The Over-Break System

“Björn, I want this one; that’s ok, right?” Without removing her hand from the cage, Gabby looked up at Brance. She had already noticed something special about this little kitten, and her suspicions were confirmed after meeting Brance’s eyes.

Unknown to Brance, he had a particular look he would get if something were off with a situation, and noticing a slight twitch in his left cheek, Gabby knew the little kitten was hiding something from everyone at the shop; she just didn’t know what.

“Yeah, let’s get this little guy; he seems to like you, so why not.” Hiding his surprise after reading the kitten’s info and shrugging his shoulders as if nothing could be done, Brance stood up and flashed another look at the kitten with his [Inspect].

-Level 0 Tier-1 Infant Spotted Liollen Kitten (Smilodon-Thṓs) .-

-Height: 0′ 4″.-

-Weight: 1 LB, (0.4 KG) .-

-Category: Jungle Cat.-

-Bloodline: Mythical Beast, Smilodon-Thṓs.-

-Threat Level = Do NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, Allow this Creature to grow up without being Tamed. The amount of Danger it poses once fully grown is Astronomical.-

-Description: A species of long-fanged Mythical Felines that has long since been thought to have gone extinct. Many breeds of Felines have watered down and heavily diluted purities of this Bloodline, and sometimes nature takes its course. If two creatures share the same purity of Bloodline, a more active line takes over, changing the breed of the Creature. –

-As this Creature ages and evolves, it will take on the Mythical Characteristics of its ancestors, becoming a fearsome predator.-

-Stat Distribution: 2 STR, 1 DEX, 1 AGI, 1 INT, 2 VIT.-

-Affinities:

:(BG) Terra-Tier-0 (Initial):

:(BG) Chloro-Tier-0 (Initial):

:(???) ???-Tier-0 (Initial):

-Growth Potential: Beyond Tier-5 ???. Mythical Growth Potential.-

‘Fucking hell, how the shit did the staff miss this cat’s attributes? The Tag shows what I can only assume to be the basic info for a Spotted Liollen. Low/Mid Growth potential, two stat Distribution, hell, it doesn’t even have any Affinities listed.’ Smiling casually at Gabby as the attendant girl unlocked the cage for them, Brance’s brain was churning out theories and thoughts.

“Thank you, miss,” once the cage was unlocked, the attendant girl stepped back, a little fearful of the kitten, and allowed Gabby to reach in and pick the kitten up.

Adding to the Attendant’s surprise after seeing the apparent student petting the Spotted Liollen, her eyes widened as Gabby picked up the seemingly docile Creature and embraced it while planting a kiss atop its head.

All the while, the kitten continuously “mewed” and purred thoroughly, enjoying the pets. Nestling into the crook of Gabby’s elbow, it quickly fell back asleep happily, causing her to make strange cooing noises at the sleeping kitten.

“O..ok, that’s new; I’ve never seen it treat anyone as other than an enemy, let alone allow someone to hold it, trust me, I’ve tried numerous times and earned quite a few scratches and bite scars that needed to be treated.” The attendant girl said while wearing a strange expression.

“Really, it’s so weird….” Shaking her head a few times, the Attendant straightened her back and smiled. Although Spotted Liollen kittens were a pretty hot commodity, this one had been here for weeks, refusing to allow anyone to get near it, so at the end of the day, she was delighted it was finding a new home.

The attendant girl happened to be the store owner’s daughter and a Fourth-year student, so aside from working there, she had a profound love for any and all animals, even the ones with pointy teeth and claws, so over time, as the little guy’s siblings were all sold, this little one stayed alone.

Thus now that the time had come, she couldn’t be happier for it.

“Follow me, and we can handle the purchase and registration paperwork; based on how you didn’t choose a house pet type, I assume you have one of the Tamer Classes?”

“Yes, I have the Huntress Class, and we were looking for a Beast Partner for me; luckily, I found this little one.” Looking up from the kitten in her arms, Gabby happily explained.

“I see, it makes sense that you would want a feline type, and the Spotted Liollen is a good choice; they like trees and are pretty quick on top of being smart.” As they walked toward the checkout counter, the Attendant explained a little about Spotted Liollen, such as their likes, dislikes, what kind of food they eat, how to take care of them, and of course, some of the best strategies for raising them.

By the time they reached the counter, Gabby and Brance had a decent grasp on what they were getting into; or that would have been the case if the little sleeping kitten was actually a Spotted Liollen.

“Alrighty, the price for your Spotted Liollen is 6550 Merit Points, then there’s a 455 Merit Point processing fee for the Tamer Registration, and another 200 for the basic starter kit, which, as I told you, includes the pet bed, scratching post, and one month worth of food.”

“I went ahead and gave you a 20% discount since you are choosing a kitten that has been here longer than a month, so your total comes out to 5764 Merit Points.” Punching the numbers on a large cash register, the Attendant looked between Gabby and Brance as if asking who was paying.

