After playing around with bending, I returned Azula's body back to the bed. Without extinguishing the lamps, I returned to my spiritual form and approached the mirror. The desire to get revenge on this smug bitch immediately increased tenfold! I had guessed it, but until the very end, I had hoped that it wasn't true! But calm down, if it happened once, I can surely change everything again. But how much that all-too-familiar face irritates me!
In the mirror reflection, I saw Azula's spiritual body…
The past torture had left its mark on me. My spiritual form became as similar to the princess as possible. I became as similar to her as possible! Even the clothes were typical for Azula, not for me! Down to the smallest details, you could even see the slightest embroidery. I was not mistaken in assuming that the princess and I were now twins. This was a bad sign. Such changes in me simply said that there were consequences. Previously, I looked like a bluish mist in the form of a humanoid figure, in which male features were barely discernible. In a word, a spirit on the verge of decay and final disappearance. These were the consequences of a not-entirely successful ritual of immortality.
Now I saw Azula in the reflection, in her usual Fire Nation armor, with her usual hairstyle and her favorite hair ring. Touching my now-new breasts, I noted how soft they were. Like a real girl's. Deciding to check another place, I lowered my hand to my crotch, starting to feel the right area…
"Ahem-he-he-he-he-he," — I almost laughed out loud. It was also there!
I somehow lost the desire to further explore my new spiritual body; who knows what else I would find. And it was unknown whether the sleeping beauty would hear me if I made noise here.
Was her memory and skills worth such changes? Probably yes. After all, the girl knew a lot, especially after her apprenticeship with Piandao. But the change in appearance could also change my self. Perhaps I'm not quite the same as I used to be. A mixture of my former self and all of Azula's memories. The only thought that comforted me was that if I could change and become something like Azula, then perhaps in the future I could change again, making myself the desired male appearance. Breasts are good, of course, but not when they belong to me. I hope this won't interfere too much with my future goals.
But enough wasting time on empty thoughts! From the princess's memory, I knew that it was about two or three more days until the capital. This time had to be spent with maximum benefit! I had already tested my ability to inhabit the girl, I needed to check if I could inhabit other people!
Such a skill would surely be useful in my revenge on this girl. Yes, she won't get off easy with me. Her sharpened psychological traumas from loneliness, because of which she trains so crazily, wanting not to feel conflicting feelings, all this is just the beginning. However, before making a plan for revenge, I need to learn more about my current capabilities.
And I was tired of existing without a body, so I was ready to lower my requirements for finding one to a simple master firebender from Azula's imperial entourage. As far as I knew, there were several young men there who would be perfect for me. But first, it's better to test my abilities on a creature that no one will pay attention to.
After thinking about all this, I flew through the walls of the ship. The speed was quite impressive for a human. I flew around the ship and a small area around it without any problems, and it took me less than ten minutes to do all of it. Alas, there was no large sea life nearby that I could try to inhabit. No matter how hard I tried to search, I couldn't find anyone in the sea.
On the plus side: while I was looking for someone to inhabit, I learned the limits of my spiritual vision, which allowed me to see the life energy of people and other living things. I could barely see for a kilometer, but, fortunately, I could increase the range, paying with an increased load on my mind for every hundred meters. It was thanks to this ability, or rather skill, that I was looking for animals. Due to the risk of losing the ship in the night sea, I was afraid to look for the guinea pig I needed too far from the ship.
After about half an hour, I got tired of it. And I decided to choose someone from the ship's crew. A person whose disappearance or change in behavior no one would notice in the next few hours. Of course, this would only happen in the worst-case scenario, but I was ready for the most radical measures. Even if something went wrong, it doesn't threaten a dead person with anything.
Having made a decision, I checked my spiritual characteristics. Hovering in front of a patrolling bender, I made sure that I was still invisible to the eyes of ordinary people. The bender simply passed through me, shivering from the sudden cold. An interesting effect. Perhaps I can influence the material world in my spiritual form. It's better not to try this with Azula. My presence in her could well have given her the ability to see spirits.
