Vicious Trap!

"This cat seems to be able to understand our words," the barbarian commented with narrowed eyes.

"Magical beasts may be smarter than the ordinary animal, but a cat is still a cat!" The kind scoffed.

"Rundolf, calm down, or you scare our little visitor away," the old hunchback said with a warm smile before he turned his gaze towards me. "Say little cat, do you really understand human speech?"

"Yes?" I meowed, nodding with my head to show them that I could understand them indeed.

The eyes of the old hunchback lit up when he say my response. The reactions from the king and the barbarian were less friendly, but they at least stopped seeing me as an ordinary housecat.

"See here, Summaron. You can't be serious about that!" The king roared all of a sudden.

"Why not?" The hunchbacked elder replied with a witty smile. "You keep waiting for your destined champion until the world starts to rot. But I am too old for this, and I want my peace, so I will gift my legacy to the cat if it proves to be smart enough."

The three men started a heavy discussion, but the old hunchback ignored his two comrades eventually and waved at me to come closer.

"My friend, you will need to answer to three of my questions to inherit my legacy," the old hunchback started to explain. "You just need to lift your left paw for yes and your right paw for no. Do you understand?"

I lifted my left paw what made the old man burst in thunderous laughter while the other two shook their heads as if they were watching a crazy man doing something foolish.

"Good… you are very good," the old hunchback said with cheerful laughter. "Here is the first question: Is the sword mightier than the word?"

Hmm…

"Yes," I miaowed and lifted my left paw.

My thoughts were that someone could scream and blabber all the nonsense he or she wants, the sword cuts the head – goodnight!

"Very good," the old hunchback nodded with a thoughtful smile. "Second question: Is the king the king stronger than the queen?"

Huh?

It was a weird question, and I turned to see that the king was now sending the old hunchback poisonous looks before lifting my right paw.

"Hahahaha!" The old hunchback burst into thunderous laughter again that lasted longer than the first before he calmed down to ask me the last question. "Good cat, you are indeed wise. Here is my last question for you: Is it true that knowledge is power?"

Hmm…

"No," I meowed before lifting my right paw.

Knowledge didn't give one power; actions did. Well, that's the way I see it. I can be the smartest man alive but still poor as fuck if I don't know how to make use of your brainpower -you get nothing from doing nothing.

"You are indeed an interesting cat…" the old hunchback nodded with an approving smile before fading away to reveal a pathway that was lit up by what looked like glowing runes.

"Summaron that madman really did it," muttered the barbarian while shaking his head with a frustrated sigh.

"Summaron was always an eccentric old bastard," spat the king, but I could see that his eyes weren't angry but filled with loneliness. "Always doing what he wants…"

I gave the two remaining fellas a curious look and entered the pathway that appeared after the door with old hunchback simply vanished out of existence.

"Little cat," the voice of the old hunchback filled my ears as soon as I entered the pathway. "My legacy wasn't intended to fall in the… paws of a cat, but I guess that I can't be picky in my situation…"

'Magic magic magic!' – My mind went crazy with excitement as I stepped over blue, glowing runes that radiated with sheer magical power. The voice of the old man kept talking, but I was barely able to stay concentrated.

"…and so you see, that doesn't mean now that you aren't able to learn how to use the knowledge of my lifework. You just need a little more effort."

I left the glowing pathway into a small room that was empty beside a pedestal with a fist-sized pearl at the top of it.

"This must be the magical-knowledge-transmitter thingy the old hunchback talked about," I meowed in fascination.

I didn't pay much attention and forgot the real name of the device, but I did recall the voice saying that I only had to touch it in order to receive whatever information is stored in it.

[Catnip: You won't be able to learn much from the legacy of that human. His real objective was to brainwash you into a living inheritance, so you can go and seek a suitable successor in the outside world. You would end up insane after fulfilling task]

I halted my steps when Catnip's voice echoed in my mind. I couldn't help but hiss angrily, "for real?!"

[Catnip: Humans, especially magicals, are hunting magical beast like you without showing any mercy or compassion towards our kind. We are nothing but resources in their eyes. There are expectations, of course, but the vast majority will kill you on sight. You can get in contact with humans if you desire it since you were once a member of that race, but try to be stronger one, always]

'That hunchbacked old bastard!' – I cursed in the back of my mind.

I was very well aware of how nasty humans could be. They enslaved their own kind or sent their young to unnecessary wars so that a bunch of old wrinkled nutsacks could earn more money or increase their influence. It angered me that I was tricked by the smile of, not a sexy lady, but an old geezer that looked older than my grandpa. Fuck me sideways!

