Waking up was a difficult task for Iris all that strenuous training last night really took a toll on her body, thus partially denying her the capacity of her body motion.
She groggily sat up on her bed, pondering on her current situation.
It was Sunday today, and there was still a week left before the six-week half term ended, Iris felt this she should gain as many stat points as possible in this week before returning to school.
It is possible for her to use an excuse of her classmates not seeing her for the entire six-weeks and her 'Blooming' into her looks like an excuse for her appearance, which she believed is a plausible argument.
Hopefully, everything will go well in the next week, as Iris was getting fed up of the threats to her life because of the system.
The first combat situation she encountered, the man wasn't that dangerous or too much of a threat towards her, however; the gun was the only life-threatening danger.
As Iris still wasn't at the point in which she has supernatural ability to dodge bullets or recover from severe wounds.
She really needs to stronger faster, the prospect of dying at any moment because of encountering a superhuman individual honestly didn't thrill Iris at all.
Nonetheless, Iris was truly at a loss on where to start. Iris knows she will have not enough time to reach satisfactory enough results just through sheer physical training, a quest could appear at any moment, and training will take a long time for her to build up sufficient strength.
Therefore, it is not the correct means for Iris to build up strength fast.
Despite having free time from afternoon till nightfall, she was sceptical that with only that much time she'd have an acceptable increase in strength.
With a grunt of pain, she slowly stood up, trying to adapt herself to her aching body while she steadily headed towards the bathroom.
After getting out of the shower, Iris approached the mirror covered in a towel.
Looking at her body, Iris noticed that she has a clear definition of muscle on her body.
Although she wasn't on the level of an active girl who went to the gym regularly, from an outsider's perspective she looks like a girl which definitely works out.
Mmm.
Finally, now her body's fitness is at-least tolerable, now she won't embarrass herself when she pas to partake in any physical activity at least.
With this result, overall Iris felt very satisfied with her training.
Finding clothes in her wardrobe, Iris decided she wanted to go out.
Due to quests allowing Iris to get many attribute points which will increase her strength in the swiftest possible way, then finding more quests was her goal.
As a result of it being late morning, Iris hopes she can complete the quest before her parents come home.
Thus, unless an unforeseen circumstance happens, she believed she shouldn't be late home.
Once outside she kept looking around herself hoping to find anything that might give her a quest, she wanted to have better means in defending herself if she wants to survive whatever the system throws at her.
However, it seems no matter where she looked.
Nothing seemed of interest to both herself and seemingly the system.
Even after her experience at the nightclub, she still does not understand how to trigger quests.
So, she can only wander around hoping that she will trigger a quest.
Walking by an alley Iris suddenly hears a noise.
Looking around the corner, she sees a shady-looking man beating up a peculiar-looking cat; which size is relatively larger than a usual cat, but that wasn't the thing that drew Iris's attention, as the thing unusual about this cat is that it has pitch black with eerie red eyes.
"Stupid beast! Leading me on a wild goose chase! The leader heavily punished me because of losing you making us have not enough sacrifices for the ritual!" The man spoke with clear anger within his eyes.
Ritual?
After pondering what the hell is this about a quest notification popped up.
[ Quest received! Curiosity Killed the Cat! ]
[ Description: It hopelessly gazes wondering what it did to deserve such a fate. Just because of its misunderstood origin they have treated it with malice, as it watches its brethren get sacrificed for a joyous laugh, it gazes upon its cage curious if it will ever be in a world where it can live free. ]
[ Reward: 15 Attribute points | 350 System points. ]
[ Time-limit: Until its death. ]
[ Accept | Decline ]
Seeing the quest, Iris felt anger for the poor being in front of her; it seems like we both have similar circumstances Iris thought, thinking towards her class.
Looking at the man who was still beating the poor animal with unresigned glee, she knows she has made a choice.
Iris thought 'Accept'.
Shortly, after she accepted the quest, another man emerged from the corner.
"Hey David, can you stop beating the beast? We need the thing alive for the boss. It's a part of the ritual remember?" The other man spoke.
Seeing that there are now two men, Iris knew she needed to use her precious attribute points to deal with such a situation.
As she accepted this quest, there's no turning back.
Knowing at the moment 'Intelligence' is useless as at the moment she required more physical power than wits.
Therefore, Iris put an additional '2' points in Strength, also allocating the same points for her Dexterity and Constitution, while increasing her Endurance by '1' point.
A burn of pain quickly travelled through her entire body, luckily the pain that shot through her wasn't as strong as her first time, though she had to clench her teeth not to scream, however at least she didn't spasm or tremble.
After a minute or two, she relaxed, feeling her upgraded power flowing through her body.
She stood up, her motor responses faster than ever.
She wanted to run and punch things to see the difference, but she had a quest to complete, so she'd do it later.
"Just give me a few more minutes, I'll be lenient enough and promise not to kill it. If it does, don't worry I'll take full responsibility" Smiled David, obviously not enjoyed himself enough yet.
"Fine, but it's on your head." Muttered the man leaving David alone.
"Look's like it's just you and me, beast." Spat David venomously.
While the man turns around, Iris slowly approaches David grabbing a loose brick she found in the alley's corner.
How hard should she hit him?
Iris guessed she should use her full strength.
But, is that enough to knock out a person unconscious in one hit?
Whacking him with her full strength, the unsuspecting David neck snapped as he died from the impact.
Seeing the scene before her, Iris opened her mouth wide.
Is he dead?
After seeing the man died from the hit, strangely she felt nothing.
Why doesn't she feel anything?
She thought she would be guilty of the death of the man in front of her, but it seems not to be the case.
'Could it be because of the power inherited from Orthos?' Iris wondered.
Seeing the beating stop, the injured looking cat opened its eyes. Upon seeing the man on the floor dead, and a stranger in front, the cat, cowered afraid of the pain that this new human will cause it.
Witnessing the reaction of the cat, caused a sad smile to grace her lips. "It's ok; I won't hurt you I promise" Assured Iris.
Hearing her voice, the cat had a strange expression on its face.
It doesn't know why, but it strangely trusts the human before it.
The cat decides to make a decision, which could a be a significant risk to it on its part, it suddenly lunges towards Iris, before Irs could react the cat bit her finger drawing blood.
[ The 'Shadow Demon Cat' is requesting to sign a contract and is requesting you to accept her as your 'Familiar'. ]
[ Warning: You can only have one 'Familiar'. So choose carefully. ]
[ Accept | Decline ]
Seeing the message, without hesitation Iris clicked accept. As soon as she accepted a blinding light emerged binding both her and the cat together, the cat upon feeling her emotions immediately knew it made the right decision.
Even though it was a risk of it to initiate a contract, it knew if it wouldn't then it will end up like its kin.
Smiling at seeing the cat warming up to her, "Mmm. Then what should I call you?"