I slowly open my eyes, expecting to wake up in my small and cluttered room. But what greets me is an eight foot drop down to the corpse of a large, decaying spider body. And crawling all over that large spider body are the rats, ravenously devouring the spider's corpse. Not something I wanted to see right after waking up.
It looks like they haven't spotted me, so I should be safe here for awhile. It also doesn't look like the horde is here, just some of the braver rats I guess. First thing's first: how's my body doing? When I went to sleep I was covered in cuts and bruises, but as I examine my body I realize that I'm fully healed and good to go.
I stretch as best I can in the small space. It's a weird thing to say, but I feel so much more comfortable as a cat than when I was a human. My mind is sharp and clear and my body feels loose, but powerful. I'm full of energy and eager to move. I hardly ever felt that way in my human body.
In fact, I'm feeling better than when I fought the spider, like I'm stronger and more agile. I guess that's my mana core improving my body beyond the limits of a normal cat. I also notice that my body is a bit bigger and more muscular than it was before. My body is starting to grow.
Speaking of mana cores... where did the spider's mana core go?
Oh no... don't tell me a rat came in and stole it? That's impossible. If a rat did come by then there's no way it would've passed on the chance to kill me in my sleep. No, that means something else happened to it. And the only other thing I can think of is...
I absorbed it?
I turn my senses inward to see what the situation is with my mana core. What I see surprises me greatly. My mana core is actually about three times bigger than it was before. I guess absorbing the spider's mana core must have massively improved it, along with eating its flesh and drinking the mana-water. It was clearly more developed than everything else I've encountered so far though, so I guess it makes sense. Its core probably had more mana than mine.
I'm incredibly excited to see what I can do now that I have so much more mana, but I'm obviously still not safe yet. The rats have already arrived and are stealing the remains of my prey, and I haven't even gotten very far from where I first woke up as a cat. Not that that's my fault. Between that mind insect and the spider, I can't be blamed for it. Even the rats were avoiding them.
Speaking of the rats... it's time that I punish them for taking what's mine. I conjure a large and roaring hot black flame. I feel my mana drain slightly, but I smirk as I realize that compared to before, it hardly costs anything now.
I blast the flame out of my small cave and onto the spider's corpse, cooking both the spider and the thieving rats. They cry and squeal in pain and terror, but they die quickly from the fire. I let the fire burn for a few seconds longer just to be sure, then I gather my flames into a ball and let them sit above the spider.
I wait a few moments to make sure that there's nothing else moving or waiting for me below, just to be safe. The rats made a decent amount of noise as they burned to death, after all. It wouldn't be shocking if more of them came. As I wait, I contemplate where to go from here.
Perhaps I can break through the sewer plate and get out to the surface now. Though maybe I shouldn't get out that way... after all, right now I don't have any leads on how to find out what happened to me and how I became a cat. Finding humans is currently my best bet at doing that, so it might not be a good idea to break something they put effort into creating. Especially since the consequences could be dire.
So that leaves continuing my exploration of the tunnels. I can continue through the spider cave, or I can go back and face the rat horde. I have a little bit of confidence in dealing with them now, considering how powerful my shadow tendrils and flames are. But I'm still not one hundred percent confident yet. After all, all they have to do is bury me in acid or bodies and I'll die, easy.
For now, I'll just continue my exploration into the spider cave.
Since I haven't seen any signs of more rats, I jump down from my perch to the floor of the intersection. I cautiously check the tunnel I came from, but there's still no sign of anything inside of it, just the glowing mushrooms, fungi, and water.
The spider cave is also empty, I probably killed most everything inside of it with my fire. The giant spider I fought was most likely the last living thing in there. Speaking of the giant spider... should I eat more of it before I go? Technically, I ate it uncooked during the fight, and the rats were eating it just now, so it's definitely edible. But it'll taste really gross though... but I am hungry...
I wince a little inside as I jump onto the spider's body, doing my best to avoid stepping on any of the smoldering rat corpses. I use my claws to slice off a few pieces of untouched but still slightly burnt spider meat, then use my flames to cook it just a little longer.
After the meat has been cooked I swallow it down all at once, doing my best not to taste it. I cough and choke after eating it, and my face is twisted with disgust and revulsion. But I can feel the mana from the meat being absorbed into my body, so it's worth it.
