It was two hours later that Kat finally got a reply from both Lily and Vivian. They were mostly similar, but Vivian's included mention that Sylvie would be sad she was asleep and missed the message. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep rather early for once.
The messages were just basic well wishes as well as a request for some clarification on a few details. As Kat was composing her reply, Kat got a second message from Lily explaining that she'd waited for twenty minutes and now had to assume that Kat wasn't available any more.
This of course confused Kat greatly. She stared at the message and curled her tail into a question mark while tilting her head. *I… I don't understand? I waited like two hours for a reply and while I don't begrudge Lily not wanting to just wait around for me. Hey system, is there a daily on these messages?*
User Kat is correct. Messages to accomplices will have a delay unless both parties are within the same dimension.
*But why would it be like that? I'm pretty sure that I don't lose much time when I transfer over, only a few seconds or a minute at most.*
The full details require a higher Rank to access but User Kat can be given a basic descriptor. Essentially, D.E.M.O.N.S utilises a lower powered function to transport messages across dimensional barriers. It requires so little power to be almost negligible but has a time delay.
*Higher Rank demons have the option to pay for fast tracked delivery, but User Kat does not have the required credentials.
*Huh… but… why can you send me quickly across dimensions then?*
User Kat is requesting Highly Restricted information. Does User Kat wish to use one of User Kat's special Favour Tokens.
*No… though thanks for reminding me about those… with everything that happens they kind of slipped my mind… which is really annoying when I know I have perfect recall�� Is it still perfect if you can gloss over things though?*
Kat shook her head, and recentred her thoughts on the message delays. *I guess I'll have to treat them more like particularly fast letters rather than texting or a phone call.* Kat quickly composed a short explanation for the others and mentioned the delay before sitting back and relaxing.
Kat was tempted to meditate while she waited up in the tree but decided against it. No sense messing up in the first day, and in addition to that, Kat still wasn't sure how safe and reliable the meditation was in regards to catching things sneaking up on her. She knew it worked really well against other people, but it seemed more like she was feeling their mental imprint.
Kat was working on the assumption that animals would have a smaller presence because they had less going on in their mind. Maybe with training or with additional ranks this could be solved but for now Kat didn't want to risk it.
And so she sat, quietly, on watch for another six hours, providing Xiang a full eight hours of sleep. Despite this, when Kat jumped down and poked him in the cheek, he was unresponsive. Kat flicked his head a few more times before starting to contemplate. *Ok, so… how do I want to wake him? Extreme cold? Punching him? Slapping him? Slapping him sounds fun… but that might be construed as an attack…*
*Hmmm, let's freeze a stick and poke him with it. No need to dismiss the classics.* There was an abundance of sticks lining the ground along with leaves and other such forest waste. Picking up the largest stick in eyesight, Kat set it alight.
It instantly froze over, and once it did Kat simply dismissed her fire and proceeded to poke Xiang with the chilled item. The reaction was instantaneous, he kicked off the sleeping bag and launched himself to his feet before drawing his sword and pointing it at Kat.
The speed was nothing compared to Kat's maximum speed, but it was clearly above what a normal human should have been able to do. It was Kat's first clue in that this realm might be different from the others she'd visited.
Previously, everyone who was stronger than normal had needed to empower themselves to achieve any meaningful results. Xiang however gave no indication of any such empowerment, no tell-tale glows, and his clothes contained no runes as far as Kat could tell with her untrained eyes, but that didn't mean much with her lacking experience.
Still, this swiftness with which Xiang moved cause Kat to narrow her eyes. *That was actually rather impressive. Both as an instinctive reaction and in terms of overall speed. Something is going on here. This is strength beyond even Gareth… but he doesn't actually feel more powerful, I get the sense that he hardly knows what he's doing so why is he so fast?*
"Attacking me now are you?" asked Kat with a smirk, unable to resist the easy chance to throw Xiang a curveball. She was still hoping to keep him off balance for a while longer yet.
"My apologies" said Xiang making an effort to project his voice "I am not used to such a chill. Even surrounded by the mountains as this area might be, that is some of the coldest I have ever felt"
"Well, it was simply a way to get your attention. My light attempts to wake you were unsuccessful. I did not want to escalate to full force so quickly, so taking this frozen branch was my next stage" said Kat
"Right" said Xiang firmly, but with an undercurrent of unease as if trying to convince himself that Kat was telling the truth. *Huh… I think he knows I can't lie… right? Let's not mention it but… I'm not sure what I'd rather he knew.*
"Well, I am going to take a short rest" said Kat before taking off with her wings and settling back into the tree limbs.
Before she closed her eyes, she heard Xiang curse not quite under his breath "By the Immortals, how am I supposed to get up and wake her once it's time to leave from down here"
*Easy answer for you. You're not.* Thought Kat as she shut her eyes and settled in for a nice nap. She let herself sink into her mediation, riding on the currents and watching the ripples as her mind relaxed.
It was an unknown time later when Kat noticed ripples below her. They were short and frantic. Finding this situation Kat decided to rouse herself, pushing herself from the depths of sleep. The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one but it did answer a few questions.
Below her, Xiang was surrounded on all sides by several wolves. Each wolf had a strange fur pattern, and were crackling slightly as Kat looked them over. Kat counted five in the immediate area with two more watching from further back that were larger, with the occasional spark that flew between bits of fur. Xiang had his sword drawn and had placed himself against the tree. His sleeping bag had been put away and if he was eating snacks there was no evidence left.
*Well, I guess that means that no, I cannot in fact detect wolves coming while I'm asleep, but I can detect someone being attacked by wolves, so small victories, I guess.* Kat dropped herself out of the tree in front of Xiang, not bothering with her wings to slow her down, instead pushing energy into her legs to absorb the impact.
Kat slammed into the ground which cracked under her weight as she stood up. Dirt sprayed from the impact crater, mostly flying towards Xiang… something she hadn't quite intended. *Ooops. I'll admit to that one being poor manners and bad form.* Kat glared out at the wolves, which had started to bolt at the sight of her. The smaller wolves had turned their back on her completely and were running away at full speed.
However, the two in the back had moved up a slight amount, ready to attack her, but only if she followed up. They split their focus between the retreating wolves and Kat. Once the smaller wolves had taken off and were hidden by trees, the larger ones started retreating slowly, never letting their eyes leave Kat.
As the situation defused, Xiang spoke up, anger in his voice "I could have dealt with them"
Kat turned around and shrugged. "Perhaps, but there was no reason to take that fight"
Xiang growled "Some basic mountain wolves that aren't even true beasts could never hurt me"
Kat was about to accept his explanation, but Kat noticed that while he was speaking, his arms had yet to stop talking. Additionally, she wasn't an expert in martial forms, but Xiang was pressed as far back as he could be against the tree, his back as straight as it could be. "Oh? You sure about that? What about the two larger ones in the back?" said Kat guessing they were the real strength of the group.
Xiang twitched at that, sword darting to the side before he disguised it as putting his weapon away. "Ha, a first level true beast is also n-nothing"