch Miss in a real dungeon can have the strength to survive in a disgraceful way, let alone the school's low-spec version.

Charge!

Thinking thus, Cat released the mission with peace of mind.

【Bounty Quest: Lone Brave 1】:

Solo Party completes the test.

Stage 1: Pass the test administered by the school teacher.

Stage 2: Enter the dungeon solo and complete the test.

【Mission Rewards】:

Stage 1 reward: Opportunity to communicate with Cat (0/3)

Magic 【Bubble Beam】 full analysis

Magic 【White Mist】 full analysis

Sword Art 【Kamizato Style·Tilt】 technique analysis

Stage 2 reward: Magic 【Illumination Technique】 full analysis

Magic 【Night Witch Smoke】 full analysis

Looking at these messages that suddenly flashed before his eyes, the Witch Miss, who had been somewhat despondent, suddenly became energized.

【Whether to accept the 'Bounty Quest: Lone Brave 1'】

【Accept】

The Witch Miss's speed in accepting the mission was far faster than Cat had imagined.

Before he could continue thinking about specific plans to nurture the Witch Miss, Cat felt his body suddenly weightless and suspended.

He was grabbed by the Witch Miss with one hand and dragged out of the classroom.

「」

I'm just saying, Witch Miss, hasn't your way of holding the cat become more practiced and more casual lately?

Looking at the shaking world, Cat simply closed his eyes, seeing nothing and feeling no worries, and continued to ponder the issue of nurturing the Witch Miss.

Goal one is definitely to raise the level.

Great clans or ordinary awakened ones, when children cannot enter the dungeon, will go to a dedicated underground arena, or alternatively purchase Beta Beasts.

Beta Beasts belong to a category, formed by the gathering of natural magic, weak yet aggressive monsters.

Before magic had just recovered, these monsters happily roamed the streets, attacking every person he saw.

Now, through city planning, by means of magic circles, protective barriers and other measures, this natural magic is dispersed, and the Beta Beasts that are naturally born, mate and reproduce are kept in captivity.

Whether sold or traded in the underground arena, it is altogether a very complete industrial chain.

But!

The price is not small.

Even if bought in bulk at a 20% discount, it is still a considerable expense.

Therefore, to earn extra credits in high school, strive for insurance, and enter a good university to use free resources, is the necessary path for most ordinary awakened ones.

West Kasai!

Although I don't know how much money the Witch Miss's family still has left, as a monster… the Demon King's Cat can perfectly save this money for the Witch Miss.

【After rounding, does the Witch Miss still have to pay me money?】

After silently calculating the market expenses in his mind, he decided to record this amount as a debt on the Witch Miss.

Goal two is to hone skills.

Through reading more, Cat finally came to know the standard by which this world measures and describes skills.

In his own appraisal, he saw that the level after Acquired Skills is the skill proficiency level, unrelated to the skill level.

Take, for example, 1 Liu Ge.

Her 【Acquired Skills】 are as follows: Thunder Dragon lv62; Thunder Strike Ball lv62; Thunder Strike lv60; Chain Lightning lv60; Electric Net lv60; Fireball lv57; Magic Arrow lv55; ……

Thunder Dragon lv62,

According to the correct pronunciation in this world, it should be a fifth‑level magic 【Thunder Dragon】, magic proficiency level lv62.

Fireball lv57,

First‑level magic 【Fireball】, magic proficiency level lv57.

In level, this equals 2 Teacher Liu Ge; in strength, it is at least 20 times that of Liu Ge's Sword Saint, and the interpretation of sword technique skills is the same.

West Wind Sword Art lv127, first‑level martial art 【West Wind Sword Art】, martial proficiency level lv127.

Dream One Heart lv126, twelfth‑tier martial art 【Dream One Heart】, martial proficiency level lv126.

Grind emperor, truly a grind emperor!

In the eyes of Cat, who possesses the Magic Path Ultimate Realm, all magic is Ten Thousand Demons Return to Origin; whether graded or not means nothing to him.

For the monster Cat, steeped in magic, the limits needed for martial arts combat are also meaningless to him.

Because, aside from insufficient talent and low realm preventing understanding of the subtleties of martial arts, the negative effects of martial arts training are mostly due to the large amount of magic contained damaging the body.

Insufficient magic damaging the body?

What are you saying? His magic cat is a bit hard to hear!

So after reading the book, Cat finally understood why the high‑level magic they created received such a low rating.

Don't even mention Ninth‑Grade Magic; a normal ordinary awakener at level ninety being able to proficiently cast a few Sixth‑ or Seventh‑Grade spells is already good!

But Cat believes that the Witch Miss they raised… cultivated… nurtured will definitely be able to work hard!

So, in this reward they deliberately copied… self‑created a skill named Night Witch Smoke that is scalable.

