Polymorph

[I succeeded…]

I breathed a sigh of relief.

The tense pressure that felt about to burst relaxed.

Eventually my body relaxed regardless of my will.

Ururrrung-

I stretched my body straight and took a caterpillar victory pose.

For humans, it would be like lying face down while stretching arms and legs.

I had no choice since I lack limbs.

[Why on earth is there a dragon here…?]

The circumstances of the incident were simple.

Finding the dragon in Zangar was a coincidence.

It was a water dragon disguised in human form through polymorph.

While observing through my Insight Eye, I noticed something else.

The definite lust and malice that the water dragon harbored.

Decidedly unfavorable emotions were inherent.

After detecting the water dragon, I carefully observed her.

Then I continuously watched what unfolded.

Even in her humanized state, she was a strong opponent equal to me.

Her emotions did not change during her time in the tavern.

I monitored her with tremendous tension.

After waiting a while, she soon came out of the tavern.

As I watched, she approached one of the fountains installed by the worms.

Then suddenly she dipped her hand in the fountain and polluted the water.

It was a special water-spraying spheroid that I had installed.

After that, she entered a remote alley between streets.

With most sightlines blocked, she attempted dragon transformation.

From a monitoring perspective, it was truly a dramatic process.

I judged carefully over and over.

Dragons, known as powerful and arrogant beings.

Currently, she was in a state of dissatisfaction with my city.

What exactly was bothering her?

Would she truly intend harm to Zangar?

The conclusion I ultimately reached was to kill the dragon before she entered full transformation.

I caught her the moment she released the polymorph.

Once she became a dragon form, it would be over.

I could never afford the risk.

[That was a close call.]

The White Sovereign’s default form gives me an appearance where it’s ambiguous whether I have eyes.

Worms are also generally known to lack visual organs.

The water dragon completely disregarded me and thoroughly ignored me.

It was a catastrophe stemming from the dragon race’s characteristic carelessness and arrogance.

[You dare pollute the water?]

I watched the fountain that Phurnicia had polluted with determined will.

With the manifestation of water-attribute magical power, the putrid water was purified.

Water spurts again from the clear and lustrous water sphere.

The citizens of Zangar rejoiced, rushing to scoop water.

[That’s done…]

With the garbage cleaned up, it’s time for a meal.

I exerted telekinesis and watched the back alley where Phurnicia had died.

Wiiiiing-

The corpse of Phurnicia, who had died with her head separated from her body, rose high above the buildings.

I even lifted and separated the nearby sand-mixed stone ground.

This was to not miss even a drop of the precious dragon blood.

Whiiiing-!

With the manifestation of will, it flies in my direction.

I, positioned on the middle slope of the rocky mountain, opened my mouth.

I chewed Phurnicia’s head and body.

Kwaduk!

[Physical Predation has been activated.]

[S-rank Physical Form: Blue Dragon has been acquired.]

[Water Spirit Affinity has been activated.]

[Water Spirit Affinity Rate: 80%.]

[Spirit Affinity has increased.]

[Spirit Affinity Rate: 20% -> 25%.]

System messages successfully appeared.

There were some unexpected ones too.

“…”

For a moment, a grand explosion sensation arose in my head.

The compilation of tremendous knowledge and vast information.

I felt like my small brain was swelling like a mountain.

It felt like going from an ignorant fool to a genius Einstein.

[This can’t be…]

There was so much incoming information that I was momentarily confused.

It’s really so much that I don’t know what to use.

I tested what I was most curious about first.

“Ah, ah… voice test.”

A clear voice flowed from my mouth.

No longer the strange wind sound of sand escaping.

My voice flowed, pronounced clearly and firmly.

“Finally…”

The joy of having a mouth and speaking properly.

I was filled with immense gratitude and gracefulness.

If I had human eyes, I would surely have shed tears of joy.

The reason I can finally speak normally is simple.

I obtained dragon language, second only to divine language among all speech arts.

