“What book shall we read today, Alice?” Lynn mused as she perused the half a dozen enormous shelves recovered from Tristan’s room. “Would you like to hear about a princess?”

  Alice stuck her tiny tongue between her lips and puffed out her cheeks.

  “Now, where would my kitten learn such an unrefined expression?” Ara chided. She ruffled Alice’s blonde hair—a perfect copy of Tristan’s.

  “I haven’t the faintest idea!” Lynn giggled.

  “Surely, my sister would not teach her niece such unbecoming manners.”

  Lynn’s ears flicked forward as she stuck her tongue between her lips and blew a light raspberry. Alice laughed and clapped her hands, her thin tail waving frantically behind her.

  “See? It couldn’t have been me.” Lynn grinned, and Ara laughed. “What about a hero, Alice?”

  “Eeee!” Alice squealed and raised her arms into the air.

  “A hero just like your dad.” Ara hugged her kitten close and kissed her on the top of her head.

  “I have just the tale for you, my sweet.” Lynn tugged a thin green book from between the leather stacks and wiggled it in her hands. “It’s the story of the first [Berserker].”

  Ara rested her chin on Alice’s head. “Alright, perhaps a little different than your dad.” She tickled Alice’s feet and smiled. “It is an excellent story, though.”

  “It is!” Lynn bounced forward and took a seat at Ara’s feet, curling her legs beneath her dress. “Once upon a time, in the mountains of Treviso, Saoirse delivered a man named William to Nyarlea…”

  Treviso was one of the smaller cities on Shi Island, but the catgirls who lived there still held their duties of service in the highest regard. Fluffy white snow always coated the mountaintops, and sprawling forests of green trees brought the scent of the Starbirth Celebration to Treviso year round.

  It was here that our hero took his first steps in Nyarlea.

  William was a quick study and a strong protector of his Party. He was kind, humble, and quick to praise the three girls who remained beside him throughout his journey. His bravery, ambition, and resourcefulness were unmatched, and little did he know he would change the very threads in Nyarela’s tapestry forever.

  One fateful Cherishing Day, William celebrated with his companions in Heaven’s Gate Tavern, ensuring their plates and cups were always full. Their [Cat Pack]s brimmed with Bells, and their equipment was the finest in all the land. However, Ivy, the [Rogue] in William’s Party, did not share in their jubilant festivities.

  “What’s wrong, Ivy? Is the ale not to your liking?” asked William.

  “No. The ale’s great.” Ivy brushed her long, brunette locks over her shoulder, then drummed her fingernails against the table. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  “It is never ‘nothing,’ my lady! You are the keenest of us all!” Aurélie proclaimed. She was William’s [Magic Knight], and it is said that her radiant beauty was unmatched on all of Shi Island.

  Vittoria, the Party’s [Priest], watched the exchange with curious aquamarine eyes. Even stronger than her magic was her wit, and to hope to reach such an intelligence, one must listen closely.

  William leaned over the table and gestured for Ivy to do the same. “It’s Cherishing Day, Ivy. You can have anything you’d like. Just name it.”

  Ivy blushed and shook her head. “That’s not it, either. I just heard an unsettling rumor. That’s all.”

  “What was the rumor?” asked Vittoria.

  “Well…” Ivy looked over one shoulder, then the other. “Sabine returned from her hunt this afternoon and told a few friends that she’d caught sight of a Defiled just a few hours from the city.”

  “I believe you worry for naught, Ivy. We will simply dispatch it if it becomes a problem.” Aurélie clenched a fist at her chest and raised her chin. “It is our duty and our pride—”

  “She said it poses a greater threat than anything we’ve ever seen before,” Ivy interrupted. “I know it’s only speculation. I’m just— I’m scared.”

  Their joyous moods dampened into contemplative expressions. William crossed his arms and glanced between each face in his Party.

  “I understand why you’re afraid. But I think we’ll have a better chance if we go to it than let it come to us,” said William.

  “Hm. We do know the forests well, and it would be in our best interest if we held the element of surprise.” Vittoria crossed her arms and looked to William. “I am with you however you wish to proceed.”

  “I would never desire to bring harm to the girls of Treviso, and I will forever stand by my lord’s side! I am in agreement,” said Aurélie. “What will you do, Ivy?”

  Ivy stared long and hard into her tankard of ale. This was a hard choice and one that may very well mean their lives. At last, she nodded. “It’s better if we go down fighting, right?”

  “Right!” Aurélie raised her tankard. “Let us drink—! Er, perhaps it would be best if we switched to water.”

  William laughed and ordered a round of water for the table. “So, we leave tonight, then?”

