"Sherwin! Sherwin! Is the progress full, meow? Is the progress full, meow?!"
"Sherwin-nii, hurry and check the Hunter Handbook, meow!"
After they finished exploring the last island, Sanji Meow and Klee Meow couldn't wait any longer. They jumped onto Sherwin back, one on each side, tugging at his ears and pressing him with urgent questions.
Although the Beautiful big sister Felyne and Seijuro Meow didn't speak up, they were also staring at him eagerly.
"Don't rush, don't rush. I'm summoning now."
Sherwin calmed down the two mischievous cats, then took out the Hunter Handbook.
Conveniently, this last island they were on was uninhabited, so there was no need to hide from others—they could summon right here on the spot.
He flipped to the map page. The progress bar at the bottom was already completely full, and both the 100% indicator and the upload icon were flashing with special light effects, as if urging Sherwin to upload quickly.
Sherwin tapped the upload icon with his finger, and in the next instant, a familiar flash of white light appeared. A fragment of a sapphire-blue summoning ticket appeared in the slot…
Only one fragment? Where were the other rewards?
The smile on Sherwin face instantly froze. He had noticed that special flashing effect earlier and thought it meant extra rewards were guaranteed. But in the end, it was no different from uploading at 75%…
So what was the point of all that effort?!
Irritated, he picked up the fragment. Not willing to give up, Sherwin examined it closely again, but it really had nothing special about it.
"What wrong, Sherwin-nii? You look a little unhappy, meow…" Klee Meow stretched her head over, rubbing her face against Sherwin cheek.
Then, with her little wet nose, she gently nudged the corner of his lips and comforted him in a soft, childlike voice, "Don't be sad, meow. Klee is here with you."
(=ω=)
Sherwin, who had been sulking just moments ago, was instantly healed by the little ragdoll cat. Tilting his head, he gave the little angel Klee Meow a kiss and said,
"I'm fine. It just that the reward from this lousy handbook didn't quite meet my expectations."
"What, meow?! There no new big sister coming, meow?!" Sanji Meow looked utterly devastated, his whole fur coat seeming to lose its color.
Sherwin, who had already calmed down, was immediately amused by the silly cat. He quickly explained,
"No, no, we can still summon a new Felyne. It just that I only got one fragment, a lot less than I expected."
Clicking his tongue, he added, "But I guess that fine too. In the future, when unlocking maps, I won't need to fully explore them—75% will be enough."
"You scared me to death, meow!" Sanji Meow instantly perked up, then started angrily delivering a flurry of cat punches to Sherwin head…
It was clear from this that the little yellow cat had really been upset—normally, his go-to methods were kicking or biting.
After messing around with his cats for a while, Sherwin finally took out the two-thirds of a sapphire-blue summoning ticket he had obtained earlier, and gently touched it to the newly acquired fragment. With a flash of white light, the complete summoning ticket was formed.
Just before summoning, Sherwin instinctively glanced at the ticket—most likely another standard-pool summon…
"Ha! I knew a 100% progress bar couldn't mean no changes at all!"
Relief washed over Sherwin—good thing he had taken that extra look instead of summoning right away.
Because after combining, the design on the ticket had changed.
Originally, the final design was just a cat paw print, indicating the ticket was used to summon a Felyne. Now, the paw print remained, but there was something more…
"This is… a gathering-type Felyne?"
In the early versions of the game, Palicoes were only divided into two types: melee and bombardier.
But with continuous system updates, they were now classified into five types: fighting, bombardier, assisting, gathering, and healing.
The white cloth bag icon with a cat paw print in front of him was the symbol for a gathering-type Palico.
If he had to categorize it, the Beautiful big sister Felyne, as an expedition cat, would probably also fall under the gathering type.
"But… we don't really need another gathering type right now…"
Sherwin muttered in slight disappointment. After all, they already had the Beautiful big sister Felyne as a gathering type, and Klee Meow as a treasure-hunting cat.
Adding another one wouldn't be of much help to the investigation team.
A 100% reward shouldn't be this plain, right?
After thinking for a moment, Sherwin tapped the white cloth bag icon with his finger… but nothing happened.
So, he tried a swipe motion—something he often did on his phone before he crossed over.
This time, the white cloth bag with the paw print switched into an icon of a wooden barrel with a paw print—this was the symbol for a bombardier Felyne.
So, the 100% progress reward is letting me choose the type of Felyne I summon?