Naturally, I also possessed basic speech arts.

Of course, I’m not pronouncing by moving lips and tongue.

This is because the White Sovereign’s basic oral structure is unsuitable for vocalization.

Therefore, I’m using it in the form of creating and radiating a compressed form of speech inside the oral cavity.

Now I no longer need to use telepathy distinguished as personal or full, or self-talk telepathy that only rings in the mind.

Although it’s a principle of speaking with a sphere of speech, I now have a somewhat normal means of speaking.

Now I can speak comfortably.

“Water spirit affinity…?”

I focused on other system messages.

A water spirit affinity rate of as much as 80%.

And the existing rate increased to 25%.

In nature, there are spirits divided into seven types: fire, water, lightning, wind, earth, light, and darkness.

The dragon race, along with the fairy race, has the highest spirit affinity in the world.

The water spirit affinity rate of water dragon Phurnicia seems to have been fully inherited by me.

The rapid increase in water spirit affinity rate apparently affected the affinity rate of other spirits as well, raising the overall affinity rate from the existing 20% to 25%.

Spirit affinity rates seem to be distributed by dividing 100 by 7.

Not exactly 14 each, but with slight differences.

“Next…”

I was captivated by something as if entranced.

It was what I was most curious about among the things I obtained.

Perhaps it was related to what I had been dreaming of.

Shuuu…

Phantasmal attribute magic’s characteristic purple mana crystals bloom around me.

My form, enveloped in purple aura, rapidly contracts.

The next moment, I had become an eagle.

“Kiyooooot-!”

I extended my neck, screeched sharply, and immediately flew up into the sky.

The blue sky quickly approached with my tilted view.

Purluk, purluk-!

I circled the airspace above the rocky mountain where I had been just a moment ago, flapping my wings.

The view of Zangar surrounded by walls spread directly below my sight.

I, who had activated phantasmal magic polymorph, cleaved through the sky.

“Kiiiiiik-!”

I became a Yellow Hawk, a wild animal native species living against the backdrop of the Shahar Great Desert, evolved to have yellow feathered camouflage.

I flew powerfully through the sky, flapping with a splendid pair of wings.

The Zangar city where I had been just a moment ago receded.

Midway, I dive-bombed to the ground visible in the desert.

Swaeaeaeaek-!

The view gradually gets closer.

So close that at the moment of impending collision.

Shuuu…

Again I was enveloped in purple aura.

My form swelled larger.

Immediately four legs sprouted.

“Kung! Kurkung!”

Tatak, tatak!

A noble beast that forms wolf packs in the Shahar Great Desert.

I, who had become a Sand Dire Wolf, ran fiercely through the desert.

Sand splashed wildly like skipping stones from my four feet as I ran quickly.

“Krurururu-!”

Midway, I discovered another pack of Sand Dire Wolves.

They too were running somewhere.

I ran toward them without hesitation.

“Kung! Kurkukung!”

“Kruru!”

“Wol!”

They didn’t show their teeth, perhaps thinking I was one of their kind.

Rather, they opened space and allowed me to run together.

I ran through the desert for a while, mixed with them.

“Awuuuuu-!”

“Uwuuuu-!”

“Uwung-!”

They resonated with my howling as I extended my neck.

After running for a while, I vigorously moved my body sideways.

Then I jumped high and dived back into the desert.

Shuuu…

Again I was enveloped in purple aura.

This time my body became streamlined.

As a fish, I buried myself in the sand.

Kwasssss-!

A ferocious fish that swims in the Shahar Great Desert.

I became a desert shark with a bronze body and red eyes.

As a Desert Shark, I swam fiercely, wriggling my body.

“Shaaaaak-!”

I swim quickly, extending my fins to the sandy field.

To think I’ve become a shark swimming through the desert sand?

No expression can describe my feelings.

Shuuu…

Enveloped in purple aura again, my form rapidly swelled.

Empowered by the larger volume, I roared mightily.

“Qui, shaaaaak-!”

