Partial transformation

Honestly, the idea never occurred to Kai. Maybe it was because of the constant danger or the lack of a proper pillow, but Kai's thoughts had been strangely lethargic since being trapped in the white room. Having grown used to complacency after his time spent in the bright hellhole, Kai was honestly embarrassed at the fact he looked over such an obvious loophole.

"It could work, but I haven't tried it before."

Remaining silent for a few more moments, Wa'rak closes his eyes. A few moments pass and the wolf opens them again, exhaling heavily.

"I will ask The Elder for some of the Mana potions in the treasury. They are of no use to us so they have just been collecting dust since before the forest."

Kai grinned.

"Thanks Wa'rak. I'm happy you care so much."

The black wolf grunted.

"It's not you I care about, I care about the forest and my kin."

With everything he wanted to say said, Wa'rak leaves Kai behind as he makes his way towards Failure's cabin.

Looking back on it, maybe Wa'rak was only gullible because of the blind trust he had in the moon beasts, believing none would ever try to bring him harm. Honestly, the sentiment was kind of cute in hindsight.

Left all alone, Kai sits down on the grass and looks down at his shadow. Umbra was still inside the dark silhouette, presumably sleeping her little heart out.

A sudden thought appeared in Kai's head, causing him to frown slightly. Whenever he fuses with Umbra, the wolf disappears. So if he were to only fuse with one paw for example, would Umbra lose a leg for the time being?

Leaving his slumbering companion in his shadow for now, Kai concentrates on the invisible tether connecting their souls. The fact he was given Soulcery by The Ever-changing allows Kai to feel his connection with Umbra slightly better, but not enough to see or feel the link connecting them.

It was more of a muscle memory and reflex sort of thing. If Kai had to describe the feeling, it would be countless minuscule threads tied together in a braid. Too small to really get a good look at it but big enough to know its there.

While focusing on his innate ability, Kai extended his right hand. His goal for now was to turn his right hand into a wolf's paw, complete with razor-sharp claws fit for slashing through abomination flesh.

Trying to focus on your soul, which is what The Ever-changing tried to get him to do unsuccessfully, is a difficult endeavour. However this time, since Kai has the help of the connection with Umbra, it was ever so slightly easier.

A tingling feeling arose in Kai's right arm as it twitched. Something was about to happen, be it all the veins in his arm implode or he successfully transforms it, something was coming.

The tingling grew stronger, growing into a pricking pain in his arm. Something was going wrong, Kai messed up.

The pain continued to grow, his arm felt like it was burning over a fire. Every muscle was spasming in agony as his face contorted into a grimace, grunts of pain escaping his lips.

Panic overwhelmed Kai, combining with the pain it's almost enough to make him lose control. It would have been, if not for Nonchalance. The skill allowed him a few milliseconds of extra clarity, which might seem insignificant, but in the heat of the moment it was just enough.

Pushing through the pain, Kai commanded his innate ability like a general bringing their troops through war. Kai never was good in school, but one thing he was good at was thinking quick. Every muscle, vein, ligament and bone in his hand was like a Tetris block. Placing them all in the correct position would allow for the best result.

As for why he imagined them as Tetris blocks, Kai hadn't a clue.

And Kai achieved the best possible result he could have ever hoped for.

Partial transformation achieved

Form: Claw

+15 Strength

Consumes 5 Mana per minute.

Panting, Kai looked down at his right arm. Covered in that mixture of black and dark purple fur, Kai can't help but be in awe. The colour looks beautiful when in contrast to the green of the grass.

His fingernails extended into five sharp claws, each able to be controlled independently. His knuckles stuck out predominantly, probably due to his bones being reinforced or something like that.

Kai can't help but grin. In all his time since the start of the tutorial, this is the first thing he's obtained by himself with absolutely no help. Even though the idea was produced by Wa'rak, Kai did all the practical work.

The fact that he had managed to accomplish something by himself honestly made him quite giddy. It gave him hope, anticipation and it helped to lessen the fear of the upcoming war by quite a bit.

The pain in his arm and the mental fatigue he built up in the few moments of enduring the transformation was absolutely worth it for the end result.

Dismissing the transformation, Kai waited a few moments before trying to do it again. Before, it took about a minute to do, now it took only forty-five seconds. If Kai were to continue to practice the summoning time would reduce even more.

Feeling extremely proud of himself, Kai lay down on the grass, gazing up at the artificial sky. The fact someone managed to paint a sky of this size and calibre was still mind boggling.

After regaining his energy by lying on the grass for a few minutes with his eyes closed, Kai heard the soft pattering of footsteps getting closer and closer to him.

Lifting his head slightly so he can turn his face around, Kai spots Wa'rak sauntering over with the strap of a satchel in his mouth, the actual bag part of it was being dragged along the ground.

