[Super Transformation Lv. 8]

"All right, then. Let's put it to the test… [Super Transformation] Lv. 8."

Rokuko and I had headed down to the dungeon's arena area together.

If you want to train where no one's watching, this really is the spot. Hardly anyone ever comes here.

"Okay, go ahead and transform, Kehma!"

"Yeah… Now then, what should I turn into?"

This Lv. 8. Its effect was 'you can transform into something imaginary.'

In other words, I could turn into an 'entity that doesn't actually exist' that I pictured in my head.

At Lv. 7 I'd been able to copy a transformation target's skills to a degree, but when I transformed into an imaginary being using the Lv. 8 effect, it seemed the target got treated as 'having no skills.'

In other words, it changed nothing but the shape and form, and nothing else.

"You can transform into things that exist, and you can transform into things you dream up… For hide-and-seek, this is the ultimate ability."

"My 'Transformation' is really coming into its own. It's probably just one or two more levels to the cap, right?"

There was a decent chance that, numerically, nine was the max, or the cap came right after nine, something along those lines.

That said, it was presumably a skill the gods had made, so there was no guarantee whatsoever that human units even applied.

"… If you can transform into imaginary beings, that means you could turn into something like an all-attribute dragon, right!?"

"Hmm, can I, though? Actually, for starters, I can't even picture what an all-attribute dragon would look like."

I had seen a Light dragon and a Dark dragon just the other day, though.

"… Maybe it's in the Monster Catalog if you check?"

"Wouldn't that make it no longer imaginary, but a being that actually exists somewhere?"

"Mngh, that makes it harder, the other way around. An imaginary being… ummm, a legendary dragon…"

A legendary dragon, huh. A dragon that might actually exist…

"We just saw Yamata-no-Orochi the other day, too. A monster that doesn't really exist is honestly tough to come up with."

"Just about anything's in the Catalog, though. Actually summoning it costs a ton of DP, mind you."

As of Lv. 7, I could transform into any of the monsters and items listed in the DP Catalog… it wasn't the full version, but it worked as a trial-edition sort of reference.

Hmm. Goblins, orcs, fairies and the like were imaginary beings back on Earth too. Over here they just plain exist… what am I supposed to do with that.

"… Kehma, Kehma! I thought of one!"

"Oh, what is it?"

"Could you transform into something like 'Buff, Muscle-Bound Knight Kehma'?"

!! I see, so that's how you use it!!

"Right, an alternate version of a specific person! It doesn't actually exist, so it's an imaginary being!"

"Right, right? Try transforming, Kehma!"

"You got it. Here we go, [Super Transformation]!!"

I pictured myself as a hulking, muscle-bound macho man — … mm, this is hard. Uhh, muscles. Oh, right, there was that thing where a boy-protagonist character bulks up in an instant. Let me use that as a reference…

"How's that!?"

"Ooh, buff, all right… but why's your hair gotten so long? And it's floating, pointing straight up…?"

"… It's a spec!"

Seemed I'd leaned into the image too hard. I had the feel for it now, so this time I'd go with just the muscle body and… [Super Transformation]!

"How about now?"

"Oooh, yeah, amazing. You're properly Kehma, but ripped like a knight who's trained himself up… Can I touch your stomach?"

"Hah-hah-hah. Go ahead. It's an eight-pack."

"Rock-solid, sooo cool!"

Just as I'd imagined. I might've leaned a little too hard into the American-comic-hero look, though.

Ah, hold on, that tickles. Hyafun.

"Oh, it went back to your usual poyun-soft tummy."

"Don't say poyun… hmph."

"Oh, muscled up again."

"… So if the detailed image slips, the parts I'm not consciously holding come undone?"

For a split second, the image of the abs in my head had fallen apart.

… Hmmm, the transformation coming undone unless I keep concentrating is pretty inconvenient…

"Kehma. With [Super Transformation] up till now, you could turn into your past appearances and stuff too, right? Once you've transformed into a 'form you made up,' if you re-cast [Super Transformation] onto that, wouldn't it hold even without you concentrating?"

"… There was that approach. You're a genius, Rokuko."

"Ehehe."

My image had broken, so [Super Transformation] had come undone. But sure enough, I had the sense I could [Super Transformation] into the form I'd been in a moment ago.

"So if you keep yourself transformed into all kinds of Kehmas, it'll come in handy when it counts!"

"All kinds of me, huh. Sure, if I could transform into something like 'Wraith Kehma,' I could phase through walls while keeping my own appearance, which might cut down on my openings."

If I [Super Transformation] into a regular Wraith or the like, I can phase through walls, but my appearance changes, so my body handles differently. Getting rid of that might be marginally nice, I suppose.

It's a tiny difference, but that difference might mean the line between life and death someday.

"What about transforming into the ultimate sword Kehma dreamed up?"

"My abilities are the ceiling, so it wouldn't be much different from the magic-sword mode I did before… Should I try transforming into a physically contradictory existence, like burning ice?"

"That could kill you the instant you transform, if you're unlucky. And no transforming into a gas either, got it?"

"… You're right. Even if the [Super Transformation] effect brings me back to life, I'd rather not die."

Trying it once was on the table, I figured, but dying is genuinely scary.

"You can transform seven more times today, right? What'll you turn into next?"

"Ah, no, it's six. I botched the muscle-version transformation."

"Whoops, that's right… How about something like boy-version Kehma?"

"That wouldn't be a valid test, since even [Super Transformation] up to Lv. 7 could turn me into my past appearances."

"Mmmm. True."

If anything, I ought to be testing transforming into something other than myself.

… I ought to, but.

"But today I'm having you transform into every kind of ultimate Kehma I've come up with!"

"… Go easy on me."

After that came a giant me at twice the usual size, then the opposite, a thumb-sized, easy-to-hide tiny me, and then dog- and cat-version mes. A black dog and a black cat.

A careless slip-up spat out a human-faced-dog me, and with that transformation flub we called it a day there.

I've got no idea what's so "ultimate" about a dog or a cat… but starting tomorrow, I think I'll keep adding to my transformation lineup. A crow, maybe.

… No, wait, a humanoid Orichalcum Golem is just plain stronger, isn't it?? I can muscle through on raw material power alone.

Yeah, tomorrow I'll go with that. Seems like it'd make a heck of a trump card.

Even so, it was honestly surprising that goblin-version me never got requested… Goblins must have some kind of mass-production-model pride, I figure. Probably.