Rather than a small fme, it was more like a dying ember that might just go out at any moment. The only thing keeping it going seemed to be a portion of Ki siphoned off to sustain itself. I can’t tell exactly how much it was taking because it follows along with the cycle. By the time it siphoned Ki, the unit would already regenerate. If I had to take a guess, it was probably 1/5th of a unit of Primordial energy?

  But “What is it?” It could be Chakra, or I could be something else entirely. Can’t say I remember a reaction like this from the series. Nor was Ki ever a part of it.

  "There's a 99% chance it's Chakra, but why is it consuming Ki?” (Vitality? Did it need lifeforce to grow?) Plucking another leaf, swallowing it, after a minute, the mote seemed to grow, ever so slightly. Plucking the tree bare of its scant leaves, I kept eating them until the mote stabilized, leaving me without any leftovers. The mote of strange energy sat in the dead center of my dantian, now around half the size of my pinky nail. Despite how brightly the leaves glowed in the Pig's eyes, the energy conversion after eating them was abysmal.

  Following along the cycle, it continued to absorb the same hint of Ki. Speeding up the cycle, the mote was indifferent to the change and continued its own rate of absorption.

  (If it's burning Ki then…) I tried adding Ki to the mote consciously. A full unit of Primordial Energy moved closer in a stream of energy towards the tiny fme. While more fuel was added to the fire, the mote remained unchanged.

  (Looks like it needs more.)

  Sitting down by the bare sapling, I began cycling the Lost Immortal Sutra, speeding it up further to increase its regeneration rate. Once I was full, I sent more energy towards the mote. Slowly, the stream of energy entered the small burning fme.

  After the first 9 units, there wasn’t any change in the small fme. Not that I could really tell, it was a bit hard to keep my senses locked on it.

  On the second set of 9 units, I think the fme had grown slightly. Barely…

  “This is a long-term thing, isn’t it…” I'm not going to get this thing any bigger in the short term. So, I'm better off sticking to Ki for now. I still haven’t finished forging my bones.

  For as interesting as this mote of Chakra is, with how small it is, I don’t think I can use it for anything. (Not like I know how to use it anyway). Looking down at the diamond-shaped mirror neckce, “Too bad this thing didn’t activate during the fight earlier.” If it did, I’d be able to learn Ninjutsu rapidly, among many other skills and useful things.

  Returning to the operating room, with one case closed, it's time for the next one. There were several things I could do, looking towards my Bloodborn still maturing inside a bottle of Healing potion. "From the looks of it, you're going to take a while."

  Putting all the Talismans back inside the bag and the stone back on the cart. "But where should I start?"

  Continuing to figure out my ability, that was up there.

  I could investigate other items from the series on the psychic list.

  Looking into tech from Ben-10 was also an interesting idea. (A Galvanic Mechamorph would be interesting).

  As was finding some useful transtion tools.

  And I needed to continue forging my bones at some point today.

  Spending a moment thinking about all the things I could do, and those that I needed to do, now that I had a moment, I should finally get to the items I picked up inside the real-world dungeons. The REAL magic items.

  Pulling them out of storage only took a couple seconds since their images were beled, "Fang Neckce", and "Goblin Totem" respectively.

  Starting with the neckce, I pulled it from the image where it sat in a surgical tray. Then pulling the tablet stored on the cart out I began typing.

  Object: Neckce

  Description: A strange neckce adorned with a variety of fanged teeth and sharp cws.

  Materials (Fangs, Cws, Pnt Fiber) appear to be from the Wolves Den dungeon, but its construction appears too advanced for the currently known inhabitants to create.

  Trigger: Worn

  Affect: _

  "Strength Augmentation?" Actually, I don't know. I've left it on the back burner for a while now. The Alpha had a rger build and stronger muscles than the rest of the 'Dogemen'. "Heh~" I still can't help but chuckle at that name.

  From her spirit form, I should be able to assume that her altered physique was brought on by an effect from the neckce. In her ethereal form, she looked retively simir to the others of her species, just a bit bigger with a bit more heft on the chest and hip areas.

  Finding out what it does to other living creatures would be the next step.

  Creating a copy of the neckce, I restarted the original snip of the video from where I first added the goblin. Reaching in through the TV, I pulled the neckce down around his head and ears.

  Since I rewound to before I added the Chakra Fruit, I didn't need to worry about sticking my finger in the screen as I started skipping forward, giving him about thirty minutes before checking in on him again.

