Walking around the streets of Baska, Shichiro hadn't done anything he wanted to do for the longest of times. it was assignment after assignment, after assignment. Never any time for himself. Giving a sigh, he was actually feeling quite down today as he continued to roam the streets of Baska. Even though he was currently on and assignment right now, he wanted to skip out on it and do something fun. It wasn't anything too strenuous, all he had to do was help patrol around the city of Baska as the Rune Knights had gotten wind of some unsavory activities going on in the area. They were suppose to keep up their patrols here but he figured he could be lax in his duties, just a tiny bit. Exploring the city more, Shichiro had found himself in an alley that he treated s an unofficial shortcut to get from his point A to his point B. he knew it wasn't an official road and technically it would be private property but if he was every caught and stopped, he'd always tell the civilians that is was' Official Rune Knight that is strictly confidential' and go about with his day to avoid explaining himself to them. as he traversed through the alleyway, he saw something that caught his interest. A black cat was seemingly sleeping on a garbage can that had a scar over its right eye. There was three other cats below that seems to pretend to be its bodyguard or something. They began to hiss as Shichiro approached which caused the black cat perk up. Looking at Shichiro, it let out a yawn and proceeded to go back to sleep. Shichiro wasn't sure why but he felt a connection to the black cat than he thought he would as he could sense magical power emanating from within it.

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Inching closer towards it, Shichiro noticed the hissing had frown louder from the other cats that were pretending to be its bodyguard. Shichiro was a little annoyed but he pressed on anyway seeing as there was not much they could do to hurt him anyway. Stamping aggressively in front of him in order to scare of of the other cats it worked as they tried to scatter. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well as the black cat he was also slightly annoyed rather than spooked and let out a fairly loud meow had let its voice pushing Shichiro back up to five meters where he hit the side of a wall. He wasn't expecting all of that to happen even though he had a hunch since he could pick up the cat having more magical attunement than most other cats. Normally, a fight would would ensue after being attacked first but since he was the one putting up a fearsome performance in an attempt to shoo away the other critters. Slouching down against a brick wall he had been thrown into, he sat there for a bit as the cat watched him cautiously. he didn't take much damage from the blast it still hurt like hell. Looking towards the cat's direction, Shichiro only moved his eyes towards the direction of the cat as he didn't want to be attacked again. He was hoping he'd be able to befriend this thing so it'd be able to help him out in combat. He didn't fancy himself a person that needs a companion but he definitely wanted this one that he has discovered, hanging out in an alleyway, as cliché as that was. After what felt like some minutes, the cat had went back to resting its head down on a trash can and relaxing.

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Turns out it wasn't sleeping at all but just minding its own business nd being the head honcho around when other cats are present. That's fine as he liked this sort of behavior from things that he wanted to make subservient to him. Slowly standing up as to not alarm the cat, Shichiro hugged the wall behind him using his back and stood up once more. This caused the cat to turn his head towards him once more before doing anything that would be considered an attack. Once again, Shichiro had begun to approach the cat albeit, slower this time since he didn't want to provoke into attacking him a second time. The cat cautiously watched hi mas he crept closer a second time wonder if Shichiro was going to do something shady. Before anything was done however, the cat had jumped off of the trashcan and approached him instead. the next thing that happened came as a surprise as he didn't really expect a cat to speak to him. "You are quite the idiot, aren't you," the cat had asked him as it approached him. Shichiro couldn't believe what he was currently hearing. Raising his right pinky to his ear, Shichiro attempted to clean his ear out thinking he was hearing things despite hearing the voice of the cat clear as day. this only irritated the cat as it narrowed its eyes, squinting. "You aren't deaf, just an idiot. I'm Salem, the talking cat. Since you took my attack and haven't gone running off yet, I'll assume you're an adventure of some kind that's noticed I'm not like other cats. So what is it that you want from me?" Well, Shichiro couldn't deny it any longer, the cat was actually speaking in human tongue in front of him. Blinking twice, Shichiro shook off his shock nd decided to respond truthfully.

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"Alright, listen up cat. I want a powerful companion so you'll join my party, whether you like it or not. I'll claim you," Shichiro had said triumphantly. This only made Salem keep his quizzical look wondering if Shichiro was right in the head. Without sayign a word, the cat turned around nd went back onto the top of its trashcan in order to go back to sleep. "Get lost kid, I'm busy," the cat said, clearly not doing anything important. This bothered Shichiro but he couldn't force the cat to come along with him. Placing his hands into his pocket, Shichiro began to walk away. As he began to exit the cat's presence, he could hear another sigh before the cat called back out to him. "Wait, what's your name? if you prove your strength to me, maybe I'll join as I've recently been bored of sitting here in Baska all day," the cat had said, a little disinterested. Shichiro paused for a second before turning to the cat and telling him his name. he wondered if he was going to have to fight this thing seriously in order for it to come along with him. As he thought this, the cat seemed to have read his mind and told him they were not the ones going to fight because he knew in his current state, he'd lose. He wanted Shichiro to partake in a tournament that was getting ready to start right away. If he hurried, he could sign up and get into his first match as soon as possible. He also noted that for every victory he had gotten, he'd get some compensation in between the rounds so there was that. Shichiro was already sold at the having a powerful companion part. Immediately, Shichiro thanked the cat for this opportunity and asked for directions on where he had to go in order to participate.

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Salem the cat had told him and Shichiro rushed off in order to get get signed up right way. he made to a small building that had a ring that was thirty meters in diameter. This was perfect for him as he wanted to do something fun like fight other humans instead of just hunting creatures down all day. After signing up, it turns out he was the first match of the scheduled battle. He was to fight an older gentleman that was well versed in the arts of martial arts. Soon after, both Shichiro and his opponent had been called to enter the arena in order to battle it out. It had been awhile since he had a good, old fist fight but he felt a bit at a disadvantage since the so called “master” was using mana to fuel his attacks with extra damage so why not do the same. He had gathered his own mana around his fists to augment his own strength. He dashed forward in turn, lowering his head a bit trying to bait an attack with a false opening. The man had swung his tiger-like right arm in a sort of swiping manner towards Shichiro’s face.

Shichiro counteracted this by lifting his left arm and grasping the inner joint opposite from his elbow, pulling him further towards Shichiro and flipping him over his shoulder onto the ground. The man had jumped back up immediately after being thrown and tried to retaliate with the same move. Shichiro wasn’t really in the mood for constantly playing this game of “throw the ragdoll around”. He was frankly sick and tired of this and just wanted to get on with his request of fighting his true opponent. The man had murderous intent now as he gripped his blade with both hands. He waited for the man to attempt to strike him once more before making his retaliation. The man had seemed to notice this, stopping mid charge to wait for Shichiro to make an attack himself. He and the man then sat there for a minutes on end before Shichiro grew impatient. It was time for him to make an attack himself anyways. Rushing towards the man, pinpointing a location he wanted to attack and hinder. He decided the leg would be an easy target to cripple the man and not kill him. With this, Shichiro was victorious and received compensation for a match completed.

[Exit.]

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Explorer's Belt - 20% Word Count on Quests.