THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 22: Wow...? (2)

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After 'Kurai' woke up,

"Nyahahaha! I, Kurai, am so powerful!"

Neji was busy rubbing his temples.

Kurai was bigger than before. Not at the size of a Tiger or a Lion, but still at least 2x bigger than before.

To compare, previously she was a cute fluffy black-furred kitten with round golden eyes. She looked small, her body was soft and she was something anybody would want to protect.

[Image Here]

From that, she was now this: Her fur was still black, but her body was double the size of before. With a mixture of gold and red pupil-less eyes, her gaze was extremely sharp. Her face was masculine for a cat as it looked sharper with her straight ears.

There was a red circle on her forehead with a red circle that faded to the top with a three-pronged tree placed on the lower part of the circle. Finally, an orangish ring was floating behind her head like a proper deity.

[Image Here]

But her larger body wasn't the problem, far from that. In fact, he liked the way she looked, she was so gorgeous right now. The problem was-

"Papa, Papa, do you see this?!" Kurai talked using her mouth, her vocal cords. "Kurai can throw fire from her mouth!"

A ball of fire left her mouth and hit the sofa a little far from the bed. Luckily, as soon as the sofa caught fire, the fire sprinkler sprayed water over it.

The problem was, she was too enthusiastic and was burning the whole penthouse down.

"Papa! Pap-"

"Kurai, stop." Neji finally snapped. "Do that again and see what I do."

First, Kurai flinched and jumped back. She was in the bed, from there her frightened figure soon changed as she growled.

"Grr... I, Kurai, am not scared of you anymore! Things won't go your way anymore, you old man!"

Neji blinked. Realisation soon sunk in him. He then raised an eyebrow as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh? A rebellion? Did evolving send you straight to your rebellious phase?"

"S- stay away!"

"Stop me if you can."

"Knya!"

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'So... ridiculous.'

Neji sighed while looking down on the cat whose four legs were tied together with a tape covering her mouth.

'So this is the backlash System was talking about?' He expected the backlash to be an illness, not something that would make his cat mentally retarded.

'She wasn't prideful before, nor was she rebellious... well, except for when I forced her to bathe. There is a slight change in her personality, guess she is a proper beast now. But... she is too haughty, too energetic and too dumb.' Neji sighed. 'At least she isn't completely corrupted.'

"Mhhmm!! Mhmmm!!"

Hearing the Cat's muffled moan, he looked down. Below, Kurai was struggling to say something but couldn't do so because of the tape covering her mouth. Neji swiftly unsealed the tape just enough for her to spit out her words,

"Kurai likes mom more than you-" Her mouth was covered before she could finish talking. "Mhmmph!"

Neji deadpanned hearing her. He hoped she would be back to normal soon. He doesn't like her new snarky personality.

He prepared to cook some food and then call his parents; tell them that his room has been accidentally burned and he needs a new one asap.

He got up from the bed, but before he could execute his plan though, the door of the room Kimi was in cracked open.

"What's that noise, young-"

Kimi, who was rubbing her eyes, froze briefly. Her eyes landed on Neji who was covered in countless scratches with a torn shirt, she gasped seeing this.

Next, her eyes landed on the huge feline tied on the bed. "A- a Panther!?"

She abruptly turned her head towards Neji. "Y- young master, what's happening?"

Neji who had frozen on his spot too heaved a sigh.

"Kimi," he said. "Remember Condition number 1? Don't ask me useless questions."

Kimi looked at him baffled while blinking.

"Also, I am hungry." Neji turned around and sat back on the bed. "Go prepare food, do your job."

After a silence, Kimi merely nodded, she was used to this by now. "Yes, of course."

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Truthfully, I am not dad material. So when she said "Papa" for the first time, I was frowning.

That happened 5 months ago, so I was with her for more than 7 months by then. I didn't mind, of course. She sees me as her father, what's wrong with that?

I mean, even if she does see me like that - it's not as if that means I started to see her as my daughter too, considering I don't even want to have children in my life. Children are not my thing.

Yet, I did have some double thoughts after that.... Double thoughts on what, you may ask?

"If the Divine Beast transformation is a success, I would make her my "Familiar", and then enter dungeons with her." – That was the plan.

My System doesn't have a Party system, so I can't just merely add her to the party and be done with it. As for why that's the case, System said:

[Like the System has said before, the other people around Master aren't the same as Master himself. They don't have numeric stats. Their existence is different from yours. So turning them into Party members is not possible.]

It's fair, truthfully. But,

[Knowing the context of your question, Master CAN turn Kurai into your "Party Member" by making her your "Familiar". Though you'd need a "Familiar Stone" for it.]

These messages are from almost a year ago. By now, I already have a familiar stone. I got it from the "Crimson Wolf Dungeon".

But... I started to have double thoughts back then. I didn't want her to become my Familiar if the only reason for it would be to make her fight for me. Though, after her evolution, I guess things need to change.

This is necessary, very necessary. As for why it's necessary-

I had gone to an Undead dungeon before. I thought I would meet Zombies and Skeletons again, but who I met were – spirits, ghosts and astral enemies. I didn't fucking have any Spiritual attacks, thus I got super fucked.

Using the only "Escape Dungeon Coupon" I had, I barely escaped with my life.

After that incident, I have come across 17 Undead dungeons, I didn't go to any of them, as any person with common sense would have guessed.

Currently, at the place in Osaka I am at right now, there are 4 Undead dungeons just around my nose.

But I am not able to enter those, since I would only get myself killed if there are any Ghosts there. But... with Kurai, using her power of a God of Death, I should be able to clear them all.

Some might say this is not a necessity since there are lots of dungeons other than Ghost ones, so I don't need her to endanger her life... but, maybe I am repeating myself, but if I am not strong enough, even she would die.

This is for the greater good. Fuck my soft side. I need to do this for my and her own welfare.

Time to trick her.

So,

"Kurai, wanna hear something fun?"

I untied her restraints as she glared at me. Her body had returned back to normal, it seems the transformation is temporary.

"Wanna become strong?"

She blinked with her glare vanishing and a confusing look appearing on her eyes instead.

"What do you mean?"

"...I am asking, will you go into different magical worlds with me so that we can hunt down bad guys and get stronger?" I feel like my description is a bit strange, but as long as it does its job right...

Kurai tilted her head. "Strong enough to protect you and Mama from any danger."

I smiled. "I thought you liked Mama more? You want to protect Papa too?"

Her expression froze as I could sense her blushing under her fur... wait, is that even possible?

"That's- of course! Kurai doesn't want you to get hurt no matter how wicked you are!" She raised her head pridefully. "Nobody shall harm this God's old man and Mama!"

I chuckled softly and patted her head. Maybe her new tsundere personality is better?

"I will ask for the last time." I brought her to a hug, at which she stiffened. I guess she doesn't like hugs from me anymore, huh. "It's dangerous, you might die. Remember you're not a Death God just yet. You barely have any divine powers."

From the state, [Brimming with Mana], I know she has quite a lot of Mana. But currently, the most she can do is a Fire Bolt and a Spirit Ball.

"Kurai isn't scared! Throw me at the sun and I will eat it!"

Oh, confidence. I like. Just hope overconfidence doesn't get her killed like how I almost died last time.

"Alright then." I patted her. "Let's get stronger together. I will protect you."

Having a magical pet isn't bad, huh...

Oh... before I go into the dungeon, I need to talk to her "Mama" once.

It's finally the time, huh.

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Author's Note:

For anyone complaining, please, this is just how Neji is. Only complain once he learns about her problem, not before that.