Cain activated the last remaining skill option in his tree, and an influx of power flowed into him from everywhere around the mountain.
"Oh, it feels like a Dragon has reached Immortality. That energy is incredibly familiar. It is the Nature God's Energy. I wonder if that will let him merge with this world the way that Immortal Priestesses of the Nature God do?" The Golden Dragon mused.
"Maybe not, since his core isn't from this world. But it is a good thing that it feels like a Dragon Ascension since his power level is so ridiculously high that the Divine Realm Cultivators will be able to feel his rebirth from tens of thousands of kilometers away." The Black Dragon Matriarch told him, without taking her eyes off Cain.
More and more power was flowing into Cain, forcing him back into his full-sized Ancient form and remaking every cell of his body at the same time. If his cells had been intact, Cain would have been screaming from the pain of having his whole body remade at once, but seconds later, a soothing feeling entered his body as the assembled Ancient Dragons began to cast some sort of spell on him.
Cain could feel his body changing as his core evolved and was repaired, becoming not only larger but somehow different. He still felt like an Ancient, but he wasn't sure what he would look like once he was finished. The species came in hundreds of different basic configurations, from nearly human to mind-breakingly alien, in an impossible way that defied the rules of the known universe.
All sense of time was lost as he changed, but Cain became aware that at some point, new dragons came and went, admiring his change before going about their business. Some of them were at least as strong as the Matriarch, and he wondered if they were the Dragon Gods' Avatars or some other Dragon deities that had been attracted by or informed of the event.
When the change was finally done, Cain felt as if he could overturn the entire world with a single thought. There was so much power in his body. His newly merged Dragon Core thrummed with Divine Energy, infusing every cell of his body, and Cain could sense that he was no longer humanoid, or at least not in the way that he was before. He was still standing on two legs, and he had two arms, one of which was a mass of tentacles he could individually control, but he now had scales and four enormous wings, plus a tail.
None of it felt natural though, or perhaps it felt too natural as if every bit of him was connected to the world individually, each able to act on its own to fulfill his instructions. If he wanted, he could order a single scale on his neck to use all of his summoning skills.
The feeling was surreal.
[Name] Cain
[Level] 700
[Class] Watcher From Beyond ->Avatar of Life
[Race] Ancient ->Hatchling World Dragon
[Awakened] Immortal
[Physique] Divine
[Stats] Locked
[STR] 700->7000
[DEX] 700->7000
[CON] 700-> 7000
[INT] 700->7000
[HP] 1,120,000
[MP] 1,400,000
Cain was absolutely certain that at no point did he choose a new Class, but he had to admit, it had changed, and so had he. He briefly wondered if he would still be welcome among the Ancients now that he wasn't really one of them anymore, but they still had Misha and, with her, their twins, so he was going there to find out anyhow.
"Look at that. You're so shiny. Change me back. I need to wrap your wrist in this new form." Luna demanded.
Before Cain could act, he felt the nearest scale to Luna ponder the question, then decide it was a good idea and request permission. It was like the voices in his head giving suggestions, but they were all his voice and his thoughts, not a separate entity, so they agreed on everything he was certain about.
Cain changed Luna back into her Progenitor form, which was only slightly larger than he recalled, not as huge as she had been hoping to grow, though it looked like her Lamia body was nearly into its teenage years now and would reach puberty soon, the same as the human body he had put her in.
Luna giggled as she wrapped around his wrist. "The scales have a texture, and it feels really good on my scales. Tena, get up here and give this a try. No, wait, tell everyone else first, then come up here and give this a try." Luna called down to her friend.
"You know, after seeing Cain change forms, I had been sure that Luna wasn't really human, but somehow, this is not at all what I had expected her to look like," Tena muttered to nobody in particular.
The chaos of Cain's transformation couldn't be missed by anyone residing inside the mountain, and the rest of the group arrived soon after, following the flow of intrigued dragons, but stood back to admire Cain.
"Is that you, Boss? Looking Good, in an impossible horror from the void sort of way." Penny complimented him.