Unfortunately, this man was not suitable for me. The disappearance of a patrolman during his patrol would be noticed too quickly. I need someone else. Sleeping people? Almost all the servants and soldiers slept in groups, and strangeness with one could easily wake up the others and interfere with my experiments. But most doesn't mean all. Thanks to the princess's memory, I knew that the ship's captain had his own personal cabin where he slept alone.
Quickly flying through the walls and floors with ceilings, I found myself in the right place. Captain Bruce Lee continued to sleep, suspecting nothing. Hovering over the snoring body of the old man, forty years old or more, I prepared to enter his body. As strange as that sounds.
— Ouchhh, Kkhy-kkhy-kkhy, khe!… — the man reacted instantly to my actions. I had to speed up and quickly enter him, expertly putting a deep sleep on Lee.
Everything turned out almost perfectly.
I felt the spirit of the body's owner resisting my invasion. He almost managed to wake up, but I was faster. Perhaps it was the experience of interacting with the princess that played a key role here. I trained too well on Azula. Now inhabiting someone else's body was no longer a problem for me. Bruce Lee's consciousness was sleeping and dreaming; I didn't interfere with him in this, pondering my own feelings. A little unpleasant and very cramped, I didn't feel this with Azula. But on the whole, the sensations were almost familiar, except for the tightness. It was as if I had put on clothes that were too small.
Having experience in possession, I could easily control the captain's body. Which I decided to check, performing a small warm-up with a check of Azula's skills. After checking the firebending, I was pleasantly surprised by the blue flame that flashed in the lamps for a moment. I was still able to take on the blue flame from her, along with more perfect energy. Which was proven by the flame that flared up in my hands.
Deciding to check the body's other skills, I was saddened by them. The flexibility was awful, the speed was the same, the muscles were not as strong. In a word, the aging body was much worse than a young and athletic one. One small workout was enough for me to feel nauseous, dizzy, and see darkness in my eyes. Such a body is only good for experiments.
Leaving the captain's cabin, which was much more modest than the princess's apartments, I decided to get some fresh air and calm the body's senses.
The cool sea breeze pleasantly fanned my face. But it didn't improve my well-being at all. I wanted to empty my stomach more and more. No matter how much I held back, I felt worse and worse. And so it continued until…
— Buuuuuuh!!! Khe-khe-khe, bu-bu… Buuuuuuh… — having pushed me out of his body, the captain leaned completely on the railing, starting to vomit. The man's legs couldn't hold him up at all; the confrontation with me had probably drained too much of his strength.
An interesting effect. But I got too little information; I need to continue the experiments. Too many questions. How long can I stay in someone else's body? How will my presence affect someone else's body? Does the body remember how I interact with it, and similar questions. Can I get into a person who is awake?
— Where am I? What's happening? — Bruce recovered, stopping vomiting over the deck.
It's time to continue the experiments. Endure, old man, this is all for my own good…
Getting into the body of a person who was awake was easier than I thought. My consciousness simply pushed his away, after which I immediately made the other mind see dreams. Everything happened so quickly that Bruce only had time to fall to his knees. In the past, this would have been impossible for me. My spiritual body must have been too weak for such tricks back then. If it weren't for my new energy, which is similar to Azula's, I could only dream of such a thing.
The second time, I decided not to strain myself, but just to check how long I could stay in someone else's body. In other words, to be idle as long as possible. After almost thirty minutes, I was forcibly pushed out of the body, and its owner woke up. The longer I was in the body, the worse I felt. Apparently, with a full-fledged spiritual body, I felt cramped in all bodies except Azula's, and it was also found that my presence in someone else's body was gradually traumatizing it. Fortunately, nothing serious happened in a short period of time, and I tried to act more carefully.
After playing with the captain for several hours, I returned him to his bed, not forgetting to perform a special breathing technique that allows you to quickly restore your strength, while accelerating natural regeneration. The man, waking up again, thought that he had simply had nightmares. These were the consequences of my attempts to influence someone else's memory and perception of the world. It's difficult to remember what the body is doing when the brain is seeing dreams. It was a kind of sleepwalking.
