After overcoming the initial sense of shame, Defu quickly calmed her heart.
Part of the reason was that she realized that being in this situation seemed not to put her at a disadvantage.
In fact, she even felt vaguely that she was gaining something...
So, while the two of them and a cat were on their way to find Xitan Pulan’s body, Defu was intently teaching Chocolate through consciousness exchange and showing her personally how to get accustomed to it.
This was true hands-on instruction—I’m personally using your body to show you how, not unlike remote control service from a customer helpline.
Because Defu pessimistically considered that if they couldn’t switch back... at the very least, she had to let Chocolate control her own reputation.
Scratching or biting people on impulse was the least of concerns. After all, human teeth are flat and not so easy to cause injury, and a beautiful girl doing such things would be forgiven... It could even be said that it was akin to throwing a tantrum.
What Defu was mainly in charge of was making Chocolate behave, not to defecate anywhere or pounce on acquaintances to lick them...
Even though Chocolate was just a female cat, she was a very smart one at that.
Under this hands-on guidance, Chocolate quickly corrected some of her habits from when she was a cat.
For instance, the first habit Chocolate corrected was squatting on the ground—human skeletal structure is not suited to maintaining such a posture in stillness.
The wildcats have a habit of sneaking through the underbrush, lifting their heads high to track prey.
Once Chocolate had obtained Defu’s body, Defu easily corrected this behavior, changing it to standing up straight and propping up on her toes to survey the distance.
Although it still looked a bit strange, it was certainly better than squatting on the floor or on someone’s shoes...
Defu also quickly corrected Chocolate’s habit of licking her hands for no reason and washing her face with saliva.
However, she was starting to feel the urge to lick her own paws...
"—Four Concealed Triplets, I’ve seen it!"
Defu meowed to grab the attention of Four Concealed Triplets and then wrote on the forum, "I’ve seen Xitan Pulan’s body; it’s just ahead."
"Oh, then let’s hurry over there..."
Four Concealed Triplets nodded and hurried along.
Without Defu having to distract herself with control, Chocolate followed Four Concealed Triplets’ pace obediently.
Although reluctant to admit it, Defu had to acknowledge that Chocolate’s body was indeed very useful...
Not to mention anything else, just the night vision ability alone was enough to make her envious.
"Animal companions," although based on animals, are not completely native animals. They are "living carriers" that gradually assimilate with the Hunter.
Not only is their lifespan synchronized with humans, but as attributes are added, the shortcomings that are worse than those of humans are also gradually compensated for.
Nevertheless, typical Hunters would not choose to develop in the direction of beast hunting.
The reason is simple... because the animal companions that are convenient to follow one around are still more fragile than humans. Those that are not fragile, such as brown bears or large felines, are inconvenient to carry and care for. They may even be poisoned due to their lower intelligence.
Moreover, a more realistic issue is that average Hunters simply cannot achieve soul communication with powerful animals.
For stronger Hunters, they almost don’t need animal companions and just need to hunt to gain Curse Binding; whereas for weaker Hunters, they can’t even perform the ritual itself.
They have to tame a wild animal using their own strength—because it’s a wild animal, it can’t be a pet, already tamed, or human. They must live closely with it without seeing a second human during this period. On this basis, they must feed it their blood continuously, every day... until the amount of blood fed equals their own total blood volume.
By that time, the wild animal’s soul will be bound by the power of "oath," and their souls will intertwine.
Like curses, oaths are also a part of the power system in this world.
As the animal gradually becomes stronger, the compatibility between the human and the animal also increases.
But the problem is...
Compared to ordinary Hunters, those inclined towards nurturing animal companions will have virtually no enhancement of their own strength. Once their animal companions are killed by someone, their strength will plummet immediately.
But neither of these issues existed for Defu.
From the evaluations she heard from Salvatore, her archery skill level could be considered upper-tier in this world.
And Chocolate could be resurrected.
Upon death, Chocolate would not leave a corpse either.
It would turn into black ash like a player, then instantly reassemble not far away.
