Transformation Necklace

The runes on the two Rune Tokens were identical, but Abel didn't know what they were. He put them away, planning to forge them onto his greatsword after returning to the castle and then test their effects.

Abel picked up the Orc Skill Card again. Like the one he had used before, this Orc Skill Card also bore an engraving of the Beast God. There was a star at the bottom of the card. Clearly, this was another Orc Skill Card that would disappear after a single use.

Abel naturally had no intention of wasting this opportunity. He sent his mental power into the Orc Skill Card, where it connected with a surge of energy. Having gained experience from last time, Abel knew that this was where the inheritance within the Orc Skill Card lay.

His vision blurred, and Abel felt himself become a middle-aged werewolf riding atop a dire wolf, a spear in his hand. From the information transmitted through the inheritance, he learned that this Orc Skill Card recorded the Wolf Rider Spear Technique of the Woolf Family, the Werewolf Royalty. Unlike the human Knight Skill Abel had learned, the spear technique of the Werewolf Royalty accompanied every thrust with a short incantation. Perhaps because it was a royal skill, the incantations contained no words praising the Beast God. They were instead extremely concise.

As the middle-aged werewolf thrust his spear again and again while riding the dire wolf through various leaps, Abel counted a total of eleven spear-thrusting stances. Each stance meshed perfectly with the dire wolf's movements. As the middle-aged werewolf recited the incantations, every thrust of the spear produced a sharp whistle as it tore through the air.

The information transmitted by the Orc Skill Card told Abel that the power behind these spear thrusts was no weaker than the enhancement provided by battle qi. Everyone's battle qi was limited, and prolonged combat still primarily relied on personal strength. Battle qi was only unleashed when necessary. The spear technique of the Werewolf Royalty, however, had no time limit. As long as one still had stamina, it could be used.

Although Abel had learned the Knight Skills of the Bennett Family and the Hari Family, they were essentially all battle-qi techniques. This was the first time he had seen a non-battle-qi combat technique. By combining an incantation with the corresponding thrusting movements, it could continuously produce a twofold increase in strength.

It seemed that Abel had some kind of affinity with werewolves. Both Orc Skill Cards he had obtained contained werewolf skills.

Watching the Orc Skill Card finally dissipate into the air, Abel did not know the value of this combat technique, but he understood the importance of the Werewolf Royalty's inheritance. Not to mention royal inheritances—even the inheritance of an ordinary family was not something just anyone could obtain.

Abel had no time to study the Transformation Necklace just then. There was still an orc on the mountain he had to deal with. He hung the necklace around his neck and tucked it beneath his clothes.

The Black Armor greatly surprised Abel. Once removed, the armor could be fastened into a rectangular shape with several hidden clasps, making it easy to carry. Such ingenious construction made it difficult to imagine that this armor had been made for an orc.

Facing the werewolf's corpse on the ground, Abel raised the greatsword in his hand. Although he had killed quite a few orcs since coming to this world and had seen many corpses, he still found it difficult to chop off a corpse's head.

The ideas he had formed in the other world had changed considerably over the past two years, but they still affected Abel's actions. Just as now—in this world, people believed that cutting off an enemy's head displayed one's battle prowess, whereas in the other world, it was considered an insult to the corpse.

Forget it. I have plenty of strength anyway. Abel made up his mind. He lifted the corpse with one hand, carried the Black Armor in the other, and headed back toward the mountaintop.

When he reached the mountaintop, Abel still chose a downwind position, from which he could see the situation near the giant bird from a distance.

By then, the wounds of the Sky-Scorching Sparrow had already been treated. The healing medicine had effectively covered the wounds, and they had stopped oozing blood. Exhausted from flying after losing so much blood, the Sky-Scorching Sparrow had also fallen asleep.

The werewolf handler was setting up a tent and had not noticed Abel's arrival at all.

