Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 91: Permanent

The whole Demon Clan thing was an issue for another day. There weren’t any demons in the Forea Alliance, and I certainly wasn’t planning to enter the Great Depths just to search for subordinates. The Netherworld sounded like a good place to grow stronger, to acquire hundreds of useful and powerful shifts, and to die.

I was more likely to die in the Netherworld. From all I’d been told about the Demonkin’s home, I knew that I never wanted to go there. Then again, it was not like I planned to leave the Zetrian Empire under such circumstances. I never asked to be kidnapped or to find my love in a forest full of things that wanted me dead.

Not that I could complain about the latter. I loved Fern, and I would much rather get kidnapped a thousand times than change the past. It was just that life was complicated. Unnecessarily complicated.

Just like my Power. Burst was simple. Ignite was simple. Conjure Bread...well, I could probably conjure different types of bread, but it was simple nonetheless. Even the racial traits of monsters were relatively simple.

Shift was far more versatile. In a way, I could do everything with it. All I needed was to figure out how and what it took to integrate things into my main form. That was going to be a nuisance. I knew it would be, but it annoyed me. At the same time, however, it excited me.

It would have been boring if Shift had been too easy to wield. The challenge was probably exactly what I needed.

Getting up from the bed, I noticed only then that Fern had already left. She hadn’t trained much recently and was pestered by Clove to join even more so than me.

"She didn’t even say anything." I clicked my tongue, but the smile playing on my lips didn’t cease.

Instead of worrying about Fern’s whereabouts, I sat down on the floor, eyes closed. For the umpteenth time since my registration at the Huntrice, I reached out to my Core. It was brimming with Essence. It was not as difficult to sense as before. However, I still couldn’t open my Core to access pathways to guide it outside. The reason was as simple as it had been several days ago: I didn’t have any pathways. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The Huntrice had a small library, which I’d visited days before to read about the anatomy of humanoid races, monsters, and the like. I skimmed through the book the first time, then sat back to read it thoroughly. Then I read it a third time when several points caught my attention.

It was rare for someone to awaken without pathways. Usually, they formed as soon as a human’s Core awakened alongside their Power. It was a simple task, yet some Chosen were simply unfortunate. Their Core came without pathways, which made it impossible to use their Powers. Or, in my case, it didn’t change a thing. My Power did not require pathways, after all.

But did that mean the other Powers needed pathways? I certainly didn’t feel like they did. At least, I hadn’t felt the need for them beforehand.

Shifting to the different human forms at my disposal, I used their Powers. As draining as it was, I went through all of them until I came to a simple conclusion.

"Powers require Essence and pathways." All of them did. Powers pulled Essence from the Core and used it to do whatever the Chosen desired. The Essence used by Powers would recover, which was good to know.

The used Essence moved through the Chosen’s pathways in complicated patterns. The pattern for each was different, just like their pathways. Every Chosen had unique pathways. It was almost like they’d been curated for their Powers. Interestingly enough, Burst did not only consume most Essence, but it circulated through the pathways in tidal waves.

Its potency was simply too great, and it burst through several pathways. In fact, Essence was forcefully pushed through damaged pathways, which resulted in a leak. The leaked Essence then hurt the Chosen’s knee. Previously Cedric’s, now mine. Sure, the damage did not prevail for long, but it felt like I’d have to create new–

"Wait a moment." I used Shift while in Cedric’s form. Not to do a full shift into another being, but to modify the damaged pathways. It was no permanent measure, but by shifting Cedric’s damaged pathways to match another human’s, I created an amalgamation. The pathways were misaligned the first time I tried to replicate Loverboy Two’s pathways in the leg. The position wasn’t correct, and it only caused a lot more damage.

That showed just how dangerous Shift could be. I reverted the changes, took a long break, and returned to Cedric’s form.

The day passed in the blink of an eye. As for the pathways, I had yet to figure out a proper solution. I managed to replace one of the damaged pathways, but it was only a temporary measure. Even worse, it did not sustain when I activated Burst. The transformation broke from the pressure, leaving me confused and honestly a little mad.

It was more troublesome than it had any right to be, yet I knew it was worth it. As long as I figured out how to use other forms’ pathways to replace damaged pathways, I could take a step further and place pathways where there were none. With a bit of luck, I could add pathways to my main form.

Months of practice would probably help in that regard. I might even push further and integrate other Powers into my main form. The first Power would not necessarily be useful, but by the time I learned how to use multiple Powers in the same form, that would change. Everything would change.

That was the final goal, alongside integrating racial traits of monsters into my main form. Permanently. Temporary measures were acceptable, but they’d be cumbersome. Adding something permanently to the main form was the end goal I had in mind. It was exactly what I needed, and I had literally no idea how to do it.

So I took things for what they were. One step at a time.