“Steve! Wake up!” a Voice shouted in his ear. It sounded nice. Female. A bit familiar. “Steve?”

Steve awoke with a start. Everything was dark. He tried to focus his vision to no effect. 

Another vision? Steve thought immediately. Then he remembered he had evolved. What had happened?

“Bonnie, I can’t see.” Steve sent. “What happened?”

“Try opening your eyes!” Bonnie unhelpfully sent. 

Or maybe it had a point… 

Steve tried opening his eyes. It worked!

He was so used to just being able to see everything around him. Now, his vision was severely limited to two eyes. Everything seemed a lot bigger around him. He was in his residence. Maybe it was the height difference? 

Steve walked over to a vanity mirror. His original guest room had been upgraded into a permanent village home in the inner circle of the village. Basically it just got better furnishing and a good sounding title. Instead of a guest, he was now an honorary part of Niti Village. He had the status of a Left or Right in the village formally. 

He looked at himself in the mirror. Steve saw a black humanoid dwarf. About three feet tall. He was thin, and without a mouth or nose. His face just had two eyes that could just barely be seen. They were slits on his face. But there was a problem.

The issue wasn’t that his appearance was ugly to him or aesthetically displeasing. Of course, there was that, too. The problem was that he felt exactly the same as he had as a ball of light, even though he looked extremely different on the outside. Logically, he shouldn’t be feeling that way. 

Right?

‘Did anything change, Bonnie?’ Steve asked. He was hoping to hear good news. 

“You’re black now!” Bonnie happily answered. An awkward pause occurred shortly after. 

Bonnie was beginning to irk Steve, even though it was technically right. “Aside from the color, you have a fleshly body!”

“You’re right, Bonnie.” Steve was patient. He pressed Bonnie for more answers. “Did any of my abilities change?”

“Yes! They’ve all been erased, besides Mastery of Languages,” Bonnie replied, this time a bit more serious. 

As soon as Bonnie said this, Steve felt his patience waning. Had he been tricked?

“Though, you did get to keep your Energy system!” Bonnie declared. Then it half-laughed. Was that a giggle? “And you gained one new spell. You can change forms using your Energy! You should have seen the look in your eyes. Murderous!”

Steve would normally retort back, but then he thought of something. Was it just him, or was Bonnie acting out more than usual? In the last few days it had been talking back a lot more. Maybe it had something to do with the restrictions being lifted off of Bonnie. 

This was new.

‘So I can become whatever I want now?’ Steve asked. This was useful to know. If he could copy whatever he wanted then he could just become a bird and fly over to the first dot on his mental map. Or maybe hitch a ride on a bird by becoming a feather. 

“Nope! You’re limited,” Bonnie clarified. “The thing is, you can only become something that you’ve seen before. And it has to be a living organism. Also, it can’t be too complicated for your mind. You’re keeping your energy system, by the way. Try to think of ways to manipulate your energy to your advantage!”

“By the way, here’s your new objective!” 

After that, Steve saw blue. 

[Evolution Upgrades] 

[Mimic Changeling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades inner abilities. Inner path.

[Copycat Mageling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades magical abilities. Mage path. 

[Trickster Knightling - Five medium crystals absorbed. Grants up to ten forms. Upgrades physical abilities. Physical path. 

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

[??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants unlimited forms. Physical path.

[??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants three forms. Mage path. 

[??? - One superior crystal absorbed. Grants ten forms. Inner path.]

This was interesting. Medium crystals for new upgrades to his Changeling form and superior ones for three unknown ones. Steve shelved this information for later as he had a task at hand.

He tried willing his energy to become Ash. He remembered the boy, blond-haired and tall. He watched himself in the mirror as the energy that made up his fleshly body reorganized himself. Was it even a fleshly body at this point?

He watched as his short black stature became more spread out. Steve rose to be a slightly taller condensed version of Ash. And he didn’t get the color right. He was still black. 

‘This is too underwhelming.’ Steve thought, a bit depressed. ‘Where did my strong abilities go?’ 

After half an hour of struggle, he finally succeeded. He was an acceptable version of Ash, though if anyone looked closely they would be able to tell that he wasn’t really human. Steve adjusted his body a little more, and suddenly it felt right. It had righted itself into a perfect copy. 

Then, energy began flowing up and down his body. It felt different, like something had clicked inside of him and let loose a torrent of power. Was this the mana he kept on hearing about? 

Steve walked outside. He was going to try and use this power. Pointing at a rock, he tried to recall the chant Ash had used when casting a spell. After speaking a few nonsense words and feeling embarrassed, Steve gave up. It was too difficult. He tried doing it his way instead. 

