The bishop is unfathomable.

After spending ten minutes learning about Albert's original plan for Levi, he looked at Felicia, who had returned to her normal form, and spoke.

"You mean, the teacher actually meant to use this ritual to give you an additional cat-human form that you can transform into, between the cat form and the human form."

"And if nothing unexpected happens, in that form, your appearance, soul shape, and even the nature of your psionic energy will change, and your combat power will increase."

Felicia nodded dejectedly: "That's right."

"But the cat-human form should have been what I understood it to be—a demi-human form with a beast-faced human body, used for fighting and running away."

"This system was originally designed to enhance your physical attributes and reaction speed to compensate for your weaknesses in close-quarters combat."

"But now, due to unknown factors, you just have an extra pair of ears and a tail."

"My physical abilities haven't improved at all, but my psionic spellcasting has."

"The only saving grace is that the shape of your soul and the nature of your psychic energy have still changed."

"Is my summary correct?"

Felicia nodded: "That's right."

"So what are you unhappy about?" Li Wei asked in return.

Felicia thought about it carefully for a moment, then realized, "Oh right, actually the impact doesn't seem to be that big."

After saying that, Felicia turned back into a cat, then into a catgirl, and then into a pure human.

"And you've also achieved the appearance change you wanted. Although this cat-human form isn't quite complete, your hair color has turned black, just like your cat form."

"The most noticeable hair color issue is resolved. Tomorrow, I'll go out and buy some colored contact lenses for you to wear. These little accessories invented by alchemists are easy to buy."

After listening to Li Wei's speech, Felicia thought for a moment and then turned back into a cat. She then jumped onto the desk and said, "I have a feeling that something's not quite right about you."

"I think I'll just stay a cat."

"By the way, what about the book I asked you to borrow? If you can't borrow it, take me to the restricted section tomorrow."

"Also, you're about to be promoted for the second time, right?"

Li Wei nodded: "Mm."

"Have you found someone to team up with?" Felicia asked.

"Found it."

"Huh? Who is it?"

"Miss Vera, the intern inspector." Levi finished speaking and asked, "What's wrong?"

Felicia shook her head: "It's nothing. I was just thinking that if you don't have any teammates, I could use some tricks to team up with you."

"Aren't you already at the fifth level?" Li Wei asked.

"I already said it's just some minor tricks," Felicia said, stretching her body. "Just think of it as a loophole that Yuuki deliberately left in the game."

"This loophole was discovered by those big shots. In order to ensure that their descendants can safely pass the promotion ceremony, it is quite common to arrange a few helpers before the promotion ceremony begins."

"However, this means you shouldn't expect to acquire any particularly good inherent traits."

"But these people probably don't care much about these things."

With that, Felicia jumped onto Levi's shoulder and said, "But if you're worried, I can help you this once."

"The second level is at most a three-person team. You already have teammates, so including me, there are exactly three of you."

"This way, there's no need to worry about members participating in the ceremony betraying each other."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei asked, "Were you escorted to your previous promotion ceremonies all the way through?"

"I didn't get that kind of treatment," Felicia sighed. "But I was almost hindered by the people in my team, which caused me to fail my promotion and even almost died during the ceremony."

"And are you really that close to Vera? Aren't you afraid she's just pretending, and that she's only teaming up with you to find free labor?"

"After all, your relationship with her is just work-related; you've only met a few times, haven't you?"

"You absolutely mustn't let yourself be fooled by other women. Be extra vigilant!"

Li Wei took the chattering little black cat off his shoulder and asked, "So, what's the price? You wouldn't help for nothing, would you?"

"Heh. The price is simple: I don't want to eat canned food anymore. I can pretend to be a pet outside, but I demand to be treated like a normal human being in terms of diet."

"That's all?"

That's all.

"It's a deal. Okay, go find somewhere cool to stay. I need to get back to meditation."

"Okay, boss, I'm off now, meow."

……

……

In Vera's room, a sudden telephone ring occurred in a low-rent apartment built by the Bureau of Inspectorate to house current inspectors.

Vera, who had just finished her work files for the day and was about to wash up and go to bed, picked up the microphone while yawning.

"Hey. This is Vera. Don't tell me I need to go to the station to work overtime now. I'm the unlucky guy who was urgently recalled right after my vacation. Find someone else to work overtime with."

"...It's me, Vera."

pat.

When the voice came from the other end of the microphone, Vera lost her grip on the microphone and it fell onto the table. She also jumped up abruptly, knocking her chair to the ground.

After a period of chaotic commotion, Vera picked up the microphone again and answered hesitantly and nervously.

"Father! Father! What brings you to contact me?"

"..."

An unsettling silence followed from the other end of the microphone. After a long while, a helpless sigh escaped, and then the sound returned from the other end of the microphone.

"You're too tense, Vera. You're my daughter, not my subordinate. Your brothers will bear the glory and responsibility of the Valak family for you. You just need to live the life you want."

"I'm just calling to say hello. After all, you've been working for a while now. I wanted to ask how you've been doing."

"Furthermore, in accordance with Her Majesty the Empress's mobilization order, I will lead my legion to Beldor in three days. We will not enter the city, but will garrison the surrounding towns and villages."

"Come see me when you have time, your mother misses you very much."

Vera twirled a strand of hair a little shyly, then nodded and replied, "No problem, Father. I'll come over when you arrive."

"It's alright. The expo is about to start, and the monitoring work will probably get busy, so there's no need to come over if you don't have time."

"There's been some unrest in Belgorod lately. Have you encountered any danger?"

Vera recalled her experiences and then said, "We encountered quite a few dangers, but we managed to overcome them all in the end."

"That's for the best. Although your martial arts skills are proficient, your training methods for monitoring are still somewhat conservative. Once you advance to the second energy level, you'll need to go home. I will teach you the Valak family's training methods. You must lay a solid foundation before you enter the third energy level."

"How much longer until you advance to the second level? I remember you were already on the threshold when you graduated, right?"

Vera said somewhat embarrassedly, "We only recently found suitable team members. The promotion ceremony should be held in the next couple of days."

"Really? That's for the best. Who should we team up with?"

"He's the new librarian of the Norren Grand Library, and he's also about to have his promotion ceremony," Vera replied.

"A banned book administrator?" The voice on the other end of the line sounded surprised before saying, "You have access to people like that? Aren't you still a non-permanent employee?"

"Father! Just how useless am I in your eyes?!" Vera asked angrily.

A soft chuckle came from the other end of the microphone, followed by a perfunctory apology, and then the voice continued, "Don't cause trouble for others, Vera."