"Now, do it. Then I'll give you some advice and you tell me the winning method."

Kai sat up and grinned.

"I've already learned how to do it. All you have to teach me is how to be a better wolf."

Not even reacting like Kai thought he would, Wa'rak snorted and trotted over beside Kai, dropping the satchel beside him.

"Then do it, and let me have a look."

A bit dissapointed there was no reaction or praise, Kai straightened his posture as he sits. Leaving his right arm to rest on his lap, he closed his eyes and started to focus on the link.

The same tingling feeling arises in his arm, only this time it causes no pain and only offers a little twitch from time to time. Forty-five seconds later, Kai's arm was covered in hair and his fingernails had extended into fully functional claws.

"Good, now go swipe at that tree."

Not seeing anything unreasonable in the request, Kai gets up off the ground and walks over to the tree and swings. His claws dig deep into the bark, leaving a trail of five distorted lines.

Feeling proud, Kai looks back at Wa'rak, only for his pride to be crushed by a single word.

"Hmph, pathetic."

Well, maybe two, Kai doesn't know if Hmph counts as a word.

Staring blankly at the pitch black wolf, Kai can't help but think that Wa'rak is overreacting. Before Kai can even voice a single question, Wa'rak speaks up again.

"Claws are a primary factor in a wolf's attacks, swinging them recklessly can only get you so far."

To reinforce what he means, Wa'rak saunters over to the same tree Kai slashed and slashes it himself. The wolfs claws dig in even deeper than Kai's and to his amazement, each of the five lines are parallel to the other.

"Percision is a key factor when slashing. You could miss a vital organ or fail to sever a tendon if you're even the sighting bit off. I wouldn't expect a human to get it right away, but even the slowest of humans should be able to learn eventually."

But did you not just say raw power was always better?

Ignoring the glare from Wa'rak after forgetting they were currently speaking in their minds, Kai looked away. Feeling a little embarrassed, Kai can't help but scratch the back of his neck. Sadly, his reflex to how he deals with embarrassment just means that he accidently cuts himself with his sharp claws.

Hiding his pain and growing embarrassment well, Kai thinks through the mental connection:

"Well then how should I practice?"

Wa'rak remains silent, thinking how to word it in a way that doesn't make Kai sound like an absolute dunce, which is pretty hard to do for the wolf.

"You're arm is different to mine. My claws are shorter and thinner, while yours are longer and wider... huh, maybe raw carnage would be more suited for you.

Anyways, for practice, what you should do is learn to control your arm while it's transformed like you can your normal arm. Make it reflex to use it efficiently. You should also work on slashing attacks, your claws seem more suited for shredding after all."

With all said and done, Wa'rak turned his body and began to walk away. It's only as the wolf was about to leave Kai's view he turns and says one last thing before severing the telepathic connection.

"I will return in a few hours. Once I return you will tell me the method."

With the wolf gone, Kai was left to his own machinations on how to train. In all honestly, idea of percision with his claws appealed to him much more than slashing.

An idea pops into Kai's head, one that could work but also probably won't. Since he is the one who created his new arm, shouldn't he be able to alter it a little?

Concentrating on his arm this time instead of the link, Kai tried to control the transformed limb into shrinking slightly.

The pain was a little more than the previous effort, presumably due to the fact this is still new, but the end product was still successful.

His fingernails which grew into claws are now slimmer and sharper, looking as if they could cut through absolutely anything and end up as pristine as they were in the beginning.

Taking another swipe at the tree, Kai can't help but grin when his claws dig deeper into the bark than before.

The fact he made more progress in the last hour than all the time up until now combined makes Kai feel strange. On the one hand, it's an incredible feeling to get stronger, but on the other hand his powers feel a bit lacking, and it's not like he got them completely by himself. None of this would even be possible if not for Grace of The Ever-changing, in fact, Kai would most definitely be dead if not for that skill.

Still, one aspect of getting stronger is not saying no to free handouts. If he continued to get as much help as he did now, he could probably be strong enough to protect himself by the end of the tutorial.

Continuing to diligently practice with his new partial transformation, Kai loses track of time. It all passes in a blur as he envelops himself in the mindset of constant training, its only after he hits the limit for Mana potions he had to stop.

The way the potions work are you can have up to five any given day. You could have all five back to back or you could space them out over a few hours, but the daily limit was five.

After downing his final daily potion, Kai lifted up the satchel and looked down into it. He went through about one fifth of the total potions in the brown bag, meaning he has twenty more before he runs out.

At least all seems to be going well...

Just after finishing the thought, the sound of footsteps getting closer makes Kai return to his senses. Turning to the direction where the steps came from, Kai spots Wa'rak, the black wolf slowly trotting over.

"Well, human, time is up. I think its about time you tell me the method."