1 - System!

A black-furred cat lay lazily on a small tree branch, its tail playfully swishing with one of the tree branches. Its size was larger than that of normal cats, resembling more of a wild cat.

Its golden eyes sparkled as it gazed forward. A golden game screen appeared before it, displaying its stats.

Name: Tang Han

Level: 1

Type: Ming Forest Cat (Common)

Class: None

Health: 50/50

Qi: 10/10

[Stats]

Attack: 6

Defense: 4

Intelligence: 5

Agility: 10

Stamina: 4

Stat Points: 2

[Skills]

Passive Skills:

— Life Steal

— Assassin's Sense

Active Skills:

— Cat Claw (Lv1)

— Instant Agility (Lv1)

Looking at the screen, Tang Han's expression showed intrigue.

'From an assassination mission to this...'

Tang Han chuckled to himself sarcastically, but with his usual indifference, he could only shrug his shoulders.

His life had shifted rapidly.

In his previous world, he was a notorious assassin known as the " Shadows Monarch." He was never seen, and his very existence terrified kings and presidents. Just a whisper of his name would spread fear in the hearts of many.

His steps were as silent as the night breeze, and his dagger would devour souls before they even realized death was upon them. He was no mere hired killer, but a legend whose echoes resonated in the underworld.

Not long ago, he had been asked to assassinate the CEO of a famous pharmaceutical company.

It wasn't the first time. That CEO was extremely despised!

Under the age of 25, he had a vast financial empire, headed by his pharmaceutical company, which possessed amazing medical capabilities.

Despite the many requests, Tang Han did not care much about him, He had a basic standard for accepting assassination missions, but unfortunately, he could no longer remember that standard.

For some reason, that part, along with his obsession and core personality from his past life, had been wiped out since he woke up here. It felt foggy whenever he tried to remember.

Anyway, one day, he agreed to the request. When he sneaked into the man's room and was about to take his soul, he was blinded by a bright white light. When it disappeared, the first thing he saw was green trees, a sky of pure blue, and this golden screen illuminated before him.

At first, Tang Han was deeply shocked: Where was he? What was this body? What were these screens? Where was his target?

He bombarded himself with many questions.

But after a while, he relaxed and stopped caring. He realized he was indeed in another world.

The parts of his lost memories left a void inside him as if he had forgotten his original purpose for being here. It was this that made him lazily here, unconcerned.

Why had he been an assassin? Tang Han didn't remember. Anyway, he relaxed completely on the tree branch. With this small cat body, laziness seemed commendable.

'It doesn't matter…'

All that was in the past; he was now…

Just a cat.

With a system.

"Yawn..."

Closing his golden eyes, Tang Han yawned, sticking out his small pink tongue. He looked cute.

"Grumble..."

His small stomach rumbled, and he felt hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since waking up in this world. He had been too busy analyzing himself, trying to understand the system and his situation.

Looking at the system screens, he knew where this was going. Didn't its presence make food hunting easier?

'Game system… interesting.'

Tang Han wasn't unfamiliar with modern entertainment such as manga, anime, novels, and movies. They were one of his few distractions. Even when he died, he hadn't passed the age of 25.

He was still young.

'I need to find food.'

"Whoosh!!"

Without hesitation, Tang Han, with this thought, jumped down from the tree, his small limbs landing on the damp grass.

His steps made no sound or trace, and Tang Han instinctively walked through the forest silently, as though born for it. He seemed unaware that he was adapting to his cat's body so easily, almost as if he had been born with it!

It felt comfortable.

Tang Han scanned the forest with his eyes beforehand, not wandering through it foolishly.

He was careful by nature.

'Thinking about it, maybe that's why the "Assassin's Sense" was brought with me as a passive skill.'

Tang Han wasn't one of these fools who would foolishly laugh with their system or exchange flowery words with it, enjoying the masochism of a system that always says "host is not qualified to hear the answer yet."

He didn't even know if his system was intelligent or not.

Anyway, he would analyze everything logically and deduce from the clues.

For example, although it said in his status that he was a "Ming Forest Cat (Common)," his size was larger than ordinary cats. This meant that, with his size, he was not just a nobody in this forest. He needed to be cautious of the other beasts!

But he had many other advantages over the other beasts: he was intelligent!

This was more important than having a system.

Without an intelligent mind to make good use of it, what would be the point of having a "system"?

'The system is just a tool in the end. It certainly makes life easier, but it's not everything.'

With or without it, Tang Han believed in his ability to secure his future; that was his pride, not as the "Shadows Monarch" assassin, but because he was HIM.

The forest was calm.

Tang Han, with his black cat body resembling the night sky, moved silently through the dense forest, carefully avoiding fallen branches and dry leaves beneath his paws. He made no sound, moving with complete silence.

He moved slowly, following the small imprints left in the soil, where rabbit footprints were clearly visible between the tangled roots of trees. He knew that rabbits usually hid in narrow burrows beneath roots or inside thick bushes, where these natural shelters offered perfect protection from predators.

Tang Han stood near a low shrub, his eyes carefully watching the small openings in the ground, while he noticed the remains of freshly nibbled grass. He smiled.

Not far off, there were traces of a nearly hidden small hole.

His first target was a rabbit.