After making sure that he hadn't suspected anything, I went to find new victims.
Next were the sleeping benders. My possession skills had improved. I quickly understood how to enter other people's bodies without causing rejection or awakening my victims. Softly and gradually, holding the phase of deep sleep and making my spiritual body as immaterial as possible. Everything was going smoothly. Among the imperial entourage, I chose several suitable bodies for myself: relatively young, strong, with a talent for bending, good genetics… Of course, their characteristics were far from Azula's, but I was tired of being a bodiless spirit.
Experiments showed that benders were more resistant to my possession. So to speak, they are better mediums, and I could stay in their bodies much longer than in the bodies of people who were not gifted with bending. This meant that the genes and high-quality energy of benders affect the medium's strength. Surely Azula's body would be a true ideal for me, in terms of energy. But I was very unhappy with the female body, even though I had dealt with the other problems, and now I had no doubt that I could easily pass myself off as the genius princess.
Thus, I trained almost until dawn.
Only at the end, feeling tired, I had to return to Azula for a recharge. As it turned out, I could also get tired, and to quickly restore my spiritual strength, I needed to take some of the princess's strength. Fortunately, she had a whole sea of energy; she didn't even notice the loss of such a small amount, which was necessary for me to become cheerful and full of strength again.
During the day, I had to practice inhabiting people who were awake. And here a number of problems arose. Soldiers, servants, and other crew members rarely walked alone, and I simply couldn't capture one without a quick alarm being raised. Each had their own duties and work that they had to perform. There was also a staff of maids, but I didn't even try to get into them; they were all women and had no talent for bending. Not to mention that my powers had limitations. Fighting an awake person for control of a body was much more difficult than with a sleeping one.
Instead of trying to seize a body, I began to avoid meeting Azula, which was not a problem, since the girl spent a lot of time training on the main deck. At the same time, I waited for people to be alone in special rooms. Few people expect an attack from a bodiless and invisible creature after relieving themselves in the toilet.
Fortunately, I didn't do this much; the people I needed didn't go to the toilet that often. This was a very dirty business, it was difficult to be proud of it, but it was very necessary. Time was running out, I had to hone my possession skills as well as possible, so I didn't miss a single opportunity in this matter. Nevertheless, such opportunities did not arise as often as I would have liked.
Suffering from idleness, I spent my time listening to what the guards, the benders of the imperial entourage, and other members of the princess's ship's crew were talking about. And they talked a lot, especially during and after meals. Thanks to my good hearing in spiritual form, I could hear a lot in the common dining room, when people whispered to each other about everything. That's where all the soldiers and crew members gathered to eat.
— I miss my Aila. I hope the last days of sailing will pass as peacefully.
— We all miss our wives here. We haven't seen them for a month. That's not much compared to those who went to the combat zones in the Earth Kingdom. They...
— What could happen? We are in the waters of the Fire Nation. The Earth fleet will not get through the blockade. The only thing that can happen is we get into a storm or run into a sea dragon.
— You're kidding! A sea dragon is too rare for our waters.
— I heard that they were all exterminated long ago.
— I don't think so. I personally heard that some merchants continue to spread rumors of encountering them.
— You shouldn't believe every rumor; people's gossip tends to exaggerate too much…
— My son recently went into the army, he graduated from the academy as a sergeant. I still feel proud when I remember it.
— Congratulations. My daughter is getting married, I'm going to ask for a vacation. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to walk her down the aisle myself.
— Do you at least know the groom?
— Of course, if it were otherwise, there would be no wedding.
— Only if we're lucky, and our lady, — the soldier said the last words in a contemptuous and quiet tone. — Is in a good mood. Lately, she's been having a bad time with that. She snaps at everyone, walks back and forth, I get scared in her presence. Next to her, you can literally feel her looking for a victim to pick on and skin alive for some trifle.
— I noticed that too. I heard that she's been checking the whole ship more often.
— She has.
