The next day the Daily Quest came right on time but, thankfully, the weights were still the same as yesterday and so were the hours.

Reiji completed the exercise and made breakfast.

After breakfast, they began their cat training.

Reiji played several cat videos on his phone for Vel to watch while he went to do the laundry and clean the house.

As Reiji came to the living room and saw Vel licking himself like a cat, for some reason it felt weird. Maybe it was because Vel was a cat. Reiji cringed hard, fighting the overwhelming secondhand embarrassment.

Vel turned and met Reiji’s disgusted expression and thought it had done something wrong and lowered his leg he was holding up.

’I-Is anything the problem, My Lord?’ Vel asked telepathically.

’Do not ever do that again.’

’But that’s what the cat on the screen did.’

’Yeah, that’s when if Hina was here, but when it’s just us, never do that.’

’Understood, My Lord.’ Vel’s ears dropped.

Reiji just turned and went upstairs. He checked the time and it was 1 in the afternoon.

’Hina hadn’t called me in a while now...’ Reiji muttered to himself, staring blankly at the phone screen.

*Sigh!*

Reiji let out a long sigh as he went back downstairs. He immediately froze.

Vel was scratching the furniture like a cat.

’What the hell?’

Reiji gritted his teeth, fighting back his rising anger. His eye twitched as he stared at the damage.

Vel continued scratching the furniture, seemingly unaware of Reiji’s presence. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Reiji quietly walked behind Vel.

All the hair on Vel’s body stood on end and he immediately stopped and slowly turned around.

"Meow..." Vel meowed as beads of sweat trickled down his furry face.

"Vel...!"

Vel immediately lowered his head.

A sigh escaped Reiji’s lips. He suddenly wasn’t sure if the training was making Vel more cat-like or simply teaching him how to cause different kinds of problems. At this rate, Hina would return to find a perfectly trained cat and a completely destroyed apartment.

Reiji stared at the scratch marks on the furniture.

His eye twitched.

The couch, table, and walls had somehow survived. The expensive wooden cabinet, however, was not so lucky.

Several fresh claw marks decorated its side. Though it was his house but as they say the house truly belongs to the wife.

"..."

"..."

Vel remained completely still.

For once he didn’t even dare speak.

Reiji rubbed his temples.

"I think that’s enough training for today."

Vel immediately looked relieved.

Then Reiji’s gaze slowly swept across his body.

The yellow fur that had looked fluffy a few days ago now looked slightly dirty.

There was dust stuck around his paws.

A few strands of fur were sticking out in random directions.

And after spending half the day rolling around the house pretending to be a cat, he somehow looked even worse.

Reiji frowned.

"When was the last time you bathed?"

Vel blinked.

The question clearly caught him off guard.

After thinking for a moment, he slowly lowered his head.

That reaction alone was enough to give Reiji his answer.

"Oh no."

Reiji suddenly felt a headache coming.

A few minutes later.

Vel found himself inside the bathroom.

The yellow cat stood inside the bathtub while staring at the running water with visible fear.

His tail puffed up.

His ears flattened.

Every survival instinct inside his body was screaming at him to escape.

Unfortunately, Reiji had already closed the bathroom door.

There was nowhere to run.

"Mercy Your Grace, meow!!" Vel screamed refusing to go into the bath.

"I told you no speaking...!" Reiji struggled as he pushed Vel’s body into the tub but Vel’s struggle made Reiji wonder if it was because Vel had transformed into a cat that he didn’t like getting wet – as a natural cat trait – or maybe he was already like that.

"Mercy!!!"

The next twenty minutes became a disaster.

Water splashed everywhere.

Several times Vel attempted to climb out.

Several times Reiji pushed him back in.

By the end of it, both of them were completely exhausted.

Vel sat on the floor looking utterly defeated, wrapped inside a large towel.

His fur had lost all its fluffiness.

He looked like a drowned rat.

Reiji nearly laughed.

Nearly.

After spending another ten minutes drying him properly, Vel finally returned to normal.

The yellow fur regained its fluffy appearance.

His body looked much cleaner.

Even the room smelled fresher.

"There."

Reiji nodded in satisfaction.

At least something productive had come out of today.

Meanwhile Vel sat motionless.

His eyes looked empty.

It was as if the bath had completely broken his spirit.

Reiji ignored him and headed toward the living room. The moment he sat on the couch he picked up the remote but then suddenly remembered something.

’Oh right the skill...’ Reiji thought to himself as he dropped the remote and opened his inventory and pulled out the book which had the complex magic circle and many symbols and runic markings on them.

Reiji looked at the skill in confusion. He didn’t know how to learn the skill. There was no tutorial or explanation, just a drawing of a runic magic circle and a name written in a foreign language which apparently he could read and understand.

After thinking for a bit Reiji decided to ask the system. "System, how can I learn this skill?"

Because even awakened people in this world awaken their own skill. That’s why he was shocked to see a skill inside a book.

Ding!

[Host, you must visualize the exact image in your mind using your mana. Then a foreign power will invade your body and mature to guide it through your mana stream.]

’What’s a Mana stream?’

[A Mana stream is the inflow and outflow of mana through your mana heart. It is like your veins and arteries, dear Host. Instead of blood flowing through them, it is mana.]

’So once the foreign energy invades my body I have to treat it like antibiotics being injected into my body by an IV?’

[Close enough... but they are the same in sense.]

"But how do I guide them?"

[As a human, you can’t feel your blood flowing inside your body, and you can’t directly control its flow. It is an automatic movement.]

[But the mana system and body system are different things. While as an awakened you might reach a point where you’ll be able to take control of your body’s involuntary processes, now you can’t and can only control your mana system.]

The system said as Reiji nodded along like an unfocused student pretending to be focused during class.

[The key, Host, is resonance, and your current mana practice using the Mana Suppressing Weights will help you when resonating with your mana system to control it.]

’For once this system is actually helpful.’

[You’re welcome ୧(＾ 〰 ＾)୨]

’Tch... welcome for what? For giving me that damn weights? Even without the damn weights I could have figured out a way to do it.’

[Host is becoming too arrogant for his own good...]

"Tch... go to sleep, Grandma."

[...]

—Reiji keeps crossing the line *shakes head in pity*