Kenny swiftly pulled his pack off his shoulders and tossed it towards the door so it wouldn’t get in the way. As he did this the giant tabby cat with sabretooth tiger-like teeth dripping with fresh blood let out a threatening hiss at him. From where he stood he could see the cat like monster was bigger in both size and length than the rat it had killed. While the Grey Haired Rat stood up around his knees, this cat creature was coming close to his hips.

Kenny took a defensive stance as he brought his hands up and balled them into fists. His movements were enough for the Feral Orange Feline to remove its paw off of the dying rat and place it in a more secure footing. It then crouched down, extended its claws, bared its teeth, and jumped right at him.

Kenny was surprised by two things. One was by the strength of the creature’s legs. The length between where it once stood and where Kenny was wasn’t a short distance. It was roughly fifteen feet, maybe a little more. This creature cleared that with no issues and still had more room to go before it started falling. The other thing he was surprised about was the speed it had when jumping.

The message he had seen when he saw the monster did say its Stat Talent was in Agility, but due to him getting used to the speed the Grey Haired Rats had, his mind had mistakenly believed it would be the same. His slow brain believed wrong. It was like he was fighting against the Grey Haired Colony Rats when he was level one with a borderline below average Agility of eight.

He was barely able to defend himself as the monster clawed his arm as it passed. The searing pain that erupted from his arm caused him to hesitate for a brief moment before he was able to spin around and try kicking the monster as it leaped at him again. His attempt at counter attacking completely missed, however, thanks to his attempt the feline had missed its attack as well and flew behind him.

Understanding that trying to land an attack this way was futile, Kenny decided to move away from the spot. He moved towards the open area as fast as he could. However, after taking several steps he heard the cat monster howl with irritation as the sound of something breaking echoed in the room.

Kenny turned his head to see what had happened, however, as he turned his head, he felt a heavy object suddenly crash into his side. The momentum of the force hitting him caused him to cross his legs in a way it made them catch and he fell to his side. He felt his body hit the ground hard and roll till he finally came to a stop.

Kenny knew he had messed up. A memory of his father training him to defend himself suddenly popped in his mind. He remembered how he talked about how enemies would try to get him on the ground. Being the one on the defense while on the ground was something he should never do. For if he were on the ground after falling or being thrown that would leave him open to attacks. Especially if he landed on his stomach. Leaving your back open to an enemy led to disaster.

Luckily for him, his father taught him what he needed to do. First, he needed to make sure he understood if his opponent was much faster than him. If they weren’t then he needed to get back on his feet as swiftly as possible. If they were faster than him then he needed to quickly position himself for a counter. The best way for him to do that was simple.

Kenny rolled his body quick enough to get on his back and where he could have eyes on the monster. He was lucky he did this now or he would have been gravely wounded as he watched the monster leaping in the air with its front legs and claws extended out.

Kenny could feel his brain working overtime as he tried to quickly figure out the angle where it was going to land through the slow panic building up in his mind. From the angle he was able to roughly determine the landing point of the monster’s claws would be around his upper chest and throat. That was perfect.

Kenny shifted his legs up as he felt his stomach tighten up. He then made a guesstimate of the creature’s speed and when he felt the time was right, Kenny swiftly extended both legs out. To his relief, he felt his feet press against the chest of the Feral Orange Feline as it was coming down. He pushed with all his might as he rolled to the top of his back while pushing his legs out.

With a shaken motion, Kenny launched the oversized tabby cat over his head and towards the open bathroom that was right behind him. He heard the cat let out a yowl as it flew and then crashed against the wall of the bathroom. Kenny swiftly rolled to his feet and raced quickly to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Breathing heavily, he took a feet steps back and tried to think of a strategy. However, before he could think of anything, he felt claws smaller than the cat monster rake against the back of his calves. Kenny felt the pain almost make his knees buckle as he turned around to see a hissing grey rat staring up at him.

With a single motion full of irritation and anger, Kenny spun around and punted the rat across the room as hard as he could. The monster crashed hard against the wall, but he didn’t have enough time to chase after it as the other two Grey Haired Colony Rats made him remember they were here too.

