My Werepanther System: Starting with Nine Lives
Chapter 62 SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

Chapter 62: 62 SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

The journey out of the Drift Dimension was easier than the war to get to its core. After Rex and his pride slayed the Drift-Destroyer, the other militarized volcanic-kobolds laid off. They weren’t allies, but they did defeat their greatest enemy.

And they were carrying the corpses of the kobolds lesser enemies on their backs.

Passive intimidation, Imani called it.

Rex would’ve been more inclined to call it nature.

When they stepped out of the Drift Dimension, a world of darkness welcomed them. Slowly ending darkness.

The jungle was quiet. The odd mechanical screech and shift of gears sent night birds flying and disease carrying bats chirping. But nothing was off.

Except for the three foot deep trenches dug all through the jungles in the area surrounding.

"My grave halls!" Nechra whined as she bent over to peek into the shadowy depths absent of bones.

Due to her poorly fit leather bikini of sorts, Rex ended up seeing more than he bargained for.

"Thank Panther for night vision—"

"It’s illegal to fornicate with monster-kind." Imani said as she stood beside him, watching him watch Nechra.

Rex looked away, "What the he— who was talking about sex?"

"Your eyes." Imani said.

Rex grinned, "You jealous?"

"No. I’m irritated." Imani said as she looked up at the sky— failing to hide the rose tint of her cheeks, "It’s a couple hours short of early morning."

Orange crept into the midnight tones stretched across the horizon with fiery claw marks.

Rex yawned suddenly. "I was hoping for at least a few hours of sleep. Fuck, man."

"What’s the problem?" Nechra asked as she stood up from the trenches.

"We’re Drift Soldier Trainees." Imani explained, "We have a curriculum to follow."

Nechra looked at them in a new light suddenly, "You’re..... trainees."

"She just said that." Rex answered.

"And you want to fight a wolf-god?" Nechra asked.

"You think I want to?" Rex asked, "We have to. And don’t let that trainee status make you forget how us trainees.... and sand-Lion shifters just ashed and ate a high-level Drift Destroyer. I’m here for the food— and discounts." Rex said.

Nechra turned to Imani.

"I’m here in search of the entire truth."

Nechra made a face.

Rex waved her off, "Don’t ask."

An awkward silence spread then. Or more accurately, the truth of the situation settled in. In the middle of a military populated jungle, an economically superpowered princess, adolescent— underpowered, panther-god, half-goblin Necromancer and sand made warriors had formed a team. And none of them knew eachother for more than a few days. Yet they’d fought a titan. And traveled to worlds hidden in worlds.

It left an odd taste in their mouthes. Collectively. There was room for massive magic explosions and artillery blasts, but not much small talk—

"Speaking of taste..." Rex suddenly said before turning to Hassan and the Bastetians... and their carry-on. "I need to eat those."

"Of course." Hassan bowed. As he lowered his body in respect, he slowly dropped a Kobold with the build of a raptor on steroids at his feet. "But don’t expect much skill growth." Hassan added as Rex used his claws to rip into the creature.

Rex came up with a maw covered in steaming blood, "Why not?"

"The tongue of barbs works proportionally to the number of the species." Hassan explained, "There was one Drift Destroyer. There were thousands of ....how do you call them? Kobolts?"

"Kobolds." The Bastetians replied in unison.

"Yes, kobolds."

"Oh well." Rex shrugged and dug in, "But that does make sense." He thought as he ate, "I got a shit-ton of skills eating that hairy Fire-cyclops. But I got one single skill when I ate the Drakes. If I were to make a sort of power-growth based diet, then I need to focus on eating Drift-gods for the sake of saving time.... And teeth."

Rex coughed up a scale-ball as Imani and Nechra chatted in the dark and ate plants and fruits from her bag.

When he finished eating, it was just as Hassan said.

***

[Name: Kalico Rex]

[Age: 17 Years old]

[Height: 5ft 10in/175 Cm]

[Weight: 220Lbs/100kgs]

[Race: Primordial Shape-Shifter/ Panthera Sapien]

[Level: 12 (470/1200)]

[Stat Points: 3]

[Skill Points: 0]

[HP: (300/300)]

[MP: (300/300)]

[STR: 20]

[SPD: 18]

[STMN: 10]

[DEX: 16]

[LCK: 5]

[CNTRL: 4 (+10)]

[WILL: 10]

[INT: 12]

[SKILLS\ABILITIES: (Nine Lives LV1), (Blade Sense LV1), (Acrobatics LV1), (Vantage Vision LV1) (Night-Hunter: Active), (Predator’s Frenzy: 17%), (Lunacy: 0%) (Barbed Tongue LV1), (Venom Saliva LVB), (Rampage-Wave LVB), (Primal-Eyebeam LVB), (Mass-Morphing LVB), ((Base) Werepanther Transformation LVT), (Anhurian/Werelion Transformation LVB/A) (Glass-Guardian Transformation LVB/A]

[Elemental Affinities: (Jungle-Fire), (Solar-Sand), (....?), (....?).]

[Authority: (Warrior’s Authority), (Guardian’s Authority), (....?), (...?)]

***

No new skills. But his health and mana pool replenished.

Quickly, he spent his three stat points with two going towards speed and another to mana. All the while, he ignored Nechra as she took the leftover crunched bones from his meal and stuffed them in her waist bag.

He surveyed the area, taking note of Imani conversing with Hassan and the Bastetians nearby. They were far enough away for the discussion to not be overheard by human ears.

"So, you live in that cave?" Rex asked Nechra as she picked up a handful of dino teeth and stuffed them in her bag.

"I did— until my guarding babies were SHATTERED!—"

Rex held up a hand to her mouth as Imani and the others looked up from their conversation ahead of them.

