Lightly leaping onto the bed, Ethan glanced at Koneko Toujou, who was still sound asleep. Maintaining his cat form, he gracefully jumped onto the window sill, then leaped down.
Although his current form looked similar to an ordinary cat, his physical abilities were far superior.
Jumping down from the second floor of the villa was like walking on level ground. His paw pads, soft and thick with flesh, made contact with the ground without raising much dust.
Ethan took a few elegant, cat-like steps, his orange-yellow vertical pupils gazing at the dense forest in the distance.
His slender cat body suddenly tensed, his four limbs slightly bent. He instantly accelerated to the extreme, transforming into a blue-gray flash of lightning that darted into the forest.
Not far from this forest was the clearing usually used by everyone for training. Occasionally, it was also used as an experimental area.
Ethan came here to test how much strength he could retain in this new form.
A cold glint flashed from his impossibly sharp claws, leaving three deep claw marks on the thick, solid tree trunk.
Just by looking at the marks, anyone who didn't know would surely think they were left by some savage beast.
After testing his attack power, Ethan tested his speed and defense. His speed was about the same as his normal state, but because of his size and body structure, he created much less disturbance.
His defense, like his attack, dropped significantly when not using magic power, to roughly B-class, the level of a Low-Class Devil.
A moment later, his curiosity about the new skill ended, and Ethan transformed back directly.
A flash of deep blue light passed. The moment he reverted to human form, Ethan immediately used his Flash ability. The clean-cut young man, dressed in black casual wear, appeared in the forest.
After being a cat for a while, he suddenly felt restricted in his human form, especially by the clothes, which couldn't compare to the freedom of his cat form.
As for maintaining the cat form permanently...
It was not feasible for now. First, his defense dropped significantly in that form, and he could be severely disadvantaged if attacked by a powerful enemy.
The second reason was that the transformed state continuously consumed magic power. Although not much, his current strength was insufficient to maintain it indefinitely.
To permanently sustain the cat form, his magic power regeneration rate needed to be faster than the magic power consumed by the transformation.
The Nekomata Transformation ability had many areas for development, but definitely not in the direction of combat.
With this conclusion, Ethan walked a short distance into the forest. The red steel Dragon Gauntlet appeared on his left hand.
"Boost."
The emerald gem flashed. Feeling his doubled power, he clenched his fist and said again: "Berserk."
A deep blue magic power instantly erupted, engulfing Ethan like a flaming aura.
A powerful shockwave radiated from him, sweeping away all obstacles within a one-meter radius. Even the ground beneath his feet instantly caved in dramatically.
Adjusting to the sudden surge of power, Ethan slowly bent his waist and assumed a lunging stance.
"Hoo—Boom! Boom!"
With just a simple punch, the resulting force tore trees thicker than a person out by the roots. Where his punch landed, a trench over three feet deep and about twenty feet long appeared in the ground.
A High-Class Devil could easily destroy a small hill. With the augmentation of the Boosted Gear and the Berserk ability, Ethan could now cause similar destruction with raw physical power.
This was still not his strongest state. The Boosted Gear had only boosted once. The energies from his other bloodlines were inactive, and he hadn't used his Magic Power or Qi.
Ethan surveyed the surroundings, looking at the forest that appeared to have been ravaged by a tornado. He slowly deactivated the buffs on his body.
He now knew the exact effects of the Berserk talent and saw no need to continue destroying the forest.
Mainly, Ethan was worried that if he used his magic power for another attack, this natural training ground belonging to the Gremory family would have to be completely renovated.
The Boosted Gear truly lived up to its reputation as one of the world's thirteen Longinus. The Berserk ability, even optimized by the Dual Cultivation power, was merely its lower-tier imitation.
The so-called "all attributes doubled" referred only to physical qualities. Magic Power, Mental Power, and the like were not included.
Although the Boosted Gear claimed to only double strength, that strength included not just physical might but also magic power.
Ethan wasn't too disappointed. The Boosted Gear was an external force and would likely become useless once his strength surpassed the Two Heavenly Dragons.
