"New world reached. Please confirm main quest."
Main Quest: Attain Heaven (Current Progress: ???)
"Meow?"
This was the first time Yimi had encountered a quest this cryptic. So cryptic she couldn't even begin to figure out which direction to work toward.
In any case, this world counted as modern.
Though she didn't have the specific vocabulary for it or any real concept of historical eras, the little cat could more or less sense the art style of modernity by now. If there were cars, it was modern enough. Though compared to the flattened designs of later generations, the cars popular in this era looked like beetles.
The biggest hassle, though—
"Mommy, look at that girl's outfit."
"Oh, how pretty. Is she a child star from somewhere?"
"A kid that small crossing the street alone—someone call the police!"
"..."
Walking down the street and getting gawked at. People in these car-worlds loved making a fuss. When the kitty walked around with her ears out, they pointed. Now she'd put on a hat, and they still had something to say.
Annoyed, Yimi darted away and ducked into an alley, where she shifted back to her small cat form and stowed Marisa's clothes in her storage space.
She checked her portal energy. After two bare crossings with no quest completion, she still had 90%. The last world had showered her with achievements, and now she regenerated 5% on her own every two days, not even counting mission rewards.
Looking at that utterly baffling quest, Yimi was starting to think the System didn't actually want her to go home. The last world had assigned her a task she'd never have completed either.
"Woof woof woof!"
"Meow?"
An unpleasant sound reached her ears. Ever since Ran had given her the Species Education talk, Yimi's opinion of dogs as a whole had cratered even further. The only dog the kitty liked was Uncle Nuomi alone.
"Grrrawf!"
Seeing Yimi just standing there instead of running, the snarling bulldog lunged at her.
"Meow!"
Yimi swung a paw and smacked it across the face.
"Aowwww—"
She hadn't used full force, but the dog still went flying with a pitiful yelp, even spinning three jagged teeth out of its mouth mid-tumble.
"Meow?" Yimi looked at her own paw in confusion.
Ever since leaving the first world, the physical enhancement from her stored-up strength had stopped converting to raw body power. But now it had automatically re-adapted back.
On top of that, her spiritual energy had sharpened again, as if the infinite mana generated by her soul materialization had bled over to influence the Unequal Exchange power of her Stand as well.
Yimi tried converting her strength back into mana. It worked.
Miracle and Unequal Exchange weren't limited by world-adaptive restrictions, but for some reason the power amplification had only taken effect in these two worlds so far.
She switched back to raw strength and stamina.
Compared to infinite mana, the physical enhancement felt better—after all, it genuinely let her run faster and jump farther. As for magic, aside from Prana Burst she didn't know anything else.
"Owoooo... Aowooo!" The bulldog she'd sent flying wobbled back to its feet, barked a few times, then bolted in a specific direction.
Having spent her earlier days as a street brawler who tangled with dogs regularly, Yimi recognized the signal: it was going to get backup.
"Meow!"
Yimi pounced after it.
You're calling for help? The cat's coming to finish the job!
Rounding a corner, she was instantly met with a wall of hostile stares. This appeared to be a stray dog gathering spot, and she'd charged straight into their territory.
A pack of brawny mutts growled threateningly at Yimi, but the one they flanked—sitting in what was clearly the alpha position—was a surprisingly small Boston Terrier.
What's the deal with this ridiculously flashy-looking cat?
Unlike the other dogs, this Boston Terrier possessed near-human intelligence. It glanced at its bruised underling.
"Underling" was generous—the mutt had just shown up one day looking to join the pack. Since the bigger dogs occasionally proved useful for sniffing out tasty meals, the terrier hadn't bothered chasing it off.
Seriously though, your size and you got punked by a cat that doesn't even qualify as large? And those teeth—did the cat do that?
All of this was internal. Dog or not, no amount of cleverness could overcome the biological fact that it couldn't speak human.
"Meow." Yimi's tail began to sway.
That motion—in cat body language, that's pre-attack, isn't it? Dammit, I don't want to get dragged into something pointless!
Its underling had come back looking wretched, and the cat had chased it all the way here. Even a stupid human could tell something was off. But backing down in front of all its followers against a single cat? Its pride wouldn't allow it.
A large amount of sand suddenly appeared behind the little Boston Terrier, coalescing into a beast even larger than a full-grown human.
The dogs around it scrambled backward to give it room.
"Woof woof!"
Get it? I'm not to be messed with. So scram!
"Meow?"
Despite the different appearance, Yimi recognized it right away. Wasn't this Stand power?
Had she returned to the first world? But that world's quest was already done, and the streets there hadn't been crawling with cars like this.
"Famine!"
"Ngh!"
Famine, the Stand symbolizing catastrophe, materialized behind Yimi.
"Woof woof!"
At the sight of it, the pack of strays finally lost their nerve and bolted away from the Boston Terrier's side.
Damn it, you actually have the same kind of power as me?! Get lost already—I don't want to fight you, and not that you could beat me anyway. Out here in the wild, getting injured is basically a death sentence. You understand that, right?!
It barked furiously at Yimi, but no matter how much emotion it packed into those barks, to her cat ears it was all just woofing.
"Meow?"
But Yimi could read the situation. This unfriendly dog was putting on a show—it didn't actually want to fight.
Back in her street-brawler days, she'd met plenty of bluffers like this. Most of them only talked tough because there was a door between them, or because their owners had them on a leash. The ones who actually attacked on sight without hesitation? Only cats ever did that.
"Meow!"
But that bulldog had picked a fight with her, and it had called for backup from this little dog. The kitty never forgot the lesson that leaving an enemy unfinished would only cause trouble later.
So the kitty came up with a brilliant idea.
"Meow." Yimi dismissed her Stand and called out to it in a friendly tone.
Then she tossed over a strange-looking fruit.
What's going on? Is that an attack? And she just... squeaked at me all soft like that...
The little Boston Terrier cautiously sniffed the odd fruit.
What is this thing? It smells incredible!
Better than anything it had ever eaten!
Suspicious, sure. But it smelled so good. It really, really wanted a bite.
Temptation won. The little Boston Terrier opened its jaws and chomped down. Unbelievably delicious, just as the smell had promised. What a kind-hearted cat this turned out to be.
"Meow~ (\^\_^\)" Yimi watched with satisfaction as it polished off the fruit that was supposedly as disgusting as crap.
"Congratulations to the Host for earning the achievement [Turning Enemies into Friends]. Reward: 5% portal energy."
It was the fruit the kitty had gotten from the seafaring world.