"Seeing as I am the unofficial arbiter of the group and this band of misfits Medic… I am going to recommend you take the day off to recover. You look like you need it still." Root told me.

"I'm not going to complain about that." I said as I took a other bite of what seemed like oatmeal.

"Alright then we will add to the list camping supplies for Nicole" Root said.

Everyone else finished up breakfast and I went back upstairs to bed after offering to clean the dishes. I felt like I needed to sleep for another week.

Once everyone left and I was back upstairs I finally took a proper look at the long list of notifications from yesterday. Everything was normal up to the point where I received the rewards for starving the evil root stuff. I could then see I got 4 General Skill points for the ‘quest’ and 2 for destruction of the core itself. Then I got to a new General Skill.

Shape Alteration

Rank F - 00%

You gain the ability to manipulate physical form through the use of Mana.

Would you like to accept this General Skill?

That seemed like a very interesting skill to have, it really must have given me either I suspect a truly unique skill or something that is crazy rare. I then accepted the new skill.

As I had a few minutes I decided to spend some time experimenting with the new ability. I found a small metal puzzle stashed away in the closet. Probably a gift more than likely.

I focused on the ability and sort of passed the mana through the skill. I then tired to apply it to the object. Nothing happened.

I tried again with more effort this time. I got a sense that what I was doing was possible but would require much more energy.

I then had a very very bad idea.

Against my better judgment I tapped into the skill, added a bit of mana to it and kind of felt around. I got the impression that my body was almost like clay which was a very odd feeling.

“Okay, not what I was expecting… umm I should be very careful with this… and maybe start small." I said to myself.

I decided to change my left pinky finger to more of a claw. If there were any problems with it, well worst case I would be out a pinky finger on my non-dominant hand.

I then focused through the skill that ‘clay’ like sensation to just my pinky and sort of imagined the nail as a bit thicker a bit longer. I didn't even try to give myself a proper claw as that would require changing how the nail connected to my finger. I could feel the tip of my finger shift and reform, it didn't hurt but it did feel odd, not painful but a weird sensation for sure. It took all that mana I offered and a little more about 6 points in total.

“Ok… that was weird but that now looks like a sort of claw… Umm maybe something a little more drastic?” I continued to whisper to myself. I also kept a close eye on my Mana usage I would need to gage how much mana each changed cost. If I could not complete the change I wondered what might happened and shuttered.

I first imagined my pinky back to ‘normal’ and applied the ability. It quickly shifted back to how it used to look, that process only took like less than 1 mana to do. I then imagined having a proper claw like I saw on Iser and expanded the area to cover more of the finger. The feeling was absolutely weird and almost made me throw up. I could feel the bones shifting and reshaping slightly before I was finally left with a claw and digit that looked something like my friendly Kobolt’s, that cost 15 mana to do.

I looked and felt it, the skin around claw had changed slightly to have the appearance of thin scales but more in my skin tone and color. I then checked my mana again.

Mana 98/120

“All or nothing on my left hand?” I asked myself. I then imaged my entire hand looking like a claw similar to how my pinky was and pushed mana into it.

“Holy fuck that feels weird!” I almost screamed out loud. It didn't hurt but I could feel bone, cartilage and muscle shifting around all at once. After the event my hand looked and felt more like a lizard claw or bird’s talon. I checked my mana again.

Mana 48/120

“50 points? OK that's a lot but this seems permanent… I think.” I muttered to myself.

I watched my mana for a moment. It took a lot longer to climb back up to 49 than a minute.

"Ok… so not permanent…" I muttered.

I focused on my hand again and imagined it being normal again while focusing on the skill. I could feel the shifting again but it quickly subsided and my hand was back to normal. I looked at my mana.

Mana 36/120

“Ok thats fucking cool!” I said out loud. I then focused on my skill to see how much it had gone up by.

Shape Alteration F - 23%

I would need to use the skill 5 or 6 times before it would go to rank E. With how it burned through mana I didn’t want to try anything until I was full up again. I suspected I could get this up at least one Rank by tomorrow however. My mana manipulation even jumped up by almost 10% as well.

“Alright… next question… do I tell anyone about this or keep it a complete secret.” I asked myself. That was an enormous question, do I gain potential support to understand the limitations or do I keep it a secret until an emergency.

I would do the safe thing for now and keep it a secret, I can learn what I needed to learn via other methods. If I needed to tell anyone then I would when the time comes. With all of that decided I went back to sleep in the comfy pile of pillows and blankets.

I eventually woke back up around my normal time of ‘noon’ not feeling as strung out as before. I did a quick lap to ensure I was the only person there then spent half my Mana into practicing the new shaping ability.

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At first I tried to change the skin of my hand into steel but that did nothing. It continued to do nothing through several other attempts to change to non biological materials. I then tried a thick more dragon like skin or scales, that did the trick. It was only about 25 points of mana to do. My hand felt more like wearing a glove but being able to still feel through it. The skin or scales were definitely tougher than my normal skin which was interesting.

I then pushed this a bit further, I changed my fingers again to claws which still took quite a bit more mana. In total I had about 20 mana left, a little bit more than what I needed from earlier. That's when I heard the door open downstairs and the padding of feet heading towards the back of the house.

I panicked if anyone noticed then the game was up. I then focused on my ability and tried to change it back, nothing happened.

"O fuck o fuck o fuck…" I whispered to myself.

