Chapter 9: Phase 9: Dark Spirit Mutant Cat
78%...82%...90%...94%... 99%...100%!
Just as the evolution progress bar reached 100%, a blinding flash of light covered the entire cage and a melodious chime was heard. Ally rushed towards the light, her heart palpitating.
"Friendly Lifeform detected. Do you wish to make contact? YES / NO."
Ally was filled with excitement and selected YES without hesitation. As the light faded away, her eyes widened while she scrutinised the now-evolved H20. It was no longer a small, fluffy ball of fur but one that has grown to more than twice its original size. The dark silver fur had also gained a blue tint while its short fluffy tail had grown in length and doubled in quantity. The most glaring change is the symbol that had appeared between H20's pair of emerald green eyes that shone much brighter than before. It was as if a vertical eye had been tattooed onto the fur, a glaring red colour symbol with a lightning symbol in its pupil.
As her hands caressed her now oversized pet cat, Ally could feel H20 purring in delight. It seems that there were no negative aftereffects from that evolution process. Ally exhaled in relief. Her fingers moved to touch that glaring red vertical eye symbol and to her surprise, a new prompt appeared in the form of a scroll.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You've achieved the required intimacy level with this intelligent lifeform to form a contract. Would you like to proceed? YES/NO
Ally was thrilled. There was a contract system available! That means they could recruit minions, pets, or even other lifeforms to help them fight in this New World. This would greatly decrease their need to always be on the front line and face the unknown all by themselves. She selected YES immediately, and a screen appeared in front of H20.
Status: Evolved Lifeform
Intimacy Level with Player: 92%
Species: Mutant Cat <Male>
Element: Darkness / Spirit
Attack: <???>
Defence: <???>
Health: <???>
Available Contract Options:
<Master/Servant> Intimacy will fall by 20%, Loyalty 80
<Equal Partners> Intimacy increase to 95%, Loyalty 70
<Life Bond> (locked) require Player above Level 50
Ally read the information displayed on the scroll and rolled her eyes at the last line. Nevertheless, she made her decision swiftly. She clicked on the <Equal Partners> option. Subsequently, an illusory dagger appeared in her right hand. Again rolling her eyes at the cliché system arrangement, she cut open her thumb and pressed her bloody thumbprint onto the first scroll. The scroll then turned completely illusory and disappeared into the vertical eye symbol on H20's forehead.
Test Complete! You've successfully contracted the Mutant Cat as your Equal Partner. It is now registered as part of your Party Member.
Beckoning H20 to follow her, Ally walked back to Kent's and Marie's side. Both of them have also received the notification of the newly added Party Member. On the upper left corner of their vision, a new transparent bar has appeared with a '!' icon next to it. However, it was slightly different from the player's bar as it is slightly indented and appeared right below Ally's info bar.
H20 (Contracted to Ally)
Dark Spirit Mutant Cat
Health: 120/120
Looking at H20's health value, all three Players gasped in surprise. It was much higher than they expected. Almost at the same time, they clicked onto the '!' icon with anticipation to find out more detailed information.
Name: H20
Species: Mutant Cat <Male>
Element: Darkness / Spirit
Attack: <18-30>
Defence: <9>
Health: <120/120>
Evolution Stage: Beginner (88%)
Physical Traits: Agility and Spirit-type lifeform. Can evade enemy attacks with more than 50% success rate. Additional 30% chance of landing critical hit when attacking in the cover of the night. (Bonus: Stats receive 5% boost in the dark)
Special Skills:
Shadow Merge (able to merge into shadows and disappear)
Spiritual Sense (able to perceive all danger within 50 metres)
The trio felt elated in having a strong new addition to their party and felt more confident in tackling their quest. However, on the flipside, they were also forced to accept the reality that Mutated Lifeforms will receive a significant boost in both attribute and power. This spells more trouble for their first dungeon clearing mission tonight as it might prove to be more challenging than they expect.
Ally, H20, Kent and Marie were already in the dungeon so all they needed to do was to click onto their Quest '!' icon on the upper left corner and they are able to select the option of challenging the <Rooftop Garden> dungeon. When H20 was undergoing the Registration Test (Evolution Progress), an invisible wall had locked them in with the space around them separated from the other parts of the dungeon. Now that they had selected the option to challenge the dungeon again, the wall disappeared.
On the other hand, a prompt appeared to remind them about their quest and give them more info on the dungeon.
Dungeon: Rooftop Garden
Completion rate: 0.00%
Information: Some plant lifeforms had gained sentience in the rooftop garden on top of this residential building. They are hostile to all non-plant lifeforms. You must defeat the leader of the plant lifeforms, Nefaria, in order to conquer the dungeon.
A map appeared on the upper left corner of their vision. They were marked with green dots while other parts of the map are left blank. It seems that they have to complete the map as well as they explore the dungeon. The dungeon was isolated from the outside world and inside it was lit up on the inside by floating torches. They have no idea how big the dungeon was but at least they were not left completely blind in the dark. They could only move forward cautiously while they face the unknown enemies before them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TiF54_Pretifany
TiF54_Pretifany TMI ...
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Kinda regretting the amount of info I tried to cram in each chapter as part of the World Setting. Will change the style from now on...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone