by Aaron Oster
He had no idea for how long this process lasted, but it all seemed to happen from the inside out. His core was the first thing to pull back together, condensing into a perfectly round sphere of shining purple. It was a richer, more vibrant shade of violet than he’d ever seen and seemed to radiate both a sense of immense power and perfect calmness and clarity.
His bones began to reform, and Morgan could feel his body trying to become larger, to assume a towering form that would stand some twenty feet tall. At this point, though, he began to feel more in control and was actually able to fight against that change. Morgan didn’t want to be twenty feet tall. He wanted to retain his original height – just under six feet.
Thankfully, that seemed to work, and with the power of his will now in command, his body shrank down, his bones reforming around the shape he desired. He could also feel his skeleton try to add certain things, like the bone structure for a tail and massive wing, but Morgan forced those back as well.
There were a couple of things he could not control, though. The new bones were dense and heavy, formed completely of a metal he did not recognize. It meant that he would weigh many times more than he had before now, but his body would not reverse the change to allow for something more lightweight. Additionally, his bones were far thicker than they should have been, his joints adding extra layers of something in between. And although he didn’t know exactly what it was, he knew it would allow far more flexibility, to the point where his elbows and knees could be completely bent the other way and he would barely even feel it.
His skull was also much thicker, and two small protrusions above his eyes refused to be smoothed down. Morgan knew this would make his eyes appear more deep set and perhaps make him appear a bit more brutish, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.
His muscles, tendons, and nerves came next, all forming in a weave of the same metal as his bones, although this was far lighter and more flexible. Additionally, they were shot through with streaks of purple, showing the pathways where his reiki would travel, and some, where it was permanently infused into his body. His bones had had much the same in the form of narrow channels, but they were all on the inside and would not be seen on the surface.
The muscles formed into powerful chords, layering on dense and heavy, wrapping taut around his skeleton. Layer upon layer formed, flowing over him and encasing his metallic bones in even more armor. He had no idea how he was even going to move with all this added weight, but this was yet another thing he could not change.
The muscles flowed over his arms, chest, and torso last, forming into dense squares and filling out in a set of massive pectorals. Here, he finally had a bit of choice and was able to control the size, so they remained relative to the rest of his body. This was the last time he’d be changing, after all, and he didn’t want to look stranger than he already felt.
Before the skin began to form, Morgan already had a pretty good idea of what he’d look like. His face was going to be a bit more angular, his body wider and bulkier, but if he fought some of the bigger changes, he should hopefully look much the same as he had before. When his new skin began to form, he realized just how wrong he’d been.
Dark gray skin, the color of stone, began to flow over him, shining like liquid glass. Morgan immediately fought that change, switching it back to his normal light tan. Thankfully, it returned to its normal hue, no longer glossy like the outside of a shining pot. However, that wasn’t the last change he’d have to fight.
Blue scales the color of gleaming magesteel began to form over his legs, and Morgan had to fight those away as well, and this time, he only managed a partial success. The scales flowed outward, tracing up the sides of his legs and beginning to form around his chest. He continued to try and fight them, finally managing to put a halt to the scales and starting to push them back.
The scales continued to fight him though, refusing to leave. They formed over his arms next, flowing down over his fingers and creating thick, powerful claws at the tips.
I refuse to look like a lizard! Morgan yelled in his mind, and yet, the scales did not want to leave.
So, instead of trying to force them away, Morgan came up with a different idea. Concentrating on what he wanted to happen, he tried to will the scales to form beneath his skin instead. Thankfully, this time, it finally went his way. The scales melted beneath his skin, forming in between the twenty odd layers he had and smoothing to keep it uniform.
The scales didn’t leave everywhere, though. A single patch remained from the base of his neck, running down his spine. A single line also traced his biceps, curling around and ending at the tips of his middle fingers.
Morgan didn’t mind these so much, as they wouldn’t really get in the way. They also lay deep enough in his skin that they didn’t look too out of place. The last parts to form were on his face, and this was the trickiest of them all.
Skin began to form, along with the cartilage for his nose and ears, but he could feel the shapes were all wrong. His body was trying to flatten his nose – likely to present less of a target in a fight – and his ears were trying to form closer to his skull, flaring out wider so as to better catch sound.
Morgan put a stop to those, forcing his nose straight and keeping his ears the way they were before. But, just as with the scales, certain things formed that he just couldn’t change. His ears became slightly tapered, a line of gleaming blue forming along the edges. It was likely a carry-over from the scales, which were trying to find a way to protect the protrusions. His nose tried to form the same, but thankfully, he managed to keep it under the skin.
His lips formed next, remaining much the same, but when his teeth came in, Morgan found that his canines had been enlarged once more and he couldn’t make them any smaller. They still fit nicely in his mouth, but the enhanced predatory features would be unmistakable when he smiled.
Skin formed over his chin and cheeks, maintaining the angular shape, and flowed up over his cranium. Hair began to grow, and Morgan had to force it to remain the same shade of brown, despite the gleaming silver that tried to take its place. He allowed it to grow to its normal length before stopping and keeping it there.