"It's me. Sorry that I don't have a mirror, so I don't know what I look like yet. Luna, climb down so I can shrink to more human-sized and see myself." Cain replied.
Once he was suitably transformed, Jen took out a mirror, and Cain whistled in appreciation when he saw himself. He had black slacks on still but no shirt, though he had armor equipped, and his body was a mixture of golden scales covered in soft green and golden leaves.
His limbs were what he expected, but his face was no longer human, being replaced by a Golden Dragon's thick muzzle and sharp teeth. Only his had tentacles hanging down the sides. They could extend at will, up to five meters long when he was this size, and they were prehensile, so he could use them to feed himself if he was too lazy to use his one actual hand.
His eyes were deep black orbs with stars shining in them, and his tail ended in an obsidian ball with small spikes on it.
"You have a point. It is a very hybrid dragon meets Creature from your nightmares look, isn't it?" Cain laughed, admiring how the muscles under his scales rippled as he moved.
"Show that to the next human you meet and see what they think. Maybe at this size, though, because if you were fifty meters tall, they would likely just die of fright." Penny agreed.
"I want one of those scales. There's just something about them." Jen muttered, reaching out to touch Cain's body.
"Are you sure he's a dragon and not a succubus? He's only been ascended for a minute or two, and already he has mortal women throwing themselves at him." One of the dragons asked his Elder.
"It's an effect of the Divine Physique. It causes various attractions or repulsions, depending on the person that they meet. It's how Divine Realm Cultivators pick out those with the most suitable personalities to train." One of the Ancient Dragons that Cain couldn't see replied, though he could sense the power in the voice.
Cain plucked a scale for Jen, then watched as it immediately regrew. Jen took it from him with both hands, staring at it like the most precious of treasures, and then it disappeared as she equipped it and was covered in Golden Plate Mail from head to toe, with a Dragon Mask helmet and shield. It even came with a new sword, glowing with power to Cain's magic sense.
"Right, Divine Constitution, so it can grant boons to those best matched to its power." One of the Dragons whispered, carrying through the entire room in the absolute silence that followed the spectacle of Jen's armor changing.
"Hey, what's up with that? You get cool new armor, and what do I get? Nothing." Luna complained, breaking the silence.
"You get an Immortal Father with a Divine body that you can wrap your freaky serpentine body around as much as you want," Jen replied.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention to everyone that I was a Lamia Progenitor, didn't I? Um, surprise?" Luna replied, then snaked her way around Cain's waist to become his belt the same way that Cyrene was fond of doing, but with her body resting over his shoulder, tucked between his back and his wings.
"Yes, that would have been a good thing to mention. Like just a simple, hey, I'm not actually human." Sabbat agreed, then got picked up off the ground by Luna's tail so that the Lamia could hug her.
"Sorry, everyone. I kind of forgot. But I will make it up to you." Luna informed them all very sincerely.
"Can you put me down now?" Sabbat asked, tucking her hand under her knees so that those below couldn't see up her dress.
"NO."
"Well, it looks like our quest was completed successfully anyhow. Plus, Tena got an advanced class, and Jen got new armor. Hands together for their achievements." Cain instructed, using his tentacles to clap.
Everyone but Luna was too shocked to comply, and she had her hands full of Sabbat, so only Cain clapped for the next few seconds, then stopped and gently took Sabbat from his daughter.
"Time for you to change back to human. We are going to head back into the outside world and look for a portal to go see Misha, and you need to be human to do that."
"Won't you stay a little longer? We would love to know what sorts of abilities your new body has, and I don't think that you have had time to explore them yet." The Matriarch asked.
"Yeah, it's nice here. A few more days won't hurt, and it will give the Dragons time to finish their hunt while you get used to being whatever it is that you advanced to." Sabbat suggested.
"Alright, just a few more days." Cain agreed, then noticed that Luna was missing from his waist.
"Someone go rescue Solara. Luna already got Sabbat, so I know the alchemist is next." Cain laughed, tracking Luna's presence through the crowd as she disappeared toward the lab where the former Elder was discussing work with some young Dragons.
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