Chương 66: Murder Plush (That's Me)

I had thought that it would take a long while before I could get my hands on a new form, but as it turns out, fate wasn't that big of a bitch, after all… That, or that thing was preparing something nasty for me. But at the moment, I was more interested in this new form of mine. The name 'Plush Form' did not really lend itself to something tremendously powerful, but I doubted that I would just be given a form that served no purpose. Let's check this out–Oh, that's a lot of words.

Plush Form - Acquired from learning about plushes and having one made in your representation This form has two states, 'Passive State' and 'Aggressive State' In 'Passive State', you transform into a simple plush only capable of basic movement.

In this state, even masters will find it difficult to detect you as a living being In 'Aggressive State', you take on a much taller form and gain several abilities Steel Manipulation: You can control steel and items containing steel remotely, controlling them at your will Steel Shaping: Using stored steel, you can manifest weapons and items of all kinds.

'Steel Manipulation' is far more efficient with items you yourself created Knightess: You take on the form of a knightess. Whilst losing the vast majority of your upgrades in this form, you instead gain greater combat acuity, heightening your fighting skills, and allowing you to sharpen your capabilities at a much greater rate.

Though the greater skills acquired in this form do not pass over in full to your other forms Evolving Warrior: When facing other knights and warriors, you can more easily discern their specific skills and capabilities, allowing you to replicate their strength in your own way Smith's Worst Nightmare: Contact of any kind with steel will cause you to absorb the steel and weaken the integrity of the touched items Minor Cosmetics: You can slightly alter certain parts of this form To transform into the Aggressive State, you need to go through the Passive State first, or manifest from a plush like the ones first created as a representation of you Alright…

There was a lot to unpack here. It seemed like a pretty damned good form at a glance, though. Firstly, thanks, Ophelie. This was only possible because I ran into you, of all people. Which is a pretty big coincidence now that I think about it. It's almost like the conditions of this form had been thought with the idea that I would meet this girl eventually.

To be frank, it is a strange coincidence, but considering the odds that you would have ignored or eaten her, I think it is merely a big stroke of luck that things turned out the way they did It is true that if I hadn't thought of testing my ghost-making capabilities, I certainly wouldn't have paid any attention to this girl. If not for her, I probably would have spent a whole lot of time before actually unlocking this form. The requirements were awfully precise. Now…

The more important part of all this is the form itself, and from the looks of it, it is a bit more complex than the 'Molten Form'. Especially since it seems to be basically two forms combined into one. The Passive variation was what I had imagined the whole form to be about. It would transform me into a most simple plush whose capabilities seemed to be all about going unnoticed. The Aggressive variation though… It was very good stuff.

It was basically a combat form, and while I would lose access to most of my upgrades, just like with the 'Molten Form', I would instead gain a plethora of different abilities.

"Th–This is a very pretty plush, Ophelie… S–Say, what would you think about becoming my–my–my little sister?" I didn't want to test this new form right now, as the sudden transformation might spook the girl. Even if she was strangely unafraid, I would rather not risk it. And besides, I now had one more reason to secure Ophelie as the seventh member of my adorable little cohort. The last part clearly stated that the 'Aggressive State' wasn't something I could normally immediately switch over to.

I either had to go through the 'Passive State' first, which I presumed would create a moment during which I was very vulnerable. Or I needed to manifest through a plush, and to make the best use of this characteristic, it felt obvious that I needed several different plushes… What better than to have an expert in the craft for this? The girl seemed a bit taken aback by the sudden question, but she did not know what it truly meant to become part of 'family'.

"Sure! I don't have any sisters!" Ophelie may be a smart girl, but she was still plagued by the weak reasoning of her undeveloped brain. So she saw nothing wrong with the offer. To me, though, this should serve as another 'connection' that should enable her spirit to be considered of better quality than the rest. I didn't push my luck, though, and left things at that for now, going outside through the window once night fell to test my new form in the field.

This 'Aggressive State' was clearly geared toward a knight-like fighting style. I wonder if this is because Ophelie designed the plush to look like a knightess, or if it is due to my own predispositions… It is the latter. The girl was subconsciously influenced to design the plush in a way that resembled a knight… Though the quirks of the design were decided by her specifically. Had I been the one to do it, I wouldn't have added a dress.

It just seems obstructive for a form geared toward close-quarters combat This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Mmh… I don't mind a little bit of style. I'll see how it goes. After finding an empty spot, I suddenly went from a tall creature of steel to a harmless plush. Softly hitting the ground, before using my short limbs to stand up. I was…

Positively an adorable little creature, even the knightly design that Ophelie had come up with did not change that fact. Surprisingly, I still had access to my upgrades in this plush form, but I could tell that they were all much smaller and far weaker as well. I wouldn't be able to cause someone to catch fire by injecting lightning into them, but if they didn't suspect anything, I could probably stab a copper wire right through their eye and send a discharge directly into their brain.

It might not seem like much, but I could already imagine good uses for this seemingly weak and harmless form. The real show was still the 'Aggressive State' though. As expected, it seemed like there was a delay when I changed form. I could tell whether it was the other state of the 'Plush Form', the 'Molten Form', or my 'Base Form', I would be unable to quickly transform again, having to wait for twenty seconds.