Over 20 meters and more than 100 tons in volume.

I became a Desert Megalodon, a giant desert shark and ferocious tyrant.

Kwasssss-!

I advanced through the vast sea of sand.

I swim, wildly moving my fins and tail.

Thick yellow wind arose around me.

“I am aliiiiive-!”

I roared loudly, breaking through the sandy field.

To think I could become whatever I dream of?

I declare, there is nothing more wonderful than this.

Kuddddd-

After enjoying for a while, I released the polymorph.

Immediately my original Death Worm appearance was restored.

Pat.

Transference, belonging to time magic.

With the manifestation of teleport, I returned to the rocky mountain, a coordinate I remembered.

Since Phurnicia had learned movement magics to some extent, now even instantaneous movement to Akran Village became possible.

“This is incredibly amazing…”

I was genuinely unable to suppress my admiration.

There were so many surprising things, but I declare that polymorph was truly awesome.

Polymorph isn’t just capable of simple transformation.

Size adjustment was also freely possible.

Urung-

My body, which had reached 54 meters, was instantly reduced to 5 meters.

I looked down at Zangar city with my much smaller body.

It was the moment when the long-cherished wish of not being able to enter villages because I was too big was resolved.

“Finally, building entry is possible.”

Having regained my original size, I inwardly marveled.

Polymorph allowed form transformation or volume adjustment.

It seemed I could transform into types whose qualities I had taken through predation.

Theoretically, wouldn’t I be able to transform into the appearance of Tolga or He Chen who were eaten by me?

It’s a horrifying thought to transform into a human I’ve eaten, but still.

Needless to say, strategic disguise and infiltration have become extremely useful.

[Wooow~! An amazing gift has arrived! I’ve become a camel now!]

[I’ve really shrunk to the size of a real earthworm! So this is what it feels like to crawl between pebbles! Amazing!]

[Uwoooo-! I became a bird! I’ve become an eagle and am flying through the deep blue sky!]

Naturally, there were boisterous responses from the worms.

It seemed they were experimenting with various things with the massive gift I had received.

Now worms can freely take on any form.

With free size reduction adjustment, internal entry operations also became possible.

It was the moment they were reborn as true transformation specialist all-purpose workers.

“First, let me calm down…”

I suppressed my excitement and considered carefully.

The 2,135-year-old water dragon’s memories I briefly looked into.

It was a grand epic.

Mainly life as a human, the subject she was most interested in.

Occasionally memories as various races of the Central Continent, which she willingly enjoyed.

If I didn’t have the cognitive ability of a majestic time spanning a thousand years, I would have lost myself, swallowed by the vast wave of dragon memories.

She had wandered around the Central Continent Allos so extensively that there was hardly any need to survey most places.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be entangled with the Central Continent, but I grasped most of the humanistic information.

It was nothing short of a living encyclopedia recording all kinds of countries, organizations, geographies, and cultures.

The most recent occupation Phurnicia held in her 2,135 years of dragon life was as a professor of magic at an academy.

It was as easy as eating cold rice to disguise herself as an eccentric reclusive magician and infiltrate a vacancy that had suitably arisen.

Then she enjoyed campus life with young people of various backgrounds, overflowing with all kinds of episodes.

Her memories of actual academy life mostly felt enjoyable.

Unfortunately, polymorph completely takes on the subject’s qualities.

Phurnicia died in human form, not in a complete dragon form.

The dragon heart of a humanoid dragon is only less than 30% of its original power.

Naturally, it was absolutely not a proper predation of a dragon heart.

Phurnicia’s power level as a human form was S-rank Level 4.

Perhaps because I consumed a power level equal to mine, an immediate breakthrough in realm did not occur.

In terms of cuisine, it’s a metaphor of eating not a complete finished product, but raw ingredients that haven’t even been cooked.

He Chen compared it to the difficulty increasing the deeper you dig a pit.

