Since he was immobilised, Swind chose to look at the few flashing notifications in the corner of his vision before trying to do anything else.

Altros has recognised the host's incredibly strong will and has thus altered the skill [Energy Absorption] accordingly.

World Skill: Energy Absorption

A skill that was granted to the host by the planet: Altros.

This skill allows the host to use their Worldforce to gather the lingering energy in the atmosphere and their surroundings to replenish their stamina, [New!] health or mana.

[New!] The host can channel the gathered energy and turn it into levels (only applicable on the host).

Cost:

None normally, however, it is limited to 200,000 [+180,000] points of energy.

1,000 WF and 50,000 points of energy when used to give the host a level.

Mastery: Expert Level 1 [+30 levels]

Congratulations! The host's race has changed to [Ascending Lemurian].

The host has developed the racial skill: Ascending Might.

The host has developed the racial skill: Ultimate Scale Skin.

The host has awakened their mana brain and mana heart.

"I... see," Swind muttered now that his mouth could move. For a moment, he was shocked that he hadn't rolled his 's' on 'see' like usual, but he quickly assumed that was to do with his new and more 'humanoid' body, as Lone had called it.

He looked at his new skills to see what they did.

Racial Skill: Ascending Might

A skill granted only to those that are close to the peak of their species.

Removes all barriers between ranks, allowing the host to freely gain the next rank so long as they have enough experience. This is limited to XXX-rank and will not work past that rank.

All beings of the same species as the host who are not ascending or even greater will feel a desire to worship and train under the host. This effect applies, but is extremely weakened, to the very bottom races of other species.

Cost: N/A Mastery: Master Level 10

Racial Skill: Ultimate Scale Skin

A skill formed to suit the new race [Ascending Lemurian].

This skill allows the host to turn their skin, clothes, and any equipment they are using into scales that are as hard as Universe Wood while still maintaining any skills and effects they might have possessed before the transformation.

Cost: 5,000 SP per second. Mastery: Beginner Level 1

Stretching his fingers lightly, Swind began to think. 'So, Mr Immortus stopping me before I could absorb the energy from the people, halting the evolution of my Energy Absorption, meaning that I cannot ever try to do that again unless I'm under a great deal of mental stress?'

Swind wasn't as well learned on the topic of skills as Lone was, especially world skills, but he was fairly certain that this was the most probable theory.

Now that he had usable mana organs, he closed his eyes and tried to feel the ambient mana in the air. It was suffocating. He unfocused himself and breathed out heavily. 'The mana here is thick... Do the others feel this at all times? Is this what it's like to have awakened mana organs, or is this only because we're on a world tree?'

So many questions, so few answers. 'I wonder, would I have ever awakened my mana organs had Mr Immortus not been so kind as to redesigning my body?'

Self-doubt and a feeling of not deserving the gifts that had inadvertently been granted to him washed over Swind. In an attempt to distract himself from these emotions, he looked at his new status.

Status Name: Swind Sex: Male Age: 15 [+1] Level: 500 [+401] Species: Lemurian Rank: A [Up 5 entire ranks!] [New!] Race: Ascending Lemurian HP: 10,000/10,000 [+9,900] SP: 10,000/10,000 [+9,940] MP: 2,000/2,000 [+2,000] [New!] WF: 10,000/10,000 Basic Stats Strength: 1,000 [+987] Vigour: 1,000 [+994] Dexterity: 1,400 [+1,384] Agility: 1,400 [+1,396] Vitality: 1,000 [+990] Luck: 400 [+385] Secret Stats [New!] Magic Power: 200 [New!] Charm: 50

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"Very balanced," Swind muttered. 'Perhaps that's to do with how Mr Immortus rebuilt my body?'

Noticing that he could move his legs now, Swind wobbled up off of the bed and steadied himself with his jelly-like arm. He simply stood there silently for several minutes until he felt confident enough to move without issue.

He walked over to the body-sized mirror and checked out his new appearance.

As Lone had said, he was far more human now. His face was soft-looking and pink in colour, much like the rest of his companions. There were a few scales on the edges of his face, but they only served to accentuate his sharp jawline.

His eyes were still very reptilian with their yellow glow and slitted-pupils.

He had short but smooth green hair that was only long enough to cover his ears.

His chest was thin, but lean muscles could be seen between the scales that made up his sides.

As for his only arm, it was fleshy and pink on the underside, but scale covered on the upperside and on the back of his hand.

Taking his trousers off momentarily, he saw that he now had human-like feet which had scale-covered soles. His legs were the same as his arms in that the back sides were fleshy while the front sides were scaly. His genitalia was also different, but Swind wasn't sure if that mattered or not.

Sighing, he put his trousers back on and found a tank top of Lone's that had been left for him. 'I suppose I'll be wearing Lone's clothes until he can tailor-make some for me,' Swind concluded as he ran his hand over the stumps of his tail and his right arm. 'And I guess he needs to entirely remake my mechanical limbs... Mr Immortus, I'm certain now. I'll be serving you for the rest of my life to repay you for your generosity.'

With that thought in mind, Swind slowly walked out of the room and made for the living area where everyone was supposedly gathered.

It was a strange feeling. He knew that he should be struggling to adapt to his new stats and body, but for some reason, he felt perfectly normal now that the drugs had worn off. It was like he had been born into this form.

Swind could only chalk that up to the fact that Lone had accounted for such things when remodelling his body.

Opening the door to the living room, Swind stepped inside and was met with eight sets of eyes staring at him.

"Wow. Of course Husband made him handsome," Eolande grumbled.

Soph was mumbling under her breathe upon seeing Swind. "Great. Now that he's good-looking, less girls should be interested in Lone..."