Although it wasn't like Sherwin had expected—hoping they'd throw in a few extra fragments—this kind of reward was still pretty good… after all, the investigation team was currently short on quite a few roles.
He swiped the screen a few more times, and sure enough, the trap icon for the support type and the green heart icon for the healer type gradually appeared.
The combat type icon was even more detailed than in the game—aside from the original cat paw hammer, there was now a cat paw sword representing the severing type, as well as a cat paw bow representing ranged units.
However, there was already a dedicated pool for summoning severing-type Felynes, so there was no need to waste this summon ticket on that.
In fact, Sherwin had already considered what type of Felyne he wanted to summon.
Putting aside the Felyne individual personality, what they really needed right now were healer Felynes and artisan Felynes. But compared to before, the healer Felynes were clearly the higher priority.
Even though both he and the Felynes were in great physical shape—and even if they got injured, Sanji Meow meals could quickly help them recover—there were just too many strange diseases and poisons in the world of pirates.
For example, not long ago, the Krieg they defeated liked to use poison gas bombs. If Sherwin hadn't already known about it, he might have fallen for it back then.
Even pirates knew to have a ship doctor. For the sake of the Felyne health and his own, the sooner Sherwin could summon a healer Felyne, the better.
Another reason was that this particular reward couldn't guarantee summoning an artisan Felyne.
Support-type Felynes specialized in setting traps, but that didn't necessarily mean they were good at ship repairs. For all he knew, he might end up summoning a Felyne that was only good at digging holes.
So, it was still safer to just summon a healer Felyne directly.
To make sure he could summon a powerful healer Felyne, Sherwin didn't rush into it. Instead, he picked up Klee Meow and took a good, deep "inhale" of the lucky Felyne good fortune before picking up the summon ticket again, ready to summon…
Only to be interrupted by Sanji Meow.
"Remember to wish for a Beautiful big sister Felyne, meow!" The little yellow cat, having experienced success once before, reminded him urgently.
"Don't mess around."
This time, however, Sherwin had no intention of granting Sanji Meow request. After all, he had just absorbed Klee Meow luck—what if making that wish worked again?
"We're summoning a healer-type Felyne this time. Medical skills are the most important thing. I'll help you summon a big sister next time."
"Then can't you wish for a healer who also a Beautiful big sister Felyne, meow?!" Sanji Meow refused to give up.
Sherwin thought about it—when it came to skilled and beautiful big sisters, the ones that came to mind were Tsunade from Naruto, Unohana Retsu from Bleach… oh, right, Shinobu Kocho and Tamayo from Demon Slayer should also count, and even Eirin Yagokoro from the old Touhou days…
Now that he thought about it, there were actually quite a few who fit both conditions, and their medical skills were nothing to scoff at.
But…
Non-female, and even non-big-sister-type healers were obviously far more numerous, and their potential ceiling was higher. Since Sherwin had already "worshipped Klee" for luck, he naturally wanted to maximize the effect.
And what if adding too many conditions ended up scattering the luck?
So, this time, Sherwin could only temporarily let Sanji Meow down.
With a firm tone, he said, "No, that not safe."
Before Sanji Meow could keep pestering him, Sherwin quickly initiated the summon.
"Meow aaaaaaah! Sherwin, you big idiot meow!"
(=◣皿◢=)
Seeing the summon ticket in Sherwin hand dissolve into specks of light and vanish into the air, Sanji Meow was so furious that he hugged Sherwin leg and kicked wildly, biting at the same time.
Sherwin blocked for a while using Armament Haki, but then realized something was off…
This hopeless little pervert of a cat had actually gone into demon mode and used Armament Haki over something this trivial! How deep did his obsession with big sisters even run?!
"Cut it out! You stupid perverted cat!"
Sherwin grabbed the scruff of Sanji Meow neck, but the enraged little yellow cat refused to submit. Struggling in Sherwin grip, he kept kicking his small black kitty paws, unleashing a full-on Day Tiger combo right at Sherwin face.
So, unsurprisingly, man and cat ended up brawling again, just like usual.
"Klee wants to play too, meow!"
The little ragdoll also joined in, just like always.
Unable to stand the sight any longer, Huamei Meow raised her sword and gave a few sharp smacks to the three troublemakers, scolding them sternly: "Quiet, all of you! Don't let the new partner see this joke, meow!"
Under the pressure of Lord Azuros, the three little troublemakers immediately settled down, obediently lining up with their hands and heads lowered, trying their best to look well-behaved.