Trada's Offer

Oli pondered Trada's question, reflecting on his experience as a gorilla.

He remembered the warmth that his parents always showed him and the love that they offered him, even when his father knew that he had reincarnated. They were there when he needed protection and when he needed to be comforted.

With the loss of his father still in his mind, he was easily swayed to prefer this life as a beast over his previous life as a human.

Looking back on it, he even liked being called a brat by Rathe and hearing his crazy tall tales. Oli stated, "I think I prefer staying as I am then going back to my life as a human."

"Oh?" Trada was shocked to hear that.

Usually, the legend of those who went through reincarnation always told of the expert distancing himself from his new family and clinging to his old ways in an effort to grow stronger than he did in his previous life, but that didn't apply to Oli at all.

She asked, "What if you could be human again but still be a beast?"

This caught Oli's attention, making him rethink his decision and ask, "What do you mean? That's physically impossible, isn't it?"

"Yes, but only as you are now. If you had a divine bloodline, you would eventually inherit the ability to create what we call a hybrid form. Let me show you," said Trada as her body began to be completely enveloped in dark essence, masking her from Oli's eyes.

Suddenly, her shape began to shrink and soon became the size of Oli and more humanoid. As the dark essence faded away, it revealed her new form. Though she was still covered in scales and scars like her full dragon form, she was nearing a human form with the way her new body was sized and contoured.

She explained, "This is a hybrid form, something the ancestors of many divine bloodlines developed ages ago to combat smaller foes, like the rare yet powerful human cultivators. It also allows us more range of motion to do things like forge items and weapons. Legend says that with enough practice, a beast with one of these divine bloodlines can even create a human form. Of course, it's not impossible for a beast without one of these bloodlines to create such a form, but it is beyond difficult for anyone not in the divine class. So, for you to get such a form you would either have to wait till far in the future and struggle to create it by yourself or mutate your bloodline and possibly inherit this skill through it. It would still be difficult to do before reaching the divine class, but it would be possible, especially for someone who already knows what it's like to be human. And who knows, sometimes a mutated bloodline can create a hybrid form based on the two bloodlines that originated from. You'll never know unless you try it."

Oli scratched his head and replied, "Well… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in trying it. But would something like that be extremely painful? I imagine that forcing your body to change shape and size would hurt, right?"

"The first time you attempt your transformation will be unbearable, that is for sure," Trada spoke plainly, "but after your body grows accustomed to its transformation, each time you successfully transform will become easier and less painful until it becomes a casual thing. Now, I've never attempted to do a full human transformation before, but I imagine it follows the same guidelines. But the most painful part, to be honest, will be while you're forming your core. At that time, you will need to try and concentrate all of the energy within your body to gather together in the center of your chest, where the natural energy within your blood will take a condensed form as your core. This is already an uncomfortable process, but by consuming my blood at the same time, your core should pull out my blood's essence affinity as well and force your blood and body to bond with mine before your core can finish forming."

Oli winced at the thought of experiencing such unnecessary pain but weighing the pros and the cons in his mind he knew that it was worth the suffering.

With a crazy idea in mind, Oli asked, "Trada, I have a question? You mentioned earlier that this soul jade had to be fused with a cultivator's core and that my father probably found it when he was preparing to enter the divine class. Following the logic of forming a core, does that mean to enter the divine class you need to form another core?"

Smiling, Trada answered, "You're right, to enter the divine class you must form a divine core, but only after shattering your mortal core. By shattering your fully developed mortal core, it gives you a chance to increase its quality and refine itself into a divine core. This would be the time to fuse with that soul jade and was the time those past cultivators failed to mutate their bloodlines because their body was already fully developed by then and rejected the mutation, I assume."

"Then," Oli shared his crazy idea, "wouldn't I technically be able to fuse my mortal core with the soul jade as well?"