I couldn't maintain the Arok Serpent shift for more than a few seconds. It would require some thorough testing to determine exactly how long I could sustain it, but it was annoying either way.
The Arok Serpent was powerful. Certainly stronger than my Blue Slime shift, or even my original form–once I figured out how to use it properly.
Unable to shift back into the Arok Serpent right away, I looked around instead and took in the mess I'd fallen into.
The forest was everywhere. No matter where I looked, there were trees, densely grown undergrowth, and plants I'd never seen before. Most of them resembled ordinary flora, yet a particular few appeared far too exotic to be real. Pink flowers bloomed amid a bush adorned with finger-sized thorns to my left, a blue stalk as thick as my thigh stood up ahead, and vines twisted along the ground that couldn't look more nefarious even if they tried.
"Are they bleeding?" I wondered, my hair standing on end as I instinctively pulled back. As curious as I was, my quota for death-like events was already used up. For the rest of the month. Or so I hoped, knowing damn well I'd be lucky just to survive the night.
The forest wasn't particularly loud, which only made it more suspicious. Chirping birds and the usual commotion of woodland life would have eased my tension. Something familiar to ground me.
Silence, on the other hand, spelled trouble.
One more problem to add to a never-ending list, I grunted.
Water. Food. Shelter. Surviving in an eerily silent forest.
Then there was the matter of figuring out where I was. The soldiers had mentioned arriving at the destination in a few days. Taking that into account, I was either already in the earl's territory or somewhere close to it.
They wouldn't force young Chosen into an Oath… not openly, I reminded myself. That meant we wouldn't be dropped directly into the earl's home, let alone a city or town. Even sending us to a village would have been risky. The flying ship had to be headed somewhere else.
A secret place.
Be that as it may, I highly doubted the earl would travel far and wide to collect his new "recruits." He would have brought us somewhere close to his lands.
"The Forea Alliance?" I mused quietly, my voice carrying farther than I intended.
No matter where I was exactly, one thing was certain: it was an endless forest. And if the other monsters lurking here were anything like the Arok Serpent, I needed to be careful.
Falling into an endless forest was not how I had imagined my journey beginning. Still, it didn't change the facts. This was an adventure. It checked all the boxes I'd dreamed of–exploration, danger, excitement.
But as important as danger was to a real adventure, I hadn't accounted for this much danger. Getting kidnapped right after the Choosing hadn't been on my checklist.
Originally, I'd planned to travel the realm for a while, returning home now and then to spend time with my family. Now… I doubted that was feasible. Father's face flashed before my eyes, drawing a grimace from me.
Even if I were to ignore that part, which wouldn't be easy, it'd be impossible to ignore the townspeople. They knew me. They knew what had happened. If they saw me, if they recognized me, they would surely alert the authorities. Returning home would put my family in danger.
"Fuck that shit."
The realization hit me like a charging bull. I would never be able to return home if I wanted to keep my family safe.
What if I shift into someone else? The thought came out of nowhere. Could I use my Power to transform into another human and visit my family while looking like a different man–or woman? I had no idea, and I wasn't about to kill anyone just to see whether Shift would update to allow that.
Instead, I could transform into a monster and sneak into my family's home as Xavier. As long as I stayed inside the house, nobody would notice anything.
The plan was rough and needed refinement a thousand times over to ensure my family's safety, but it was possible. Maybe… I could return to them someday. I wouldn't be able to stay, but visiting them from time to time was better than never seeing them again.
Thinking about my family made worry gnaw at me.
"I hope you're fine," I sighed, squinting up at the canopy as the suns' light pierced through the leaves.
Tilting my head and shifting my stance, I caught a glimpse of the first sun. It had already passed its zenith. If I wanted to survive the night, and have even the faintest chance of seeing my family again, I had to move.
But before charging off in a random direction and hoping for the best, I got to work.
First, I needed answers.
Activating Shift, I morphed several times over the next few minutes. The Status updated with every transformation, confirming my suspicion. While my Core could accumulate Essence, my individual transformations could not. The Essence the Blue Slime should have earned for killing the Arok Serpent had been forwarded to my main form instead.
Another observation concerned the Blue Slime's size. It had grown after feasting on the Arok Serpent's insides. However, once I shifted into another form and then back into the Blue Slime, that additional mass no longer existed. The Blue Slime reverted to its original size. The same size as the Blue Slime I had killed during the Choosing.
The Arok Serpent form was also an exact replica of the one I'd slain before, with one exception: all internal damage had been restored. Otherwise, I'd probably be in excruciating pain from scorched gullets and a windpipe scrubbed clean by slime acid.
Next, I managed to transform into the Arok Serpent again. This time, the shift ended even faster. My senses barely registered the distortion before Shift forced me back into my main form, clothes intact and all.
"Did I use up my time already?" I tilted my head. "But I could shift again. That wasn't possible earlier."
Right. Earlier, it had felt like I couldn't transform back into the Arok Serpent at all. A few minutes later, I could. Albeit briefly.
"Is there a cooldown for the Arok Serpent?"
That didn't seem to be the case with the Blue Slime. I was fairly certain I could maintain that form almost indefinitely.
How curious.