Tang Han was no stranger to hunting rabbits; he was quite experienced at it.

'There it is.'

His golden eyes gleamed as his cat whiskers twitched in a smile. He quickly found what he was looking for — the rabbit's burrow!

Among the grass, the soil was a little softer. He didn't even need to touch it to recognize that.

'A perfect target to try the system and my skills.'

Tang Han felt a slight thrill. This was a new experience for him as a cat. Of course, this excitement didn't prevent him from being cautious; who knew, maybe these rabbits were stronger than him!

He stealthily crept through the grass, his breaths barely audible as he approached the hidden burrow beneath the tangled roots of an ancient tree. He stopped in front of the narrow entrance, his black ears twitching at every small movement from within.

His shining eyes focused on the dark opening, sensing the small pulses of life inside.

With graceful precision, Tang Han crouched down and slowly extended one of his paws into the burrow, his claws carefully digging through the dirt. He could feel the warmth emanating from inside the burrow, where the rabbits were quietly purring, unaware of the death waiting for them at the entrance.

As soon as he entered, he saw a shadow. Some moonlight crept through the opening, revealing the shadow.

It was a brown rabbit, with dark eyes.

'That quickly?'

Even Tang Han was surprised. He hadn't expected to encounter one so fast.

"Ki—"

[Cat's Claw!]

Tang Han didn't give the rabbit a chance to alert its companions. As soon as he raised his claws, a voice rang in his mind, activating the skill!

"Whoosh!"

His paw moved with lightning speed, slashing the rabbit's throat like a bolt of lightning!

Tang Han felt his claws expand for a moment, striking the soft fur before life left the creature.

'First one.'

He looked at the rabbit, but no notifications came from the system. He nodded to himself.

Showing no mercy, with his small body, he gently pulled the rabbit out and tossed it aside without making a sound, then refocused his attention inside the burrow.

"Whoosh!!"

At that moment, Tang Han felt a slight change in the air breeze within the burrow. He frowned immediately, realizing that the other rabbit had sensed him!

'Heh, very cautious! Is the other one trying to escape?'

At that moment, Tang Han planted his feet firmly on the ground before activating another skill.

[Instant Agility!]

Tang Han had already examined this skill before, and its effect was remarkable:

[Instant Agility]

Level: 1

Description:

An active skill that temporarily reduces the user's body weight, granting a significant increase in agility and speeds up to three times the normal rate. It can be used to dodge attacks, climb high places quickly, or strike at opponents with a speed that can't be tracked. When activated, the user appears to move with the swiftness of the wind, leaving behind only a faint trace.

Consumption: 1 Qi point per minute of use.

As a cat, Tang Han's body was already extremely light, but after activating this skill, he felt as light as a feather. He could feel his muscles become invigorated as if his agility stats had received a triple boost! No, it was three times!

Without hesitation, he leaped forward like lightning, darting into the burrow!

"Whoosh!!"

Tang Han moved with astonishing speed, and he couldn't help but enjoy it. As an assassin, he had always longed for this kind of speed, but the human body had its limits after all.

After a second, he reached the depths of the burrow. Despite the darkness, Tang Han could see clearly; after all, he was a cat. He found three exits from the burrow, no matter which one the rabbit had escaped through.

'As expected from a rabbit, how cunning...'

Tang Han frowned; time was precious, and he didn't want his prey to escape. Looking at the traces on the ground and sniffing the air, he quickly realized.

'Seems like there's more than one.'

Tang Han didn't hesitate; he picked the nearest one and began chasing it. With his enhanced speed from Instant Agility, no matter how fast the rabbit was, Tang Han quickly caught up with it!

"Chik!!"

It was brown with thick fur like the previous one. It squealed, trying to scare him off, but Tang Han didn't care.

[Cat's Claw!]

Just as expected, a golden screen appeared in front of him immediately.

[You have leveled up!]

[Your skill "Cat's Claw" has leveled up!]

'As expected...'

Tang Han was very pleased with the result.

"Status."

He summoned his status screen, eagerly checking it.

Name: Tang Han

Level: 2

Type: Ming Forest Cat (Common)

Class: None

Health: 50/50

Qi: 10/8

[Stats]

Attack: 6

Defence: 4

Intelligence: 5

Agility: 10

Stamina: 4

Stat Points: 4

[Skills]

Passive Skills:

— Life Steal

— Assassin's Sense

Active Skills:

— Cat's Claw (Lv2)

— Instant Agility (Lv1)

His stat points had increased from 2 to 4, meaning that leveling up had granted him an extra 2 stat points.

'Very good, just as I expected.'

Tang Han couldn't help but smile.

From this encounter, he summarized three things:

1- He didn't have a high-level skill like "Truth's Eye" to see his opponent's data, such as their names, type, etc.

2- He could level up by killing.

3- He confirmed that stat points were allocated by him manually and did not increase with level-ups randomly.

'And fourth, I have dinner for tonight.'

The night was long. Tang Han didn't want to attract other beasts with the rabbit's blood, so he quickly pulled it into the burrow and hid it, doing the same with the other rabbit.

'Not bad.'

As Tang Han had expected, the taste of raw meat wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately, he didn't have any way to start a fire temporarily, but he was a man of adaptation, so he ate the rabbit raw as it was.

After a while, he fell asleep.