"What should I do now?" I meowed in a questioning tone. "Destroy it?"

[Catnip: No, I just wanted to warn you, so you are more careful next time. You can still make use of the legacy. Touch it, and I will see what I can do for you]

"Right away, Supreme Master Catnip!" I meowed happily before jumping on the pedestal.

I hoped that the stupid geezer was watching me from the deepest parts of hell where he belongs as I was about to fuck up his legacy.

The feeling of coldness spread across my body after I touched the glowing pearl. I could feel that it wasn't the legacy, but mana, lots of it. It was a strange feeling, and I hoped that Catnip would be successful, so I don't have to end up as a mutated cat or something worse.

[Catnip: Don't forget to use your inborn ability]

'Of course, yes!'

My eyes widened in realization, and I did as told.

The mana that was flooding my body was quickly suppressed by my Codex of the Blackest Night cat-magic. It was an extremely comfortable feeling to absorb and convert the mana of something else into my own, almost like a mini-orgasm.

Time passed, and I kept using my inborn ability to purify the foreign mana for what felt like ten or fifteen minutes when Catnip interrupted me, announcing his success.

[Catnip: You are a lucky, young one. The spells in the legacy were crap, but I was able to use the offered material to craft something that will surely see as useful]

'Oh?' – My eyes widened in surprise when I sensed an influx of information popping up in my mind. It was slightly painful, but not as bad when I leveled up.

[Sanguine Symbolum: Use the blood of your prey to empower your body by creating a rune that will either enhance your physical strength, movement speed, or magical affinity]

'Bloody fucking hell!'

My eyes almost popped out of my skull when I comprehended the function of my new ability.

It was too awesome! Simply way too freaking awesome!

Sanguine Symbolum allowed me to create a small rune on my body, which I could then infuse with my magic and with the blood of the prey that I killed. And it wasn't limited to a single rune, but… well… I had actually no idea, only that there was no fixed amount on how much I could create. I guess that I can make runes until my whole body is covered in them.

"Thank you, Supreme Master Catnip!" I miaowed with a cheerful tone. "You are the best!"

[Catnip: Not so fast, young one. I need to absorb the rest of the mana out of the pearl. It will allow you to level up again, not once but twice]

"Bha-hahaha! Blasted hunchbacked old geezer, I hope you can see this from hell!" I miaowed happily and started absorbing mana out of the pearl again.

My eyes sparkled with boundless greed as I watched the light of the pearl dimming with each passing minute. The feeling of getting stronger was really intoxicating and leveling up was from this day forth officially my new favorite hobby.

[Catnip: Congratulations, you have become a LvL 3 magical beast. Now, relax and let your body slowly adapt to your new level of power]

'Huh?' – My daydreams where I shredded the favorite curtains of the hunchbacked old geezer were interrupted when I Catnip's voice echoed in my head.

"That fast?" I meowed in puzzlement because I didn't receive any new magical abilities or something like that.

[Catnip: Yes, your body will slowly adapt and improve now, but you will only learn new abilities after you piled up the necessary experience with your already existing ones. Leveling up will primarily strengthen your body, and sometimes also improve one of your abilities, given that you met all requirements. From nothing comes nothing after all, right?]

"So it's like this…" I meowed in a surprised tone.

It was unfortunate, but it made sense when I thought about it. You get nothing from doing nothing and stuff like that. And I was already blessed with five free abilities, and being too greedy without any work would only turn me into a talentless spoiled cat – just like Alfredo.

My new ability Sanguine Symbolum was already providing me with enough goals I can target. It required me to consume a lot of blood so I could slowly create one of these runes. That basically meant that I had to kill, kill, and kill – like a vampire on a bloody rampage.

'Hmm, well… time to search for a way that leads me outside' – I thought in the back of my head and pushed the dull pearl over the edge of the pedestal.

*crack*

"Hehehe… now I know why cats love doing this," I miaowed devilishly as I looked at the fragments of the shattered pearl with malicious glee.

The old hunchbacked jackass sure got what he deserved. To hell with his stupid legacy!

Anyway, I jumped off the pedestal and made my way back to the large cavern with all the treasures. It was only now that I figured out that there may be some magic stuff I could either use or simply suck dry of all its mana. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a try since I could do it with the magical pearl.

"Aye, Rundolf! Look, the cat is already back!"

"Useless furball, I don't know what Summaron is thinking by doing this," the king replied to the barbarian.

I ignored the blabbering of the two fools and started examining the treasures that were scattered all over the place.