Chapter 5: The truth

Looking at the now pensive Devil, I repeat my question a second time.

“What did she do to get a backlash? And what is this punishment, is this why she’s not talking to me?”

Looking in my eyes, he hesitates, not for goodwill. She would explode from her emotion, but she’s clearly cute like a cat. Her ears perking up when focus, her tail tell her innocent mind and her different expressions are a real artwork brought to him. He likes it more when she has a troubled expression, but he can’t go back against his own words even if nothing threatens him.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. Her punishment is by disobeying one term of the contract: ‘You will not deprave the will of the Chosen nor go against their will’. The very reason is she tried to use mental manipulation with mana corruption as base to make you her slave.”

“What?! Why would she do that? I know she was a bit strange and a bit of a bad actor but no one can be this evil.”

“This isn’t even the worst thing that god can make, of course you are a real lucky one. There are three things that saved you from mental contamination. Your mana foundation, her exhausted divine power and me.”

“Because she used mana corruption? And you mean my free will is only due to a series of coincidences?”

Her calm demeanor was the opposite reaction he was expecting, maybe more calm than what she looked.

“Yes, in a way chance is a talent. It was pure coincidence that I was here when she had summoned you. I took pity on you and lent a little help to make her lose control of her power. It’s not without consequence, I would say that your mind has regressed to the same state as your body and race.”

“So you mean I have the mind of a catgirl?”

“Um, yeah.”

No it’s the opposite, she looks calm but she’s just really excited about everything. I can’t tell her the whole truth now.

“Cool!”

Her eyes shone like a thousand stars, a child whose dream came true, her tail wagging and ear dancing on her head. The Devil could only think ‘Yeah, I can’t tell the truth’ being too cute for him. Getting back to the main subject she asks.

“And then what is her punishment?”

“She’s isolated from the world for a whole month, she can’t interact with the world and can only send Chosen. Of course you are her Chosen, so she’s doing nothing until she is free.”

“And what would she do once she’s back, will she try to kill me?”

It’s the essence of all this discussion, if she would be killed or can live her new life. Some people would tell her that living under threat is not a good life. But she doesn’t feel pressured, being calm is a real virtue in those moments. The Devil answered my question with confidence as if everything is under control

“If she’s not that stupid she would not do the same thing again. But, she’ll try to find a fault in your mission. At this moment I will take action to break the contract.”

“And in exchange you want something right?”

“Correct. But I won’t tell you what this is all about before that. And even if you think for now that you won’t accept it. I will make a bet: that when I offer my hand you would accept anything that I would tell you to give.”

“Pff! Okay bet. But I will have the upper hand next time.”

I didn’t hesitate to take his handshake, it’s more of an assurance than bravado. Anyone would do anything to live, even in shame. What does he want me to give? I’m half naked with a club. The very definition of a cavewoman beast girl, I’m just missing the frontal lobe. Still curious, I’m asking another question.

“Is it all or there is more?”

“There is more, but it’s already been an hour now. And I still have more to tell you. There is always a time for next time, I’ve already found what I will teach you.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Can’t I learn it now? Why wait?”

“One thing at the time, there is still one thing I need to tell you.”

“Um? What is it? I’m curious.”

“The mana you think is, is not really what it is in a video game. There is 4 things to know about it:

The mana in your ‘status windows’ is like your potential, the less you have the less you gain power. But it’s okay, you can gain more mana strength with time.

The greater your mana strength and the larger your mana pool is, the more effective your power rank upgrades will be.

Also there is something that is an inherent problem, the faster you gain mana strength the more you are subject to mana corruption. Mana corruption leads to people going berserk and most of the time being demons.

And finally the excess mana gained in your body by doing action and fight makes your body stronger. Beastmen have a good body, but they lack proper mana, but with time they unlock mana form.

That’s all!”

Listening to all this information, I now know what I need to progress, but the mana corruption sounds scary. I think I know why the goddess tried to tell me to be a human or an elf.

“Mana corruption sounds scary, is it a problem for me? I’ve heard from Aurora that humans and elves are better in this aspect is it true?”

“For beastmen, the first 10 years are the most dangerous for their developpement, and because of poor foundation, it takes 10 years for a beastman to make the same progress as a human in 4 years. But don’t be desperate, they develop competence and strength faster than anyone in this world, but don’t be fooled by that.

Humans become corrupted once they become too strong and die of old age before they could destroy the world. Elves are not what novels and movies depict them, they live only a bit longer than humans, they stay young longer and have a lot of children like humans but they are not better than any other races. And Aurora is a supremacist, she can’t accept other races than elves or humans. The law of the summoning takes your choice as absolute, even if the god abhor the idea.”

