Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 93: Chimera

Chimera was a big deal. I’d never heard of a creature with that name, but I instinctively knew what it was supposed to mean.

A Chimera is the amalgamation of countless monsters–a mishmash of a few, up to dozens, if not more, monsters to form one. Chimeras are creatures that were never supposed to exist. Hunted by the gods for bearing the ability to consume and integrate them into their own bodies, they embody the traits of their greatest enemies–the End. I thought without knowing what exactly I was thinking or what the words really meant.

All I knew was that I’d done something big, because for the first time since I awakened my Cursed Power, I was rewarded Essence for using it.

Xavier Halur

Core: Tier-1 (75%)

Insignia: Dominance (1)

Bond - Trickster Demon (Juvenile - Lesser)

Primary Power: Shift

The amount of Essence I gained was nothing to scoff at either. Three percent at the current threshold would have been enough to push a newly awakened Chosen from 0% to 20%, if not further. I felt much stronger from the Essence surging into my Core, yet it was not the Essence that brought a brilliant smile to my lips.

No, the new form was the highlight, and what it entailed.

Looking down at my hands, one a Hnoll’s, another belonging to the human Xavier, I could not help but smile. Both were part of me. Xavier was my past. In a way, I was still Xavier, but I was no longer the human shell that restrained me. I...had accepted that I was more than a human.

I smelled like a fae, even though I didn’t know what exactly that entailed, and I was a demon according to the Insignia of Dominance as well.

In a way, I was everything I wanted to be–everything I had killed.

"I understand why you fear me," I mused quietly, looking high into the sky. The gods may not even know about my existence, but I was sure they could sense a change. Something was about to change, and I was not sure if they were going to like it. However, even if they did not like it, I was not afraid of their wrath or their fear. I would not back off. Instead, licking my lips, I was somewhat hoping the gods would come to me.

Not now, of course. Once I was stronger, wielding the strength needed to crush them would be best.

They won’t wait that long. I grimaced.

No matter how hard I tried to deny it, a change was coming. I could feel it. A storm brewing, chaos descending, yet none of that was my fault. Whoever granted me a Black Power may not necessarily be at fault either. Change was normal. The realms were supposed to change. So were the gods.

After all, change was ever-present. It was the only thing that felt truly correct–change, growth, as well as the cycle of life and death.

"Am I starting to lose my mind?" A mirthless chuckle escaped my lips, and I checked the Accessible Shifts, seeking distraction before melancholy could force me down a series of thoughts I didn’t want to think about just yet.

Accessible Shifts – Chimera (Main Form), Blue Slime, Arok Serpent, Hnoll, Greyskin Borillar, Kerink, Spiketail Trout, Herculean Ant, Human, Veridian Bee, Airborne Archaeopteryx, Teora Centipede, Illuminary Butterfly, Deathstalk Squirrel, Gloating Wasp, Esar Boar, Lesser Wisp, Skaborn Salamander, Skunkita, Terro Sparrow, Nature Dragon, Onyx Panther, Venus Ocelot, Bloodfist Gorilla, Silverback Elephant, Armorous Ankylosaur, Gale Wolf

Human was no longer my main form after acknowledging that Shift was part of me, including all Accessible Shifts. That was interesting, to say the least, yet it did not occupy my thoughts for long.

Instead, I tested a few things.

First, I transformed into my old human form. Xavier Halur, just like I knew him, myself, came to be, without pathways or anything of that sort. I tried to add the pathways of yet another human form to it, but it would not work. The pathways came to be, but maintaining them was still as troublesome as before. Then I transformed into a Herculean Ant, one of the larger soldiers I’d killed before, and I added wings of a Veridian Bee to it.

The transformation did not last long either. Precisely, the modification ended quickly.

That could not be said as a Chimera. I transformed into a Skaborn Salamander as the Chimera, focusing my attention on that very thought–that I was changing as a Chimera and not that I was simply transforming into another form.

In a way, I turned the Chimera into a foundation, whereas all the other forms provided the parts needed to create a workable structure. And, forming the base of it all, I used the Skaborn Salamander–for a test only, of course.

Adding the tail of the Armorous Ankylosaur to the Skaborn Salamander was possible, yet the former’s body part was too large and too heavy for the base. After all, the base, the Skaborn Salamander in my possession, was not all that powerful. None of them had a Core saturation surpassing 50%, which would grant the strength needed to wield the Armorous Ankylosaur’s tail properly.

I tried to use the Gale Wolf as the base for the Chimera, but Shift resisted. That left me with many other choices, but only one that worked properly. Xavier Halur. Even if Accessible Shifts did not consider it my Main Form any longer, the human form’s Core was my Core. All the other Cores were merely imitations created by Shift.

Turning back to my human form, but as a Chimera, I started anew. This time, I did not bother transforming my hands or anything. I changed my skin, turning it into a Herculean Ant’s exoskeleton. Next, my skin turned blue, liquid slime dripping down to the ground.

Finally, a panther’s tail grew from my tailbone, and fluffy ears jutted from the side of my head as I added features of the Onyx Panther to my Chimera form, and they persisted. Forever, if I wanted them to.

But what I wanted was neither tail nor ears. Instead, I wanted more Powers and racial traits–combined in one form.