Abel put down the corpse and armor, drew the Hari Bow, nocked an arrow, and fired at the werewolf's heart. At that instant, the werewolf happened to turn around. The arrow was extremely fast, and the werewolf's turn did not let him escape his doom. Although it did not strike his heart directly, it punched a hole through his chest. The arrow pierced straight through his body. Judging from its path, it had pierced both the werewolf's lungs and spine.

The werewolf lying on the ground did not die immediately. He struggled to reach into his clothing and pulled out a card. Just as he was about to crush it, Abel noticed his movement. The second arrow pierced directly through the werewolf's head. His hand relaxed, and the card fell to the ground.

After shooting the werewolf dead, Abel glanced at the giant bird. The commotion had not disturbed its rest at all. He quietly walked forward and approached the werewolf, then nudged him with his foot. The werewolf's Life Force exceeded Abel's imagination. Even after having his lungs and spine pierced, he had still been capable of taking something from his clothing.

Abel picked up the card the werewolf had dropped. Three orc characters were written on it. Abel recognized them as "Sky-Scorching Sparrow." Beneath them was the number "36." A diamond was set into the back, and several lines of runes Abel could not understand extended from the diamond, encircling the entire back of the card.

Abel looked at the card. He did not know what it did or what its activation incantation was, but his investigative spirit surfaced again. Since he had no incantation, he would connect to it directly with his mental power. Abel had experience in this regard. The Orc Skill Card also required complicated incantations and other conditions to be used, yet he had been able to use it with only his mental power.

With practiced ease, Abel extended his mental power toward the card. As soon as he drew near, a flash of white light flickered across the diamond. The white light then began flowing along the rune lines. In the blink of an eye, the card was surrounded by white light. Abel's mental power intertwined with it, and the card released a strange detection fluctuation. The fluctuation scanned Abel's entire body. Then Abel felt two orc characters transmitted from the card: "Rejected."

What did that mean? Rejected?

Abel could sense that this card was extremely important to the orcs—important enough that the werewolf had tried to destroy it before dying.

The experiment just now had proven that mental power could activate the card, but the card itself possessed a security mechanism. Abel had also sensed the detection fluctuation. It seemed capable of determining that Abel was not an orc, but a human, and had therefore rejected his activation request.

Is there really no way? Abel felt as though countless cat claws were scratching at his heart. If the card could not be opened, he could give up on examining it. But he could clearly activate it and yet could not pass the detection. He was only one step away.

Abel thought, If I were an orc, I could pass the detection.

As the thought arose, his eyes suddenly lit up. Abel remembered the Transformation Necklace on his chest. Since the necklace could turn a werewolf into a human, could it turn a human into a werewolf?

I'll give it a try. Abel took out the necklace and recalled the incantations, carefully filtering through them once. His memory was intact, and the incantation was complete.

Abel looked around. The area was very safe. There was a reason the two werewolves had chosen this place. The hill was not high, but it was covered with many tall trees that could hide the mountaintop. The werewolves' camp on the summit was an open patch of ground.

Abel took the Transformation Necklace out from beneath his clothes and placed one hand on it. Then he began reciting the orc incantation.

As Abel recited the incantation, the power of pressure once again appeared in the sky. It seemed that the incantation connected to a transcendent lifeform, an advanced lifeform Abel could not comprehend. Even the slightest trace of its pressure filled Abel with fear from the depths of his soul.

Green light flashed across the necklace. It grew brighter and brighter, soon enveloping Abel's entire body. Abel felt the necklace offer him three choices: orc, human, and elf.

Abel pictured the werewolf who had been killed. In the next instant, a tearing pain spread through every muscle in his body, forcing him to let out a soft groan. His bones then began to crack continuously. His height kept increasing, gray-brown fur grew across his body, his face began to distort, and his teeth lengthened wildly.

As the green light vanished, Abel had become a genuine werewolf. Even he could feel the differences in every organ throughout his body. It was too wondrous, and Abel could not help sighing inwardly.

After using the necklace, Abel also learned some information about it.