Rex put a finger to his lips, "C’mon, man, it’s like three in the morning. Quiet."

"Rage is not quiet! It isn’t portrayed this way in the books or nature!" Nechra protested.

"Have you read every book?" Rex asked.

"...."

"Have you been everywhere?" Rex asked. His time with Syphen gave him experience with the half-goblins unique social character.

Nechra dropped her head and crossed her arms. Her chest bounced.

Rex found himself eyeing the fading glow of the stars.

"I liked that cave. It didn’t have any dogshifter scent."

"Nechra— what are you not understanding?" Rex asked.

Nechra looked at him seriously, "Many things. That’s why I read.... And steal, man."

Rex shook his head, "The cave his still your home. We’re on the same team. Remember? The whole discussion in the Drift Dimension. Is a side effect of necromancy short term memory loss?"

Nechra’s slim eyebrows rose up her green spotted forehead, "OH!... so your cats just moved in with me."

"Yes. After you tried to kill them." Rex replied.

"Self defense." Nechra said.

Rex had a reply ready that died on arrival, "No that’s actually fair— but they came with kids. We were in a bind."

"Kids can sometimes be the most dangerous. Like kid volt-vipers. They are more poisonous than adults." Nechra said.

"Nechra, you’re talking about killing children because of snakes." Rex said flatly.

"No, I’m talking about how things can be related."

"You need to steal some more books." Rex said.

"Yes."

"Now, me and Imani have to get back to The Box before the day starts." Rex said.

"The.... Box?"

"Y—"

A mechanical screech sent more birds flying and a collection of tall jungle trees falling through the canopy in the distance. The impact shook the ground and sent woodsy smelling winds there way.

"That’s The Box." Rex said.

"Ohhhh.... ew." Nechra made a face. "The Box destroys special plants."

"Welcome to military-expansion." Rex said sarcastically with a yawn before clapping his hands, "So, I need you to go back with Hassan and the Bastetians. You can meet the others and we’ll figure out our next step the next time night falls.

Nechra made a serious face as she eyeballed him. It lasted a bit longer than what was humanely comfortable.

"What?" Rex asked.

Nechra dug into her bag. Flower petals, acorns and weird rotten fruit shavings fell out as she dug until finally she came out with a snake skull as big as her palm. She held it out to Rex.

Blue green essence flowed from her palms and into the skull.

That same glow settled in its eyes.

And her own.

The green splotches of goblin tint on her hybrid skin moved like water, shifting and expanding as her monster dna and mana activated as one.

"Why are you against the dog-shifters?" She asked.

"What is this a confessional?—"

"Answer." Her voice was hard.

Rex flexed his jaw and stood up straighter, "Cause fuck ’em, that’s why."

Nechra shook her head, "Death is the coldest— hardest truth, lies measure up terrible next to it."

Rex turned his head and found the others watching.

"Alright." He relented, "I only wanted two things. A warm meal and a place to sleep every night. I wanted a home. Remulus and his gang of shifter-slaves said I can’t have that unless I give up everything to be like them. We’re enemies now."

The serpent skulls jaw opened. Nechra turned her head as if it was speaking to her.

"You said you wanted this. Why don’t you want this anymore?" Nechra asked.

Rex rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t like talking emotions with people. "I still want it. But there’s more to it now. There’s this kid..... his names Syphen. He’s like you..... he’s like me too. I don’t just want stuff for myself anymore, alright? Does that answer your question?"

The serpent skull shut its jaws.

Nechra’s shifting skin calmed and her glowing palms faded.

She put the skull back in her bag and nodded, "Yes. I’m ready to go home."

Rex turned to Hassan and the Bastetians and gave them a nod.

They said their goodbyes to Imani and headed deeper into the untamed jungle towards Nahual Falls.

"And suddenly there were two." Rex said as he turned and joined Imani.

"What a night." Imani said.

"Yea, seriously." Rex replied.

"So, what do you think of Nechra?" Imani asked.

"I’m not sure. She’s.... A wildcard. But she’s strong. She can be, at least." Rex said.

"Necromancy is an extremely rare power. The only other one I know is the strongest Inheritence Ability user in the world right now. And he wasn’t supposed to be one."

"Right. Whatever his name is." Rex said.

"Ramon Raphael." Imani said quickly.

"I wonder if he randomly uses his bone puppets to interrogate people who saved his life too." Rex said.

Imani smiled faintly. "Having a little brother is nice."

Rex raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "The robot has emotions!?"

"The robot had a brother too."

Had.

The word hit Rex like a missile.

"What happened?" He asked, a bit quieter than before as they walked.

"Accident." Imani raised up her hands to make air quotes. "If accident was synonymous with political assassination."

"I’m.... sorry for your loss." Rex said.

"I am too." Imani replied. "Let’s try not to lose anymore."

"....yea" Rex replied.

The rest of the walk back to The Box was actually a run. One of silence. The night was filled with confusion, danger, sudden twists but most importantly, success. Sad revelations aside.

When Rex got back to his barracks, he wanted nothing more than just five minutes of silence.

But he heard the faint buzzing from his locker before he even got upstairs.

Silently, he stepped through the bunk-bed lined halls until he reached his own at the back end of the building on the top floor.

With a quieted snarl, he opened the locker and found his bracelet known as a "Snipe-Gauntlet" ringing against the metal shelf.

He put on the bracelet and held the thing to his ear with one of the beads that was covered in small holes like a walkie.

A message played in response to his pulse.

"Specialist Kalico Rex, report to AG Brennus Office in 12 seconds for special ops debriefing."

Rex dropped his head. "This better not be another vampire-god."