— Is it that time of the month? What's it called? Women's days? Red days?
— Our lady just needs a healthy and strong penis, — a soldier said quietly, but loud enough for his friends to hear, stating confidently.
— Go and tell her that, we'll give your last words to your family…
Gathering in groups of acquaintances and friends, people discussed the latest news on the ship. They discussed their wives, children, recent events, rumors, other people… especially often the topic of the princess's maids was brought up, who wanted to get laid by them, who already had, and so on. These topics were raised by young unmarried men, of whom there were enough on the ship.
Of course, Azula herself was also discussed. In a not-so-flattering light. Subordinates love to speak ill of bad bosses behind their backs, so to speak, among themselves. Especially if they are dissatisfied with their boss. The princess didn't even have her own informant in this regard, who would be a stranger among his own, and would inform her about unrest among the servants and soldiers. Which was a "great" indicator of the princess's leadership talents. The girl is very loved by the people…
After listening to the soldiers' conversations, I became interested in what the princess's maids might be discussing among themselves during lunch. I had nothing else to do anyway, and I decided to find out. After walking through the walls and ceilings several times, I found myself in the right place, starting to eavesdrop on a purely female conversation.
—… he looked at me like that, and I didn't look away from him. I hope he understood everything correctly and will ask me out on a date as soon as we arrive at the port, — I heard the voice of one of the maids as soon as I was in their quarters.
— Keep hoping and you'll be alone until old age. You have to be more direct and bolder with men; they don't understand such subtle hints.
— I agree. Until you go up to them and drag them to a quiet place, they will continue to hesitate and think that nothing should follow the first date.
— He-he-he-he-he…
— Why is Li so quiet?
— She found herself a suitor among the imperial entourage. The past month in port was especially good for them. She's no longer interested in talking to us, simple maids without husbands and lovers.
— Really? And why am I only finding out about this now? And how? How's his… with the length? Is he married? Who is he? How old is he?…
— Don't bother her with your questions; if she wants to, she'll tell us everything herself. Hurry up with lunch, we still have to clean up the princess's quarters.
— Right… — for a while, the young and very hot women ate in silence, until one of them decided to bring up another topic.
— Girls, what do you think, why has the princess been so tense lately?
— Because she doesn't know the joys of male attention. Once she finds a man, she'll calm down, and there will be fewer inspections, and she herself will become softer, — the oldest maid answered confidently.
— The princess? Finds a lover? I'm afraid there are no men on the ship who are so… special. And she'll just eat the rest. I can't imagine her with a man, she'll probably burn him to death.
— Poor thing, she has no femininity at all, she's probably destined to be alone until old age.
— She's been spending all her time training for days now and doesn't think about resting at all. I wonder what happened to her this month?
— What if she hears us?
— It's okay, don't worry, she probably has more important things to do than eavesdropping on other people's conversations, and we're talking quietly…
As it turned out, women's gossip is not much different from men's. The girls discussed almost the same topics as the men. Only from their side. Relatives, men, who slept with whom, recent events, rumors, and the princess. I continued to listen to them for a while, surprised by the unity of opinion regarding Azula among her subordinates. From her memory, I knew that the princess didn't even suspect what the servants and soldiers thought of her, having her own opinion on this matter. Of course, they were afraid of her, but fear is a very unreliable thing. It doesn't at all prevent you from discussing your mistress behind her back. And having a not-so-great opinion of her.
A little time passed, and the five maids left the room, going to work. I myself was about to follow them, to guard the toilets, getting ready to attack from an ambush. When I unexpectedly noticed myself out of the corner of my eye in a large mirror. Approaching it, I immediately noticed the changes in my spiritual body. I didn't even believe my luck at first, starting to check my chest and other intimate areas.
Surprisingly, I now looked much more like a male version of Azula, like a twin brother! My chest had disappeared, my shoulders had straightened, and I had a masculinity and beauty that was more characteristic of a man than a woman. Such changes are probably the result of inhabiting male bodies. This was great news, saying a lot!
A spiritual body can change...