Soulforge Legacy Series

No matter how many times I checked, the skill didn’t suddenly pop up in the skill screen. It wasn’t in any other tab either. It just didn’t seem to exist.

The sounds of breaking bones and soft cries gradually filled the air as people started to change. Quite a few did so in the open. Shedding their clothes without a care for who might be looking before letting the transformation take hold.

Others joined one of three lines for little tents that weren’t there five minutes ago. A person would enter one side, initiate the transformation, before popping out the other side in their beast form.

Wolves were the most common form. And I don’t mean the little wolves pictured in various books and movies. The smallest started with their backs equal to my hip and grew from there. Fuck, the largest so far was taller than I was.

Then there were the cats. Oh so many cats. And of course most had to be different. To be unique. After all, what is a cat if not the most eccentric of all the creatures to ever exist. From black panthers to an odd sabretooth variant.

The rest were mostly a mixture of bears, foxes, and others. Surprisingly enough, there were even a few avian species that hopped out of the tents before taking off for one of the lower branches to preen their feathers.

As my eyes wandered over the growing mass of monsters, something or someone bumped into my side. Not with enough force to throw me to the ground or anything, but it was enough to push my hand into the screen. A screen that had shifted to my inventory at some point.

It was a screen I had pretty much ignored since joining the unit. And it wasn’t like I was going to waste what I had when everything I needed was provided for free. So it was a bit of a surprise to see that a few things had been added. Specifically my collar. A collar that had one socket slot, and it was currently occupied.

My fingers brushed against the orb, pulling up its information. Sitting there, in the section specifying uses for the item was the transformation options. Yes, options. Not one like Liam had implied. There were three. Transform into a fox. Transform into a human. And transform into a Kitsune.

Not that the last one was a valid option. It was greyed out and the word current was stuck next to it. Not really all that surprising given my current form.

As I read over each, I found that the transformations required a different amount of mana with the human shift consuming twice as much as a fox shift and five times as much for my current form. It was something that didn’t make all that much sense. Shouldn’t shifting to a smaller form, forcing all my bones to change in the process, take more mana than simply shedding my tail and ears?

Eh, it didn’t really matter. At least for now. Maybe when I meet another Kitsune I could ask them about all this. Well, I should really say if not when. Who knows if I would ever get the chance. After all, Xander said there were only a few that he knew of and there were how many humans? Talk about a needle in a haystack.

This wasn’t the time to think about such things. I needed to focus on shifting. My head shook hard as I mentally tossed the random thoughts into a vault and focused on the task at hand.

Eyes on target, I pressed on the transform into a fox option and was promptly presented with a system warning.

Warning! Armor and clothes detected. Shifting will result in damage or destruction of said items. This is a one-time warning. Continue shift?

Yeah, good thing that warning was there. Especially as I had no real replacement for my current outfit. At least, not any that would even protect me half as well. I should really look into that. Maybe get something a bit less…girly.

Oh, maybe I could get something that was able to handle the shift. Either changing into some sort of armor for my fox form, or into a bracelet or something. And given how many people around here could shift, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had such an item or enchantment. Though, given that none of them were using such items, it was likely expensive or unwieldy. Speaking of money, am I getting paid to—

With effort, I once again tossed the stray thoughts out of my head. They were doing nothing but distracting me. Keeping me from accomplishing my goals.

“Can I use one of the tents?” I asked Liam who gestured for me to go right ahead. To my surprise, people moved out of my way. Letting me go right in without having to wait in line.

The moment I was inside, I started to strip. Trying to ignore everything I saw and felt. The dress was the easiest. I was almost happy to see it go. Especially as it allowed my tail to move about freely. But that still left me with a few things to remove. Each of which was more awkward than the last.

As the clasps on the back of my bra came undone, the mounds of flesh took the opportunity to make their presence known. Both by moving and by becoming so sensitive that even the mere brush of air caused the nipples to pebble.

Maybe if I hadn’t grown up as I had, I might have taken the opportunity to enjoy this form. To accept the changes, temporary or not, just so they could at least see and feel how the other half lived. But I just couldn’t.

Even if a tiny part of me wanted to do what others would give everything and anything to get, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. I had fought too hard to be seen as I was to let some god damned system force its will upon me.

Everything else came off in a rush as I pushed to get this all done with. To not give myself even a chance of second guessing what I was doing. Before I knew it, I found my finger pressed against the fox transformation option.

The dialog box vanished as mana flowed into the transformation. Only, instead of the mana being pulled from me, it was pulled from the orb. And let me tell you, that felt fucking weird. I mean, I know the orb is a part of me. The stories and myths made that clear, but it was one thing to know it and another to know it.

Warm streams of mana swirled around me. It flowed around each and every limb. Twisting and turning as the flow grew in both size and intensity. My mind tracked each and every twist and turn so that, maybe, one day, I could do this without any help.

Then the mana surged toward my skin. Even as it stabbed into the flesh and muscle, the feeling was coupled with a cold numbness. So while I knew I was in pain, I didn’t really feel it. Especially as the mana started to push and pull at the various parts of my body. Twisting and pulling at the muscles while breaking and reforming various bones.

My mind reeled at the sheer feeling of it all. At the amount of information that I was trying to take in so that I could, maybe, do this one day. A part of my brain said it was possible, it would just take a ton of time and practice. So yet another thing to add to the growing pile.

Still, every part of my body vied for my attention as the mana forced each part to change. Of everything, my nose grabbed my attention. Mostly because it was the first thing I could see.

I watched as it slowly pulled away from my face. As the tip changed color and the blue black fur pushed out of the various pores.

Then, without warning, I lost my footing and fell to the soft grass as something popped and shifted. Bones continued to snap as muscles writhed under the skin.

I must have whimpered or something because between one moment and the next, I was no longer alone. Liam and a few others stood over me. A small smile graced his lips as he watched the transformation finish.