My Werepanther System: Starting with Nine Lives

Rex opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of the jungle. It was still morning. The sun warmed his skin.

"What the… hell?" The jungle was absolutely silent.

No bugs.

No birds.

No guard patrols or Jungle-Monkeys.

Then he saw them. Perched on the branches in the trees or seated behind the bushes casually watching.

Leopards, Jaguars, shadowy panthers. All watching him.

DING!

He flinched at the buzzing noise in his ears. He flinched again when a transparent purple screen opened in front of him.

[Congratulations, Kalico Rex! You have awakened the Beast-Totem and unlocked your Werepanther System!]

[Starter Skill (Nine Lives LV1) Unlocked!]

[5 Totems Remaining…]

"Totems…" Rex mumbled before looking down in search of the necklace he put on before losing conciousness.

The necklace was gone. In its place an intricate system of tattoing was sprawled around his chest, shoulders and back. At the center of his chest, where the flower locket once was, a purple gem steamed in his chest.

He tried to wipe it off only to find it was part of him. He could feel it like it was skin.

"That didn't require any mana bonding. I just absorbed it. And where…. Did it take me?" Rex got to his feet.

The panthers stood up with him.

"What are you…. Is this my power? I can talk to cats now?"

A black panther female stepped forward and shook her head. Before he could question anything, she turned her head and looked up at the sky.

It was there that he found a stone and vine tower with jade gems and massive glowing flowers of fire. It looked ceremonial, religious and spiritual but also like something that predated it all. There were aspects of its architecture that looked Egyptian, Greek and even one of the older extinct peoples native to the South American jungles. He suddenly wished he payed more attention in history class during Primary School.

"That looks like it's a few miles away. I'll miss... what? Being punished for a schoolyard brawl on the first day? Yeah, fuck that. My excuse is in my chest. Let's go see what this is about."

Rex took off, finding it easier than ever to run despite his lack of armor or jungle experience. He could smell things he'd never smelled. His vision was an inconsistent masterpiece, brightening and shadowing as he stepped through light and shade. The bright and dark were never jarring. It made his vision of the jungle crystal clear. The same went for his hearing. He could hear frogs splashing into rivers miles away. He could smell the fear-scent of tapirs as he blew by.

The marked man. Not a spotted cat of the wild even if he moved in sync with them the whole way. But something similar.

After three miles he jumped from the canopy and splashed into a nearby river. The water was warm and full of life. It washed away his sweat and left him in a state of comfort.

The panthers surrounded him.

"Werepanther System, huh?"

When he said the word, "System", the transparent purple screen blipped back to life in front of him.

"It's like some biotechnical interface.."

[Name: Kalico Rex]

[Race: Primordial Shape-Shifter/ Panthera Sapien]

[Level: 1 (0/100)]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Points: 0]

[HP: (100/100)]

[MP: (130/130)]

[STR: 15]

[SPD: 15]

[STMN: 10]

[DEX: 15]

[LCK: 5]

[CNTRL: 2 (+10)]

[WILL: 10]

[INT: 12]

[SKILLS\ABILITIES: (Nine Lives LV1), (Blade Sense LV1), (Acrobatics LV1), (Vantage Vision LV1) (Night-Hunter: Unactive), (Predator's Frenzy: 0%), (Lunacy: 0%)]

[Elemental Affinities: (Jungle-Fire), (….?), (….?), (….?)] [Panther's Blessing Required for further Affinity Unlocks.]

[Authority: (…?), (….?), (….?), (…?)] [Panther's Domain Entrance Required]

"It's like a videogame." Rex commented. "There's gotta be a maximum level right? Or else I can just become a god.... ERHM. Right?"

He looked up at the panthers. They all turned in sync to look back at the tower looming above the jungle.

"Right, keep going." Rex splashed his face with river water a final time and got back to moving.

It took another half hour before he reached the tower. But he knew it was close before ever even reaching it.

The jungle cleared. Low grass and thin bushes spread for a mile around in a perfect circle. It almost felt unnatural.

More circles of rivers and ponds split up the monotony of it. Giving the lands a dewy forest smell and rows of spinning waters.

He passed the first ring and felt his arm hair stand on end.

DING!

[You have entered The Panther's Domain. Pay your respects.]

"How do I…." Rex stopped mid sentence when he realized the panthers weren't jogging with him anymore.

Behind him, at the first ring of river water, the panthers bowed their muscly heads in silence.

Rex dropped to a knee and did the same. When they were done he could hear them take a sip of the waters.

He did the same.

It tasted coppery and made his spine tingle. He opened his eyes, in the waters reflection he could see they were slitted and purple like a cat.

But that wasn't the craziest change.

The water wasn't water anymore.

It was blood. Swords, leopard pelts and dead bodies flowed beneath as if the thin circlular rivers were deeper than some oceans. His ears twitched as the sounds of violence and death rode the winds.

DING!

[New Authority Gained!]

[Warriors Authority]

[When in the presence of warriors, all stats gain +3. At night, all stars gain +6]

[When warriors of a lower level are in your presence, they are more likely to follow your command. Likelyhood increases with every level.]

When Rex looked up from the waters, he was elsewhere. Or the terrain changed soundlessly in the blink of an eye.

The circles of blood rivers and tower ahead were gone.

He now stood in a jungle walk path. Over stone pieces were the river once ran. The panthers were gone and the sky was black as midnight despite the sun still being present.

"This is so weird.. but I think I get it. Each ring is a section or panther domain. For some reason I'm only allowed in the first one. Probably because of my level. Now for the panthers bless—"

Before he could even finish his thoughts, he felt the shadows dance across his skin in the psuedo-dark. 

He looked up the labrynthine jungle walls of the transformed domain and found a near incomprehensible figure perched there. 

It seemed to be attempting the shape of man. Like a shape shifter or living art piece that forgot all the key pieces that made a man, man.

The skin was poorless-- like a dark bronze matte shield stretched over a body without fat. The figure's proportions were off. His hands were huge and tipped with curled claws, on his skin, circular markings like a Jaguar stood out with starry glow patterns. If he stared into the markings too long he found himself gazing into universes and star systems he didn't recognize.

He shook.

In the night winds, the figure's panther pelt flowed like a primal cape. His face was pure shadow. Like it didn't matter. He even watched Rex with the lifelike eyes of the pelt instead of the face below. 

"I could kill you, kit." 

Rex tried to steady his racing heart and dry his sweating hands, "That's not saying much considering the fact that I'm a seventeen year old orphan and you're..... what are you? A giant space skin-walker?"

The figure let out a hissing cackle. Rex assumed it was a laugh as it spoke, "That's good. Show me your fight, young panther. You're strong-- made of the good stuff. But you're wrong about one thing." 

"The difference between us has nothing to do with your parentage or age. We are the same you and I. The only thing separating us is the fact that I am your potential realized."

As soon as the figure said they were the same, Rex had an undescribable urge to check himself. To no one's surprise, his likeness had grown in the direction the being above. 

His tattoos gained a galactical edge, steaming with purple jungle-smoke. Claws tipped his fingers with surfaces like dark mirrors.

In them, he could see the figure pouncing on him and ripping his head off. 

He jumped out of the way just as the figure did what he had forseen in the reflection of his claws.

"GOOD! You're a natural! As it should be. Show me how simply war comes to you! Show me we're the same!" The figure snarled on all fours. His pelt moved like a dead thing returning to life. 

"Who are you?!" 

The figure didn't seem interested in answering, thankfully his system did.

DING 

[New Objective] 

[Survive Tezcatlipoca's Hunt]