Chapter 41: Metal skinshifter

"Can humans become Beast Lords?"

"Not naturally. But the Beast Lord will start to search actively for suitable hosts. As you know, Beast Lords become more intelligent with time, and they start to yearn for freedom. Did you notice that the Sprites surrounded us when we entered the cave and declared our presence?"

"Yes. Were they also checking us out, like the Beast Lord?"

"Exactly. Over time, the Sprites of an area will start to think like the area's Beast Lord," Rith smiled.

"What happens when a Beast Lord finds a suitable host?"

"Their body will turn into pure energy and assimilate themselves into your core over time. I told you that your core grows naturally until it stops, and then requires other methods to grow bigger, right? This is one of the methods. And secondly, their consciousness will enter a designated part of your body, depending on what the Beast Lord prefers. It could be your blood, your brain, your shadow, or even your hands," the Feline explained.

"Does that mean I'll be as strong as these entities afterwards?"

"No. I don't know exactly what happens, but you will not be as strong as the original Beast Lord. You would need time to assimilate the Beast Lord's powers over time, I don't know how long it will take to fully absorb them, but I'm sure it's measured in decades or centuries. But it is true that your powers will grow exponentially,"

"What about their thoughts, will I start hearing them inside my head?"

"Yes, it will become something like a split personality inside your head. Gradually their thoughts will merge with yours. But don't worry about it too much. The Beast Lords usually search for a host with similar thoughts to themselves,"

"Why can't the Beast Lords just leave by themselves?"

"We aren't sure why. Some say that, after they're original birthplace acts as an anchor for them, acting as a constant source of energy without which they couldn't survive. While others say that it's the will of the Empress," Rith shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Since they were so powerful, they needed some kind of weak point. If the Beast Lords were allowed to wander the World freely, the humans surely would not be the ones who ruled the World,"

"They're that powerful?" Evin felt that the serpent was strong, but not that strong.

"Their control of a World is said to be only second to the Authorities. You should thank the Empress' will, child," Rith smiled.

"I feel like I'll be able to win any argument if I involve the will of the Empress…" Evin muttered.

…

The armed raven finally found some traces of humans near the gigantic tree trump. There were footsteps leading to a cave under the tree, so it decided to wait and see when the humans came out. The crow did not know why it was searching for humans so diligently, but it didn't mind. It didn't go hungry thanks to its new weapons, so it was quite satisfied with just flying around its territory.

Finally, the humans came out. One man, one child and a slightly big cat. Seeing them, the armor wanted to detach itself from the crow and fall near the humans. But to its dismay, the raven did not allow it to leave its body. The raven was very satisfied with its new suit of armor. Why would it allow it to go away?

The armor was infuriated, but it realized that it couldn't do things the easy way. It mustered all its strength and willed the raven to fight the humans. It instilled a feeling that the humans wanted its armor for themselves.

The raven was successfully riled up by the armor and it instantly dove towards the child, as it seemed the weakest of the bunch.

…

Exiting the cave, Evin was suddenly yanked by his grandfather and pulled to his side. Then, Ssatsko put Evin down to the ground and threw a few flaming arcs towards something. He was confused, but did not panic. He immediately utilized the Heavy World alongside the World of Storms to start floating. Since it was his main method of moving, other than walking, he trained for the past year to be able to do this fluently.

Evin then searched for the enemy, but actually seeing it, he was quite shocked. It was some black bird armed to the teeth with silver armor. Its beaks and claws were covered with some other kind of metal, which drew a crimson line in the air when it flew.

Evin didn't know why it was trying to attack them, but he locked on to the bird and started shooting air bullets. He could see the armor slightly shifting to protect the areas that the bird would get hit.

"What the hell is that?!" Evin shouted at Rith.

Rith glanced at the child and shrugged indifferently.

Evin felt some confusion at first, but after forcefully calming himself, he started thinking about the situation.

His air bullets were too weak to affect the thing, so he decided to take on a supportive role. He took out a lodestone and started absorbing energy from the Heavy World. He directed all of it towards the bird and started to make it heavier.

Evin had spent a lot of time thinking about what he could do in a fight, and this was one of the simpler uses he came up with.

Rith, on the other hand, was leisurely observing the battle, like it had nothing to do with her. She could see that the bird was a normal beast, not a mana-beast. It had the element of surprise, but she knew that Ssatsko could easily take care of it after a few moments. What got her attention was the armor that was covering the bird.

Just as she expected, one of Ssatsko's projectiles hit the bird, as the bird was getting slower and slower due to the debuff from Evin.

The bird fell to the ground and died not long after. The three approached the bird to see what the armor was, and the most curious thing happened in front of them. The armor that was covering the bird suddenly started transforming and took on the shape of a sword.

The sword then started emitting a beckoning aura around itself.

"Is that a metal skinshifter?" Rith exclaimed.

"What's that?" Evin asked.

He heard of parasitical skinshifters and normal skinshifters, but did not hear about metal ones.

Parasitical skinshifters were basically parasites with the same level of intelligence as a human. Normal skinshifters were humanoids who could take on the shape of any human.

"As their name suggests, they could take on the form of any metal object. They also had the ability to change length and width mid swing, which makes them exceptionally useful for close range fighter mages. Commoners aren't able to control them, as one needs access to the World of Thoughts to have a mind bridge to communicate with it," Rith explained.

"Is it going to start controlling my thoughts if I let it touch me?"

"Kind of… It won't be able to command your thoughts, it will feel more like a polite suggestion, I suppose," Rith said.

"I'm going to try it, is that okay?" Evin asked.

Ssatsko nodded, as it was useless to him. Rith didn't mind as well. But just as he was about to go take it, a voice came from behind him.

"Master Evin, would you kindly retract your intentions from the object of our search?" Elashin and his two subordinates had come from behind them.

The sword, noticing the three Easterners that were walking towards it, started emitting a tremendously hostile aura around itself.