Wild Shape

The mountain villa had originally been reserved specifically for Special Affairs Department staff to train, but part of it had now been made available for ordinary Talents to use.

The place downtown was used more for office work, while also serving as a gathering spot for Talents who stayed in the city.

After getting out of the car, Ling Qing went straight to the villa and booked a private room.

He pushed open the door. The room was simple and plain, with only a bed, a cabinet, a meditation cushion, and a washroom.

Satisfied, he set down his belongings and turned to leave.

Among ordinary Talents, there was no shortage of people from wealthy families. The villa naturally offered more than these simple private rooms, though none of the accommodations were particularly lavish.

For one thing, this was a place for training, and the Special Affairs Department had no interest in providing a leisure retreat for people who wanted to indulge themselves.

For another, most people who came here wanted to improve their strength, and generally weren't too particular about their living conditions.

When Ling Qing returned to the front desk, the request he'd made while booking his room to visit the Beast Garden had already been arranged.

At present, there was room in Deer Garden. The main reason was that there were many kinds of deer, and plenty of them; another was that few martial arts styles imitated deer.

There were plenty of styles and practitioners for the other animals, whether tigers, bears, apes, or cranes.

Among all the deer species, the first Wild Form Ling Qing chose was the Sika Deer.

Before obtaining the Book of Wilds, Ling Qing didn't intend to make Wild Shape his primary means of fighting.

So the animal form's offensive ability didn't matter much.

What mattered more to him was the mythological associations of the Sika Deer.

At this thought, Ling Qing suddenly froze, his expression turning a little strange.

The five animals imitated by the Five Animal Frolics often appeared in ancient myths and tales of the supernatural, but three of them usually served as mounts.

The other two were more often used to guard homes and courtyards.

It made him wonder whether he should avoid using Wild Shape in future dungeons, especially those involving cultivators—or even refrain from using it altogether.

After all, in human form, he could ask an immortal or Daoist master to take him on as a disciple and teach him their arts.

But in animal form, he'd probably be captured and made into a guardian beast or a mount.

Ling Qing shook his head, casting aside his stray thoughts. Seeing that he had reached Deer Garden, he began observing the deer in earnest.

Unlike Druids who specialized in the Path of the Wild and could transform directly into any animal form recorded in the Book of Wilds,

Ling Qing had to understand an animal at a basic level and sense the wild energy hidden within it before he could use Wild Shape to take that animal's form.

He also had to trace the corresponding animal form in his mind.

Only then could he draw it into his own physical form and complete the transformation.

For the first few days, he consulted the materials he'd gathered while observing and studying the Sika Deer's habits.

At the same time, he used Wild Empathy to blend in with the herd and communicate with them.

Once he'd gained a certain understanding of the Sika Deer, he began trying to imitate its movements and sense the nature of its wild energy.

The properties contained in its hard antlers and hooves, the physical characteristics and habits of its four-legged gait, and so on.

By making contact, he channeled the Natural Force within him into each deer in the herd, transforming it into wild energy imbued with the Sika Deer's wild traits.

When he could use the gathered wild energy, imbued with the Sika Deer's traits, to fully form the shape of a Sika Deer in his mind, he finally began trying to transform.

One evening, Ling Qing returned from Deer Garden early. After dinner, he went through his usual exercises without fail.

Now, every morning and evening, he recited the Eight Divine Incantations twice and practiced the Five Animal Frolics once.

After that, he took out the Book of Nature to practice familiar spells and study new ones.

Only when the dead of night had settled in did Ling Qing put down his spellbook and attempt Wild Shape for the first time.

First, he chanted the Eight Divine Incantations once, quieted and focused his mind, and bolstered himself. Then he traced the image of a Sika Deer in his mind.

He merged it with the Sika Deer formed from wild energy, and at once, a wondrous change came over him.

First, his hands and feet gradually became cloven hooves, forked antlers sprouted from his head, and his vision began to change.

Then, like an infection spreading, the transformation gradually extended across his entire body.

When the changes stopped, Ling Qing was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a Sika Deer about one and a half meters long and one meter tall at the shoulder.

Its branching antlers resembled a pair of gnarled old tree roots. Snow-white, plum-blossom-shaped spots dotted its reddish-brown coat, smooth as satin.

Aside from its sturdier build and sleek, glossy coat, it looked no different from an ordinary Sika Deer.

Only the glimmer of intelligence that occasionally flashed in its round, bright eyes revealed that it was a human transformed.

"Yoohoo~"

Ling Qing had just been about to marvel at the change when his throat vibrated and a clear deer call rang out.

He awkwardly took a few steps around the cramped room on his hooves.

As the wild energy within him stirred, the wild instincts imprinted in this body gradually helped him grow accustomed to walking on four legs.

Then he raised and lowered his neck, stretched out a leg, rammed with his antlers, and made as if to run. As Ling Qing grew more and more practiced, he had completely become a Sika Deer.

"Character has completed Wild Shape. Character template switched to: Sika Deer."

Template: Sika Deer

Life Level: Level 1

Attributes:

Strength: 10

Agility: 18

Constitution: 14

Perception: 15

Charisma: 8

Skill: Ram

"???"

Looking at this panel, Ling Qing suddenly felt a little ashamed. His attributes had actually been completely outclassed by an animal.

However, he tried it out and found that neither he nor the spells recorded in the Book of Nature could cast spells.

At the same time, aside from Ram, he had no other means of attacking.

That made him feel a little better.

Compared with his human form, which could cast spells, wield weapons, and use all manner of attacks,

becoming a Sika Deer didn't seem all that enviable, aside from being able to run fast.

He wondered whether unlocking the Path of the Wild in the future would remove some of these restrictions.

For example, would he be able to cast spells? Would he be able to wear equipment?

He also wondered whether, after obtaining cultivation techniques for demon creatures, he could learn and practice them in Wild Form, then cultivate into a demon.

Just as he was thinking, his body suddenly changed, and he returned to human form.

It turned out that the wild energy in his body had been used up.

Ling Qing checked and found a Sika Deer Wildness Template floating in his mind, much like a spell template, but separate from the spell templates.

Just as triggering a spell template required energy, a posture, and an incantation, he also had to channel Natural Force into the Wildness Template and convert it into wild energy before he could transform into a Sika Deer again.

Once the original energy was used up, the transformation would end.

At the same time, he couldn't convert Natural Force into wild energy while in Wild Form.