"It's as I feared; this world is never going to be the same again..." He said solemnly, hands gripped into a fist.
He sat there, deliberating on what he could do in this situation.
'If even Rena got affected by the mana, it's safe to assume that wildlife and possibly even vegetation has been affected also. It might be crazy but there's even the possibility of goblins and other fantasy monsters- wait, this could mean that friendly races like the fae and elves could also come around. Although I don't know how.'
'There's no need to think about this now, I'm sure that the institute is going to call for everyone to head into the main building...' He concluded.
Just as he thought this, an alarm went off throughout the institute, [ Warning! Unidentified hostiles are attacking everything and anything within the campus, please evacuate to the main building in the centre of the campus, recovery squads are being deployed. I repeat... ]
"Speak of the devil." Ren turns to his cat to make sure she is okay before picking her up and placing her in his bag. She was unconscious from the pain she endured.
'It'll be okay... I hope.'
He turned around to everyone staring at him in horror, or rather, what was behind him...
"Ren! Watch out behind you!" A barista called Terry shouted out to Ren.
Ren turns to look behind him and was greeted by something he had only seen in shows, a goblin holding a wooden club running straight at him through the window.
The goblin crashes through the window and charges straight towards Ren.
"Shit!" Ren waited until the goblin was about to swing before side-stepping to the right.
He hastily looks around for something to wield and spots a chair.
He grabs the chair, turns around and blocks an attack from the goblin, causing him to step back from the impact.
He boots the goblin in the stomach, surprisingly, the body of the goblin is exposed and vulnerable to attacks, Ren's kick beat the wind out of its lungs as it abandoned its club and collapsed to the floor holding its belly, gasping for air.
He knew he had to end the life of the body in front of him, but he still lingered, 'The last time I killed something it was a kitten from the litter of Rena since it had a defect that didn't allow it to function properly, ending a life that had barely started hurt me more than I anticipated... however, this thing tried to kill me! Cease hesitating damnit!'
So, without further ado, he drops the chair and grabs the goblin's neck then snaps it to the right, finishing it off.
[ You killed a Level 1 Rank 0 Regular Goblin. ]
[ You absorbed the goblin's essence and gained 3 strength and 2 agility. ]
[ You gained 67xp. (67/100xp) ]
[ Skill Book dropped. ]
He puts his hand to his chest and feels his heart beating with adrenaline, due to Ren's calm and chilled attitude, it takes a lot for him to get angry. This was the first time he was in a fight.
He took a moment to regain composure, during this moment everyone around him snapped out of their reverie and gave him a round of applause, and some thanked him for saving them when no one else wanted to step up.
Ren dismissed their attention but was appreciative of the thanks, he was only doing what he could to not get his cat or himself harmed.
He then noticed Terry to the side who was also clapping, "Thank you Terry for the warning."
Terry gave a simple smile and said, "No problem, don't want our most loyal customer to get killed in our establishment; that would give us a bad rep." He joked.
"Hehe, yeah sure. You're pretty composed to be able to joke like that for someone who just experienced a goblin..." Ren said.
Terry laughed out loud, "Your one to talk, you just killed a goblin! Anyway, I watch a lot of anime so I guess it's not as terrifying as it should be... It seems like you're the same seeing as you've been the most active one out of us."
Ren was also quite surprised at his own composure, he didn't think that killing something would be so... liberating? He didn't know.
Breaking ren out of his thought Terry spoke, "Hey Ren, don't worry about being calm- look around you! If you weren't calm then some of us would've died back then. I believe your mind is something you should value in this situation."
Looking around, he could see many scared faces and cowering people, after the shock they received from the world malfunctioning to the attack of the goblin. How could any normal person not be scared?
Ren sighed, "Yeah, thanks man. I think the goblin dropped a Skill Book, pretty exciting to be honest, I'm going to claim it since it was my kill." He says as he picks up the book that materialised on top of the dead goblin.
[ Skill Book detected. ]
[ Beast Part-Transfiguration Rank 1: A skill derived from your bond with the unique black feline, Rena - Change your arms so be similar to that of a beast, significantly strengthens your attack power and sharpens your nails into claws tougher than steel. Strength +12 while active ]
[ Do you want to learn the skill? ]
'Yes!' Instantly after seeing the effects, he accepted. This solves his strength problem for the time being.
With this, he should be able to lead the group toward the main building or at least to a recovery squad.
[ Skill Learned - Beast Part-Transfiguration Rank 1 (inactive) ]
After learning the skill, he turned to the scared crowd and Terry, "From this book here, I have obtained a way to get us safely to the main building, or at least to a recovery squad. You do not need to come and you can try and take your chances here to wait for a squad to find you. I, however, will not be staying. So make a choice."
Terry was a bit shocked at this, 'What could have possibly made him so confident?'
Instead of guessing, he just asked, "Ren. What skill did you get for you to be this confident?"
"I'll show you all, Beast Part-Transfiguration!"
As Ren said this, his arms started to buff out and grow silky jet black fur which complemented his pitch-black hair. His nails grew longer to a sharp point. He looked like a were-cat currently.
Shocked gasps could be heard at his current form as he explained the effects, "With this, I am now 2.5x stronger than the average human and my nails have turned into claws which are tougher than steel. Before killing that goblin, I was below the average strength of a human, imagine what I could do to that goblin now." He said, trying to stir confidence in him with the others.