When they first entered the store, she caught sight of their S-Rank faction badges, and even though they were only First Years, it was common knowledge that S-rank’s tended to have abundant resources, so she never doubted they had the money to purchase a Creature.

Hearing the price tag attached to her new kitten, Gabby was a little surprised but quickly buried those thoughts and tapped her Watcet against the little machine beside the register resembling a credit card reader to pay for everything.

Since the responsibility of taking care of her kitten was her job, there was no chance she would allow Brance to pay; plus, after clearing the Obelisk, she presently had 21,400 Merit Points. Spending 6000 was a drop in the water for her.

“Payment Approved!” a robotic voice chimed as Gabby’s Watcet tapped the card reader, and a receipt was soon spat out and handed to Gabby by the Attendant.

“Alright, the easy part is done, haha; now comes the part everyone loves, the paperwork. Please follow me to the office, and we can get that all squared away.” Stepping away from the register, the Attendant Girl waved her hand and walked off to a clean and professional office with a single desk and three chairs.

Once in the room, the Attendant girl left the two alone with a large stack of papers. Brance quickly activated [Mana Sight] when the door shut and checked for any surveillance equipment. When he realized there were only a couple of cameras and no audio gear, he softly tapped Gabby on the shoulder in morse code, something he and Cynrik had taught the Sanford siblings long ago.

” .. / -. . . -.. / -.– — ..- / – — / … . – / ..- .–. / .- / – . .-.. . .–. .- – …. .. -.-. / .-.. .. -. -.- / -… . – .– . . -. / ..- … .-.-.- / -.– — ..- / -. . . -.. / – — / -.- -. — .– / .- -… — ..- – / -.– — ..- .-. / -.-. .- – .-.-.- “

The message that Brance rapidly tapped out on her shoulder read as such, “I need you to set up a telepathic link between us. You need to know about your cat.”

At first, Gabby stiffened as she realized Brance was disguising a message with what could be observed as physical affection; still, half a second later, she began deciphering the message, and a frown crept onto her lips.

With soft glowing Amethyst Eyes, Gabby leaned her shoulder against Brance’s and created a thin teather of Mana between them.

~What’s up, Brancie?~ (Telepathy using Gabby as a proxy will have ~ in the future)

~Listen closely; your kitten is anything but regular or average; once Cynrik learns about its stats, he will be severely jealous.~

Closing his eyes, Brance imagined the notification window he had seen with [Inspect], and half a second later, the image was sent over to Gabby.

“GASP,” startled by what she was seeing in her mind, Gabby couldn’t help but let out an audible gasp; if what Brance had shown her was true, then a lot of things she felt by looking at the sleeping kitten were confirmed.

The biggest of which was the fact that it had the Chloro Affinity, but when she saw the Species name, her brain powered down temporarily as she sat there dumbfoundedly staring at the sleeping kitten in her arms.

~Let alone 6k, this is the kind of Creature people would pay Trillions of credits to get their hands on, both Tamers and Hunters. Because if they could raise it correctly, they would have an extremely powerful ally that would be loyal till death.~

~I may not be the most learned person regarding Beasts and Creatures, but putting together context clues gathered from the Species name and description, we can assume that this little kitten of yours will become a Saber-Toothed Cat, and a powerful one at that.~

Sliding his hand down from her shoulder, Brance’s fingers found their way to the small of Gabby’s back, where he traced small circles on her uniform.

~For now, act like nothing is going on and start thinking of a suitable name for him; I want to get home ASAP so that you can use your [Beast Partner Contract] and see its complete stat profile.~

Removing his hand from her back, Brance picked up several of the papers and started reading through them all before indicating where Gabby needed to sign.

—

Forty-five minutes later, Gabby and Brance released a tired sigh as they left the Pet store with the new kitten and arrived outside the Dorm. It had taken some time to complete all the paperwork and receive the official registration of the kitten, who was now sporting a silver collar and sleeping quietly in Gabby’s arms.

“Are you sure about Milo as its name?” Tossing a sideglance at the happy Gabby, who was in the process of rubbing her cheek on the soft fur of her new pet, Brance asked.

“Mhm, it’s perfect. Based on what you showed me earlier, it came to me the second I saw that breed name.”

Unlocking the front door, the two entered the house and found Cynrik lazily slumped on the couch with his two Ravens on either side of him, propped up on plush velvet pillows. The two appeared to have grown several sizes and were now as big as an American football.

Oddly enough, the trio was watching a documentary on HoloTV about wild Birds causing Brance and Gabby to raise an eyebrow at him.

“Eh, you too are back already? Hm, is that your new Beast Partner? Interesting didn’t expect you to get a Cat…HOLY FUCK, WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS IS THAT THING!” Halfway through his statement, Cynrik activated [Inspect] and shouted so loud that his Raven’s flinched and jumped onto his shoulders to see what was happening.