Thomas made his way towards his dorm room after leaving the infirmary. He had a lot to think about as he walked. He didn't mind games with organic race change systems like AoG where it was usually random circumstance that led to the first people changing their races. Later in the games life, people would be able to pick their race by engineering specific circumstances. The problem he had was that most of those games had an option to deny the race change when it was happening. AoG did not.
His next issue was with his wings. He didn't mind having wings at all, in fact, he loved that he had wings as it would make flight so much easier and more natural. Having wings would also let him use stamina instead of mana for flight so he would have a much easier time casting spells while in the air. After all, the flight spell was a spell so casting it and another spell at the same time without a suitably high Magic attribute would be dangerous. His problem with them was how uncomfortable they were to hide. It was like having to suck in his gut all the time. It was doable but annoying and required a little bit of focus to maintain. If he stopped 'flexing' for even a moment he felt like his wings would burst out of his back for the world to see and that would just be a death sentence.
That was another thing he wanted to complain about when he logged out. Being changed into a race that could easily get him killed just for walking down the street in the middle of the capital city was just terrible. If it had been anyone but Selena in the room then he would have been in deep trouble. Of course, that put aside the fact that it was Selena's Unholy magic that caused his change to begin with. Thankfully they both had their own secrets to keep and that they wanted to be kept.
All in all, even though he wanted to log out and file a complaint to see if he could get it reverted, he decided against it for the time being. The race change was inconvenient and slightly annoying but that was about it. Filing a support ticket or complaint could wait until he was done training his four primary elements. Hell, hiding the wings would probably become easier with time and experience.
The one thing he really liked was that he now had access to Holy and Unholy magic. Though he didn't worship any god nor was it granted to him by a god. He doubted that Dean Zorzic and Selena granted the magic to him so perhaps it was directly tied to the Nephilim race? His race change had said he was now half-angel and half-demon and it would make sense that those two races would have a natural affinity for Holy and Unholy magic. So, perhaps, he had inherited it with his new race?
That line of thought brought up a whole other list of questions, such as the natures of angels and demons. Were angels messengers of gods? Were they created by the gods or were they humans that had been granted special privileges by a god? There were so many different versions of angels that is was impossible for him to know right away. He would need to ask about it in the future, along with the nature of demons. He thought he should ask Selena about it, but not right away. Perhaps later when things had calmed down a little bit and he'd had more time to think.
As he arrived at the dorm he noticed that Selena was still walking behind him so he stopped and turned to look at her, "I'm really alright, you don't need to keep an eye on me anymore."
Selena frowned and replied, "Yes I do."
The truth was, she couldn't shake the feeling that Thomas somehow knew about her use of Unholy magic on him. He was also taking the sudden appearance of wings on his back way to casually and hadn't freaked out like she expected anyone else might have. She needed to see if he really did know about her Unholy magic. If he did she needed to make sure that he understood that speaking about it would doom him as well since she knew about his wings.
Thomas looked between her and the entrance to the dorm building a few times before letting out a sigh and letting his sight rest on her, "Are you sure? This is the men's dorm. If someone were to see you enter or exit the building it could cause some rumors about you to spread."
Selena looked confused for a moment before she started to blush when she realized what Thomas was hinting at. She might be more mature than most people her age, but she was still a young woman. She hardened her resolve and nodded without saying anything.
Thomas smiled at the sight of her blushing, the hint of red in her cheeks just made her more lovely. He didn't argue with her and lead her to his room inside the dorm. After he closed the door she looked around and commented, "It's pretty stark in here. It's like you don't even live here."
Thomas looked around and shrugged his shoulders, "I probably won't be here for the full semester or any after that so there's not much point in having a bunch of stuff in here. I just keep all of my stuff on me at all times."
Selena frowned at that, "You shouldn't leave the academy before the semester is over in three months."
Thomas shook his head, "I can't afford to spend three months here. I'll probably stay a while longer to learn more and continue to access the library. Eventually, though, I will need to leave and go out into the world. As I've said before, my goal in life isn't to be an all-powerful spellcaster but to be an amazing craftsman."
As he spoke he made his way to the center of his dorm room and took off his shirt. Seeing him strip Selena began to blush and asked while flustered, "What are you doing?! I didn't come up here for th... that!"
Thomas glanced over at Selena and gave her a teasing smile, "Oh, I'm sure this is exactly why you followed me."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He continued to give her a playful smile as he finished pulling off his shirt and let his wings free with a sigh of relief. The black and white energy wings sprang out of his back and slowly expanded as he finally managed to stretch them to their full lengths. He let out a soft groan at the feeling, it was like stretching first thing in the morning and felt great. Seeing his wings and realizing what Thomas had meant caused Selena to blush even more.
He looked over his wings and realized that they were each a little over three meters long. Now that he could finally fully stretch them out and take a real good long look at them he realized just how beautiful they were. The demonic and black portion at the top of the wings gave off a deeply unholy feeling that he was sure anyone too close would be able to easily feel. The angelic portion of the wings almost looked like lovely white feathers glowing with a gentle white light that gave off a deep feeling of holiness. Perhaps it was a hint of divinity he was feeling? With the black support structure and the feather-shaped energy that started gray and turned pristine white, the wings gave off a very unique impression.