I could not stay in the bathroom these people didn't care a wink about privacy anymore. I guess if you have had to stitch up a friend seeing them on the toilet or indisposed doesn't matter as much any more.

I put my hand under the the opposite armpit to try and cover it up and quickly walked out the door. Only to bump directly into Lluvia…

"O fuck me….." I screamed in my head.

"Hey you finally back with us in the land of the living?" She asked.

"I'm not that much of a zombie in the morning." I said in my defense. I tried my best to hide the look of panic and worry but something slipped through.

"What's wrong? You doing okay? You seem a bit out of it." She said with some concern.

I looked at my mana and saw it hadn't moved, I tried again to change my hand back but nothing.

"Just woke up and now just really cold is all." I said a little too quickly.

"You know your really bad at lying right?" She asked.

"Yes… I just don't want to talk about it yet." I said with a blush.

"I hope you realize you can trust me…" she said.

"That's part of my problem as well, I am too damn trusting." I said in reply.

"So what did you do to your hand… did you burn it just now or something? Root has a few minor abilities to help boost the healing process and such." She said.

Then she must have seen something peek through.

"Holy shit if your skin is cracking like that we need to tend to it immediately." She said in a panic.

"... It's not burnt…" I said and pulled out my hand. "I don't want to say specifics yet but I received a new skill."

"Umm why does your hand look kind of like Iser's but with an extra finger… and your skin tone?" She asked in shock.

"First all please do not tell anyone else at all, just you and me. In fact I wanted to save this for an emergency and was planning on telling no one." I said in a rush.

"Wait this is your hand still right?" Then she traced the palm of my hand.

"Yes… that tickles please stop." I said.

"So you can change your body to that of some sort of lizard?" She asked.

"Umm no it's more complex…" I said then checked my mana. It was going up slowly but I suspect some energy was needed to maintain the change. I had just over 22 points to spend so I focused on growing feathers out the back of the hand kind of like Orlo's.

"Ok how the heck did you do that. And wait, you can feel that too?" She asked, then gently brushed the back of my hand.

"Hey that also tickles." I said.

"I mean I have met a few people who have changed due to class evolution. I have even heard of cases where multiple evolution started to stack on each other. I have never met someone who can manipulate there own body in this manner however." Lluvia said.

"Like I said please don't tell anyone… but I might need help practicing this." I said as seriously as I could.

"I understand, most of us have at least one skill like that. Nothing even remotely to that level however." She said.

"So umm you can change it back right? Or will I need to find some gloves and maybe a metal file for you." She said.

"I can change it back likely within the next 15 or 20 minutes… I am having to wait for my mana to regenerate enough. Oh hey do you have any spots on your back that need a good scratch?" I asked.

Lluvia's cheeks blushed at that thought, then said. "Yeah, actually the middle of my back just under my leather armor."

Her leather armor laced up from the back, it was harder to put on that way but provided better protection. I was able to maneuver one of my claws to the spot and started scratching the offending location.

"Holy shit that feels good, half the time I need to remove my armor to get to it. Or I beg Iser or Orlo to help." She said.

"Oh can you grab me some firewood, I'd like to do a bath and I also want to see just how tough these claws are." I asked.

Lluvia just rolled her eyes and then went to go fetch some, after I finished scratching.

"So wait why claws anyway, and scales." Lluvia asked.

I was in the process of digging my new claws into the wood, it actually kind of felt good. The only odd part was if I let my finger relax too much then tired to drag my claw I could feel my bones pull apart at the joints which popped a few spot.

"Oh umm, natural weapons and armor was the idea. I can tell these scales are much tougher than my normal skin." I said.

"I also suspect I can do more with this ability, it's rank F for me right now." I continued.

"Wait what's Rank F?" Lucia asked.

"Umm my skill progression? It's what the system presents to me, it's sort of a reverse alphabet F E D C B A and maybe S." I said.

"In your alphabet maybe… But that's interesting, my lowest skill starts at Initiate, Disciple, Adept and so on. I knew others were different but never heard of one like yours." She replied.

"By the way, how has the search been going? Turn up anything interesting?" I asked.

"Orlo said they found some documents that could be of some interest, mostly little odds and ends. Iser and I found you some camping gear. You might need to share a tent however." Lluvia said.

That made me blush and I knew she was teasing me. I tried to change the subject.

"I think I have enough mana to reverse what I did here. It does not take as much to go back luckily, also hold my hand." I told her, she did with a bit of trepidation.

I concentrate and forced my hand back to its original state. I was starting to get used to it, but it did feel weird still.

"O wow those feathers are pulling back into the skin and AHHH…." she had started to say then jumped back.

"You ass… Did you know that was going to happen with your bones?" She asked heatedly.

"Yeah sorry I could not help myself… you felt it from the outside however imagine what it feels like under your skin." I said with a big smile just to spook her some more.

"I've heard of some crazy abilities and skills but this one takes the cake… at least all the ones I believe are real." Lluvia said.

"This is the lowest rank still by the way… who knows what it will be like even at rank C." I said.

"Alright… well I'll keep it a secret for now, on one condition. If I think we need to tell the others because your safety is at risk then I will." She said.

"I doubt I could stop you anyway but I actually agree that makes sense. But please give me some leeway and time… I'm bound to do something stupid…" I almost pleaded.

She thought about it for a moment.

"Fine… besides you're mine and I don't like sharing." She said before leaving the bathroom.

"What…. What does that mean?" I stuttered.