Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 72: Horny Hare?

We didn’t rush out of the Eserian. Even if we wanted to, it wouldn’t have been all that easy. The Eserian forest was massive and contained untold horrors. Avoiding all of them was impossible, and even detouring around only some of them was highly time-consuming.

Regardless, we couldn’t leave just yet. Clove had some personal matters to deal with – something about his bloodline – and Fern needed more time to recover.

Hence, we rested for two more days. Two days in which I learned a lot more about Shift and its limits. Or rather, that it didn’t seem to have any limits – at least theoretically.

Practically, I would be more likely to die the moment I tried shifting into a Greater while being at the 1st Tier. That led to another thing I hadn’t even thought about.

Advancing. Also labeled as Ascension by the Temple’s clerks.

I didn’t plan to advance to the 2nd Tier just yet. Truthfully, I was nowhere near the saturation level I wanted to be. Not after all that happened in the last few weeks. The last few weeks had been terrifying, and they showed just how much stronger I would have to grow.

Advancing with a low Core saturation offered strength, which was great and all, but it was a fool’s endeavor.

Once a Core reached a saturation of 60%, it was possible to initiate the breakthrough and start the advancement to the next Tier. The accumulated Essence would be consumed to crack, expand, and mend the Core, pushing it to the next level in a way.

I could already do that, but there was no way I’d be foolish enough to do so. Not when it came with too many disadvantages.

Advancing with a Core saturation of 60% dictated but also limited several characteristics.

For one, the Chosen’s 2nd Tier Core would be smaller than the Core of a Chosen who broke through with a higher Core saturation. That, as obvious as it may be, also meant that the "Fool" wouldn’t have the means to accumulate as much Essence in his Core as others.

A breakthrough with a 60% Core saturation meant that the Fool would never advance to the 3rd Tier because his 2nd Tier Core would be too small to accumulate the necessary Essence.

There were many calculations, most of which I had already forgotten, thinking they wouldn’t be important to me, but to reach the 4th Tier and become a Greater Being, I’d have to advance to the 2nd Tier with a Core saturation surpassing 80%... I think. Honestly, I wasn’t so sure and would have to ask Fern and Clove about it at some point.

Could be 85% or 90% even. I shrugged and put the thought aside. If possible, I’d want a Core saturation of 100%, but that was going to be difficult. Essence was not exactly hard to come by at the lower percentile, but the higher the Core’s saturation, the harder any future accumulation would be.

There’d been a theory told by the Temple’s clerks, but my father always said that the Status was playing a trick on the Chosen. That the Essence needed to increase the Core saturation from 70% to 80% was four to five times higher than from 60% to 70%, and that every additional percent would increase the Essence needed exponentially.

But the potential-limiting portion was not even the biggest of issues when it came to advancing. I found other limiting factors much more problematic.

Advancing with a Core saturation below 90% meant that a Chosen’s foundation wasn’t perfect. That the power infused with the Essence accumulating in the Core wouldn’t empower the body further. But what did that mean exactly? It was fairly simple.

Filling the Core empowered a Chosen. It made them stronger as they accumulated more and more Essence. A Chosen with a Tier-1 Core at 60% was weaker than I was. Why? Because my Core was more saturated, strengthening my mind and body more than another Chosen.

I’d lose out on a lot of strength if I were to advance now. Hence, I could only keep going until the Essence of a Tier-1 Core no longer empowered me. Then last but not least, there was still the empowerment granted during the advancement.

Using more Essence during the advancement produced much greater results.

That much was obvious, was it not? It was also why I kept going. Why I continued to experiment, preparing myself to deal with monsters strong enough to somehow fill my Core.

And the best way to do so was to kill monsters stronger than oneself. For Chosen without combat-attuned Powers, fighting monsters at a similar level was already problematic. Fighting those stronger than oneself? That required patience, ample preparations, and a lot of luck.

Or a mighty Power, friends stronger than oneself, and a forest filled with the right amount of monstrosities to deal with – and Shift into once slain.

***

Traveling through the Eserian was not all that difficult with two fae. Maybe it’d have been a lot more difficult if Fern’s attunement to nature had been any weaker, or if Clove couldn’t detect danger and smell the territories of highly volatile monsters from far away. Alas, Fern disappeared into the surrounding nature more than once, while Clove pulled me aside a dozen times, making sure we detoured around the territories of monstrosities even the two fae didn’t dare to fight.

I didn’t have all that much to do, honestly. It was annoying, but also quite nice if I had to be honest. Annoying because... well, I couldn’t do anything. Nice, because I didn’t have anything to do.

Nobody forced me, and there was little to no danger with Fern and Clove around. Fern emerged from the surrounding flora now and then. At times, blood splattered her flowery clothes, which only made her look even sexier.

More vicious. I corrected myself, discarding the naughty thoughts swirling through my mind.

Am I really going to behave like that? Like a horny hare?

I felt like cursing myself, but considering the sultry look in Fern’s eyes, I was fairly sure I wasn’t the only one feeling like that.

The only one stopping us was Clove. Precisely, the young fae didn’t care all too much. Still, it was weird thinking about making love in an unknown land, near someone else, while the fate of the Forea Alliance might rest in our hands.

No, I couldn’t do it.

Not yet. Maybe when we’re out of this damn forest.

That was hopefully soon. I wanted some downtime. Practice Shift for days. And have some one-on-one time with Fern.

I really needed that, and so did Fern.