The Shapeshifter - Chapter 69 Free Spiri

The Old Scorpion started off with introducing himself. Well, at least he tried to.

The Old Scorpion said that during his days a kid, he obtained a fragment of something when he killed a beast.

That fragment was like an eye. When he placed it in his palm to get a better look, it started melting and was absorbed by his body.

Since then, his memory was being removed from him during random times. He doesn’t know what was being taken away from him, but he knows he has lost something.

After he absorbed it, the system said that it was a fragment of sorts. As for what kind of fragment it was, he forgot.

With the use of his system and the fragment, he was able to rise up the ranks of a Mage. Because he used to be a hunter from his tribe, he fancied using a sword and fighting close combat.

As his power grew, his ambitions grew along. His tribe was unable to hold him down and he decided to travel around the continent.

During the Old Scorpion’s years as a High Mage, he and his best friend researched and experimented on the human body.

As a freak of a mage who decided to fight up close, he naturally wanted the rid himself of the weak body possessed by Mages.

Since both of them were geniuses, they were able to create a skill that enables them to acquire an improved bodily strength, like those of the Warriors.

They eventually created a perfected version and a simplified one.

They kept the perfected version, and distributed the simplified one to their tribes. The simplified techniques was a bit better than those that the other

Warriors used.

The Old Scorpion polished his fighting skills for years and willingly remained stucked at the High Mage rank.

Once he thought that he could no longer polish his skill, he decided to visit the village that he grew up on, and taught them his skills and the simplified manual for improving the body.

“Yes. It was this tiny Poda Village that I grew up in. I can’t remember most of the people that I knew. I have lived for far too long than a human could have ever lived.”, the Old Scorpion sighed.

“Still, my experiences; my memories of them was strangely never taken away.”, he continued.

The Old Emperor mentioned the perfected version of the manual.

The [Ancient Tribal Body Strengthening] may turn out to be, if not the best, then one of the best body strengthening there ever has.

Since they were only High Mages at that time, they still have certain unlearned knowledges that they were unable to incorporate into the manual.

That was the reason why it may not be able to be ranked as the best body strengthening manual.

“About that manual, since you have already learned it, it will generate tribal markings, similar to that of a tattoo. So don’t get freaked out by it.

He continued that they created the [Ancient Tribal Body Strengthening] to help the Old Emperor integrate into the society of the Beasts.

With the manual’s help, he was able to triumph against most beast the same rank as his. Therefore obtaining much more resources than his best friend ever had.

“My time has come boy, I shall be on my way to live as a free spirit.”, the Old Emperor abruptly ended his story.

Of course, Alex didn’t forget to thank the Old Emperor for saving him back then.

“It’s kinda weird being a spirit. I’m already dead, but it feels like I’m still bursting with life. It’s like I haven’t lived up to my lifespan just yet. We shall meet again boy.”

A breeze moved the curtains aside then the atmosphere turned normal again.

“Old man are you still here?”

“…”

“Good. Whew. Better get me self a nice shower.”

Alex took his towel and proceeded to take a shower.

He observed the tribal markings in his upper body as he rid himself of the sweat and dirt.

His shoulders has some sort of a snake’s scale like markings or maybe it was a fish scale? Nonetheless it was a scale.

There were lines here and there. It was very hard to understand the pattern in which they were drawn. It wasn’t like the Mayan’s tribal markings, it didn’t have the faces or the body of some great figure.

It was just shapes and patterns.

“It shouldn’t be seen when I wear my clothes.”.

Alex never had a tattoo in his past life so he doesn’t feel good about others seeing it. It was like trying a new haircut, he didn’t know if it would suit him well.

“So how do I level up this skill? Do I have skill points or do I have to do it the hard way?”

Just then, his vision was filled with words and it turned out to be the full [Ancient Tribal Body Strengthening] manual.

“I guess it’s the hard way.”

He followed the instructions written and practiced for a whole night.

The manual involved the use of mana as a source of nutrition to feed his body. He could feel that half of his mana was being sent towards the tribal markings in his body.

It was an arduous process as his mana level was still at the First Stage of Awakening.

He was unable to progress by much, but it is still better than Rezhul and the others since they don’t have the quantity of mana an Awakened Mage has.

Ever since the system started updating, he was unable to increase his rank during his late night cultivations. Even then, he never stopped meditating in the hopes that all the mana that he gathered would be returned to him after the update.

Alex persevered the whole night. He consumed mana like eating peanuts and had to focus on filling it back up to full. And by following the instructions, he was able to level the skill up to 2.

He felt strength surge through his whole body, he felt like he could destroy everything with a single punch.

Then an idea came to mind, he tried punching the ground to see just how strong he has become.

‘Thud!’

“Yaaaouch!”, Alex held his right hand as he tried his best to hold out his tears.

He looked at his right hand, only to see that some of the skin were peeled off and blood was coming out of it.

The pain made him realize that the feeling of power after breaking through, was but an illusion made by the sudden increase in strength.