Chocolate’s death would also cause Defu to lose experience. But perhaps because the cost of reshaping the body was relatively low, or simply because of its small size... Chocolate’s death would only cause Defu to lose about a tenth of her experience.
Defu couldn’t help feeling a little relieved.
If the first animal companion she had chosen was a brown bear, perhaps its death would have meant more than just losing one level for her...
Whether considering combat strength, size, or weight, the experience consumed by a brown bear’s death should have been more significant than hers.
As Defu’s level increased, many issues with Chocolate’s body were alleviated.
Such as the enhancement of strength, the improvement of nearsightedness, and so on.
The lynx has very powerful dynamic vision and among felines, its vision is relatively good at long distances. But compared to humans, it’s still quite short-sighted... not to mention Defu, whose vision was top-tier even among humans.
Yet at the same time, it didn’t lose the lynx’s excellent dynamic vision.
Even because of the initial Transcendent ability that Defu initially chose for it, Defu accidentally found that she was able to clearly see everything within about a 60-meter radius.
Just like during the daytime.
You should know... the sky had already darkened by now.
"Chocolate is such a dumb cat."
Defu complained in her own post, "Isn’t this body much more useful than mine?
"I hardly ever saw it stealth around. Look, look, Brother Engraver—"
After losing the ability to speak, she became somewhat of a chatterbox.
And when Engraver looked over, he could see Defu’s small body crouching slightly, then gradually becoming colorless and transparent with a slight ripple.
Although there was still a faint ripple when she moved... that was because Engraver still had the "Sleight of Hand" hawk-eyed skill turned on, greatly increasing the detection rate.
If faced with an ordinary Transcendent, it probably wouldn’t be so easy to detect Defu’s stealth.
"That’s pretty strong, Chocolate."
Engraver praised, "Really can’t see it."
"— Right? Such high-performance machinery, and that stupid cat doesn’t know how to use it."
Defu complained, "Silent Step also wasn’t utilized. It really annoys me, I should’ve chosen a high-speed movement passive skill."
She suddenly didn’t really want to switch back.
"Normal, normal, it’s like when I play games, I rarely use the stuff in my hotkeys and item bar too..."
Engraver defended the cat.
Soon, they reached Xitan Pulan’s body.
Seeing Xitan Pulan curled up on the ground as if she had lost her soul—truly having lost her soul—Defu couldn’t help but meow out a laugh.
The sight was too funny.
She was as helpless as a doll... completely unresponsive, without any consciousness. No matter how she was manipulated, she wouldn’t wake up.
Defu elegantly walked over to Xitan Pulan, opened her mouth as if to bite her throat.
Then she switched back to her own body and took a screenshot.
She walked in front of Xitan Pulan again, and licked her lips with the cat’s body.
Then she switched back to her own body and took another screenshot.
While Defu was elated with the photo shoot, Xitan Pulan made a reply:
"— Do you find it rather erotic? I think so too."
Xitan Pulan: "I mean me. Look at my body, just lying there on the ground, seemingly unconscious..."
She was somewhat dumbfounded.
Is this something that can be posted in a forum?
A photo of your black history being kissed forcefully by a cat is now in my possession... Aren’t you going to feel a bit ashamed?
She tried to suppress her embarrassment, her tail unconsciously raised.
Defu looked back at Engraver.
But Engraver was also looking down at her blankly, "What are you... doing?"
...What’s the deal with these young people?
Have I fallen behind the times?
Or is it... that I’m too conservative...?
— Defu, a 17-year-old girl on her second speedrun about to finish the game, finally realized she might no longer be young.
The time in the Fog Gate finally reached nine o’clock in the evening.
This was the first "full hour" players had spent in the Fog Gate.
Defu, Xitan Pulan, and Engraver all heard a strange, yet somewhat pleasant hymn ringing in their ears.
In this relic site, those huge fragments scattered all around, constantly emitting a deep blue light, also underwent some changes.
The radiance on the stones, along with the chanting of the hymn, pulsed like the tide coming in and going out.