If an F-rank moving from a cup to a bowl is one process, for S-rank it’s already a process of expanding an extremely vast sea even further.

Whether I could break through the wall of Level 5 even if I fought and consumed dozens of S-rank Level 4s like myself, is truly an unknown matter.

According to the standard of the Seven-colored Dragons, the most powerful clan, adult dragon race Wyrm-grade dragons correspond to at least S-rank Level 5.

There exist as many as hundreds of Wyrm-grade dragons of the Seven-colored Dragons.

For my current self, confrontation is naturally impossible.

“This is truly an enormous gift…”

Just like I came to speak properly through dragon language, second only to the divine language, there were also a tremendously large number of known magics befitting a dragon, master of magic.

From Blink that makes you flash to a target location to Teleport for instant movement.

Even Memorize, the memorization technique of memorizing what’s seen, even if not immediately understood.

Phurnicia knew even more magic than typical dragons.

If multi-characteristic S-rank hunters were comprehensive gift sets, water dragon Phurnicia was a lottery win.

She was the most excellent among what I had acquired since transmigrating.

Naturally, I received all kinds of rare gifts such as dragon language, manifestation of dragon-exclusive dragon magic through dragon magical power, creation of dragon weapons using bones, and so on.

In addition, various things permitted only to the dragon race were created.

To think that I, a worm, would even bear the qualities of a dragon…

What was unexpected was that she had eavesdropped on the worms’ telepathy.

It seemed that from the perspective of a distant master, she just pierced through and listened.

It indicated the necessity of devising countermeasures.

Either become so strong that weak beings cannot even attempt eavesdropping.

Or cast a mental wall, Mind Wall, to defend as much as possible.

Rather, telepathy might be worse than just conversing.

“W-wait a moment…!”

For a moment I was enveloped in an intense shock.

Polymorph is a transformation art that allows you to take on a desired form.

The user can literally become any appearance they intend.

“F-finally… can I too?”

My voice, bursting from the speech sphere, trembled uncontrollably.

Blue Dragon Phurnicia took human form through polymorph.

Couldn’t I, a Death Worm, also take human form through polymorph?

Me, who was taking a nap while reading an SF novel in the living room, suddenly became a Death Worm in another world’s desert.

It was a situation of perfect mental collapse, enough to make my mind fly away.

Even when dreaming in sleep, I would walk as a human.

The appearance of a terrible monster worm was a nightmare to me.

There were many other exquisite forms if you consider it.

I couldn’t understand why it had to be a worm of all things.

I longed for the appearance of a human.

I so desperately wanted to return to being human.

It felt like everything would be resolved if I could just regain human form.

Because I was human, it was like a very natural instinct.

The dream of returning to humanity that I so yearned and longed for.

What I wanted so much finally seemed possible.

“Phoo…”

I took a deep breath.

Like the things I just tested, would human form also be possible?

Could it be that there’s a curse preventing only human form?

What would the human appearance of an albino Death Worm look like?

Would it be an ugly man, too hideous, following the original?

Is there any guarantee it would be exactly the same as my previous life?

Though I don’t know if using human form would be a wise decision, considering Phurnicia who was taken out in one shot while being careless.

Once I obtained polymorph, I wanted to check it out.

This was like an irresistible instinct.

“Poly…morph.”

I uttered with a trembling voice.

Shuuuuu…

Immediately my form was enveloped in purple phantasmal magical crystals.

Kuddddd-

My form, wrapped in purple aura, dramatically shrinks.

The surrounding background, which never mixes, was alien.

Only my appearance was gradually becoming smaller.

Udrrrk-

The large 54-meter elongated linear worm body converged into a form with limbs under 2 meters.

Arms and legs sprout on the body that lacked limbs.

The two legs that clearly emerged step on the ground.

Shwuk.

The final phantasmal magical crystal scattered.

As the aftermath of the change cleared, silence settled.

“…”

My closed eyes slowly opened.

The sensation of the longed-for limbs returned.

My form, having become a complete human, was revealed.