He thought of his Shock spell. And tried to trigger it. After ten minutes of trying it this way, a small lightning bolt was formed straight from his new energy storage and shot at the rock. It made a small black dent in the rock, but nothing else happened. Why was it so weak? Mana felt even more underwhelming than his current evolution state. 

It was one thing seeing others cast spells through chanting and motions. It was another thing to experience it firsthand. To Steve, the system was flawed. It was extremely inefficient and wasted a lot of time. Of course, if the users of mana suddenly switched to pure energy like Steve, then it would be a lot easier. Steve hadn’t experienced using mana like this, so he didn’t understand.

‘So I’ll just cast using only energy,’ Steve analyzed. ‘This way, I should be able to recreate some spells that I practiced the most.’ 

It was harder casting spells in this form, for sure. Instead of purely imagining it and it happening based on his energy, he needed to imagine it first taking a route through his body. This took a lot more time and effort than he expected. The ‘Beginner’ moment had been too simple compared to this. Steve would have to spend a lot more time trying to learn the ins and outs of this new evolution. 

Alright, I think it’s fine, Steve ended his training session. He felt fine about this evolution now, since he would be able to turn into anything living that he knew about. It was definitely good for defense and utility. He headed to Ash’s house as Ash. Steve had to inform the villagers of his change, before they grouped up and tried to oust him from the village. 

He passed by a few villagers on the way. They all waved greetings to him. Steve waved back. It was clear having only two eyes. He noticed that it wasn’t such a big deal that his range of vision was smaller. Before, he would be distracted by the slightest movement in his peripherals, which would be anything he wasn’t currently focusing his attention on. Having this form simplified life a lot. 

It wasn’t all that bad. 

Steve reached the residence and moved the flap to the side to get in. He noticed that after five days of being a ball of light, he was still getting used to his body. The way he moved wasn’t natural, even though he had some memories of moving in a human body. It made sense, though. Mere memories of walking couldn’t replace years of practice. 

He came face to face with Ash.

“Hi! I’m Steve,” Steve greeted him. He realized it might be a bit overwhelming for Ash to accept him, so he started off with a light greeting. “Do not be alarmed.”

In reality, it was the exact opposite. Ash said his greetings, and took it in stride. Apparently, to the villagers, there was nothing God Steve couldn’t do. During his last two days at the village, there had been more and more villagers bowing down to him when he passed by. Steve knew now that he wasn’t a God. Far from it. Somebody just placed him in an energy powered light body into a new world, that was all. 

At the same time, he wasn’t in a hurry to change the villager’s minds. There were benefits to being a God. The village was on track to becoming an official town of the Empire, which he had learned was a huge human country. His influence in Niti Village would hopefully stay the same. Of course, nothing was set in stone. Niti still had ways to go to becoming a town. 

First, they would sell off the remaining Crystals and Elemental Lumber to nearby cities and the Capital. Niti Village was located on the East side of the human lands, with the middle of the Empire being the Capital. 

Steve spent some time with Ash. The boy still wanted to learn from him, but Steve had told Ash he’ll come around at a later time for him. Steve was confident that he would be able to find answers outside successfully. Afterwards, he would definitely pay a visit back to where he started out from. The couple of days at Niti Village had made a lasting impression of him.

It was a peaceful, large village. It had a small lake nearby, surrounded by forests. The people were farmers and ranchers. They kept a peaceful lifestyle, training in magic recreationally. Typically, the kids wouldn’t turn out to be hardcore mages. It was a cozy village that gave him a warm feeling. Of course, loving the slow lifestyle didn’t mean that they were completely weak. Steve understood the implications of their way of magic. If they were enemies from the start, Steve wouldn’t be here talking to Ash right now. 

Not liking conflict did not imply that one was weak. It simply implied that one disliked conflict. 

A lot of people got this ideal mixed up, including the Mottor clan. Conflict had been their growth, but also their downfall. Steve found out that Leffer was preparing to sue the Mottor for damages. The Mottor would likely be taken out of power with their clan disbanded. If there were survivors from their ruling class, then they would be removed as well. 

Most likely killed. There was no mercy for disobeying the Empire. That was the basis of how the Empire kept their rule. 

Steve had enjoyed his time at Niti Village, but he needed to move on. He decided to stay a few more days in order to prepare for his journey. As he left Ash’s house, he felt an eerie rumbling start in his abdominal area. It was familiar, but strange at the same time. 

Was he hungry?