I hesitate a little before taking a drink of the water, wincing at the now familiar tingling sensation. Why is it that I can't eat or drink without feeling uncomfortable anymore? So far, my life as a cat has not been an enjoyable one. I've been attacked by rats, insects, and spiders, burned by acid and cut by claws and stone shards. I almost had my mind fried by that bug that's hopefully rotting in the tunnel behind me. The rat meat was okay, but the spider meat is horrible. And this water! Argh!
Alright, that's enough complaining for today. It's time to get going.
I walk elegantly through the spider tunnel. At first it starts off like the other one did, as a concrete tunnel, but it quickly expands into a larger cave-like tunnel. If I had to guess, then this is probably the giant spider's work. It must have used its ability to expand its home.
Luckily my fire burnt all the spiderwebs already. I'd hate to get it stuck on my fur, it would probably be a nightmare for me to get it out. As I walk through the spider tunnel, I notice that there are some bones scattered on the ground. Mostly rat corpses, but there are a few crumbling chitinous carapaces here and there. I guess they've killed some of those as well. I wonder how that one insect got through.
What really disturbs me though is the sight of several human skulls and bones. Some of them are grouped together, as if they were eaten at once, and others are off on their own. Maybe they were exploring the sewers and got surprised by how vicious the spiders were? But that would mean that they're weaker than me, since I was able to kill the spider. Unless if they used mana that the spider was resistant to. Or maybe they were trapped here. Hell, maybe most humans don't even have mana. I don't know.
I wonder what they'd even come down here for. The only thing of value is the water, and I guess the monster meat if you can stomach it. Well, now that I think about it, the spider's carapace could become decent armor I suppose. It defended against my tendrils after all. And then there's the possibility of getting mana cores. I only found one and it was from the giant spider, so they seem to be rather rare, though. Of course, there may be worse creatures down here with even bigger cores. Now that I think about it, it's probably abnormal that I already had a mana core when I woke up. I mean, as far as I can tell, I'm a kitten right now, nowhere near as grown or developed as the large rats and spiders.
I still don't understand a lot of what's happening. I don't even know how powerful I am compared to what's on the surface, or if there are any monster animals or insects on the surface. At least some of the humans can use mana, so maybe they've already eradicated all the monsters.
After what feels like an hour of walking, the cave narrows down to being a concrete tunnel again.
I can feel some tiny vibrations on my paws, there's a few creatures up ahead though I don't see them yet. What I can see though are partially eaten glowing mushrooms and fungi. Maybe there are more of those damn mind insects up ahead.
True to my prediction, after a few more minutes of walking I can see a dozen of the insects milling about. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they dot the walls up ahead, just hanging onto the walls.
I crouch down at a distance from them and use my mana to summon four shadow tendrils. I shape them a bit more specifically though, giving them a blade at the end that curves to a sharp point. The edge and point should make the tendrils better for slashing and stabbing through weaker armor than if I were to just create standard tendrils.
But more than anything, I just want to experiment and see what my limits are. As far as I can tell, magic depends solely on the amount of mana, my imagination, and my willpower to bring the magic into existence. In other words, the only real limit is myself.
I hurl my tendrils down the tunnel, using them to shred through the insects' carapaces. They struggle and squeal as their bodies are torn apart. Remembering the agony they put me through the last time I encountered their kind, I absolutely do not let up. I use my tendrils even more aggressively, whipping them faster and faster throughout the tunnel.
A thin thread connects to me from one of the insects, but I immediately follow the thread with my eyesight and send a tendril crashing into its head and slicing through the cement beyond it. Blood splatters onto the wall and the thread blinks out of existence. Its body slides to the floor as my tendrils zips off to another prey.
A few other insects manage to connect their threads to me, but I'm careful not to let any of them attack. If they do, I'll be screwed if I don't recover right away. It's a little nerve-wracking, but I trust in my mana and in my instincts.
I'm just glad that they have an incredibly weak defense. I can't help but shudder at the thought of what would've happened to me if that armored spider had their ability.
As I travel down the tunnel I encounter several more colonies of the insects. But every time I encounter them I make sure to eradicate them as quickly as possible. By proceeding in such a manner, I finally reach another one of those intersections.
Similar to the last intersection, there's only the tunnel across from me and the ladder to my right. At the top of the ladder is another glowing sewer plate. It probably even goes to the street level, but I already said that I'm not going to try to force my way through.
But it would appear that I don't have to. Because as I look down the tunnel across from me, I can see a bright shining light in the distance. I may have just found the exit to the sewers.