"If possible, I want to find information about natural shapeshifters."

Lin says "Alright, let me go ask. I already introduced myself to all of the librarians."

"Thank you."

Lin gets up and leaves for about fifteen minutes, when she comes back she is carrying four more books. When she hands them to me, I check the titles and find that they all are about natural shapeshifters.

"That was fast, thank you."

Lin gives me a smile and a kiss before she goes back to skimming through books. I pick up the first of the books and start reading. By the time Lin is yawning and barely able to keep her eyes open I have finished all four books.

"Bedtime?"

Lin says "Yes, I can't read anymore. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No, but I got a few hints."

Lin says "Well, that's better than nothing. I can ask tomorrow if they have any other books on shapeshifting."

"Alright. Even if they don't, I think I can figure it out. It will just take longer."

We return all of the books and then leave the library to return to our suite. Once we are inside I quickly open a soulscape and invite everyone to play for a while. Once the soulscape is closed, Lin and I play for a while before she goes to sleep.

I am tempted to sleep with her, but since my core is close to upgrading I resist the temptation. Since we are staying put for an undetermined amount of time I plan to make use of it. So, I enter meditation and work on finishing my core upgrade.

Core Upgrade Progress: 100%

Core Upgrade Complete! Core has reached Rank 8!

Rank 8: HP +200, MP +200, All Stats +5, Evolution Points +2!

'Ranking up gave me evolution points?! It has never done that before. Is that because I hadn't unlocked them yet? Will I get points from now on when I rank up?'

Of course, I have no answers for my own questions because I don't even know what the evolution points are. Their name is somewhat self explanatory, but that doesn't tell me everything. The only way I am going to know what they are is to reach one hundred points and see what happens.

To do that my only option right now is to increase my rank more and see if I get more points. There are probably other ways to get evolution points, but I don't know for sure. Until I find something else, my best bet is to increase my rank as much as I can.

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Besides, I really want to see what comes after alpha beast, which should happen after rank ten. That means I need to increase my rank two more times, which will take at least a few days. The thing that worries me the most is what I will do if there is a barrier before the next level.

Breaking through to become a sacred beast without outside help was very difficult. The same thing could happen again when I reach the maximum of rank ten. If so, it will take me a lot longer before I am able to satisfy my curiosity about what comes next.

However, I have plenty of other things to do in the meantime to keep me busy. If possible, I would like to reach the peak of rank ten before it is time to leave the city. That way I can at least see if there is a barrier I need to get past so I can plan my next move.

Core Upgrade Progress: 03%

Progress is getting harder and harder to make with each rank that I go up. However, that was to be expected based on my past experience with ranking up. This time I have to do it the hard way, unless I manage to find something with cores I can eat.

Since I am staying in the city, that isn't very likely. When I was getting materials from Zachariah I got some demon cores and tried eating them. However, absolutely nothing happened. All that the cores did was leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Maybe if I could find a strong demon and eat its heart that would do something. Unfortunately, that will probably only work if the demon is strong enough to count as a threat to me. That means probably only the demon lords and their strongest lieutenants would count.

Other demons are only a threat to me if they have numbers on their side. Then again, maybe there are some demonic beasts that would be a threat, but finding them is a problem. If they exist, they are probably somewhere deep inside the demon's territory.

If I were to go searching for them, I would probably trigger the start of the war. I think I might be powerful enough now to take on a demon lord, but not five at once. So, going into the demon's territory alone would definitely not be a good idea.

Besides, I doubt Lin or the others are going to let me sneak off on my own. If I did manage to sneak off, it would mean having to face them if I managed to come back alive. So, either way I would end up dead and I don't want to die just yet.

That means that doing it the hard way is my only available option right now. So that is what I am going to do, at least until I come up with a better idea. I work on my core until late morning when Lin finally starts to wake up.

Core Upgrade Progress: 08%

When Lin wakes up I end my meditation and have breakfast with her. After we are done eating the both of us return to the library since nothing else is going on. Lin manages to find me two more books that are about shapeshifting, but that's all.

As I am reading them, Lin goes back to skimming through books looking for ones worth copying. While the two books have plenty of information about shapeshifting, none of it will help me beat the detection spell. That leaves me with only one option, making a spell that mimics natural shapeshifters.

Lin's disguise, on the other hand, is really easy to fix since it isn't shapeshifting. In the end all I have to do is make a small improvement to the enchantment to protect the choker from getting dispelled. When I make the adjustment to the enchantment, Lin doesn't even notice.

When the choker is done I grab a piece of paper and start working on the new shapeshifting spell. As far as the books I have read are concerned I am trying to do something impossible. However, I am not about to let that stop me, a lot of the things I have done are considered impossible.

People tend to use the word impossible for anything that is too hard or requires too much imagination. Just because people believe that something is impossible doesn't mean it actually is. So I keep working on the spell and don't bother about whether or not it is possible.