However, before the process finished, a single lock of black hair, shining with small motes of light, formed near his hairline, draping down the side of his face. No matter what he did, though, it refused to go away.
Morgan’s eyes were the last part of his body to form, the world becoming visible in a brilliant array of color the likes of which he’d never imagined being able to see before. Everything was enhanced, as though he’d been staring through a dull lens his entire life, and the veil had finally been lifted.
His eyes shone a solid gold now, his pupils pulling to slits in the dimmer confines of the sphere. Morgan could already tell that this was a feature he’d be unable to change, but he was alright with that. It reminded him of the Beast King, just as with the single strand of black hair. He inhaled, feeling his chest expand as the air rushed into his newly forged lungs.
His core blazed with power, flowing through his bones, muscles, and skin, and Morgan felt a strange sort of heat behind his eyes. He could still sense what was happening and could see their color, despite the fact that he was no longer having the odd out of body experience.
As his reiki flowed through his veins, his solid golden eyes shimmered with a kaleidoscope of color. It resembled a starburst, like that of a galaxy, flowing just beneath the surface. His entire body began to shine next, a shimmering aura of violet gathering around him, seeming to both leak from his skin and cloak him at the same time.
He breathed in again, slowly flexing his fingers and feeling the power contained within. Morgan now felt more alive than he ever had before, the strange new smells, sensations, and visions all showing a beauty and serenity he had never imagined this world could possess. But there was more yet.
It wasn’t just his physical senses that had been enhanced, but his spiritual ones had as well. He could now se
e beyond the world in which he stood, although only vaguely if he tried. Strange layers and veils stood all around him, connecting worlds and galaxies in ways he’d never imagined as possible.
The strings of fate stretched out before him, vanishing into the distance and showing him a myriad of possibilities. His head started to hurt at that, and Morgan slammed his senses shut, feeling cool relief. At the same time, the sphere around him began to fade and he slowly drifted back to the ground, his feet touching down for the first time since his transformation began.
“Not exactly an easy thing to get used to, is it?” Gold asked, stepping through space and approaching slowly.
“No, it’s not,” Morgan said, his own voice, just like Gold’s, sounding slightly different. “Is that what it means to be omniscient? To see all of those strings clearly?”
“I would assume so,” Gold said with a shrug.
“But you wouldn’t actually know,” Morgan said, realizing the truth.
While Gold was a god, he wasn’t omniscient. Not like Dabu had been, and not like he had the potential to be. Before his advancement, Morgan had simply thought that reaching omniscience was something that would happen when he reached rank 100. But it seemed that like with any skill, it would require some significant training until he became accustomed to its use and power.
Advancing in rank would definitely help, but it wouldn’t make it possible just because of said advancement. Morgan would still need to work for it, something for which he found himself to be oddly grateful. Before advancing, he hadn’t realized just how much would change, and when he had, he’d been afraid that everything would be simple now. He was glad that there was still room for improvement, because the second he became perfect was the second in which he would cease to be alive.
Obviously, that would be in a metaphorical kind of way. So long as he wasn’t killed, he would continue to live forever. He was now functionally immortal, of that much, he was certain. He hadn’t even had a chance to look over his status yet, but he already knew that. He could already feel some of his new skills and power without even checking.
But, before he could check, he felt Gold’s own power flare up. He could see it, the golden Essence blazing within and around as he reached into space, seizing three Pinnacle Beasts and hauling them to their location.
“You’re seriously going to test me now?” Morgan asked before the beasts could appear.
“Hey, I only want to see what you can do before you go running off to face a goddess. Besides, you need a little warmup.”
“I haven’t even had the chance to look at my skills yet,” Morgan replied as the first beast, a towering blend of monkey, bear, and some sort of exotic bird was pulled through Gold’s portal.
“I have the utmost confidence in your success,” Gold said, flashing him a grin.
Another beast came through then. This one was a mix of a hyena, tortoise, and eagle.
“You do realize that we’re short on time, right?” Morgan asked.
He didn’t know how, but he could tell that nearly a day had passed since his advancement had begun and they were less than an hour away from the meeting. In fact, he could feel them gathering at a point some fifteen hundred miles to the east, where a significant amount of reiki was gathering.
“Oh, I do,” Gold replied. “But we’re going to need some serious bait to pull Sarah here, and that bait isn’t quite in the right spot just yet.”
Before Morgan could work out what he was talking about, the third beast came through. This one was a different monster altogether. It was a blend of a horse, lizard, and hydra, containing six heads and a hide so thick that Morgan had to wonder how it even moved.
All three of the beasts were neatly arranged by Gold, who seemed to have no trouble at all controlling them.
“You have five minutes,” Gold said, glancing down at his wrist, and Morgan could see a strange sort of distortion where he’d previously seen nothing. “You may begin.”
As though taking that as a command, the beasts, all powerful enough to wipe out an entire city within minutes, all attacked at once.
