Over the next 30 minutes Orlo then Root both came back to the room calmly, followed a few minutes later by Turnip.

"No idea where Lluvia is but she'll figure it out." Turnip said.

A few minutes later we heard a light knock at the door in a pattern. Lluvia then entered the room.

"We have a way out via the back door of the inn." Lluvia quietly told the group.

"Right so here's the plan. We bunker down until this evening. Then a few hours past midnight we sneak out of down. Hopefully with a little luck most people will just assume we left early in the morning." Root said quietly, everyone silently agreed.

"Ok you've all done this before…" I said accusingly.

"Bar tab early on… and maybe a bit of gambling more recently…" Lluvia said.

"And occasional accusations both founded and unfounded…" Turnip said while surprisingly looking at Root of all people.

"Plan is just to keep a low profile. It's not unusual for adventuring groups to go to bed early or leave early so we have that going for us. Nicole you're going to need to stay in the room, Iser continue to keep her company. The rest of us to keep up appearances will go downstairs and have a drink at the bar. No more than half a cup each…" Root looked at Turnip, so this group had stories.

I spent 20 minutes laying on the bed trying to take a nap, if things worked out as expected I wouldn't imagine getting much sleep tonight.

"O crap… Iser, we won't have any light if we travel at night. At least nowhere near the town." I said quietly.

"My night sight is pretty good and so is Orlo's, both Root and Turnip are Bun, they hear much better than they see. Lluvia she spends so much time in the dark already I do not think it bothers her." They said.

"Maybe if I was in my early 20s this would not be as big of a deal but my dark vision is not as good as it used to be…" I said.

"Well… you will probably need to hang on to someone's shoulder then." Iser suggested.

I had a different idea but I was not sure if this counted yet. I was eager after all to continue to learn about my new ability.

Iser and I continued to chat about inconsequential topics while I layed on one of the beds with my eyes closed. Eventually I must have dozed off.

I eventually woke up several hours later. It was starting to get dark so I decided to give this a try. It would at least give me time to regenerate some mana.

I focused in on my eyes then pushed the concept of cat eyes on them while using my ability. Bones in your hands are one thing, feeling your eyes shift around was a new level of weird feeling. I clenched my hands into my thighs to try and give myself something else to focus on. Luckily it didn't last very long and I opened my eyes. It certainly was brighter than before and a bit more blurry as well which I didn't expect.

"Are you ok? You seemed like you were in some distress for a moment." Iser said.

"Yep, fine was running through something in my head and it worried me… I can't get out of my own head sometimes." I said, I don't think Iser fully believed me but they didn't push the subject.

A few minutes later the rest of the group came back up.

“Good news and bad news, good news no one seems hostile yet. Bad news, they are suspicious as hell right now.” Root said.

“Yeah someone must have checked all of us… they were specifically singling you out Nicole. I'm guessing the level mismatch didn't go unnoticed.” Turnip said.

I was avoiding looking at anyone to not tip off I had changed them. Turnip damn her thought I was moping.

"Don't worry you're safe with u..." She stumbled over the last part as she kneed down in front of me, then frozen when she noticed my eyes.

"Super obvious?" I asked.

"That’s one way to phrase it… I figured that was a dream… or maybe more a nightmare when you showed me." She said, a bit shocked..

"What did she do now…." Lluvia said, then I looked her in the eyes. "Fuck! You can do that to your eyes!?"

I signed and turned to face Root, Orlo and Iser.

“What’s going on?” Orlo asked.

"HAAA… fuck me I was not expecting that.” Orlo said the other two nodding their agreement with both shock and questioning expressions.

"Sorry… umm I don't want to talk about the details yet but it was complicated and unexpected." I said.

"Did it… hurt?" Lluvia asked with concern in her voice.

"No pain but I could feel muscles shifting around and in the eye… it was not pleasant." I said.

"… I need a real drink now…" Root kind of just sat down on his bed and started rubbing his temples while dropping his ears to shield his eyes.