If you were to be moving or using any type of ability, that time would be much longer I see, that's good to know. So switching from form to form wasn't exactly viable when in a fight. I could only suddenly transform once. After that, there would be a severe delay. Eventually, I rose as an elegant knightess. Standing at one meter and eighty-five centimeters tall, my height is both as a human and as my 'Base Form'.

It was a bit weird to think that the steel monstrosity and my former human self could just look each other in the eye. The proportions of your 'Base Form' give the impression that it is significantly taller than it is It might certainly look odd for a knight to both wear plate armour and a dress, but just as I had hoped, whatever cosmic force was in charge of making my forms hadn't allowed what would typically be a poor design to get in the way of my greatness.

Despite the dress, I could move around without any issue. In fact, I could do a split or raise one leg with such flexibility that it was in contact with my collarbone, or rather, in contact with where the collarbone would be on a normal human. Of course, this form wasn't that of a humanoid wearing armour. The form was the armour itself. It didn't seem like there was much flesh at all that was part of this form. I was just a solid chunk of flexible steel without any hollowness on the inside.

Still, I was lighter than in my base form, which was a bit of a weakness as it meant that I could be thrown and pushed more easily, but the trade-off was worth it. I felt full of agility and dexterity, my senses seemed sharper, and although my brute strength was also lower, I somehow felt more deadly. And to top it off, it was a very eye-pleasing form. I mean, that thing had some hips to it, and overall, the shape was as feminine as it could get. In fact, it hadn't taken after my own silhouette as a human at all.

I used to have noticeable broad shoulders, which this did not possess. But at the end of the day, this form was still me, and I was very satisfied with the way it looked. This was probably the wet dream of a lot of knights. A knightess femme fatale that is… Is that the correct term? I think it is indeed the correct term Anyway, let's test the abilities of this bad girl. I located a tool that I had not eaten, and tested 'Steel Manipulation' on it.

As the description had strongly implied, the control applied to the whole item even though only a certain portion of it was made out of steel. The axe I was manipulating had a wooden handle, but I could still exert control over it, at least as long as the head of the tool was still attached to it. I had to say, the amount of control I could exert wasn't exceptional.

To really throw that thing at someone to kill them, I would have to either make it spin for a while, drop it from a high point, or simply drag it to me and throw it myself. My forms increase in strength when I evolve, right? Naturally, it would be problematic if your 'Base Form' eclipsed the rest in pure brawn and capabilities I figured as much, but it's good to have confirmation… I suppose it made sense for certain things not to be too strong just yet.

After all, I wasn't certain how many times I could or was supposed to evolve, but I had only evolved once so far. Next was 'Steel Shaping', which I was frankly the most excited about. I couldn't really use weapons effectively in my usual form due to my oversized hands, but here, my limbs were proportional to the rest of my body. Since I was testing things out, I summoned a simple, one-handed sword. It didn't consume a lot of steel, but the result was better than I had imagined.

The weapon came out better than I had hoped for, perfectly balanced, its weight exactly what it needed to be, and its sharpness–Excellent. Heh, I am a better smith than ninety per cent of them now. I noticed that the sword was quite detailed as well, and it made me wonder just what the limits were. I might have been dropped for becoming a knight, but I had continued to follow the training, and I had bothered to learn about the other weapons apart from the sword.

Apparently, they always started with a sword, as it was somewhere in the middle between simplistic and complex. But without a doubt, most other weapons were much better… At least in my opinion. I could manifest axes, polearms, maces, hammers, and spears just fine, even shields. But I ran into a bit of a problem when I attempted to create a crossbow and a bow. Since I could only use steel to manifest them, the strings didn't really move at all.

I didn't have the expertise to make the steel in these parts flexible enough. Something else I would probably require an evolution to be able to do. But it didn't matter, I could manifest javelins or throwing axes if I wanted to murder something that wasn't directly within slaughter distance.

'Knightess' wasn't something that had to be consciously activated, but I could already feel its boons. That was why I felt more dangerous despite losing weight and strength. It was as though my natural talent as a knight had been elevated.

'Evolving Warriors' was of a similar ilk. It would require me to fight to see the effects, but being able to replicate techniques sounded very good, especially since many knight establishments had very weird specificities to how their knights fought. I was just dubious about what the 'In your own way' part implied. Was it just a manner of speech, or would I copy their skills in a way that would actually make them different when used by me? Only time could tell… Or maybe my sweet little sister could…?

Only time can tell Darn it. Anyway…

'Smith's Worst Nightmare' was a funny name for an excellent ability. It basically made me into a destroyer of weapons and armour. There wasn't much else to say about it. It was just very good without needing elaboration. Lastly, 'Minor Cosmetics' was just a way for me to be more fashionable… And maybe a bit more deadly, depending on how I altered the form, but the changes could only be small. I could turn my gauntlets into claws, though, and even add a spike to the top of my helm. Well… Where are the lanky fuckers?

I am ready to have some fun.