“Eris, say, can I bring souls from Earth to Terra?” said Raven, looking up at the endless grey sky, lying on a sofa.

The beautiful woman with blue hair, currently playing some video game answered “Well, you can, but you have a far way to go.”

The man with black hair and red eyes, no scales in sight, asked “Which means?”

“A divine being like myself used up all my mana to summon only 10 people, what makes you think you can do it?” said Eris with an amused voice.

“Because Crow is sitting next to me, who utterly dominates gods and the like that helps me, by the way.” said Raven, pointing to a man looking much like himself, but wearing a cloak with feathers at the top.

“I won’t tell you unless you tell me the reason.” pouted the goddess, looking cute while doing that.

“I just want to bring an old friend.” he said, looking away.

“That person has to be dead to bring him or her here, do you truly want to kill that person just to sate your selfish desires?” asked the goddess, with a more mature tone than before.

“She’s dead.” said Raven with a long sigh.

“That could work, oh look, it’s time.” said Crow from the side as Raven was forced out from the dream world.

…

Raven opened his eyes, noticing the childish face of Stein looking at him from point blank range. “The hell?!” shouted Raven, pushing him away.

“You didn’t wake up so I was thinking of trying more serious measures.” said Stein, standing up from the ground. “Today is the last day of your training, so I think a spar will suffice.”

“With you?” asked Raven, regaining his composure.

“Of course not, you can spar with Himiko, San, Ivan and Makarov.” said Stein with a large smile.

“That’s better than fighting a monster.” said Raven with a smirk. Indeed, Stein served as his sparring partner for the past 3 months, even though he wasn’t serious even a little bit.

“Don’t be so arrogant, they aren’t as weak as you think they are.” pouted Stein “Although you have the power to back it up.”

“I’m flattered.” said Raven, as he looked at a mirror, admiring his human body. By using [Body Modification], he could now freely change between human and dragonman form.

…

(Flashback)

*Puff!*

A green smoke emanated from Raven’s body, soon dissipating. What was left now was a fragile looking old man. He then spoke with a hoarse voice “Stein, what the hell is this?”

“Failure is the road to success, you can use that for hiding for example.” said the overly excited Stein as he went through the basics of [Body Modification] magic and all.

*Puff!*

A putrid-smelling purple smoke came out as Raven changed yet again, this time he became a … baby dragon.

Indeed, he had turned into a terrifyingly adorable small baby dragon with glistening black scales and shiny fangs. It had small wings, incapable of providing flight yet.

“Ok, that’s close, but you need to go to the other side.” taught Stein as he looked at the failed attempt with interest.

Raven had modified his body into his draconic side, instead of the desired human form. Then it happened.

*Puff!*

A black-haired 4-year old appeared out of the smoke, which had a look as if he was about to cry, not to mention him being naked.

“Hmm, that’s close, but you have to modify your body to your liking how I taught you.” added in Stein as Raven prepared to use it.

He tried to change his bone and flesh, bringing unbelievable pain. “Hold on.” encouraged Stein from the side. His spine cracked in a painful manner and his skin felt like it was being stretched, not to mention the aching muscles.

What now stood before Stein was a handsome 16 year old boy with black hair and red eyes. “Stein, give me antibiotics next time.”

That was how he first learned how to transform into a human, the hard way.

…

He looked at the fruits of his hard work and smiled. That was a painful experience indeed, growing his bones and stretching his flesh forcefully.

“Lucy said that she’ll come pick you up the day after tomorrow.” said Stein with a smile, looking for any signs of surprise on the boy’s face, finding none.

“Let’s get going, I want some rest before the war.” answered Raven and thought of the secret technique Crow taught him, although he didn’t want to use it if he had a choice.

“Sure, sure, my dear apprentice.” said Stein with an overly sweet tone, as they exited through the door, finding themselves in a bizarre world both of them knew fully well. This was the depths Tyrannos World, with strong monsters and sudden climate changes.

Before long, dozens of beasts attracted by the smell of humans appeared out of the thick jungle: a pack of brown wolves with strange purple claws and eyes, too many to count orange-furred monkeys hanging from the trees, their eyes filled with bloodthirst.

Raven released his claws and the scales on his hand, slashing at the relentless attack of the wolves. The monkeys threw hard stones at Raven with a speed comparable to a speeding car.

But he didn’t bother dodging it. He instead chose the straightforward way of parrying them with his claws and kicking some away in the process. His movements didn’t resemble a martial art or any intelligent series of movements, no, it resembled a beast fighting with its instincts alone.

After 3 months’ worth of fighting with animals, he started copying the movements of some animals and it soon developed into some kind of fighting form, if it could be called that. He even gave it a name: Mixed Animal Movements shortened to MAM.

A wolf scratched him from the side and another one sunk its fangs into his ribs, yet another one biting his right arm. Annoyed by the bites, he used Lightning Aura, shocking the ones currently biting him.

His speed doubled and he started tearing through the formation of 36 wolves as if warm knife through butter.

A minute later, only shredded remains of wolves remained as the monkeys retreated.

*Clap!

*Clap!*

*Clap!*

“Wow, you became quite the little monster yourself.” said Stein from the side, a few dozen fallen monkeys near him. “I can’t wait for you to enter the tournament.”

“I’m going for a war and you want me to fight in a measly tournament?” shouted Raven angrily.

“Geez, there are some SSS ranks there, you know.” said Stein, scratching the back of his head.

“The same as you?” asked Raven with a surprised face.

“Nope, being in the same or lower class doesn’t mean you’re weaker than them, as seen in your fight against Vivian.” answered Stein with a know-it-all tone.

Reassured, they both flew towards the dorm, with no beast obstructing their path. This time, however, Raven didn’t use his wings. He instead turned into a lightning. The seemingly long path took only an hour to traverse.

And here they were, looking at the castle serving as a dorm.

*Grab!*

Someone hugged Raven from behind. He turned his back with much difficulty, noticing long blue hair. “Ur?”

“Bingo!” shouted the girl from behind.

“Your grip is stronger.” commented Raven as he pushed her aside.

“Geez, you’re no fun anymore.” pouted Ur as she revealed a part of her bosom, trying to make it look accidental.

After some time looking at it, Raven said “It became bigger too.”

“Yep, you aren’t any fun.” she said and turned around to leave.

The castle door screeched open and 3 people emerged. The childishly clothed Robert, Litmus in a white coat and Jet wearing some white martial arts clothes?

Jet appeared near him instantly, swinging the spear he produced from his storage ring.

*Grab!*

Raven grabbed it without even looking to the side.

*Swish!*

the spear started rotating and pushed through his grip, similar to a drill.

Raven turned into a blue lightning and launched upwards, with a yellow one following closely behind. The yellow lightning had a black tip, seemingly the spear.

The two lightning danced around the sky, descending after a minute, turning back into humans.

“What’s with the welcome!” shouted Raven as he threw a glare at Jet.

“I’m just checking your new form.” said Jet with a nonchalant tone. “It’s sturdier than I thought.”

“I just changed the appearance and age, the base is the same.” answered Raven with a sigh.