After examining his wings he turned to look back at Selena to see her staring fixedly at the demonic portion of his wing. If he'd had any doubts that she was the one who used the Unholy magic on him they would have been gone now.
He decided to have a little fun teasing her so he slowly, and awkwardly, stretched his right wing tip towards her. She gave a bit of a start when the wing approached her but didn't shy away. Instead, she moved closer and reached out to stroke the wing once again as she stared at it in fascination. A normal person would have likely shied away from the demonic portion of the wing and been attracted to the angelic portion but Selena was having the opposite reaction.
Thomas felt an electric jolt rush down his spine as she stroked his wing with the tips of her fingers before stroking it with her whole hand. In all the games he'd ever played he'd never once had wings before so the feeling of them being touched was a completely new sensation. It was input from nerves that his brain wasn't used to his body having so it was almost overwhelming to him. Just the lightest touch was easily felt and made his mind buzz.
Selena stroked his wing for a few minutes and he did nothing to stop her so he could enjoy the feeling a bit longer. When she finally came to her senses she stepped back quickly with a blush and turned to look at him as she asked, "Really, what are you?"
Thomas thought for a moment before answering honestly, "I was turned into a Nephilim. At first Dean Zorzic's influx of Holy magic turned me into an angel." He looked Selena in the eyes as he said, "Then your Unholy magic corrupted me and turned me into a Nephilim. Not that I am complaining. I hate angels."
Selena paled a bit before she said, "I don't know what you mean. I didn't do anything."
Thomas eyed her as he said, "You yourself said no one else did anything to me while we were alone. That leaves only you."
Selena got a little paler as she realized just how terrible and blatant the lie she had told Thomas was. Even a child could probably have figured it out. Before she could go into a full-on panic attack he spoke again, "Don't worry. I don't care that you can use Unholy magic. To be honest, I was planning to try and find a way to learn it myself. This just saves me that bit of effort. Besides, if I was to tell people about you then you could just tell people about me. We're in this together now."
Selena thought about it for a bit and then smiled. This shared secret would bind Thomas closer to her and maybe make things easier in the future. She nodded, "I understand. So you really don't care about what I did?"
Thomas nodded, "That's right. I'm much happier being a Nephilim than an Angel. Speaking of, do you have a mirror? I think more about my body might have changed aside from the new wings."
Selena nodded and pulled out a small hand mirror to hand over to him. He accepted it and took a look at his reflection in it. His face was still handsome and angular. His hair was still shoulder length and black. His eyes were still blue with the slightly brighter blue ring around his irises. So nothing there had changed. It took a little effort but he finally noticed that there was one change to his head, his ears had grown slightly longer and pointy. They reminded him of the ears that the half-elf waitress at Zan's Eatery had back in Ulvstad.
He reached up and the moment he touched them he felt a powerful shock run down his spine that caused his entire body to shiver. He tried, and failed, to contain a moan of pleasure at the feeling. His ears were ungodly sensitive to the touch. In some lore, elves had sensitive ears but he wasn't an elf and his ears were still unbelievably sensitive. He checked the rest of his upper body with the mirror and didn't notice any other differences. He would need to wait until Selena had left before he could look at the lower half of his body.
He looked toward Selena to offer her the mirror back only to see that her face was beet red. Thomas grinned as he asked, "Something wrong Selena?"
She looked at Thomas as her face grew redder, though her expression changed from embarrassment to anger at her embarrassment, "How could you make such an obscene sound in front of a lady!"
Thomas laughed lightly, which only further angered Selena, before he explained, "I didn't know my ears had become so sensitive so it came as a surprise to me as well."
Selena sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before taking her mirror back from him and storing it away. She looked back at Thomas and studied his newly reshaped ears, "I think that it would be best if you pretended to be an elf while in public. Though your hair can easily hide your ears."
Thomas nodded and then looked at his wings, "These things are more annoying to hide than my ears. While I can conceal them, it's like having to constantly flex a muscle and feels pretty uncomfortable."
Selena sighed, "Well, you don't have much of a choice. If you walked outside with those wings showing the guards would come and either capture or kill you on sight. You would become an enemy of the country and would have to head for one of the countries controlled by the darker forces of the world. You can either hide them to continue your education here or show them and be chased out. Not much of a choice, but it is a choice."
Thomas sighed an nodded, "I think I need to find something I can use to wrap around my chest and back to help keep them retracted." He turned to look at Selena, "I would also like you to teach me how to use my Unholy magic."
Selena sighed and nodded, "I can do that. Before I can you will need to get some materials. Like Holy magic, Unholy magic can be felt for a fair distance so you need to create a barrier to keep it from spreading or it will be felt and people will come running to find the culprit." She thought for a moment then continued, "We'll team up for the week we have off from classes and work together. I'll teach you Unholy magic and help you procure the items you need for that practice."
Thomas nodded and smiled, "I look forward to working with you Selena."