Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 69: Partial

It turned out that a partial Shift was not all that difficult. The first time I tried a partial Shift, I succeeded right away.

My hand transformed into a Hnoll’s clawed hand, and the rest of my forearm followed easily enough.

Maintaining and restricting a partial Shift, on the other hand, was not as easy. First things first, partial Shifts were slower. It was even slower than my first few regular transformations had been. Good thing that was something I could work on. Theoretically.

Also theoretically, I should be able to maintain certain partial Shifts permanently. The Hnoll’s clawed hand, for example, should be permanent – if I could maintain and restrict it. And that was where the first problem arose.

To keep the clawed hand, I had to keep Shift empowered. That, for one, put a strain on my Power. It didn’t drain much energy once the transformation stabilized, but that also required me to restrict it perfectly. To use the exact same amount of Shift the whole time. The slightest disturbance would drain Shift’s energy while also altering the degree of transformation.

Keeping tabs on everything required a high mental capacity. It was on par with Accessible Shifts that were too powerful for me to maintain for long. They were as strenuous to maintain as a partial Shift.

"That’s not enough," I clicked my tongue even when Clove and Fern stared at me in awe. They were clearly impressed by the sheer number of things I could do with the Cursed Power.

As true as that was, working on Shift promised to be troublesome. The Hnoll transformation expanded ever so slightly the instant I looked up at the fae. That kind of distraction had already been enough to disturb Shift’s flow.

Unfortunately, that increased the difficulty of a permanent partial Shift drastically. It was not outright impossible, but the amount of work I’d have to put in to make it work was not worth it.

Or was it?

Thinking about it, I realized quickly enough that it would be incredibly foolish to push aside this part of Shift’s abilities.

If it works with the Hnoll, it’ll work with the other human forms as well. A partial transformation. Not much. Just enough to copy their Power into my main form.

That was all I needed. Be proficient enough with Shift to acquire the Powers of others permanently.

If I could add more Powers to my main form, that would be incredible.

"Racial traits as well," I muttered quietly, licking my lips.

There was so much to test. So much training to be done. I was more than ready. I was born for this very moment!

Imagining all the Powers I could acquire with my new discovery, Shift triggered a few dozen times in the next few minutes. First, I replicated the clawed hand with all the other Hnoll forms.

As similar as they appeared, each clawed hand was different.

First and foremost, the clawed hands came from Hnolls with vastly different Cores. The weakest Hnoll I’d managed to slay had a Core saturation of 33% – 1st Tier, of course. The partial transformation of its clawed hand was not weak by any means, but the clawed hand felt slower and more sluggish than the strongest Hnoll form did.

But while that did make sense, considering a Core’s saturation was directly tied to its physical speed, strength, and toughness, I was more comfortable with the clawed hand of a Hnoll with a Core saturation of 48% than 62%. Even then, it would probably be more comfortable if one of my Accessible Shifts had a Core saturation in the lower 40s.

The same could not be said when I used Shift to transform my arm into that of the soldiers. The wrinkled arm of the old soldier was something I ended up being much more comfortable with than the soldier’s hand with Ignite. And that even though the younger soldier with Ignite had a Core saturation of 43% while the old soldier’s was at 51%.

"I think that makes sense," Fern said when I told the fae about my discovery.

"It would be weirder if you didn’t notice a difference." Clove nodded, looking sagely and all. That didn’t fit the young fae, like at all, but he seemed satisfied enough with himself.

"What am I missing?" I asked, transforming my arm back into my main form.

"Duh," Clove’s sagely mask broke, only to be replaced by a shit-eating grin. "You don’t know?" He glanced at Fern. "He really doesn’t know."

I rolled my eyes at him, and so did my mate.

"Ignore him." A branch descended from high up, hitting Clove in the back. His head snapped downward and his smile evaporated.

"What Clove intended to say is that you feel more comfortable with the weaker clawed hand because it fits better with the rest of your body." Fern explained calmly. "Monsters are stronger than humans and many other races, are they not?"

That was true. Monsters were stronger. Humans required suitable Powers to combat monsters to overwhelm them. That was also why I–

"Oooh..." The pieces in my head finally aligned, forming a bigger picture. "Even though my Core’s already at the second threshold, I am physically not much stronger than a Hnoll with a Core saturation in the lower 40s..."

And while I still could maintain the partial Shift of a stronger Hnoll, it felt wobbly at times because the rest of my body couldn’t keep up with my clawed arm.

That was a problem – or, maybe...not?

It doesn’t hurt or anything. The sensation is purely ’uncomfortable’. And not even in a restrictive way. The clawed hand moves as intended. It’s just that I cannot control it properly.

Yet.

I couldn’t control it yet. But what would happen if I maintained the stronger Hnoll’s clawed hand for an extended period to train with it and adjust both mind and body to use it properly. Would that solve the issue?

Then again, none of that would matter once I gathered more Essence in my Core. Using Shift to partially transform my hands into Hnoll claws would be useless by then since my Accessible Shifts didn’t grow alongside me. They were no more than perfect replicas of the creatures I’d killed.

But was that an issue or an opportunity? Partial Shifts to weaker forms came easier to me than stronger ones.

Was there no way to leverage that?