  “I can ask Sabine for more details on where she saw it. I’ll be ready when I return,” said Ivy.

  And with that, the group was in agreement. They would take on the Defiled that threatened Treviso.

  “However, Alice, there’s one very important thing to realize,” Lynn said.

  Alice was wide-eyed with attention, her mouth in a tiny O-shape.

  Lynn lightly tapped Alice’s nose with a smile. “This was a very, very long time ago. Third Classes were even more rare than bunnies!”

  Alice gasped.

  Ara laughed. “You said the magic word.”

  Lynn giggled. “And in that time, we didn’t know that certain Third Classes even existed. You see, William and his Party were Second Class!”

  “You have no idea what Auntie Lynn is saying, do you?” Ara crooned and pinched Alice’s toes. The kitten squealed in a fit of giggles.

  “Bunnies!” Lynn repeated.

  Alice gasped.

  “Lynn!” Ara laughed.

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  “So! Ivy returned to the Party with Sabine’s quickly fashioned map, and they bundled up for an evening hunt…”

  The moonlight glittered against the powdery snow, peeking through the thick canopy of trees as they traveled. Their boots were a specialty of the Shi Island city, as they helped keep their feet from crunching against snow and ice. They wanted to surprise the Defiled, not warn it long in advance.

  They moved by the dim light of Vittoria’s staff, Ivy’s honed vision an additional guide from sleeping Encroachers and traps set by other hunters in Treviso.

  “Is it safe to talk?” William whispered.

  Ivy checked her map. “I believe for a little while yet, yes.”

  “Summon iPaw.” William held the legendary device in his hand and pondered over the screen.

  Lynn paused and looked up from the book. “Now, Alice, we cannot understand it when men speak to the iPaw. So this next part is all a bit hearsay.”

  “It’s a story, Lynn. Keep going,” Ara said.

  “Still! Alice should know these things.” Lynn cleared her throat and returned her gaze to the book. “‘Summon iPaw…’”

  “Hello, [User William]. How can I help you?” Ai, the mysterious blue-haired catgirl greeted him.

  “Are all of my Stat and Skill Points distributed?”

  “Yes. You have not reached a new Level for three months, seven days, two hours, and forty-four minutes.”

  “And there’s nothing after [Battleguard]?”

  “If you mean a Third Class, then no. You would need to choose a new Class to pursue.”

  William looked at the sky and pondered the stars. He was never one to give up easily. “How can I make a Third Class? One after [Battleguard]?”

  Ai hesitated. “You wish to create a Class?”

  “Yes.”

  Ai frowned beyond her usual unamused expression. “The fighting style of [Battleguard] is hazardous and chaotic. To apply such qualities to a Third Class would bring many users to their ruin.”

  “Or it could save their lives. Come on. Think about it, Ai. There’s no reward without some risk involved. Any Class can waltz to their death if they’re determined enough.” William shook his head. “Let the people with some real skill show you that we can handle it.”

  Ai was quiet for a long time. Even the rest of William’s Party was curious by the silence. At last, she said, “Very well. Prove to me that you can ‘handle it.’”

  William dismissed his iPaw with a smirk.

  “What was that about?” asked Ivy.

  “Just another incentive to rip this Defiled apart,” said William.

  “Here, here!” Aurélie cheered.

  “Not if Aurélie catches its attention first,” Vittoria grumbled.

  Aurélie clapped one hand over her mouth. “Sorry!”

  They continued the remainder of their journey in companionable silence, each with their focus in search of the “red streaks” Sabine had warned of. When William’s gaze brushed over a thick tree trunk with blood-red lines ingrained between its bark, he held up an arm to bring the others to a halt.

  “It’s a tree,” William whispered.

  Aurélie lowered the point of her polearm toward the tree and settled into a fighting stance. “Shall I initiate, my lord?”

  “Get your weapon ready. Let me go first,” said William.

  “As you say. [Invoke Blaze].” Two strings of flame emerged from Aurélie’s hands and wrapped around the polearm’s handle until they reached the blade. The fire continued its hypnotic swirl around the shining edges, and Aurélie watched for William’s signal.

  “[Sigil of Power],” Vittoria murmured. A soft glow surrounded William in a warm, red aura as he approached the tree.

  But just as William came within swinging distance, a thick root snapped free from the ground and launched forward, snaring itself around William’s ankle. Dozens of sharp, tiny legs undulated and reached for his calf, and he swung his axe down without a second thought, slicing the creature in half.

  Two more sickening roots branched out from the tree, grabbed either side of the bleeding limb, and rushed it back beneath the trunk.

  “The roots! Be careful of its roots!” William cried.

  Five more roots whipped upward in a burst of snow and dirt, and hundreds of legs clawed at the moonlight.