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Morgan leaped back, concentrating on all of the beasts and pulling up their information. It was easy, far easier than it had been before, and he was almost overwhelmed with how much there was. Instead, he concentrated on just getting the basics — their names, ranks, and ability types. Oddly enough, one other bit of information popped up, and it was something Morgan was glad to see.
Name: Grido the Smasher
Rank - 78
Ability type - Super
Grido the Smasher uses wide, sweeping attacks. His strength lies mostly in his ability to extend his reach past what one might expect. He uses his tail and wings to buffet and arms to crush. His ability revolves around stone and gravity.
Name: Aida the Cackler
Rank - 77
Ability type - Mage
Aida the Cackler uses mostly Area of Effect attacks. Her strength lies mostly in her mobility and defensive prowess. She uses her wings to create windstorms and hunkers down in her shell, using it as a battering ram.
Name: Hoard the Mangler
Rank - 79
Ability type - Mage
Hoard the Mangler uses a wide variety of attacks. His strength lies in his ability to tie up multiple opponents, all while remaining stationary. He uses his many heads to bend the elements to his will, while his powerful hide protects him from taking damage.
“That’s useful,” Morgan muttered to himself.
Having an insight into the beasts’ abilities and the attacks they were most likely to use was a massive advantage in any fight. After all, if he knew what they could do, defeating them would be that much easier.
However, facing three Pinnacle Beasts all within three ranks of his own was not ideal. In fact, Morgan had no idea what Gold was thinking putting him up against them, especially seeing as he hadn’t even had a chance to look over his own skills and abilities.
Still, Gold must have been confident in what he could do, as the man retreated, stepping back through the air to stand some fifty feet above their battle.
Grido the Smasher – a mix of monkey, bear, and bird – came in first. He was a massive beast, some fifteen feet tall, and bulkier even than Lumia. One of his massive arms swept out, and although he wasn’t nearly close enough to reach him, Morgan remembered the warning. He braced his legs, then threw both arms up to the side to block.
Grido’s arm stretched, extending over twenty feet and sweeping through the air before slamming into him. Morgan had expected the blow to be powerful, to send him flying or drive him back several steps at the very least. He’d expected the blow to hurt, perhaps even to the point of breaking a bone or two.
Instead, Morgan was shocked when the blow slammed into him with enough force to shatter the side of a mountain, and nothing happened.
Morgan took the blow easily, his feet not even sliding an inch from where he’d planted them. He was so surprised that he didn’t manage to get his arms up in time for the next blow, which struck him directly in the face.
He stumbled back a half-step, Grido’s momentum too much for him to remain planted, but aside from a slight stinging, like someone slapping a bug against their skin, Morgan felt nothing.
Morgan began to laugh then, even as Grido’s body exploded with red light, his chi flowing through him rapidly and empowering his body. He was strong. Far stronger than he’d realized if he could stand up to a rank 78 Pinnacle Beast and hardly feel a thing!
The ground around Grido shattered, massive plates of stone flowing up to coat his fists. His wings spread wide as he leaped into the air, and gravity began to intensify. Morgan crouched, then leaped into the sky after him. If he’d been worried that his dense body would slow him in the slightest, his ease of movement alleviated that worry.
But when he shot past Grido, soaring some forty feet into the air, even he was surprised. He hadn’t put that much power into the jump, had he
?
Grido whirled, spreading his arms wide and gripping more stone from the ground. He then unleashed a salvo of punches, all lashing out at him with stunning accuracy. Stones came interspersed with the fists, slamming into him and keeping him airborne. In fact, Morgan was being hit so hard now that he was sure he’d have been thoroughly broken and beaten had this happened before his advancement.
Grido was easily the most powerful beast he’d come up against thus far, and although he wasn’t as dangerous as the Pinnacle Kings, his actual power dwarfed even Octagon’s!
Still, he felt almost none of it.
The stone shattered against his powerful muscles, hardly leaving a trace on his skin. One of the shards managed to cut him, but it was shallow, almost negligible, and barely stung!
He laughed again as Grido halted in his barrage, allowing Morgan to fall back to the ground. He slammed into the earth, feeling it cave a bit beneath his increased weight, then, before Grido could launch another attack, he leaped back into the air, this time with much more power.
The Pinnacle Beast howled as Morgan slammed into his abdomen, lashing out with a powerful punch that shattered bone and pulped organs. Grido spun from the sky, blood trailing from his open mouth, and his entire torso caved in. He crashed to the ground, and Morgan landed on him, slamming both feet down onto the beast’s chest.
The shattering crunch of the Pinnacle Beast’s ribcage breaking echoed through the air, followed a moment later by a howl from the beast in question. The sheer power of a single punch or kick not enhanced by any skill stunned Morgan, but not so much that he couldn’t finish the beast off.
He dropped to one knee, driving it down into Grido’s throat and crushing his windpipe. In the same motion, he twisted his torso and shoulders, driving a punch down into Grido’s face. The head exploded under the power of that punch, scattering brain matter and bits of skull everywhere.
