Chapter 13 – Too Strong

The night began to fall when the three left for the bar, leaving Kieran alone, after seeing them leave, he headed for his room inside the inn.

Once inside, he continued to train to change shape. His fingers became larger, with protruding claws extending to their tips and black fur with dark green hues covering his hands and forearm up to reach the level of his elbows.

He clenched his hands before opening them again, he could feel immense strength in that pair of claws, and a familiar feeling filled his body as if he had made this all his life.

"I can only keep my hands and forearms in this shape, if I try to transform more parts of my body, I won't be able to concentrate enough to maintain them. But even without completely changing my whole body, I feel like my ability is much more powerful used in that way. I wonder how powerful it can become if I manage to use the wolf transformation while keeping a human form with the giant transformation."

Kieran was excited by this new use of his ability, he kept changing between human and wolf form several times, trying to get used to the feeling he felt every time his ability moved through his body. After several hours, he stopped his training and took out a crystal core from his aurora collar before spending the rest of the night cultivating.

He opened his eyes the next day when the crystal core in his hands shattered into pieces.

A golden halo filled with ancient inscriptions appeared in his right eye. He looked at his two crystal trees in his spiritual world, which now measure more than a meter each.

[ Kieran Arvost]
[Crystal Tree Status (1):
Name: Wolf Transformation
Refinement Rate: 16.46/100]
[Crystal Tree Status (2):
Name: Giant Transformation
Refinement Rate: 16.32/100]
[Crystal Essence: 32.78]

"In one week, I increased my crystal essence by 30 points. At this speed, my two crystal trees will reach the maximum crystal essence in about a month."

He continued to inspect his crystal trees, looking at the paths he had chosen to take to evolve them.

[Path of evolution (1):
Earth Wolf Transformation. Evolution conditions: Earth Elemental Stone Bronze Grade
Rock Wolf Transformation. Evolution conditions: Soul Crystal Stone Heart Silver Grade, Rock Wolf Bones Silver Grade
????. Evolution conditions: ?
????. Evolution conditions: ?
........ ]

[Path of evolution (1):
Transformation of the Fire Giant. Evolution conditions: Fire Elemental Stone Bronze Grade.
Transformation of the Giant Swordsman of Fire. Evolution conditions: Soul Crystal Sword Mastery Silver Grade, Heart of Fire Wyrm Silver Grade.
????. Evolution conditions: ?
????. Evolution conditions: ?
........ ]

"The giant's transformation has more paths with as many evolution numbers as the one I chose for the wolf transformation. If I'm not mistaken about this strange ability I have, the first path should be the best to evolve the crystal trees and even if I'm wrong this path has as much evolution as the others.

In addition, this path seems to be linked to fire and sword, while the one in the path of the wolf transformation seems to be linked to earth. If the two abilities combine well, I could use fire to inflict damage and earth to defend myself. I might even start using a sword to prepare for when I reach Silver rank. Starting to familiarize myself with a sword earlier won't harm me.

The only problem is the conditions of evolution. Both paths need materials above my rank. Both elemental stones will be hard to find on my own, most elemental stones cost around 25,000 nova. If I have to buy them, I will have to spend a long time hunting crystal beasts."

Kieran was scratching his head, thinking how many nova credits he would need for his evolutions.

*sigh*

"There's no point in me worrying about this now if I can find some elemental stones great. Otherwise, I'll have to hunt more crystal beasts so I can buy them. Today the team is taking a break, so I can take this opportunity to hunt alone and try to use the shapeshifting I have learned."

He left the refuge early in the morning, taking the form of a wolf, he headed towards an area of the forest where he had been hunting with his team during the past week.

After going deep into the forest for more than three hours, he finally came across a crystal beast that was wandering alone. Seeing this monster in front of him, he felt like an invisible pressure weighing on his body, he did not understand where this sensation could come from.

The crystal beast in front of him was filled with wounds all over his body, blood flowing from each of these wounds. Parts of his body had been burned, resembling charcoal, given his condition, he couldn't threaten him.