"Also side note… I think cats are slightly nearsighted. Everything after about 20 feet gets a bit blurry. Also I lost the ability to see reds for now." I added.

"You are by far the craziest person I have ever met… I could also use a drink as well…" Turnip said and flopped down on her bed.

"Well now that this is all out in the open I'm going to spend some time changing my feet and hands for the moment. Something to help me climb if need be." I said.

"I have no idea what is going on… does anyone mind if I go to the bar and get myself something?" Iser said, looking at me with both interest and confusion.

"Please don't I would like us all sober… as for what Nicole is up to we will ask later…" Root said with some exacerbation.

So I started to work on my hands. By the time I had finished one hand the skill had ranked up.

Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Shape Alter skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!

Rank E is a free rank!

Shape Alteration

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Rank F - 100%

Your ability to change is now more efficient and can lead to more complex changes.

I accepted the skill then changed my other hand. It was about 50% less mana which was a huge boost.

"O crap… umm Iser how do you manage your claws? I can't undo my boots right now." I said quietly.

"I managed by not wearing boots or any footwear. At most we tend to wear a sort of sandal if we need added foot protection." They said.

Lluvia let out an exasperated sigh and came over to help me remove my boots.

"You are going to change yourself back right?" She asked.

"Yeah… but I might work on my eyes a bit, If I can correct the nearsightedness and lack of red this would be incredibly useful." I said.

"Ok after the shock… I'm kind of digging the eyes. But all this other stuff… it's just so odd…" she continued.

"Ok time for the feet… wait… plantigrade or digitigrade?" I asked my audience, I just got confused looks.

"Oh, umm might be a translation problem…" I placed my foot on the ground and said "plantigrade".

I then indicated to both Iser's and Orlo's feet and said "digitigrade".

"Umm… I'm not sure… this one's on you." Said Orlo and got a round of more confused looks.

"Well let's try digitigrade… worst case I switch back in 15 minutes." I said, then I modified my feet.

"By Dirt… I might throw up after seeing that.." Turnip said in abject horror.

"Same…" Root said.

"Fascinating…" Iser said quietly.

"Ok that was a bit rough… somewhere between hands and eyes on weirdness." I said, then stood up tentatively.

"Oh fuck me this feels really weird. It's like I can feel my heel always in the air but I can't force it down." I said as I slowly moved around.

It felt more natural than I would have expected but I was wondering how much of the ability was augmenting that. I took a few steps then shifted weight a few times back and forth. Even gave tiny little hops just to get a feel for landing.

I then tried to jump as high as I could and surprised myself when I bumped my head on the ceiling… the 12 foot tall ceiling.

"Ok I can really jump now… I'm wondering how well I can handle landings… I'll figure that one out later." I said then put on all my gear minus my boots and ensured I could still move properly.

"Alright I'm ready for this evening." I said.

"Right… Well, try and get some rest. We are going to be moving the rest of the night and into the morning. We are 6 days from the next closest town but we do have a pretty well worn path to follow." Root said.

I laid down in the bed I was sharing with Lluvia, it was certainly snug.

"Hey don't worry none of this is going to be permanent." I said as I pressed up against her without having my changes touch her.

"I know… ok give me your hand I just want to explore it a little." She said, then I offered my hand I was not laying on. I was laying on my side while she was laying on her back.

She took my hand in hers and started to trace the modified skin or scales or something….

"Hey that tickles." I said trying not to jerk my hand away. As she continued I cuddled up even closer and just shut my eyes for a moment.

The next thing I knew I was being gently shaken away.

"Alright time to sneak, grab your stuff." Lluvia said.

I took a moment to stretch while still on the bed then got up.

"Oh damn… I kind of forgot they are different right now…" I said taking note of my feet again. That earned me an eye roll from Lluvia.

Lluvia was the first out the door then Orlo was second a moment later.

