NOVEL WEB Chapter 76 - Transformations
Novaris. Sax (June). 905. AGC.
Nodel. Waxing Gibbous 🌔. Day 11.
The fight scared off the nearby monsters, allowing the party to rest without too much issue. Not that most of the party needed the rest. The main reason they decided to sit down and wait instead of heading straight back to the city was Arelion. The half-elf was suffering some side effect from something. Tesilim wasn’t sure what. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Tesilim to learn what was causing the issues.
After receiving permission from Arelion, Rose and Alyx explained that, much like Tesilim, Arelion suffered from some Innate Magic. This magic came from the fact that the half-elf was two people, and his twin was part of the whole deal. In essence, two people were sharing one body, leading to some magical complications and even more magical nonsense. Through the explanation, it was obvious to him and Lili that they were not giving all of the facts, but considering that Tesilim had his own magic problems, he decided not to push.
Of course, although unbeknownst to the party, Lili also had her own issues and was more than happy to let everyone keep their secrets.
It took a few minutes for the side effects to disappear, and the party once again back on the road. As they walked, Lili scared off any potential attackers with her C-rank presence. This trick did not work on the golems since they didn't have much sense of self-preservation, but the golems that approached were quickly taken care of.
Their walk allowed Arelion to give his own explanation of the issue, an issue that Tesilim found rather extraordinary. Much like the earlier explanation, they were two people living in one body. This peculiarity gave them some advantages in the form of two different types of magic, but it also caused them plenty of issues, the main one being that they had to share one body.
As he explained, Arelion had lied, saying they had yet to be sure what caused their transformation but that at some point during the month, they would switch genders, and with the switch would come the other personality. Of course, he hadn’t lied about some things, like how he was currently in charge and that with him came access to the dark magic the party had seen so far. Arelion also explained that they had access to light magic when his sister was in charge. Arelion further stated that they knew the switch was coming when they started having the side effects that he had just experienced. Continuing his partial lie, Arelion told the party that they weren’t sure which day the transformation would occur but that he knew it would be soon.
After explaining, Arelion was happy to see that the party, specifically Tesilim and Lili, took it without issue. It was even better when Tesilim pointed out the obvious.
“So basically, you are essentially unable to do anything for the rest of the week, correct?”
“Not necessarily. I can still fight; it's just that I will be taking a risk, which is something we do anyway,” Arelion replied.
“Yeah, I don't think so. I think it's best that during these times when you are at your weakest, we all hold off on adventuring and spend some time doing other things. It's better than having you get befuddled or whatever doing combat and getting killed.” Tesilim added, getting nods from Rose, Alyx, and Lili.
The show of comradery made something unusual happen as Arelion was touched by it, even if just a bit. And instead of deciding to continue arguing his point, he just nodded, falling deep in thought.
The twins hadn't spent much time with this party of theirs, but from what they had seen so far, they weren’t that bad. Even if their thoughtful gesture really touched him, he wasn't too convinced that they truly meant him good. It was one thing to say something but an entirely different thing to follow through with it. On the other hand, Jasmine had been on board with the whole situation since they had turned into smoke at the beginning of this trip. As always, she was caring and tried to see the good in people. Arelion was just glad that she was smart and had also decided not to show the party all their cards. Meaning they weren't going to show themselves during the full moon, thus not revealing their true transformations.
The party eventually arrived at Tesilim's designated chaos spot.
Since they were going to take some time off, Tesilim decided it was best for him to discharge all his Chaos Mana in one go so he didn't have to worry about it for a while. Having learned of this, Arelion decided that he did not want any part of it and continued towards the city. Rose had wanted to stay, but considering that her friend's body was in distress she decided to accompany Arelion the rest of the way.
Tesilim waited some time to let Rose and Arelion make some distance between them before unleashing his mana. He did not even bother to cast a spell properly. He simply poured 50 of his 58-Chaos Mana into the water slash spell, clearing away a large junk of the forest and getting the usual notification.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Warning! Chaos Event Imminent, prepare yourself.
Rolling d20. 8. Rolling d4. 1. Rolling d6. 6. Rolling d4. 2.
🔷
Graciously, this was also one of the times when he was blessed with another notification telling him exactly what was happening. It was especially nice since he began to grow as soon as he got it. His body expanded along with his armor, causing Alyx and Lili to watch in awe.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Attention! Due to a Chaos Event, you will grow to a height of 25 feet for the next 2 hours.
🔷
Looking down at his now small companions, Tesilim couldn't do anything except grin as an idea came to his mind, and he quickly yelled out the words anyone in his position would be compelled to say.
“Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!” Tesilim’s voice boomed around the area while he stomped, careful to avoid squishing his two companions, whose reactions could not be more different.
“Tesilim! Hurry up and pick me up! Come on, come on, come on. I want you to throw me!” Lili exclaimed with a huge grin, while Alyx was less enthused.
“Shut up, you idiot! You are going to attract unwanted attention!”
Seeing that he could accomplish both of his friend's requests, Tesilim quieted down while he crouched, lowering his hand so Lili could hop on top of it. Getting up as he enhanced his body, Tesilim reared up and, in one smooth motion, sent the joyfully screaming Lili upwards into the sky.
