Naomi was frustrated at her lack of progress. Despite further attempts, she had only gotten marginally closer to fulfilling Jared’s wishes, and her Adopt Shape Skill stubbornly refused to let her fully make the changes she wanted, no matter how much she upgraded it.

It was her body; she should have been able to do what she wanted with it! But the stupid GEAS kept getting in her way.

The one thing that pulled her from her misery was when Jared went to the toymaker’s shop. From his back, she observed his conversation with the horse man, delighted disbelief growing with each word. He was having a body made for her? A body like…like his?

She could barely contain her excitement. While she couldn’t be his weapon if she took that form, that was only until the cooldown on her Skill elapsed the next day. Then she would be able to return to her ‘rifle’ form the next time Jared needed her. But on days when they didn’t go hunting, she would be able to be like her savior!

Then the horse man had to go and ruin her good mood by being afraid of her. She was just waving hello, like Jared told her to. It wasn’t like she had formed a mouth to smile at him. That seemed to unnerve most humanoids she had met so far.

Jared seemed to sense her mood somehow, as he suggested spending time with Eleisa. She wasn’t sure how he did it, as she didn’t think she gave any outward sign of displeasure. As a mimic, she was pretty good at not giving any bodily reactions. Unless she wanted to. Despite that, Jared always seemed to know what she was feeling. And to some extent, what she was thinking.

It was probably just the GEAS sticking its nose in somehow. It seemed to enjoy meddling.

Speaking of meddling, the smell of it filled her nonexistent nose as Jared entered the Hunters’ Guild. Those two men were way too powerful to have any interest in Jared. She couldn’t tell exactly how strong they were, from what she could sense, they would have no trouble wiping this entire town off the map. She was on edge the entire time Jared was talking with them, and she was sure that the only reason Jared didn’t notice it was that he was as wary as she was.

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He had good instincts. As expected of her savior.

Then it was time to get her present! When the craftsman proffered what he had created, Mimi wasted no time in gulping it down. But as she turned her attention to taking its shape, she felt the GEAS give her a question. She didn’t look at the prompt, that didn’t matter; all monsters instinctively knew what the GEAS said to them, even if they couldn’t read.

It was asking her if she wanted to sacrifice something to gain what she wanted. She didn’t even think about it, instantly accepting. Why wouldn’t she want to get something she wanted? Silly system.

When she accepted, another prompt appeared before her.

WARNING! By taking this action, you will PERMANENTLY lose access to some paths to progression. Do you want to continue?

Why was the stupid system asking again? What need did she have of ‘paths to progression’ that she didn’t want?

A heartbeat passed, and then Naomi felt something within her shift.

Skill Adopt Shape Ascends to Twinform(Exceptional I)

Twinform(Exceptional I) – You have willingly sacrificed the greater part of your amorphous nature, locking yourself into two different forms, which you may freely switch between. In return, your ability to manipulate each form is greatly increased. At the cost of mana, you may now moderately change many aspects of your form including size, shape, material makeup, and color to mimic anything you have digested. The degree to which you can change your form increases with Skill level.

Mimi took in the information as she was feeling out her new form. She instantly noticed a few things she was going to change, but they could wait. She focused on her new wooden eyes, commanding them to change. Light flooded her world, almost painful for a moment. Then she couldn’t hold back her elation anymore, and her wooden smile split, forming a large grin.

She looked around at her companions, her grin only growing wider at their looks of shocked stupefaction. Who wouldn’t be blown away by the magnificence that was Mimi? She flexed her new Skill, rapidly shifting materials and colors ribboning through her body for a few moments, then settled back in her original wooden form. She could decide what she wanted to look like and be made of later.

She turned her attention back to her companions, who were still gawking at her. She waved at them, still smiling, then walked over to the door, almost falling several times as she got used to her new shape. She opened the door and looked back at Jared and Eleisa, who shook off their surprise and followed her out.