Leaving Matron Imelda behind, Puss headed to the banquet hall, and after drinking some milk, he calmly walked toward his training field.


    As he passed by the playground, he suddenly heard someone calling him in a hushed voice.


    "Psst! Puss! Over here!"


    Looking to the side, where the voice came from, Puss saw—hidden behind a tarp—an eye staring at him. It belonged to an Egg, who was glancing around cautiously, as if afraid someone might see him.


    Setting aside the ultra-suspicious scene, Puss figured whatever he wanted to show him had to be about beans, but he wasn''t interested in getting involved with Humpty Dumpty.


    So, turning his head forward, he continued walking indifferently.


    Seeing that Puss didn''t approach, Humpty grew anxious and quickly stepped out from behind the tarp, running after him.


    "Hey, wait, Puss!" he shouted as he ran.


    Puss didn''t wait and kept walking calmly, but soon enough, the egg caught up to him.


    "Huff! Man, can you stop doing that?"


    He asked, exhausted, placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath, but stopping only made him fall behind again, leaving him speechless.


    Running once more, he caught up again.


    "Huff! Hey! That''s really rude of you."


    The panting Humpty said helplessly, but Puss showed no reaction—except for the slight lift of his tail tip, revealing his amusement at the scene.


    Even Puss himself wasn''t aware that his tail did that.


    "I wanted to show you something I''ve been working on and offer you a deal," Humpty Dumpty said, recovering slightly from his fatigue, now that he had reached Puss and only needed to walk to keep up.


    Puss ignored him and kept walking.


    "Come on, at least hear me out!"


    Humpty quickly ran ahead of Puss and stood in his way, forcing him to stop.


    Puss simply raised his eyes indifferently at him.


    "Look, have you ever heard of magic beans?"


    He asked, widening his eyes at Puss, waiting for a response.


    After a few seconds without any reaction, Puss finally gave a small nod.


    Seeing him acknowledge it, Humpty got excited.


    "My plan is to find the magic beans and steal the golden goose. But I can''t do it alone—I need help, and you''re the most skilled person I know… and the only one who was ever good to me."


    He said, looking at Puss with hope.


    Puss''s feline eyes lifted and stared at Humpty.


    "I''m not interested," he said and walked past him, leaving Humpty disappointed by the answer.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    But Humpty wasn''t going to give up so easily. Awkwardly turning his oval body, he followed after Puss once again.


    "Why? Is it because you don''t believe in the legend of the beanstalk?"


    He asked, wanting to understand why Puss refused so quickly.


    This time, Puss answered immediately, surprising him.


    "I believe in the legend. I''m just not interested in stealing a bird."


    Puss said indifferently.


    Humpty was surprised by the conviction in Puss''s words about believing in the legend. But his doubts didn''t lessen—they only grew.


    "What do you mean by that? We just take the Goose, and we''ll be richer than anyone in the world! We can go anywhere we want and live however we please. We could even find a place to call home!"


    Humpty said, his voice growing more emotional and filled with visions of a bright future.


    But his words made Puss stop so abruptly that the Egg almost crashed into him.


    Puss didn''t turn around, but his words were loud and clear for Humpty to hear.


    "We don''t need a golden goose to be rich. We don''t need to be rich to be free. And most of all, we don''t need a place to call home—we already have that here."


    He said simply, then walked forward, leaving behind an Egg who stared in disbelief at the departing orange-furred back.


    …


    ''Well… maybe I lied a little…''


    Puss thought, feeling a bit ashamed internally.


    Saying he wasn''t interested in a goose that literally shits gold couldn''t have been further from the truth. Besides, he had lied about other things too.


    ''Well, being rich does make being free a lot easier. And calling this place home… the truth is, I still can''t say I truly consider it home.''


    He thought as he returned to his tree and chose a sword. This time, he picked the heavy sword.


    Gripping the large wooden sword—one he had put a lot of effort into making—he began swinging it while leaping into the air and spinning, performing complex movements with it.


    Normally, he wouldn''t divide his focus on different types of swords, but he had discovered that his talent was simply too great. Playing with other kinds of swords gave him inspiration and allowed him to better understand his own swordsmanship path, so to speak.


    As he swung the heavy sword, his focus was intensely fixed on dissecting every mistake and success in his movements.


    Thus, with each swing of Puss''s sword, time flew as well.


    Before he realized it, exactly 200 days had passed since he came to this world.


    Ironically, he was swinging a heavy sword just like on that day.


    He slowly lowered his heavy sword, which was now different and larger—just like he was.


    Puss had grown only a few centimeters, but his body, though still the slim frame of a cat, now had some camouflaged muscle stripes that overall gave him a strong yet handsome appearance, despite still being a young feline.


    But aside from that, he was still the same orange cat who walked around naked.


    He had tried wearing clothes but found them too uncomfortable, restrictive, and bothersome to his feline instincts.


    So he decided to stay naked—after all, his fur was like clothing to him, and his thing stayed hidden, so it wasn''t much different from wearing clothes.


    Yes, Puss''s penis and balls weren''t exposed. In fact, they kind of tucked away into his body, or some kind of cartoon logic like that. They only came out when he needed to pee or when he wanted them out, generally speaking.


    But even though it was protected, if he took a hit in that area, it would still hurt like hell, so it remained a weak point on his body.


    Placing the sword on the ground, Puss looked at the panel in front of him.


    [Host: Puss in Boots


    Age: 6 Months


    Status: 9 Lives Remaining


    Talents:


    - Mutant Cat (Gold): Level 1 (Evolvable)


    - Natural Swordsman (Gold): Level 1 (Evolvable)


    - Furry Lover (Silver): Level 0


    - Lucky Feline (Silver): Level 6]


    In truth, he had held back a lot to avoid evolving the night before. But he restrained himself, wanting to evolve both talents together today.


    ''Unfortunately, I don''t know if evolution causes pain or anything like that. The system only shows the status screen and does nothing else—not even talk or answer questions, so I can''t know. I can only find some secluded place to do it.''


    Thinking this, his eyes involuntarily turned toward the San Ricardo bell tower, the tallest place in the city.


    Not wanting to wait any longer, he made his decision. Like a shadow, he dashed forward, disappearing as he leaped between buildings.