Breena just nodded her head in Swind's general direction. It was only natural that her master could do such a thing for Swind like completely redesign his body, or at least that what the young foxkin thought.

Alisa was awestruck by the fact that Swind's entire being had changed. "This should be impossible... He altered his species! H-How can a skill be so broken?! What's the point of the laws of magic if Lone can just ignore them?!"

Scott and George both glared at Swind dangerously, though for different reasons.

'He better not go after Alisa...'

'He better not go after Emma...'

Hazel just coughed lightly and looked away after taking in Swind's new appearance. There was a slight shade of red visible on her cheeks.

Emma was practically drooling. "Wow! You're so hot now! Hey, wanna hook up?"

George audibly groaned while Swind just looked at the girl strangely.

"I am already in a relationship with the woman I love. While I do not detest polygamy, I wish to remain loyal to the woman who has gifted me with her heart," Swind said.

Eolande's eyes widened while Emma deflated like a balloon. "Your speech is way clearer now."

Swind nodded as he found an empty chair and occupied it. "From my understanding, Mr Immortus was forced to rebuild me from the ground up due to my body nearly exploding, resulting in several... changes. One such change was giving me a more human tongue."

Eolande nodded. "That's only normal. There's a reason the enlightenment bottlenecks exist." She gestured to Soph and said, "Freaks like her and Lone are exceptions to the rules. Normally, you want to avoid ranking up quickly."

Swind looked ashamed. "I was... foolish."

Eolande nodded once again. "You were," she agreed before smiling, "But it worked out in the end. You awakened your mana organs, huh?"

"Indeed. It seems that Mr Immortus was able to awaken them while he was recreating my body. Although, I know no magic and am unsure of which ones would suit me best," Swind confessed.

Hazel chimed in at this point by saying, "At The Academy's entry exam they test you for your affinities to magic. It's not the same as the affinity sheet you unlock once you gain a magic skill, but actually a prediction of what magic you'd be best at based on calculations made by star reading and future gazing."

Alisa added, "It's pretty rare and a good opportunity to learn what school or schools of magic you should focus on. A lot of people go to The Academy just for the exam to find out what they'll be good at even if they know they won't get accepted into the school. It has the most accuracy out of all of the magic-based academies."

"I was one of those people. Unfortunately, I have no affinity for any of the magic schools..." George sighed deeply and slouched into the sofa he was sat on. 

"I see," Swind replied. "Thank you for the information, Miss McCullen, Miss...?"

"Mikhailov," Alisa said.

Swind furrowed his brow. "I am not good at pronouncing such names. It is very similar to Miss Soph and Miss Sophie's surname. Would you mind if I called you 'Miss Alisa'? I shall try to say your surname should your first name not be to your liking."

Breena was smiling silently. 'I'm glad he hasn't changed after the procedure... Master was so worried his personality would be affected by his world skill...'

Alisa shook her head. "I don't mind." She was blushing. It was rare for such a gentleman to treat her like a lady despite her tiny size. She made sure to squeeze Scott's hand so he would stop gritting his teeth and glaring at Swind though.

Swind tried his best to smile. It was easier now in this body than it was with his original one, so a nearly perfect and very charming smile formed on his lips. "Thank you, Miss Alisa." He then spoke to Eolande. "Mr Immortus mentioned that three weeks has passed since my... incident?"

"Yup." Eolande looked exhausted. "He has the stamina for it and his Basic Regeneration healed any damage to his body for staying awake for so long, but yeah, each day that passed, the residents of the tree got more and more pissed off at us."

"Why?" Swind asked with a bit of shock in his voice.

Soph - who was cradling the baby Kyuubi - answered, "Lone has the king's body and soul and he refused to help with the funeral until he had fixed you. He even yelled at Lipsilk to leave him alone while he worked on you. Ah, I wasn't supposed to tell you that... S-Sorry..."

Of course, a wave of guilt washed over Swind. "I see... Have they tried anything violent?"

Hazel chimed in with, "They're all thinking about it, but they're too scared of Lone. Even though he helped them a lot, since the war was almost a month ago, they've started spreading rumours that most of the fighting was done by Ele'hunda and that we should even be punished for hoarding his corpse."

"Ungrateful swine..." Breena whispered under her breathe.

"I'm sorry. Because of me, everyone is in trouble now..." Swind didn't know what to say.

It was at that moment that the door swung open. Everyone craned their necks to look at the new intruder only to find Lone standing there.

He spoke to Swind as he waltzed into the room. "Don't be an idiot. It hardly matters if they love us or hate us."

"Mr Immortus?" Swind was confused.

"Oh? The 'ss' is gone," Lone commented as he scooped Soph up into a princess carry while she held onto Kyuubi gently.

"The people here are inherently racist. The new queen and king both know the truth and don't hate us. Besides, Lipsilk joined The Wanderers even though I told him to go fuck himself." Lone laughed. "I guess he understood that you mattered way more to me than a funeral did."

Lone then kissed Soph on her head and shrugged. "Give them a few years. The people will come around. We were gonna leave the world tree anyway, so, as I said, it hardly matters."

Swind looked down for a moment before he met Lone's eyes. "Okay. If you're not upset, Mr Immortus, I shall try to forget this guilt."

Lone flashed a toothy grin. "Good. You do that. I'll make a few new sets of arms and tails for you soon. But tomorrow, we bury Ele'hunda then we're leaving for The Academy."

Swind had a soft expression on his face. "You really are amazing, Mr Immortus."

"Aren't I just?" Lone grinned before he squeezed Soph a little. "Well, now that I've collected my stress ball, I'm off to bed. Night, everyone."

"I'm not a stress ball..." Soph quietly protested while she cuddled her daughter and a tail or two that had found theie way into her hands.

A round of good nights later - despite it being the middle of the afternoon - and Lone and Soph were gone.