Luna dragged me back to the cafeteria where most people were starting to get up and leave for their daily routines. Or maybe to just go and try to beat my score in solo hunting for the Simulation Chamber. I still don't understand how that was supposed to be so hard for teams when I had gotten so far.

Was there really that much of a difference between someone born a Fur or made into one?

Luna dragged me through the crowds of people and into the line for food. I guess that it was dinner time huh? And with how big of a smile she had on her face I wasn't going to just leave and go to my room yet. Even if I surprisingly wasn't hungry yet, maybe that changed too. But doesn't having more strength and an enhanced body make me burn more energy and need more food?

I was thinking about this for a second as a tray was shoved into my hands and the same Panther lady and Blue-striped Wolf guy from before served us all with potatoes with gravy and nice looking steaks, two of them too. I followed Luna as she went to an empty table and sat down, patting the seat next to her as I debated whether I should go on the other side of her or not.

"You can sit by me, I don't mind" she said just to prove her point and I internally shrugged and sat down next to her before digging in. It was all surprisingly really good, and I had already finished the first steak in a few moments before catching myself and going slowly at the other steak. The potatoes and gravy were good on it as well and I ate the second steak together with the mixture.

Luna side-eyed my eating and decided to copy me for a moment, and the sigh of satisfaction and surprise must've meant that she found it good as well. I still finished in under ten minutes and looked to get more but the line had already grown again, with a series of bipedal Reptiles: some of them were snake people with only human like arms being the signifying factor that they were different from normal snakes; and others looked like normal lizard people, some of them with wings and some of them without but with a longer thinner tail.

I caught a familiar scent mixed in with the others but there were too many to properly identify my roommate. Luna caught me staring and drew my attention before I might've upset any of them.

"So what do you have planned for the day, if I might ask?" She said her ears dipping a few degrees and I shrugged before just writing that I was going to go looking for clothes later and maybe checking out a few more books. She beamed and stood up a bit too fast, her legs caught the bench and I grabbed her arm before she fell to the floor.

"U-um thanks," she said when she story out from the bench and stood there with a slightly embarrassed look.

No problem I wrote and got up as well, grabbing both of our trays and bringing them over to the other dirty trays while she regathered her wits. When I came back she was once again in an extremely happy mood for some reason and she grabbed one of my hands and looked deeply into my eyes. Oh no.

"Please let me help you pick out clothes," she said and I wanted to shake my head 'no' or do anything other than agree to let her, but eventually I just huffed and nodded. She beamed and once again started to drag me to another location.

It didn't take that long for her to find one of the places here that sold clothes for us. I guess that she came here often because the clerks greeted her by name, seemingly already knowing that she was going to be coming.

"Hey Luna! I see you brought a male friend along today?" It was a Cheetah lady and her tease has a deep purr to it that greatly unsettled me.

"S-shut up Maria," Luna growled out before pushing me forwards and smiling, "we're here to get him some clothes. He's a bit new to the country and doesn't have much experience shopping like this." Why hasn't that damn grin left that Felines face yet?! And now why are you both looking at me like that?!?

I was begging to think that the next few hours were not going to be that fun for me.

————————————

Three hours later I was slightly traumatized and have a full few days or clothes to pick from, along with underwear that could fit over my tail and sandals (a curtesy gift from the Cheetah lady for being such a 'welcome' customer.

I don't think that she got a lot of business and I also didn't imagine she was too thrilled about being cooped up behind a desk all day, being a cheetah and all. Aaaand now I was wondering if I would see her one of these days out for a morning or evening run.

Luna helped me to my room, I guess women are allowed into the hallways or the male areas but not inside of the rooms without permission or warning beforehand. She didn't come in and rather helped bring my stuff to the door where she set it all down and stood there quietly while I put it all on my bed.

I still found it strange that they wore sandals even though we had pads on our feet that protected against pretty much anything that wasn't metal or glass. Then again I guess that walking around without shoes like that would be considered barefoot and I don't think people would want to walk around dirty areas barefoot.

I slipped on the four inch discs, their diameter covered the entire bottom of my foot with a little room to spare and the padding the top part for the pads was very comfy. The straps to keep it on looked like a broken tent but it was worth it, though I can't imagine sneaking around anywhere with these on. My claws were hard enough to hide, and I suspected the clip of the discs slapping the floor would be much worse.

Anyways once everything was either I my bed or already partially packed away I met Luna back outside my door and asked what else we should do. She taped her side in thought, her ears flicking back and forth like ideas coming and going, and eventually they both stopped at a rise and she smiled.

"How about practicing for the tournament? As long as we are signed up we are clear to train and prepare as much as we want to." She looked at me for approval and I nodded to show my agreement. This made her do a little hop and then run off in the direction we'd come. Without grabbing my hand this time to my surprise.

I closed the door and made sure that it was locked for when I would come back and followed after her. She seemingly knew a few shortcuts to the armory and I committed those to memory for later. And while I did know that she had that strange plasma sword that could appear out of thin air in an instant. I didn't know if she used anything other than that, nor could I figure out how she could hide such a dangerous weapon and be comfortable with wherever it had been placed.

Once inside she headed immediately for the rifles and picked up a marksman rifle that I had never seen before. I pointed to it and she grinned.

"Oh you've never seen this before?" She seemed to get even more proud of herself, "it's actually a prototype Semi-Automatic Marksman Laser Rifle that I designed myself. Sure it took a few years but I eventually got it right and simplified the design into this baby." She held it up like a great prize and I looked at it with even more interest than I had before.

"I haven't actually thought of an actual name for it, and no one besides General Black and you have seen it so I can't wait to see the look on peoples faces when I shoot holes in their armor without the loud sound of a bullet firing." She seemed to shudder on the spot and I looked at her conflicted. She seemed so innocent out here, so how could she seem so full of Blood-lust and battle-mania now? "Anyways I've been banned from using it in actual practice due to the only setting it has being 'deadly' or 'off', so all I've gotten to use it my sword or a stupid pistol."

Was she pouting about not getting to use a deadly item during a training drill? This innocent little lady was looking more like a demon in disguise than a little Angel with a deadly switch as time went on. I followed her anyways as she moved towards the elevators and the settings on the inside seemed to change from Solo to Duo players as soon as I stepped in.

The doors closed behind us and the process began: she asked me about what kind of terrain I wanted to practice on first and I chose Desert. It would train our endurance and let me get an idea of how easily she snuck around and dispatched enemies. She then chose the toughness level, setting it to Hard. Then we both got our gear and items before the doors opened and our into a giant expanse of sand. I stepped through and when she was past the doors threshold the elevator 'disappeared' and the game had begun.

Welcome Umbra 'The Ghost' and Luna 'The Destroyer,' do your best to survive.

Thanks for reading. I should be posting this like three or so minutes before Sunday so you can't say crap about me missing a deadline. 😅😼

Anyways hopefully this will become easier and I can get out further chapter in each scheduled book than just writing and posting a chapter each day I have for uploading. I might even just take a week or so off from the schedule in the future to build up chapters...I don't know yet.

See you next time!