We waited a few minutes for Orlo to come back and told us to follow them as the current path was clear.

I wasn't a super stompy walker by any means but I was used to my foot falls being louder. I could hear almost nothing, heading down the stairs our group made very little noise. I was surprised by how little light was in the inn but I had to remind myself of no electricity. We worked our way through the kitchen then out the back door.

We gathered up as a group just outside, my night vision was working wonderfully as the moon was out. To me it appeared more like an overcast day at the moment, it was a little disconcerting.

"Alright groups all here. Lets just wait for Lluvia to scout out the gate." Root said in a whisper.

A minute or two later.

"Its packed I saw some normal guards plus a few friends just chatting. I would recommend up and over." She said, Root only nodded to that.

I quickly figured out what they meant. We were going to climb the wall on this side. The wall around the town was not too impressive. It was mostly made of wood and intended to keep the random monster out.

Lluvia led the group over to a slightly shorter section compared to the rest. Root and Turnip literally jumped over the wall then both came back over without their packs and collected Orlo's and Iser's. Iser in the meantime had started using their claws to dig into the wood and climb. Orlo then shot over the wall as well and sort of drifted down to the ground.

I passed my pack off to Turnip then I gave an indication I would like to try and climb over.

"You sure? I think we can manage you." Turnip whispered.

"We're not in any rush or threat so this should be a good way to figure out some limits." I whispered back, Turnip shrugged in reply.

I braced myself to jump then pushed as hard as I could. I knew digitigrade had a better jumping capacity and my legs had grown in strength. What I didn't expect to clear the wall by 2 feet. Luckily I only let out a tiny squeak then managed to land on my feet before tumbling forward in a graceless heap.

"Ok… I knew I could jump higher but that was unexpected… I might have subconsciously added more muscle or stronger ligaments or something." I said as I tentatively stood up.

"Umm you ok?" Root asked.

"Yep everything feels fine just startled us all" I whispered.

"How's your sight?" Root asked.

"It looks like an overcast day for me, if a bit muted." I said.

"Good grab your stuff and make sure nothing makes noise." Root said then focused on his own gear.

Then a Lluvia appeared over the wall and fell down.

"Everyone here and have their stuff?" Root asked.

After a moment Root said, "Ok good, Nicole you're going to take the front with Lluvia Scouting ahead… I can't see anything anyway. Also use that path ability of yours with a focus on being quiet… hopefully it will help."

With that I took the lead with everyone else just behind me. I started burning through my mana projecting my path awareness in a Northern direction with an emphasis on quiet.

It didn't take us too long to get a half mile or so away from the town before Lluvia found us.

"Looks clear from what I can tell I would still recommend we stay to the woods instead of the path for a little while." She said.

"Understood, Nicole, how are you on mana?" Root whispered.

"Not great regenerating mana is slowed quite a bit with my hands and feet… one sec." I whisper back, I had just enough to switch my hands back.

"Understood, I don't think you need to use your mana as much now." He said, and we continued forward.

Walking with altered appendages was getting less distracting, and I found the entire process very fascinating. We continued on for a few hours until the sun started to rise, then we found a place to hunker down and take a break.

"Alright we will take a bit of a rest then switch over to the road. As long as Nicole's mana holds out I get the impression we can move much closer to our normal speed." Root said.

"Wait, you normally move faster?" I asked.

"Only when being chased, you think you can keep up a jog with your legs?" Root asked.

"I unintentionally jumped a 15 foot wall, I'll be fine, I will keep an eye on my mana. I think the more I exert the more I use but it's minimal right now." I said.

After our break we cut back over to the road and found it unsurprisingly empty . Once there I made sure my gear was not going to rattle around too much then I started a jog.

I had no problems keeping up with the group and even started a little race with Lluvia. She was still quite a bit faster but as it turned out I could keep running for a longer time. I ended up in a sort of trance as we ran but unless someone asked me something specifically the chatting kind of became background noise.