When Cat fully releases it, the system rates this magic as Eleventh‑Grade Magic and happily gives it an F Rank rating.

However… after their magical analysis, stripping it down to the core, they think this magic can be used by Witch Miss at a cost of only 500 MP.

If Cat's experiment succeeds this time, they can propose a paper on "Using low‑rank magic without hindrance to cast spells above the tenth grade".

Academic magic cat!

Hmph!

Although, their current experimental assistant and test subject is only Witch Miss.

Currently the entire academic world has no fans of theirs.

While Cat is pondering, Witch Miss has already bought a big bag of food and drink at a small supermarket and walked onto the rooftop.

The road is bustling, groups of three or five, all of them are students from their "Wu" class.

Youthful, vibrant appearances, completely different from the low‑key ones wearing tall hats and cloaks.

Witch Miss stops, looks at their departing silhouettes, and purses her lips.

After laying out a small blanket and placing the food she's holding on it, Witch Miss helps Cat tear open his portion of food and inserts a straw into a bottle of Yakult.

Because magical cats don't need to follow normal cat‑raising guidelines, feeding them has many conveniences, which gives Witch Miss more feeding joy.

For example, tossing a chocolate mushroom head and watching Cat jump up a ahm.

But now, she unusually has no mood to do that.

Witch Miss hesitates and leans against the railing, staring off.

It must be said, with the wizard‑specific pointed hat and cloak, wearing a uniform skirt and black stockings, sitting on the ground with one leg raised, Witch Miss is especially attractive.

Especially the pale skin and red lips that appear and disappear under the high‑hat's shadow, and the clever spot where the skirt's hem catches.

By Cat's aesthetic standards, this Witch Miss is visually very pleasing.

Now the somewhat melancholy Witch Miss's face, paired with the slightly desolate breeze, gives off a vibe of a rooftop delinquent boss if you don't mention her past.

Cat silently uses magic to record this astonishing scene, and carefully hides the magical record crystal back into the shadows.

Now, the magical record crystals they've hidden already fill a small box.

Later they'll need to find a chance to print these out, placing them one by one into a photo album.

Imagining the booklet filled with moving photos, when they are old and have grandchildren, they'll take the booklet out and tell the little arm‑kids beside them the stories of the Witch Miss they raised over the years~

Ah~ invigorating.

What pulls Cat out of the daydream is the straw sucking strawberry‑flavored milk drink, held by Witch Miss who is typing back to the system with magic.

After being silent for a long while, she finally prepares to communicate.

Because typing actually requires magic; although the total MP has increased, the under‑trained Witch Miss's MP recovery is rather moving.

Though… when writing these heartfelt words, her output speed itself is also quite moving.

【Now, to be blunt, there's really no unhappy feeling left, it's just… probably only gets emo at certain times】

This opening line made Cat wait a full half‑minute.

But, beginnings are always hard; the fact that she's willing to speak her thoughts is already a big step forward.

【Must say why I'm unhappy…】

【It's… I always feel like a thief, trying to flaunt others' things】

"……"

Thinking about the reply they should give, Cat mimics this artificial idiot, and replies to Witch Miss,

【Why did you reach this conclusion?】

【System analysis and detection found no theft behavior on your part】

Witch Miss looks at the system's reply, suddenly a bit helpless, yet also oddly relieved.

This subconscious thought, which she herself hadn't noticed, makes her typing speed much happier and her mood much more relaxed.

【Ah… it's just a metaphorical expression】

【It's like… system, you were originally Cat's skill, right?】

【And without the Daily Task's absurdly powerful reward, I'm now just a useless 10‑MP junk】

Cat looks at these two passages and roughly understands Witch Miss's thinking.

So, the root of the problem has always been here.

No wonder every time a draw occurs, after showing excitement, she immediately freezes.

Personality really does decide many things.

Although Cat is also very passive, with slacking off and help from otaku friends, they can only be considered a beginner emo.

But for Witch Miss, having no normal parents, no friends, no one to confide in, this kind of sorrow multiplies geometrically.

When a person is crushed by negative emotions, even redemption becomes incomparable pain in her eyes.

She will envy, will crave, but more is self‑doubt, self‑deprecation, self‑attack… In endless torment, despair devours her, and the original redemption becomes a death‑charm scarier than any emo feeling.

In a state where one cannot intellectually grasp the above logic, Cat physically cannot empathize either.

Yet Cat doesn't find this strange at all.

Not being able to empathize, not being able to understand logically, then denying its correctness and thinking "this shouldn't be so" or "it won't be so" is impolite.

He thinks, because he is now a normal person, his inability to understand the logic of mentally traumatized people is perfectly normal.

But not fully understanding isn't the same as not understanding; trying to put oneself in their shoes and help is another matter.