Watching the white-haired elf fly off, Tesilim realized that his friend was not wearing anything under her white dress. No one had noticed it before, as she had always kept it rather in control. Heck, he probably wouldn’t have noticed even now, but thanks to his enhanced body, he was able to keep track of Lili as she made her way upward.
Embarrassed at having taken an unexpected pique, Tesilim quickly looked away. His attention shot towards Alyx, and he was relieved to see that the gnome had not been paying attention. Alyx was immersed in some tome that was probably about souls.
The party decided to meet again on the 18th. Arelion was the driving factor behind this decision. He knew that by then, his transformation would have been completed, and the party would be able to adventure once again without issue. It also helped that everybody had something to do during their suddenly acquired free time.
For their part, the twins knew they were low on mana and would have to head out into the forest to refill their mana regardless of any weaknesses they might have. Of course, they would also have to capture some monsters, as it was best for them to have some ready-to-go so they could easily refill between missions.
They were able to refill their souls quite easily and had even captured three decently ranked monsters to refill their mana later. As for the rest of their time, well, Arelion didn’t really care to spend time with the rest of the party, so he just kept to himself during their time off. He did do some solo training, read a few books on odd subjects, and just relaxed until, as usual, the full moon came. During the full moon, they stayed inside their tree house until the transformation came to an end, and they could once again head outside.
For his part, Alyx spent his time off doing what he usually did: research. He had been refreshing himself on the studies of the soul just in case he missed any minor things that might be key in helping the twins. Their situation was complicated, and it was only possible to help them once they reached higher ranks. The good thing was that he had managed to get their permission to reach out to someone rather knowledgeable in magic. Maxkhalin was a master of magic, if anybody could be called that. And Alyx knew that with his help, they would be able to help the twins in one way or another.
Alyx also spoke with the dragon about the experiment he wanted to carry out. This experiment was inspired by Tesilim's recounting of his world and how they used their imagination. Alyx wanted to get some volunteers and essentially create an isolated place without regular access to magic. All of it in the hopes that they would eventually be able to recreate the same status that Earth had held.
The experiment would be done over generations of mortals, preferably humans, and was quite an endeavor to figure out. It would be especially challenging to create their society to function without magic. Alyx and his team would have to push technological advancement far enough for the subjects to live decent lives. All this is so they could have the experiment function properly.
With her time off, Lili did what she usually did: alchemy and Tesilim training. First, she had gone out into the wilderness and refilled her mana. However, when that was done, she returned to her house, wanting to finish the transformation potion for Tesilim. In terms of training, they did what they always did: physical training followed by presence control. Of course, Tesilim also did his own magical training as he wanted to learn more spells and get better at casting spells through his presence.
When they were not training or doing anything else, they would always be playing games and drinking in the taverns.
Much like Lili, Rose also spent her own time training. She even sought out the two elves in multiple locations so they could all have training sessions together. If she wasn't training, she usually did some work for the church or hung out with some of her other friends, whom she had been able to make throughout the city. She had wanted to spend some time with the twins, but considering what was going on with them, she would rather wait until Jasmine was in control. Then they would hopefully be able to have some proper fun together.
One of the first things they did before breaking up for their vacation was turn in their mission. They had gone to Pudin’s tree and given her the fertilizer, thus completing the quest and getting Tesilim that notification.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Congratulations! You have completed the goal: Fertilizer for a Dryad. You have gained 1 Chaos Point.
Speak with Pudin the dryad for the additional reward.
🔷
They had all gained a fruit from the dryad's tree as the additional reward and naturally Tesilim had identified it.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Pudin’s Fruit - Item Rank: Uncommon - A delicious fruit from the tree of the dryad known as Pudin. The fruit is sweet and savory and tastes like freshly baked pudding. Like all dryad fruits, Pudin’s fruit grants reinvigorating properties upon its consumption.
Notice! The strength of the effect granted by the fruit is based on the fruit's rarity.
🔷
Upon getting the fruit and thanking Pudin, the party finally split as they all looked forward to the coming resting period.
For his part, Tesilim didn’t do anything different than what he usually did.
First, he had gained the transformation potion from Lili and quickly drank it. As expected, he was transformed into a wolf. The transformation had been an odd feeling as he didn't quite feel the same as when he had been a goat. During the goat transformation, he was in control. However, when he took the potion, he had feral instincts that made him want to hunt things. Thankfully, he had been able to control himself and had gone back to the dryad’s bath. The dryads had been more than happy to give him another massage bath. However, things had gotten awkward midway through the bath as the transformation had run out, and he had transformed back into his normal self. He had tried to flee but the dryads had caught him and forced him to finish his bath.
Afterward, he had sworn to himself that he would never go back, but deep down; he knew that it was a lie, especially after all that teasing and poking the dryads had done.
Speaking of dryads, he had spoken to Jolly again and convinced her to upgrade his room to one of the suites.
Besides bothering dryads, he had also trained with Lili and Rose. And even made some progress on his presence control, but nowhere near enough to make a difference in combat. Finally, he had also made some progress in learning new spells but would still need a bit more practice to properly use them in combat.