Kenny launched his own attack against them wanting to take them out before… He heard the handle start to jiggle while he was mid swing with a fist hurling towards the monster he had aimed for. More irritation filled him as he realized he was running out of time. It only grew more when he realized that brief moment of shifting his attention towards the door was enough for the rat to dodge the fatal blow heading for it and ran away.

The other two injured rats scattered as fast as they could. The two that were farthest from Kenny made their way over to the remaining intact tables while the one that Kenny had failed to kill ran towards the food that had fallen to the ground. As soon as they reached their destination, all three started eating away at the food.

As they ate, Kenny noticed changes start to happen on their bodies. Their matted and beaten-up fur started to smooth out while their limping limbs slowly started to move without concerns. As he watched this, he realized what was going on. They were eating the food to recover the damages they had received.

“Shit,” Kenny swore as he started to move. However, before he got three steps in, he heard the door swing open hard and crash into the wall.

He turned his head to see the cat’s hind legs coming back to touch the ground before it turned around and scanned the area. It locked eyes on Kenny and let out a low growl as it crouched down and wiggled its butt a few times.

Kenny understood what it was about to do and decided to change his direction so he could dodge. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to in time but still attempted to anyways. He turned his body to start running to his left and readied himself. The small pivot he was able to make and the amount his body had turned ended up being enough for him to not get fully hit by the flying cat creature, however, he still felt a force collide against his back and send him chest out towards the left table.

Before he knew it, Kenny had crashed into the table. The upper half of his body laid down on the table arms extended. When he crashed into the table his hands had pushed some of the food away, letting him not smear any of it on his arms or chest and face.

He quickly scrambled to turn around and ready himself to defend against any incoming attack, but before he started turning, he heard a slew of panicked and pained squeaks. When he fully turned around, he saw the orange cat was on top of the Grey Rat’s back that was on the ground eating the food, pressing down on it making sure it wouldn’t run away.

The rat monster squirmed and clawed as hard as it could trying to break free from the cat’s weight that was pinning it down. However, with each dig of its claws into the stoned ground the cat pressed harder. It licked its lips before sinking its two long teeth right into its back.

Seeing that the cat creature was occupied, Kenny’s brain raced as he tried to think of what he could do. The monster’s speed was faster than the rats and he knew he couldn’t fight it in that area. He also understood the cat would know when he tried to approach it. He needed to land an attack that it wouldn’t see coming or try and trap it so he could land a flurry of strikes.

As he tried to think of something he didn’t realize that he had inadvertently placed both hands behind him on the table and was moving them around. His thoughts came to a halt as he felt both hands land on something. He didn’t want to take his eyes off the mid boss monster in fear it would take that moment to attack him. Instead, he tried to understand what he was feeling.

From what his brain was able to process as his hands touched a couple of objects, he believed the objects were silverware. However, from the feel of them they weren’t the regular plastic or cheap metal silverware he was used to. These felt stronger and slightly heavier. While they weren’t the best weapons he could use, if they were stronger than regular silverware then they could still be useful.

Without thinking, Kenny gripped the one his right hand was on by the base and then threw it at the cat’s direction. He winced as he watched the poorly made medieval looking knife fly far over the cat’s body and land on the ground somewhere on the other side of the room. Cursing himself mentally, Kenny grabbed the one by his left hand and switched hands with it. He then took a moment to properly aim at the monster before finally throwing it.

He hadn’t realized what he had thrown until he watched it fly out of his hands. The silverware he threw this time was a fork. He watched as the fork flipped end over end towards the cat. He frowned as the cat dipped down and was about to dodge it but was surprised when the creature suddenly shot back up after ripping off the flesh of the rat it was trying to eat, right in time for the fork to pierced through the skin.

The Feral Orange Feline dropped the piece of torn flesh out of its jaws and let out a pained howl before turning its head towards Kenny and hissing angerly at him. Kenny could feel the anger it was faintly emitting and scrambled to try and grab another piece of silverware to throw at it. He didn’t take his eyes off the monster because he knew if he did things wouldn’t go so well for him.

The Feral Orange Feline turned its body and crouched down, getting ready to lunge at him as he franticly tried grabbing something. As the creature launched itself at him, he finally found something. He didn’t notice the handle he gripped with his right hand was thicker than the previous silverware he had thrown as he rolled his hand and his chosen weapon over his head.