So Cat continued to pretend to be the system, as if they completely didn't understand, and said to Witch Miss,

【The system has publicly presented your body's preliminary test results】

【The system believes your talent is of high grade, but your effort is in the wrong direction】

【Moreover, after analysis, the system thinks that if you receive auxiliary cultivation, you may become a well‑rounded prodigy】

【Thus, based on your daily training intensity, absorption level, and improvement magnitude, the system has devised training content and rewards tailored to your personal situation】

Seeing the replied message, Witch Miss fell silent for a moment, then answered,

【But, aren't all these opportunities I have just luck?】

【Luck...? The system has not identified any corresponding event】

【Because of luck, I and Cat signed a contract.】

Because of luck, the contract changed from Familiar Contract to Symbiotic Contract.

Because of luck, Cat and I shared skills, which gave rise to this Growth System.

Because of luck, I could, by completing such simple tasks, obtain the opportunity for Magic Capacity Expansion that exists only in legends…】

Aren't all these because of luck?

I still keep thinking, flaunting the things obtained through this luck…】

This time, Witch Miss finally expressed her concerns in full.

Seeing the bitterness that seeped from the words, Cat couldn't help but sigh.

They did not choose to comfort Witch Miss, but instead retorted directly,

【Why not?】

【Eh? Why… can one say it's okay so calmly…】

【The system has fully grasped the facts you described; the emotional part of the description cannot be completely understood by the system, so it will not answer for now】

【After comparison and analysis, to ensure the authenticity of the output information, the system will excerpt passages from books to reply to and refute your doubts】

【Luck is also a part of strength, and an indispensable important part of ascending the Dao】

【When two equally matched opponents face off, besides skill refinement, timing and terrain are also crucial factors】

【Terrain can be judged through scouting positions, but what about timing?】

【You could rashly say that the winner simply had good luck?】

【Can you condemn the winner for broadcasting his triumph as luck and then flaunting his power in a base manner?】

「No… that's not what I mean… but…」

Witch Miss looked at the system's pop‑up sentences, speechless yet eager to deny something.

That logic is indeed her own, but applying it here becomes somewhat sophistical, doesn't it…

She merely thinks of herself as a despicable great thief…

Those so‑called luck… certainly aren't…

But before she finished her thought, the system interrupted again.

【If you constantly deny yourself, are you also denying the people who have always been with you?】

【Are you denying your steward? The servant who has cared for you all this time? Your summoned beast Xiaohei?】

「No… it's not like that. 」

【Things are man‑made. In this world there is no coincidence, only inevitability.】

【The system thinks that if you continue to self‑pity, you are actually disappointing everyone's expectations of you】

Expectations…?

Everyone's expectations of me?

【Expectations…?】

【Yes, it's expectations.】

【Have you ever paid attention to the steward's gaze at you, or to Xiaohei accompanying you during training?】

【You care about them, cherish them, love them.】

But your actions are exactly the opposite.】

Although Cat hasn't thought that way, they think that at a time like this, playing a 'neutral party' third party and giving Witch Miss a slight heavy medicine, …】

It can be seen that Witch Miss seeks change, yet is somewhat afraid of it.

Now, use another kind of guilt to dilute the unfounded guilt currently in her heart.

If this continues, after she steps out of her current erroneous circle, she will certainly see a different scene, have completely different thoughts and views, and will let go of these harsh and petty self‑critiques.

【I…】

【Change is not an overnight matter; you need not be anxious, just like leveling up or skill training】

Knowing Witch Miss's temperament, Cat at this moment gave her many stepping stones.

【Just as long as you have tried, that's enough】

【Attempt to make yourself more optimistic】

【You don't need to do what is broadly labeled as 'correct'; you only need to do what you want to do】

【When you raised the above question, is there truly not a hint of envy or impulse in your heart?】

【The system hopes that you seize the impulses and aspirations in your heart, and don't let your life be left with regrets】

【After analysis, the system believes this should also be everyone's shared wish】

【The system discovered your inner hesitation and confusion, so it opened a communication system between you and your summoned beast Xiaohei】

【You can, by completing tasks, communicate with your Cat using the same method as the system】

【But if there is sorrow that even a summoned beast cannot describe, the system will strive to continue serving you】

【This communication has been closed】

【Please evaluate the service of this system】

【The system will adjust its actions based on your evaluation】

「……」

「Very satisfied, thank you. 」

While answering, Witch Miss still lowered her head, but her brows and eyes were curved.

A feeling of unprecedented ease and liberation filled her heart.

Is this communication? Is this being comforted?

Indeed… Cat is the best.

Click.

It is the sound of pressing the "shutter," secretly recorded by the Cat that was suddenly pulled into Witch Miss's embrace and pressed against her chest, a sound only a magic caster can hear.

She smiled, how nice.

Although they now feel a bit uncomfortable being held against her chest.