These little setbacks did nothing to dampen his good mood.

He had just killed an Arcane ranked Shifted creature in one strike, with minimal effort on his part.

This fact brought a grin to his face since Arcane was one rank above Mutant. The difference in Ranks could not be taken lightly because every evolution in Rank came with a tremendous leap in the strength of a creature.

Being able to kill a creature that is a Rank higher than Ragnar so easily went to show how much of a cheat his primordial class was.

And the Realm had given it to him so easily.

Even though Ragnar was not a very sceptical person, it was hard for even him to not question the Realm’s intentions. It seemed shady as fuck.

He didn’t want to stay in this form anymore. It didn’t feel like his own strength. When he used this, it wasn’t Ragnar who was strong but it was his ability. He knew that the ability was a part of him but still.

It left a bad taste in his mouth.

He wanted to switch as soon as possible, but he had noticed something when he felt the Essence charges rush into his abdomen.

He was a living creature too. Shock. That means he could have seen himself with his Ethereal Vision, that’s what he decided to call it, to test its powers.

It was a normal thing to forget such things when you have been through as much as Ragnar had. Yeah, he was not dumb.

He already knew what the eyes did now but he still activated them and cast his gaze towards his abdomen.

There he saw two spheres of Essence revolving around each other, black and white in colour as their trails tangled together.

This was unexpected, but at the same time it was not that shocking at this point.

His Human form and Shifted form had two different abilities, so it made sense that they had a separate core for themselves.

The black core shined brighter right now, considering he was in his Shifted form. He could not tell how the black core was shining even though it looked like a black hole, but it was.

Ragnar had seen enough.

It was finally time to see what his actual main body is capable of. He was excited about this.

***

A lustrous Black Panther stood near the corpse of a Giant Ant, also called Quaraxi. The Quaraxi’s body lacked any wounds, but it was still dead.

The body of the Panther showed some movement, as its furs started to recede into its body. A pale olive skin emerged from underneath the furs.

The front claws left the ground and started taking the shape of human hands as the creature now stood on two legs. The tail disappeared above its hips as the last part of the body to lose the furs was the spine.

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The Black Panther had turned into an olive-skinned man who might have been better off as a panther.

Ragnar felt much more comfortable, now that he was back in his body.

The first thing he did was test his eyes, he wanted to see how much of the abilities from his Shifted form could he use.

The eyes did not take any essence when he activated them in his Shifted form and they could be kept active indefinitely as long as he didn’t mind a black and white world.

They activated without any hitch just like he expected. They were not going to stay active forever though, he could tell. But he could just activate them again. It served its purpose.

He looked down at his abdomen to see the cores and this time, the white one seemed to be brighter than the black one. But the difference was much smaller than last time.

He deactivated his Ethereal vision and he was met with the view of his family jewels hanging out in the open.

Huh?

He had only just noticed that he had been naked this entire time. He did spend most of his time in the Shifted form soo…

It would have been odd if he was still wearing something.

This minor mishap wasn’t enough to get a reaction out of him, especially because he was sure that he was alone right now.

He hadn’t seen his state in the human form the last time he turned, otherwise he would have noticed it.

He did it now to see if there were any changes after his evolution into a Mutant. He could sense that he was not the same.

He located a large enough crystal and gazed at the man who now stood behind the surface of the crystal.

‘It’s an upgrade, I guess. Now the shit’s getting real.’

“Heh”

A chuckle escaped his lips from his own lame joke.

Am I taking after Lady Beth?

Ragnar’s skin used to be covered with scars and rashes all over that hid behind his tactical suit was now clean like a sheet of paper. It still looked pale, but slightly less than before.

His muscles were already pretty well defined because of the extensive training he was put through on daily basis. But they now looked chiselled as if carved by a sculptor.

His hair looked lustrous black, similar to the furs of his Shifted form. They were still unkempt and twirly though as they touched his nose.

His eyes that were brown and looked dead before had now turned pitch black like his hair. They looked like black vortexes that gave Ragnar a mysterious look. He now had a mad glint in those black holes. Ragnar was confident that those on his list will eventually be receiving their dues.

His looks were average at best but the eyes made it difficult to pass him on as average. They seemed like they held a separate universe inside them. Also, the fact that his perfect muscles were currently on full display, Ragnar felt quite proud of something that he had never cared for before. Not ever in his life. His appearance.

This tangent reminded him of his Clothes, yes. They should still be at the location in the cave where he first found himself, and that place seemed safe too.

Ragnar decided to head back to the place he had first found himself at.

He looked at the corpse of the Quaraxi and decided to take it with him. There were several reasons behind it.

Firstly, he didn’t know how many days he will be spending in these caves and he needed food to stay alive and active. Although the creature didn’t look very appetising, he had heard that the meat of Shifted creatures didn’t taste half bad even if eaten uncooked.

He did not have any means of cooking it, of course. Since setting up a fire this deep inside a cave didn’t seem like a good idea.

Secondly, he was not ready to notify this colony of his presence. Considering the similarities between Quaraxi and Ants from Earth, it was safe to assume that these creatures lived in colonies. He was not sure if they had a Dread or Elder class creature leading them. If they did, then they would definitely become alert after locating a dead body in their home turf. Even if they didn’t, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.

Ragnar was aware of the limits of his abilities now, but he was never going to underestimate his enemies under no circumstances. Especially since if they really lived in colonies, then they could overwhelm him with sheer numbers if they decided to. He could always run, but still.

***

He grasped the Quaraxi by one of its mandibles and started pulling it, remembering the route he had taken to reach this place. His memory wasn’t something he was proud of, but since he hadn’t come very far, it was still doable.

He had planned to avoid any creatures before he reached the spot, but luckily, he didn’t encounter anything on the way.

He reached the spot he had landed in and saw the black tactical outfit lying on the floor.

Albeit in tatters.