Fèi Míng dragged himself across the cracked wooden floor, leaving a dark smear behind him.
His blood kept filling his mouth no matter how many times he spat it out. The kitten was still there, crouched in the center where it stood as it cleaned and licked on its fur.
He reached it and caught it by the back of the neck before it could bolt. The kitten squealed and kicked weakly, its claws scraping against his wrist. Fèi Míng ignored it and glanced down, eyes narrowing slightly when he noticed the small, intact pair of balls beneath its tail. 'A male?'
This kitten was about three to four months old, but it was too undersized, even for a stray.
"You ate it," he whispered, his grip tightened on the kitten. An S-tier game core. Something his own body had rejected outright.
The kitten meowed loudly, shrill and panicked.
Annoyed, Fèi Míng clamped his hand over its mouth and face, pressing the sound down. The footsteps echoed faintly outside behind him.
"Should I cut you open and take it back?" he muttered. "Or eat you instead. I can't let it waste on a fucking cat."
"Mrrrow!" The kitten thrashed harder, then froze when his fingers dug in just a bit more.
"Make another sound," he said quietly, "and I'll actually do it."
The kitten went still. Its tail flicked in annoyance, then it nodded.
Fèi Míng scoffed despite himself. It was like this cat could actually understand him clearly.
His thoughts steadied as pain dulled into a familiar background hum. His body couldn't absorb game cores. Never could. The only value they'd ever had for him was selling them, building capital, or buying the Citadel tickets . That future had already collapsed the moment his name was now on the Krats radar.
His only way of survival now was to seek shelter and gather strength.
But this S-tier core had passed into another vessel.
If a cat could digest what he couldn't, then mutation was inevitable. A non-human host with an S-tier core meant accelerated growth, heightened intelligence, and eventual evolution into something closer to a game-realm beast than an animal.
'Should I keep him? It's impractical to do so.'
The kitten's ears suddenly perked up.
Its gaze shifted past him.
"Arrow," it said. "...you."
'What?' His eyes slightly widened.
Fèi Míng instantly ducked.
The arrow tore through the space where his head had been and embedded itself deep into a dried beam above him.
"We found him!" someone shouted.
'So it could speak. That settled the question.'
He shoved the kitten inside his shirt, pinning it against his ribs as it struggled..
"Meow!" it protested. "It stinks."
Fèi Míng clicked his tongue. He turned and threw himself through the back window, glass shattering outward as he hit the ground and fled.
"Quiet," he muttered as he ran.
Another arrow flew past him. He swiftly ducked, sharply turning to a dusty corner, however his sandals skidded to a hard stop.
Five Krat soldiers had blocked the narrow passage ahead.
Two in front pointed long spears at him. Three behind them already had arrows drawn, strings pulled to the cheek as they aimed straight at his throat. Behind Fèi Míng was nothing but a sealed wall of cracked concrete.
The kitten shifted under his shirt, wriggled upward, then poked its head out.
When his amber eyes met the line of soldiers, "—eep!" he yelped and vanished back down Fei Ming's collar, hiding.
Fei Ming sighed, staring at the line of soldiers.
Three arrows shot at him at once.
Abruptly, they stopped midair.
Confused, the soldiers froze, looking as the arrows slowly rotated—tips turning back toward them.
"Shit," one of them barked. "He has a skill—block!"
One of the archers flung his bow over his shoulders. He thrust his hand upward, slapping his palms together.
It created a small wave of dust and a large stone erupted from the ground, compacting into a dense boulder just as the arrows shot forward. They struck rock instead, splintering uselessly to the ground.
That moment was enough.
Fèi Míng subtly flicked his fingers. He lightened the spear held by the nearest soldier through that process, stripping its weight down.
[Your Skill: 'Weight Manipulation' is being used.]
He then yanked the spear out of the soldier's hand.
Just as quick, he leaned back, body aligning cleanly, and threw the long spear with all his strength.
Whoosh!
The spear impaled a soldier's throat, tearing through his spine before ripping free with the head still attached.
The body collapsed as the warm blood sprayed messily on the walls and across the other soldiers.
Fateless retracted the spear back to his hand.
"I may lack some basic combat skills," he stated, eyes already shifting to the others. "But I do know how to use sharp objects. Any pointy, sharp weapons, really."
The archer with the earth-bending skills snarled, slamming his foot down as stone surged up and hurled it at Fèi Míng. Bang!
At the same time, he loosed an arrow, using the flying rock as cover. And shot it.
The arrow struck Fèi Míng's arm, jerking him sideways.
A dull, stinging pressure pulsed up his nerves. To him, this was more irritating than painful.
He grabbed the shaft, twisting it slowly. Yanking it out with a wet sound, and flung it aside.
"This is very annoying."
One of the remaining archers fumbled for another arrow, fingers scraping uselessly against… an empty quiver.
"Huh?"
"Up," Fèi Míng's voice echoed.
They all looked.
Every loose arrow in the area—spent shafts, dropped ammunition, spears—lifted into the air, hovering directly above them.
"Down."
Everything rained down.
"AAGHHHHHH!!!" The screams cut short. Three men died where they stood, their remains collapsing into a tangled, blood-soaked heap.
The earth-bender survived only by creating a rocky shield up around himself at the last second. The makeshift cover cracked and shattered, leaving him wounded, breathing hard, but alive.
Fèi Míng inclined his head. Any Krat soldiers in this man's position should have screamed for help, called reinforcements, or in fact, done whatever it took to bring more crowds.
But this man remained silent. Even when it was evident he wanted Fei Ming dead. Unless…
"Oh," he said. "You're mute."
The man's weak eyes flickered.
"That's good."
Fèi Míng stepped past the corpses. His feet slick with blood, and angled two spears and several arrows into position around this kneeling soldier, pinning him in place without touching him.
"Even if you wanted to," he continued calmly, "you can't tell anyone what I'm about to do."
He paused.
"Well. Unless you can write. I honestly don't care. It's useless hiding anymore.
Ding! His system's screen appeared.
[Do you wish to absorb cores?]
'Yes.'
Whitish liquid seeped from the four corpses near him, drifting upward like mist before condensing into a single, bright orb. It floated into Fèi Míng's hand.
He raised it, sticking his tongue out to catch the dripping essence, and swallowed it whole.
[4 Cores Successfully Absorbed!]
[Total Cores Absorbed: 10!]
[Absorb More Core(s) To Reach The First Equivalent!]
'Even after absorbing 10, I still haven't reached the first step up the ladder?' He turned toward the dead end wall, judging the height. 'I really should escape now. Can I jump over it?'
Suddenly, the kitten burst out of his shirt and leapt down. He pressed its paws against the stone. "Meow."
A small red liquid leaked out of the wall as it slowly started to decay. Many cracks raced outward and the structure crumbled, collapsing into rubble at its base.
Fèi Míng paused, genuinely impressed.
Behind him, small crumbles of rocks trembled on the floor.
The mute soldier lunged, forming a jagged shard of rock and driving it toward Fèi Míng's spine.
The kitten's ears perked, muttering in his small found voice. "R-rock… you—"
Fèi Míng turned just in time, dodging as the shard flew past. He caught it midair and sent it back with a sharp twist of will.
"I suppose I should explain my skill," he said, watching the stone hover. "Telekinesis. It was useless and basic at first. How shortsighted I was."
The shard shot past the kneeling man and slammed into a hidden figure at the far end of the passage, crushing him against a wall.
"It isn't anymore."
A/N: To those who had been reading since day 1, thank you for supporting this book. I really hope to gain more audience soon... The more readers the better! If you have any questions, do ask in the comment section or under my author's review. Thank you!!