The crystal beast had an anthropomorphic appearance measuring 1m50 in height. Its body was skinny, with its bones threatening to protrude from its skin, its skin was a sickly pale green color, with long pointed ears and four huge fangs sticking out escaping from his mouth. His whole body was adorned with tribal tattoos, and from his back, spike-shaped bones protruded all the way down his spine to the nape of his neck.

His torso was bare, his lower body was dressed with shreds of clothes, and a pouch made of beast skin was attached to his waist.

Despite the distance between them, Kieran could feel a large amount of crystal essence emanating from the pouch that was attached to the crystal beast's waist. It was almost as if he could touch it with his fingers.

The beast held in his hands a huge, larger club made of black wood resembling obsidian which he easily lifted over his shoulder.

"A goblin..."

He let out a whisper. It was so quiet that even someone next to him would have had trouble hearing it, yet at the same time, the goblin's ears trembled slightly, he turned around to face his direction.

"Gihihiihi!!!"

The goblin screamed an incomprehensible sound before crystal essence emanated from his body, and a sudden pressure fell on Kieran.

A mad look crossed the goblin's eyes as he began to rush toward him, swinging his club in the air without hesitation.

Kieran bit his tongue, waking up from the pressure that locked his body, he quickly jumped to the side, dodging the club just barely. His form quickly changed from a wolf to a giant, he swung his right arm towards the head of the goblin.

His right arm changed shape, black fur covered his arm to his elbow, and claws extended from his fingertips, becoming long protruding claws.

His claws got closer to the goblin, he was about to rip his head off when the goblin stepped to the side, his body twisted, he swung his arm that was holding his club.

The claws and the club collided, and Kieran felt a huge weight fall on his claws as if a mountain had hit his arm.

"Argh!!"

He shouted out in pain, his body was thrown back, his hand had reverted to human form, and his fingers were twisted at an odd angle with blood running down his arm.

'What is this strength? He's not weak at all, even with all the wounds covering his body!'

A cruel smile appeared on the goblin's face.

The goblin leaned on the ground, his feets plunged deep into the ground while a blue light surrounded them. The goblin disappeared from its location instantly, appearing in front of Kieran, who had a shocked expression on his face.

The club in the goblin's hand quickly moved, pointing dangerously toward his head.

Kieran was still shaken by the first blow against the goblin when he appeared in front of him. He raised his left arm, which was still in good condition, in front of his head, quickly transforming it, the crystal essence running through his body surrounded his arm when the club hit him.

His body was thrown tens of meters away like a broken doll, flying through the air until he hit a tree, stopping him in place.

*cough*

He spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground as his lungs emptied. His whole body felt like he was screaming in pain, his organs had been shaken after hitting the tree.

He heard footsteps approaching him, slowly raising his head, he saw the goblin walking towards him with an evil smile on his face.

The goblin lowered himself in front of him, dipping his fingers into the blood he had spit on the floor, he brought it back to his lips, licking every drop of blood from his fingers.

Kieran's heart was pounding in his chest at this moment. His whole body ached, but he was trying to collect himself before the goblin's next blow.

The goblin still looked at him as if enjoying the situation he was in, clearly wanting to play with him.

He watched the goblin's every move, waiting for the right moment, he slowly moved the crystal essence in his body to not attract his attention.

'He's way too strong. How can I kill such a monster?!'

His mind was racing, his eyes moving quickly, trying to spot any weakness that might help him get out of this situation.

Seeing no reaction coming from him, the goblin began to grow impatient, the smile on his face slowly fading, he raised his club to the top of his head before swinging it at him.

Kieran could hear the wind hissing in his ears as the club grew in his sight. He used all the crystal essence he had circulated through his body in his legs, quickly throwing himself aside. His whole body changed shape to take that of a wolf before fleeing into the forest.

The goblin watched him flee with his evil smile that appeared again.