Leona's vision blurred as she dreamed of an unknown form. All she saw was the world blurring at high speed. Sometimes darkness gave her a break before it swallowed her again. Now that she had feline eyes, Leona could see more than before, but in this dream her field of vision was even wider, and she could see much better in the dark.
For some reason, it was now evening. That didn't stop Leona's super vision from catching the outlines of trees, houses, cars, and anything else the modern world had to offer.
Am I now experiencing what it means to be a cat?
Leona suspected this because everything was unnaturally large. She was, of course, a small girl, but even that didn't explain her current point of view. The only explanation she had was that she was now seeing with her very own eyes what it meant to be a normal cat.
She leaped from the cold asphalt of the street onto the wooden fence of a random house. With feline grace, she walked around the garden before climbing her way up to the house's roof. Like a king, Leona perched atop its chimney and stared at the full moon.
I still don't know what I'm supposed to take from this dream. It's like meeting the Cat Sage, but he's not here to help me out. Could it be that I need to find my own meaning in this little adventure?
Contemplating it, Leona first recalled how fast she was. She came to understand that Black Cats were actually stronger at night. Her perception matched her nocturnal vision; she'd found her way around the house with ease. That much seemed enough, but Leona still had her eyes glued to the moon.
Just then, she found the last piece of the puzzle.
I've been as quiet as the night itself.
In other words, her little paws absorbed all sound and let her blend into the sleeping city, where people turned off their lights and slept comfortably.
As soon as she came to this conclusion, Leona woke up.
***
Lazily opening her heavy eyelids, Leona was momentarily blinded by the locker room's light. She squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively covered her face. As she pried them open, for a split second, she thought she saw the shadow of a paw instead of her little hand.
Her heart jumped to her throat in that instant.
How would I eat chips?
Thankfully, Leona could clench her hand just fine and felt her own skin at the tips of all five fingers. She also felt a different sensation under them that she couldn't really explain, only that it was soft.
She couldn't dwell on it, as someone called to her.
"Finally up? Could you leave me my spot now?" a young man asked, sounding pissed off.
Leona had taken up three spots on a bench as she slept curled up. Now that she had raised her hand and was clearly awake, one of the exam takers called her out. She sat up straight and turned her eyes to him, giving him a deadpan stare.
"Sorry," Leona replied.
The young man just clicked his tongue and finally sat down in front of his locker. He hunched low and closed his eyes, taking a proper rest after scrolling on his phone the whole time he waited for Leona to wake up. He also didn't seem to think she had sincerely apologized, judging by her expression and tone.
"…lucky girl, having that bastard with the glasses backing her," he whispered under his breath.
Leona didn't bother with him at all. Instead, she looked at her system, which should now help her see the effects of her evolution.
[Your Cat Constitution has evolved to Rank E.]
[You have obtained a new passive skill from Cat Constitution—Soft Paws]
[Cat Constitution(E)(Passive)—A passive skill essential to utilize any cat bloodline you obtain from Cat Lineage Evolution System. It turns your body into half-human cat. Currently, it replaces your spine with flexible cat's spine, your eyes with feline cat's eyes, and gives your hands and feet an option to have "Phantom Paws" or turn them into literal cat paws.]
It explained everything well. Leona had already felt like she had a spring in her back, her vision was much better, and now she could silently walk around or even turn her hands into paws with sharp nails. Those were the superpowers all cats had. Leona's Black Cat bloodline turned them even sharper, allowing her to be on par with other newly awakened humans or perhaps even those with years of experience under their belts.
Umu. I even had a dream that helped me understand the effects of those paws. It would've been good if I'd dreamed of a cat fight, too. I would've seen how deadly cat paws are.
A voice from the side cut through Leona's thoughts.
"I see my spot is finally free! You slept for forty minutes!" said a girl in P.E. clothes.
She sat down beside Leona and smiled widely at her. Leona only nodded at her and apologized for taking over her spot.
"It's fine, really! I don't mind. You looked sick, actually. Are you feeling better?" the girl asked.
Leona replied, "Yes. I'm fine."
"Must be because of your recent awakening. It's so awesome. I mean, I heard everyone talking about it! Really jealous, you know? I'm skilless, but I did well! Now I need to pass the final exam and hope to be a hero who either awakens an innate skill or masters the hero equipment. If not that, I will aim to be an engineer of heroes. I want to contribute to everyone's safety. That's what I put on the hero exam questionnaire. How about you?"