The Berserk ability, however, was different. Even if he became the strongest in this world, it would still reliably double his physical qualities.
Simply put, the stronger Ethan became, the more terrifying the effect of the Berserk talent would be.
The commotion caused by the Berserk test woke up all the girls in the villa. But when they rushed to the area with confused looks, they saw no one.
Only a cute, blue-gray cat was elegantly licking its paws in the center of the ravaged area.
"Meow~"
Seeing the girls arrive, Ethan leaped up and pounced towards Rias.
Rias was startled and instinctively wanted to dodge the strange cat. But just as she shifted her body, a familiar voice rang in her ear.
"President, it's me."
Although he looked like a cat, he was essentially a Yokai. The "meowing" was instinctive, but Ethan could actually speak.
The soft cat paw landed on Rias's extremely elastic chest. A violent surge of waves nearly made Ethan, who wasn't using his claws, lose his footing and fall.
Fortunately, Rias caught him in time and held him in her arms.
"Akira? Why have you turned into this? Did you cause that commotion just now?"
Not just Rias, everyone else was intensely curious, their beautiful eyes constantly examining the blue-gray cat in Rias's arms.
After rubbing against the dear President's arms, Ethan leaped onto Koneko Toujou's shoulder. The white-haired LOLI then supported his upper body and raised him to face her.
"Hmm... Male."
"Meow!"
Ethan wondered what the expressionless CAT-EAR-LOLI was going to do, and that was it...
Seeing Ethan get agitated, the white-haired LOLI smiled slightly, held him in her arms, and began stroking him like a cat.
Koneko Toujou was very familiar with a cat's comfort points. Under her expert technique, Ethan decided to forgive her previous action.
Anyway, everyone present was family. They had all seen and experienced the real large dragon repeatedly.
Enjoying the white-haired LOLI's petting, Ethan briefly explained what had happened earlier.
Regarding the source of the Transformation and Berserk abilities, everyone present instinctively looked at Koneko Toujou.
Ethan had only explicitly admitted things to Rias.
But with prolonged intimate contact, the changes in Ethan's body and magic aura made it practically impossible to hide from the others.
Whether it was Akeno Himejima or Yuma Amano, their intelligence was at least above average, if not exceptional.
They had long since guessed the reason behind the incredibly familiar sensation coming from Ethan.
Ethan hadn't intended to hide it from them, mainly because he couldn't, unless he refrained from using the copied abilities in front of them or simply killed them.
Neither option was realistic.
"I can't transform..." Koneko Toujou's hand paused in her petting. She said faintly, "I have Berserk, but like normal Berserk, it has side effects."
Ethan always felt that the Yokai in this world were more like Beastmen than traditional Yokai.
However, this world already had enough strange and chaotic things. He was accustomed to such minor issues.
The girls nodded, said nothing more, and tacitly dropped the subject.
Ethan remained in his cat form, nestled in Koneko Toujou's arms until everyone returned to the villa.
When Ethan transformed back into his human form, a hint of disappointment flashed in the white-haired LOLI's eyes, and her pure white cat ears drooped listlessly.
However, the next moment, when Ethan sat down in his chair, preparing to eat breakfast, she instantly regained her spirits.
Koneko Toujou did not sit in her own seat but instead sat directly in Ethan's lap.
"Koneko?"
"This is my exclusive seat from now on."
The white-haired LOLI didn't turn her head. Her face was expressionless, as if stating an insignificant, established fact.
"Uh..." Feeling the bouncy, warm softness on his thighs, Ethan said stiffly, "If you can manage to not move around... I suppose I can accept it..."
The white-haired LOLI subtly shifted forward slightly, moving her small BOOTY away from the source of the heat.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she whispered almost inaudibly, "Pervert..."
Under the strange gazes of the other girls, Ethan finished his unusual breakfast.
He couldn't taste the food at all. All his attention was focused on restraining his massive dragon.
After breakfast, the new day's special training was about to begin.
Rias led Asia and Yuuto Kiba towards the clearing. "Koneko and Akeno are also S-class now. We still have five days left of special training. Yuuto, Asia, you two need to work hard."
"Yes, President."