  “[Fan of Knives]!” Ivy threw a dagger with perfect precision, and it split into four copies. Each one found its home in a different root, eliciting grating screams from unseen mouths.

  “[Scorching Fervor]! [Fireball]!” Aurélie raised one hand and released a powerful flame toward the fifth root. It exploded on impact, sending a rain of ash and surviving legs to the ground.

  “Perfect! Great job, girls!” William called as he dodged another incoming root. “[Sanguine Wrath]!” He winced as the first pricks of the Skill bit into his [Health Points], but he continued forward. Throwing every ounce of [Strength] into his arms, his axe soared through the air, and he buried it into the trunk of the tree.

  It was a blow that nearly every catgirl in Trevino had witnessed William use to fell any tree in the forest.

  In the Defiled, it hardly carved a whisker from the red-streaked bark.

  Three more legged tendrils rushed from the tree’s base and clapped around William’s arms and legs. As the slow trickle of poison joined his self-inflicted bleed, he realized the true secret of the roots.

  Centipedes.

  “I don’t remember this story being so…violent,” Ara said.

  Alice had retreated into Ara’s arms, her little hands clapped up in front of her mouth and her ears down flat against her head.

  “Hm. Nor do I.” Lynn skimmed through the pages, tilting her head to the side in thought. “I think Mother may have adjusted or skimmed over some of these details.”

  “Maybe we should do the same for the little one.” Ara smoothed Alice’s hair back and gently rocked her. “Just for now, at least.”

  Lynn nodded. “Leave it to me!” She flipped the page and pushed her violet hair back over her shoulders. “The second important thing to know about William’s Party is that they never gave up…”

  Ivy and Aurélie were quick to free William from his buggy confines, and Vittoria cured him of his poison. But no matter the [Fire Ball]s, thrown daggers, or Holy magic; no matter how many swings William demanded of his axe; the tree continued to carry the pieces of its lost roots back to its core, renewing its [Health Points] and [Energy].

  “It’s like fighting a hundred enemies at once,” said Ivy.

  Vittoria nodded. “The beast is healing as fast as we can damage it.”

  “What shall we do, my lord?” asked Aurélie.

  They had to save Trevino. William had to prove to Ai that [Battleguard] deserved a Third Class. They had to walk away alive.

  “We need to get all of those roots out at the same time,” said William. “Every last one of those basta—

  “—bunnies.” Lynn coughed.

  Alice gasped.

  “Well played,” Ara murmured.

  “A-anyway. They had to force all of the root centipedes to come out of the ground at the same time…”

  All three catgirls were quick on their feet, invoking every [Agility] and [Dexterity] boost at their disposal. They circled the tree in a lightning-fast advance until at least a hundred enormous centipedes blocked out the fragments of moonlight.

  “There’re no more!” Ivy cried.

  “[Provoking Roar]!” As soon as the words left William’s mouth, the centipedes shuddered in response, turning their sights from the girls to him.

  In a moment of bravery and madness, William cast, “[Bloodfury]!”

  This Skill is not one to ever be used lightly. But the darkness from the swarm made it impossible to see each centipede while [Bloodfury] turned their eyes a glowing red. His Party heard the cry and moved away from the tree as quickly as possible.

  One by one, William cut down the centipedes beneath the tree, and his companions moved swiftly behind him to ensure no pieces were carried away by the other tendrils. The tree’s trunk shrank with every handful that fell to William’s blade, and by the time he’d cut the hundredth centipede, it was no thicker than a catgirl’s tail.

  “Got you,” said William just as his vision cleared.

  With one final swing, the tree cracked in half and fell to the snow, never to move again. The girls cheered, and Ivy moved quickly to carve the spoils of their battle.

  Ai’s voice whispered into William’s ear, “What shall I call the Third Class for [Battleguard], [User William]?”

  William grinned. “[Berserker].”

  “The next morning, William started training as the very first [Berserker] in all of Nyarlea! Today, catgirls and men can thank him for the honor of using the Class he founded so very long ago. William’s heroism forever changed Shi Island and Nyarlea. And he and his Party all lived happily and comfortably together in Treviso until Saoirse called them home. The end!” Lynn closed the book and wiggled her tail. “Wasn’t that a nice story, Alice?”

  “Aaah!” Alice squealed and clapped.

  Ara laughed. “You did a wonderful job telling it, Lynn. I’m sure William would have been proud.”

  “How kind of you to say!” Lynn beamed. “I’m glad we can teach Alice about all the greats in Nyarlea.”

  “Yes. Absolutely.” Ara snuggled Alice close. “Like bunnies.”

  Alice gasped.

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