“Seriously? That’s just blatant stupidity. Why hate someone as cute as me? Maybe I should cut off all these elves' ears.”

Taken aback he looks at the cat girl trying to know if she were serious or not and prays she doesn't do another Pelinal case. He shrugged it as stupid and said what he needed before they parted ways.

“I’m gonna give you my first gift and a little helping hand for your adventure.”

Closing then opening again his hand, white magic is glowing in his hand palm. Her ears perk up looking at the glowing orb coming out of his hand. Focussed like a cat finding something interesting, she can only ask too curious to be cautious.

“What is it? Why is it glowing? Is it my gift?”

“The gift is not the glowing orb.” Gently shake his head side to side, then let orb fly to the girl. “It’s a universal language talent, it shall help me in less than a day, your goddess should have given you this cloth and a weapon. But she’s a bit locked for now. But it is equal to what you have now, if not even better.”

“My spiked club is this strong? I always thought that the first thing that you create is worse than the starting equipment.”

“It’s not the problem, your dexterity is so high that everything you make is more solid and dangerous. And the raptor is not an easy catch, they tend to kill their prey fast in groups of 4. This one was weaker by stagnant hunger and being kicked out from his group for being weak. Not even half the size of a real one.”

“You mean, that was weak? I nearly died! And there are bigger ones? What in the world is this planet, is this the Cretaceous or something like that? I thought there were people!”

The Devil finally laughed with full heart, trying hard to be serious in front of this cute thing. But reality is not near enough to one's will.

“I think you misunderstood something, there are people, but they are not better equipped than you.”

“Huh?!”

“Creatures roam the planet, dragons, dinosaure, mythical creatures, this is only the start of the world. The whole planet has for now 24 millions, in the region where you are 7.5 millions and you are on the biggest continent. Where you are, it's something similar to Earth europe.”

The sudden shock stopped me and I made a blank face full of realisation.

“So that means… I live in a world where stone is all there is? Not even iron?”

“Evolution takes time, kitten. The whole world had gone awry by the mutation imported by mana when the gods first arrived at this planet. Part of the world tries to make some crude version of it. But don’t be hasty, the other Chosen are putting their knowledge to rush it. But it’s still slow. And the global population needs to keep up with the change. So even if they force progress, some technology would be lost then found again.”

Facing the truth she was now really dispirited, she wanted to do things like being a knight, train to be a warrior and be a legend! But all there is, just mountains of pebbles! Thinking about it, she looked again to the Devil. Still a candle of hope.

“What about Chosen… Do they live… Longer?”

“The Chosen live longer, but they still reach a limit once they reach twice the maximum longevity.”

K.o. Finally she lost her last hope of a great dream, all her body looking lifeless. She didn’t want to live without the comfort of the modern age. But even that’s worse to compare, the only thing you will live with are stones and clothing made out of hide.

The man looking at the girl being depressed felt a pang in his heart, he can’t help her now. But later he’ll find a way.

“Don’t be too depressed kitten, there are a lot of things in life to discover, maybe you’ll find a great magic sword and make the best cloth!”

The droopy head looked again at the man, with still hopeful eyes. She replies weakly.

“Rea.. really? Is it possible?”

With a smile he gave her what she wanted to hear.

“Of course! You’ll become someone wonderful, I bet my goatee on it! Even if you are just a kitten, you fight like a tiger! Even if it was a poor fight, you did your best.”

Finally, getting back to it’s personnage, he got back to his serious expression from the beginning being too fired up for someone else.

“Yay!”

She didn’t care about his expression, she was now dancing on the chair, all her body dancing.

He coughed one time to get her attention and finally say what he needed to say.

“You need to continue for another half a day following the river, you’ll find your first camp of people. They live near a cavern, it helps them to survive against the dangerous change. But don’t let your guard down, every stranger for a tribe can be their doom, like every isolated tribe they tend to isolationism. For the time being, hide your ears and tails.”

“I’ll do that! Thanks for the tips and the information. It was worth my time.”

I laugh at it like nothing happened a moment before, I’m now back on my feet and bow to the man.

“I didn’t think about it, but what is your name?”

“My name? ummm, just call me the Devil like you said at the beginning, my real name is not really important!”

“Okay Mister Devil, thank you for everything!”

With a snap from his hand, everything is back to where it was, in the middle of the woods, my two selves still sleeping and nothing came when I was out.

It was now time to think for tomorrow.