His mind grew with questions as he brought his hand down in a vertical angle and registered three things. One, the weapon he hastily grabbed and decided to use was a lot heavier than the makeshift ones and had a pale pink color to it than the ones he had used moments ago. The second was the surprised squeak that echoed behind and over his head. The last was the massive body that followed his hand movements as it came down and crashed against the cat’s head and neck.

The shock of him successfully hitting the monster as it had leaped at him went over his head as his stared at the unconscious Grey Haired Colony Rat he had used as a makeshift club to whack the cat monster.

He quickly came to his senses as he saw the cat start to push itself back to its feet. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, or rather his body just moved on its own, Kenny gripped harder on the rat’s tail and swiftly swung the monster back into the air and down onto the cat creature repeatedly.

He mentally blocked out the pained squeaks that escaped out of the flailing and slowly dying rat each time it slammed against the feline’s body. He kept doing this over and over, hoping the mid-boss would just die until finally the Feral Orange Feline narrowly escaped the beatdown by pushing away from the spot as the rat he used splattered against the cobblestone floor.

Kenny finally stopped what he was doing as blood flew off the dead Grey Rat. What snapped him out of his panicked attacks was the few drops of the monster’s blood that flew across his face. A couple of screens had swiftly appeared but then disappeared before he could read them.

He was confused at first because his mind didn’t register where the blood had come from. His first thoughts was his fist had split open and were bleeding which made him turn his focus on his hands. After looking at them for a moment he realized his right hand was gripping something hairless and almost resembled a long worm.

He was trying to process how he had gotten a giant worm and where it could have come from when he noticed the worm like object was connected to something. He breathed heavily as he brought his hand up higher into the air to get a better look at what the object was. He stared at the dead rat for a long moment before realizing what it was. When it finally clicked that he was holding a dead Grey Haired Colony Rat by the tail, he reactively released it and took a step back.

This was when he realized he had made a huge mistake. During the process of trying to think about what he was holding, he had completely forgotten he was still in the middle of a mid-boss fight. Something that quickly came back to him as a massive and powerful force crashed into his chest, knocking him over the table and rolling towards the wall. He came to a sudden halt next to a deep indent with an open fire still blazing underneath a hanging pot.

Kenny felt pain run up his back as the heat of the flames licked his sweating skin. He cracked open an eye and watched as a massive orange fur ball leaped over the table and was hurdling down towards him. Unsure what to do, Kenny looked at the flame next to him while thinking maybe he should roll to his left to dodge.

After seeing the hanging pot over the flame, his mind had a different idea. As fast as he could, Kenny pushed himself off the ground and gripped the handle of the pot before yanking it off the object that was holding it up. He felt the heat of the iron handle piercing through his Basic Hand Wraps but held on as long as he could as he swung the object horizontally.

Kenny felt the heat of the handle start to become too much as his hand started to feel the burn. Subconsciously, his grip started to loosen and when it did the handle of the pot slipped right out of his hands.

Luckily, right as it did, the body of the pot collided right into the cat creature like a hammer hitting a ball and sent the monster flying across the room where it hit the ground and rolled over and over before finally coming to a stop.

Kenny stared at the creature with so much focus he felt like he could burn a hole in it. He didn’t want to take his eyes off of it in case it could still move fast. However, when the monster didn’t move and a screen noticed popped up, he felt his body relax.

[Congratulations! You have defeated Mid-Area Boss, Feral Orange Feline. Exp earned. Tower Credits earned.]

[Calculating results.]

[Fighting the Mid-Area Boss solo has been taken into account.]

[Calculations completed. Appropriate loot suitable for performance and involvement has been determined.]

[Congratulations! You have received the Title: Solo Orange Fur Basher!]

[Title: Solo Orange Fur Basher. Solo fight and kill the Feral Orange Feline with a blunt object. Title: Solo Orange Fur Basher awards +5% to Stat Agility.] 

 Kenny stared at the new screens that followed after the one he was waiting to see. That was new. He wasn’t aware that mid-area boss fights gave loot that took in the factors of one’s performance and involvement in a fight. After thinking about it for a long moment he felt that it was probably for the best that it did.

Loot was important to obtain in order to grow in power. Loot was highly sought after when going out and fighting. The only other way to get loot besides buying what others were selling was to go out and get it yourself. That being said, there were talks about how there were a group of people who didn’t like to put the work in themselves but still tried to get the best loot possible. Leeches or Parasites were what they were called.

