Sage had always thought that the Stone Tablet disrupted his Human Seal because it was protecting itself from other Seals. Now, he realized it was far more likely that the will stored inside it found the Human Seal to be insulting. Why would he think that? It was simply because Release the Masterpiece was a technique that put the Human Seal to shame.
An Essence Seal was a more advanced and many times more complicated version of a Seal, and Release the Masterpiece utilized more than one of them. Just like a normal Seal, the first Essence Seal was a representation of everything the target was. Past, present, future, the more accurately it could capture their crux, the more effective it was. In addition to that Essence Seal, there was another that was used to represent something else. It took the place of ‘Human’ for a Human Seal.
Instead of sealing a creature into a human form, Release the Masterpiece could seal a creature into any form. What was even more amazing was that unlike the Human Seal it didn’t just strictly restrict abilities. The Human Seal could take a giant monster and transform them into a normal human, sealing up most of their power and abilities to make them comparable to a human. While this didn’t instantly turn them into a mortal, without loosening the restrictions of the human seal it drastically limited their capabilities.
Usually, this meant they would stay in the same rank or tier they were in before, but only barely. A tier five wolf the size of a small mountain with a flaming body and magnificent claws techniques would end up as a rank five human. Since it was already so used to having a tyrannically strong physical body and fighting with its claws and natural flames, being stuck in a human form without those capabilities would be crippling. It might have the Qi of a Core Formation Cultivator, but it would be severely inexperienced at using it. Sage had used this as a sort of punishment for unruly beasts, giving them lessons on human society and manners while they were restricted. Only when they learned how to behave was their Human Seal loosened up, letting them call upon more of their original body’s properties. The more they fit in the more they could return to their old self. This was also something of a trap as it encouraged them to act more like humans and fit into the society if they wanted to be non-human again.
Unlike the Human Seal, this new technique did not seal up all of those traits. Instead, it transformed them. It didn’t lock up their power and abilities, it warped them into different ones. The last Essence Seal was a new form, using the power of the original form as the raw material and sealing up the parts that weren’t needed for the new form. That sealed power was used to fuel the new parts. The two main techniques of Seals, Siphon and Repress were taken to whole new heights. A Repress Strength Seal would heavily seal physical strength while having less of an effect upon other attributes. It could then be combined with a Siphon Strength Seal and channel a portion of that sealed strength into something else.
This single attribute sealing and siphoning was applied in a completely holistic fashion, applying to the target in its entirety. Taking power from certain areas to add them to others. A new form, the masterpiece, could be released out of any other.
Of course, this technique wasn’t without its flaws. There was a sort of hidden compatibility for these changes. Changing a human into an ape would have a far higher compatibility than turning a fish into a bird. Yet, it wasn’t that simple. There were many hidden bloodlines, not just in Demonic Beasts, but humans as well. It also wasn’t restricted to just bloodlines and ancestry. It also incorporated other invisible or metaphysical connections between the subject and its proposed transformations. Sage guessed it had something to do with Martial Spirits, the manifestations of the soul that took on animal forms or weapons. From what he was told the form of a Martial Spirit wasn’t something consciously and voluntarily selected. It took a form all on its own. The more compatible the new form was with the old the more efficient the transformation of power was.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a very good way to feel out these compatibilities, so there was deep art to the use of Release the Masterpiece. It would take much trial and error to discover the most compatible forms and changes for any specific individual.
It reminds me of the character creator for a video game that you can access in the middle of the game. Pushing all the sliders around for appearance. It also does stats… it’s a respec. Wait a moment!
Reminded of a video game, he thought of the Adjutor and its capabilities. Since he could already use it to help him perform Release the Masterpiece faster and easier than others, why not add another function? The research teams got to work developing ‘software’ for the Adjutor. What would be a long process of trial and error for others became a series of rapid calculations with the Adjutor’s help. Instead of requiring an artistic touch to create new forms and get the right ‘feel’ for the target’s compatibilities and most proper transformations he could brute force different Essence Seals with the Adjutor.
Sage used the Timeless Eyes to decipher the crux of a target and then used Release the Masterpiece to create a specific set of forms for it. Then, by gauging the results, the Adjutor can do many calculations and determine their compatibilities. These reference forms took some time to fine tune, each one of them incorporating many different parts and changes to create all the necessary outliers. While the initial fine tuning was tedious, once the right forms were selected a sort of ‘calibrating’ Essence Seals could be applied.
The Adjutor assisted version of Release the Masterpiece required a crux to be entered in. Then a set of Essence Seals were applied to the target and the results fed to the Adjutor. With that calibration and data collection, the Adjutor had all it needed to populate a literal character creation screen just as he’d thought of. The different types of body parts, natural abilities, and attributes could all be adjusted. By knowing all the different compatibilities it even had a ‘point’ system, putting values on how much each stat or altered body part was worth in comparison to the others. It was a way to quantify natural talents and inclinations. There was quite a bit more loss to transform a slow defensive turtle into a fast and agile rabbit. It was easier to make it into a fast and agile lizard instead, considering the greater number of similarities between them. Yet, that was only a generalized assumption, and this new Adjutor version of the technique let them see all the hidden compatibilities. Even better, it could sort all these options and choices by efficiency.
Instead of reaching in the dark, they could know all the best options for change. They might have a powerful Elemental Qi Cultivator. Then, using Release the Masterpiece they might want to shift all that skill of Qi manipulation into pure speed to escape. Using the Adjutor and this new software they would know the most optimal path. Maybe it was to give them the legs of a cheetah, or the wings of an eagle on their back. Maybe their whole body should become like that of a centipede, or perhaps a purely transfer of their attributes without changing their body at all. This was far more powerful than the original technique, which meant Sage decided it needed a new name: Master Seal.