It was one of the questions on the sign-up form for this hero exam. Leona couldn't remember what she had typed in or whether her AI friend had filled that one out.
"I forgot," Leona replied.
"Eh? You forgot?"
"I don't even know if I want to be a hero."
Building up muscles and strength, then kicking people straight in the face was pretty exciting—Leona couldn't disagree. But deep in her heart, she would still rather stay in her room and spend time mindlessly watching other people's feats and imagining herself as one. Unless someone forced her to do something, she'd rather slack.
Hearing that response, the girl's eyes lit up in a strange way. She flashed the sweetest smile she could muster and leaned forward.
"You must be searching for your purpose, then! How about we team up? I will show you what being a hero means to me, and you might take some inspiration from me!" the girl said.
Beside Leona, the young man who had scowled at her harrumphed.
"She wants to use you," he said, raising his face and craning his neck to look at both girls. "She's skilless, so she wants to ride your coattails to pass—"
"I know," Leona cut in, cutting off the young man's cool moment.
He stared at Leona awkwardly before hiding his face.
The other girl clenched her fists and shot him a death glare before masking her feelings.
Leona gazed at neither of them and only stared straight ahead. "I'm a slacker, so I can tell when someone wants to genuinely help me or use me." Leona deadpanned, meeting the girl's eyes and scaring her off. "You want to use me, while Black Glasses Tyrant wants to genuinely help me. I still dislike you both."
The girl contorted her face and looked away. "I should have kicked you off my spot."
Leona couldn't care less about her. She had slept for forty minutes and killed the remainder of the hour before the final exam by interacting with these two, whose spots she'd stolen on the locker room bench.
***
An announcer spoke through the speakers to every locker room.
"All participants should now leave the locker room and head over to the gymnasium hall and wait for further instructions from the examiners."
Inside the familiar gym, Leona huddled in a corner as though she were insignificant and waited to see what would happen next. Shortly after, James and the other examiners entered. There was a new person as well, wearing a plain shirt and pants. James spoke about the physical test results.
"Most of you are in good shape and will be able to handle hero equipment extracted from dungeons. To see whether you are worthy of wielding this much power, you will now go through the final test. In this one, you will play the role of a hero and save commoners and fight villains. Each rescue and each defeat will bring you points, depending on who you save and who you defeat."
Tapping on his tablet, James summoned a hologram showing the commoners and how many points saving each one would give a hero candidate. Kids were worth five, teenagers four, adults three, and the elderly one. Minor villains were worth ten, average ones fifteen, and the boss villain two hundred.
All hero candidates gasped at those graphs.
Leona stared at the boss villain's face. If I defeat him, I'll pass this exam… but do I want to? I am a cat, so I can understand cats in the future. I could be a vet… no, too much work.
Decisions, decisions… Leona's head hurt.
Meanwhile, James explained more about the commoners and villains.
The new man beside them stepped forward.
James spoke to him. "Take off your face."
The man put his hands on his temples and easily took off his face, revealing the modern, mechanical interior fueled by mana.
One of the hero candidates brightened at this sight. "It's modern hero engineering! One of the first mecha-hero models—the old design that pioneered the new era!"
James nodded. "Exactly. It's an old model, so it has flaws and is tuned to match an adult, skilless human—your minor villain baseline. Don't forget that they can punch you back. Anyway, this model is now used for training newbies like you and is therefore expendable. Go wild at it."
After that introduction to the mecha-hero model and the rules, James and the other examiners led the hero candidates to the edge of the fake town created for this exam. The academy's healers were already waiting there for the potential future heroes, ready to heal them.
James looked over his shoulder. "Once you've been healed by our staff, you're out of the final test."
The students nodded.
A moment later, an explosion broke the solemn silence, toppling one of the fake town's buildings.
James pushed his black glasses up the bridge of his nose. "What are you waiting for? There are people waiting to be saved."
The final test began.
All the students ran forward.
Once all of them flooded into the fake town, Leona was left exposed to James and the other examiners.
"Schnee, you need me to throw you in?" James asked, his voice cold again.
Leona stole a brief glance at his face before walking forward. Nearby houses should be safe. I need to get away from the glasses tyrant's view and hide in one of them for a nap.
Saving civilians? Defeating villains? Leona thought about it and then came to a single conclusion: too much work.