If something like this was implemented then it would be for the best since those kinds of people couldn’t say anything when it was the Tower itself calculating the efforts of a person. Of course, they could still complain, but Kenny felt it would be useless and only reveal the person’s true nature if they did.

He did have to wonder though. How did it really determine one’s effort? What about those who can’t attack and could only debuff a creature? Is their effort in that area considered bad in the performance or involvement areas of the calculating? What about a tank or healer? How did the Tower determine all of this?

Kenny shook his head trying to stop himself from going down that rabbit hole. He remembered the heated debates his classmates had on the subject and how no one had an answer. Sometimes when the topic popped up, they would spend entire class periods on it. He frowned at the memory.

Now that he was thinking about it, they probably debated on it because they didn’t want to do anything in class and that was the best way to convince the teachers they weren’t spending their class time in a wasteful manner.

The next surprising thing was the screen about the Title he received. This was a first since he had never heard about Titles before. Ayla never mentioned them either. Probably because she thought he wouldn’t get any. If that was true, then Titles were like some loot. A first come first serve kind of thing. Just another thing he needed to ask about when he got out.

He was also surprised to see that instead of a solid number, the Title gave him a percentage to a stat. If he had to guess after seeing the stat he got the percentage to then the stat the Title gave was connected to the Stat Talent of the monster it was given from.

While he wasn’t upset that he got the Title and the percentage it came with, he did have an issue with the name of it. Solo Orange Fur Basher. He loved cats. He loved dogs more, but he didn’t want something that stated he hated cats.

He was brought out of his thoughts as a loud thud echoed in the room right in front of him. Kenny looked down to see a small brown wooden chest. With a raised brow, he bent down and grabbed it. The size of the chest was slightly bigger than his palm. The weight wasn’t an issue as it felt light in his hand. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the size of it or if his strength had a play. It didn’t matter in the end.

He opened the chest slowly and cautiously and peeked inside. Nothing tried to jump at him or attack him, which made him feel a bit more relaxed. However, his brows scrunched as he stared at the object inside of it.

Inside, coiled up, was a silver necklace with five pointed teeth. The middle and outside teeth were small but the two in between them were two larger shaped ones. The two larger teeth looked familiar, however before he could remember where he had seen them a screen appeared and gave him his answer.

[Necklace of the Feral Feline (Uncommon). Tier 1.]

[Necklace of the Feral Feline (Uncommon). This necklace was made with the teeth of the Feral Orange Feline. While wearing this necklace the wearer’s attacks will be sharper when they land successfully. Adds + 2 to Strength.]     

Kenny stared at the item and tried to understand why he had received this kind of loot out of any other possibilities. When he couldn’t make sense of it, he just shrugged, placed the necklace on, and thought, If it makes my attacks sharper and stronger, then who am I to complain.

After watching the chest disappear Kenny swiftly looked around the room. Once again, he let himself get distracted by something shiny and had forgotten there were other monsters in the room. However, after a quick scan of his surroundings he found himself all alone. None of the monsters were there except for the dead bodies of the slain ones.

There was a new door that had appeared on the back wall of the room, but other than that there wasn’t anything new. Seeing the bodies lying there made him question a few things. He didn’t get far in his thoughts as a rumble vibrated in his stomach and a yawn escaped his lips.

He needed to take a break before continuing on. It wouldn’t do him any good if he pushed on while both hungry and tired. He didn’t waste any time as he grabbed the dead bodies still in the room and threw them out the door he had used to come into the room.

While he could have thrown them through the new door, he wasn’t sure if opening it would eject him out. He also didn’t want the dead bodies to remain in the room with him as he tried to eat and get some rest since that could lead to disease and germs building up around him.

Sure, he had a poison resistance type of ability, however, he wasn’t sure how far that ‘poison’ part of the ability extended. It did say Venoms and toxins, but were diseases also a part of that list? Was disease considered a poison?

He wasn’t sure and didn’t want to take that chance. This was something he was going to have to look into after the Trial Grounds were over. For now, he would try to stay as clean as possible. Starting with cleaning his blood-soaked hand wraps. After cleaning himself up then he would work on eating and resting. And after that…he would press forward and make his way towards the boss area.