The cat was a mystery in itself; not only had it managed to go back in time, but it also somehow led me to the painting in Ruby's room, which was another mystery.
This cat was just a series of mysteries muddled together, but what should I do about it?
Was I supposed to investigate and experiment on a goddamn cat?
"...step by step, I guess."
Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the clearing, I basked in the silence and serenity for a few moments, letting out my chaotic thoughts.
Focusing my mind solely on my body, I specifically concentrated on the center of my body, where all my mana would gather.
Feeling an unknown red-colored substance in the area where my mana was stored, I moved it around and examined it to get a rough shape.
After a few minutes, I finally had a rough outline.
Inside my chest, there was a modern yin-yang symbol, as the yin was my mana while the yang was the blood-red substance.
The two were so close to touching, yet so far, as every time I attempted to move them together, they would repel against each other, breaking their shape, before quickly regathering to form the yin-yang symbol.
Bracing myself for the upcoming pain, I knew what I had to do as I forced the blood-red substance near my mana, overpowering the repulsive force between the two.
As the two opposites met, a sudden shockwave was sent through my body, causing me to fall back in pain for a few seconds.
Regaining my composure, I once again examined my body and noticed that while the yin and yang symbol of the blood-red substance and mana was still there, a small purple particle was in the center of the symbol.
Navigating the purple particle out of the center, making sure it didn't touch the mana or blood-red substance, I let it sit near my heart while pondering.
Now.. the question was, what do I do with it?
Leading the sole purple particle up from my chest and towards my shoulder, I stopped it right at the spot where my wings had appeared last time.
Leaving the particle there, I patiently waited a couple of seconds before feeling my back suddenly grow heavier.
Sure enough, on my right shoulder, a wing had formed; however, rather than being a combination of pitch-black and blood red, the black had been replaced by a light blue.
So, I can either combine the blood-red substance with my mana or corruption, and the colors change depending on that?
Simply sitting still with the wing on my back, I patiently waited for whatever side effect this ability would cause, just as my Dragon's Eye caused my eyes to bleed if I used it for too long.
Am I really a masochist...? I'm just asking for pain now...
However, after a couple of minutes of just sitting there, I felt nothing.
Flapping my wings and teleporting throughout the room, I also felt no side effects; in fact, it actually felt calming...
Examining my body, I noticed that the purple particle in my shoulder had shrunk significantly, to the point where it could barely even be seen anymore.
I guess this is the time limit...?
As the purple particles diminished and disappeared, I felt my thoughts blur and become convoluted, making me unable to focus on a single thing.
It felt like my entire mind was in chaos as countless unrelated memories rushed through my head, overloading my brain.
Clutching my head in pain, I dropped to the floor, immediately noticing that my wing had disappeared.
Crawling over to my backpack, I grabbed a stack of healing scrolls worth over ten gold coins, immediately ripping all of them in one motion.
As the scrolls disappeared and turned into dust, a green aura began to surround me, easing the pain in my mind; however, when that aura disappeared, my mind immediately went back into chaos.
Lying down on the floor, facing the ceiling, I simply gave into the pain as I attempted to close my eyes to fall asleep, only to be immediately woken up by the random and constant thoughts racing through my head.
...
...
...
After who knows how long, I finally felt my mind return as I could actually control the thoughts appearing in my head.
Sitting back up, I was in no rush to continue experimenting as I grabbed the meal I had gotten from one of the stands at the festival.
Taking the container out of my backpack, I heard the sound of scratching on a hard surface, causing me to turn my head upwards... just to see the black cat, barely hanging onto the roof of the clearing with its claws.
Seeing my look upwards, the cat released its claws, falling face-first right onto my head.
Who said cats always land on their feet..?
Putting the cat on the floor, I watched it lick its paws with the utmost dignity, like nothing had happened, before walking up to the corner of the clearing to do who knows what.
After finishing my lunch, I recreated the same process, leading a new purple particle out of the yin and yang symbol.
Instead of moving it to my shoulder, I moved the purple particle to my hands, causing an enormous red paw to replace my hand immediately.
Staring at the paw of a dragon, which had completely replaced my right hand, I retracted and extracted the claws for a couple of seconds.
Leading the purple particle out of my hand, causing my right hand to appear again, I pushed it towards the back of my legs.
Almost immediately, a long, bright red tail adorned with countless spikes appeared behind me.
Was I some sort of transformer now?
Checking my body every few seconds, I saw the purple particle was beginning to fade into nothingness, so I immediately moved it back to the center of the yin and yang symbol.
A couple of seconds later, the purple particles disappeared from the center, leaving no trace and, most important of all, no pain!
So... my new ability allows me to recreate any physical attribute of a dragon, such as their wings, tail, claws, and even legs.
Is this dragon's will thing slowly transforming me into a dragon...? At the next stage, will I be able to completely become a dragon or what?
Combining the blood-red substance with my corruption, I curiously watched how, like last time, the area where the particles of blood-red and pitch-black were located shined a bright red, even through my clothes.
Lighting up the cave with my glowing right hand, I formed a dragon's paw once again before confirming that the only difference was the color, as the power output stayed the same.
Checking my smartwatch, I realized that most of the festival had already ended. My social media page was filled with people congratulating Lily, Liam, and Ruby on their victory in the battle royale.
On the other hand, my group chat was also blowing up. Apparently, Jin had placed all his money on their victory, so he was rich now.
[Jin: I TOLD YOU BET WITH ME, I TOLD YOU DIDN'T I, HAN?]
[Han: You also told me to bet with you the last hundred times, and you lost all those times...]
[Jin: 99% of gamblers quit before they hit big, and I'M NOW THAT 1% WHO MADE IT THROUGH BABY!]
[Han: Dude, the odds were 10/90; no sane person would bet on that.]
[Jin: Nope, the odds are 50/50. You either win, or you lose!]
Picking myself off the floor, I sent a quick message to Raven, letting him know about our acquisition of the cake shop.
[Ren: You remember the cake shop where we met?]
[Raven: How could I forget it...?]
[Ren: Our meeting must have been that significant for you, huh?}
[Raven: Moron, I'm talking about the cake.]
[Ren: You know, a simple thanks for getting you out of homelessness would suffice.]
[Raven: Yeah, yeah. Now, why are you mentioning that shop.]
[Ren: It's ours; I dipped into the savings.]
[Raven: You bought a cake shop...?]
[Ren: Hire some employees and cleaners; it's kinda a dump right now.]
[Raven: A cake shop...thank you, boss...]
[Ren: So, this is what you thank me for? Not me saving you from the black market, giving you a job, a house, and money?]
[Raven: I just asked Zeng, and he said he's down to work as the baker!]
...that guy just gets less and less evil every day... is he really a djinn?
Sighing, I put down my smartwatch and headed back to the academy with the cat hiding in my jacket.
With the festival now over, it was time for the main plotline to start once again.
These pleasant and leisurely times were nice while they lasted, but it was quite hard to relax, knowing the upcoming events.
The corruption of the World Tree should have begun by now...
Heading into my dorm, I slumped down on my bed, clearing my head of all thoughts while drifting off to sleep.