  Once his thirty minutes were up, there were a few changes. His height had increased by 1-2 inches, and his muscle definition had increased somewhat (he had abs where he once had a potbelly). His bug eyes had also sunk more properly into his skull, its entire structure having shifted to make room. It did make him look slightly less ugly.

  Pausing the video and removing the neckce, with thirty more minutes, his body returned to how it was before, the alteration being only temporary.

  After rewinding the video, I started it again, from before removing the neckce. This time, giving him a few more hours. At the end of the allotted time, he grew to a sizable height of ~6ft tall (he was like an inch taller than me). His body had also bulked up significantly, growing twice as wide from where he started. Minus the green skin, long ears, and nose, he appeared retively human-like.

  Looking at him, I could quite put my finger on it, but he reminded me of something. Racking my brain for a bit, his current appearance reminded me of the padin goblin from one of the ter arcs of Goblin Syer. (What's up with that?)

  Taking off the neckce for a second trial, he once again slowly reverted to his original state.

  Moving on from him, I went around online, grabbing several different images of cats, dogs, and a couple of chickens for the hell of it. Throwing them into the video editor and adding the neckce around them. Giving each of them the same allotted 30 minutes before stopping the video

  Around two-thirds of the cats became rger and nkier, turning into a sort of rge cat/weasel hybrid. For the remaining third, they started taking on traits from big cats, spotted/striped pelts, bulky bodies, and rge saber teeth.

  Despite the wide variety in body shape and the breeds I had chosen, the dogs simply seemed to devolve back towards wolves after their 30 minutes. Their coats darkened, turning into either a bck or gray coat as they seemed to return to their ancestral roots. Stranger still was the ck of variance between individuals, each one had a very simir, if not identical, shift towards a wolf.

  It's especially weird to watch a 16lb Weiner dog shift into a 100 lb+ wolf within thirty minutes.

  When selecting the chickens, I was only thinking "Why not?" I wasn't expecting them to have the most variety. Some shifted into something akin to a goose, some into chickeny ostriches with especially gorgeous long tail feathers. While the more interesting ones took on fangs and cws, returning to a creature reminiscent of their raptor-like ancestors.

  Double checking each video, none of the subjects were especially bothered by the neckce, only the goblin tried to take it off briefly, unable to wrench it above his rge ears and unable to break it off, he could only leave it. Once the transformation started, none of them seemed to be bothered in any way. But there were a few that gained a more aggressive personality after the transformation, lunging out to attack anyone or anything nearby.

  Making a selection of the more interesting-looking ones from the animal videos, giving them a couple more hours in the oven, there was another apparent difference. Some of the animals stopped transforming after the first shift while come continued.

  Of the ones that continued to mutate,

  The nky cats didn't change too much beyond their current physique, only their limbs grew a little longer.

  The rge cats, on the other hand started taking on even bigger bodies, gaining the smilodon hump. And they were a size rger than a common lion.

  The dogs were very simir to the rge cats, just with a canine coat of paint. The final form was a sort of bear-dog hybrid. If given enough time, they might start gaining matted fur like the Alpha Doge.

  In both cases, I wouldn’t want to get caught inside their mouths.

  The Chickens remained king of this strange mutation lottery. The goose-like birds further developed into waterfowl, gaining webbed feet. One even turning into a colorful swan-like bird.

  One of the rge chickeny ostriches just kept growing bigger, eventually losing its long tail feathers, but kept the rest of its colorful plumage. Another started mirroring a peacock, its long tail feathers growing even bigger and gaining a vibrant red striping pattern. (I think Mom would love this one).

  But I gave the most attention to the raptor-like mutations, as they started diversifying even more. Some regained their tails, some lost their feathers, growing scales and scutes over their bodies, practically turning back into micro raptors. It was like watching a short list of possible mutations all happening semi-randomly.

  Saving many of the videos into the neckce's file folder, I think I have enough evidence to say what it could do.

  Trigger: Worn | Duration: ~30+ minutes - First shift | 3+ Hours - Second Shift

  Affect: Once worn, the wearer of the neckce will start to mutate within 30 minutes they will reach the first stage. What determines how this effect will change the wearer, I am unsure. The first stage of mutation seems to pull possible 'beneficial mutations' from the wearer's genetic history. But this is up to specution.

  After the initial transformation, it appears that some individuals appear to be less compatible with the neckce's effect, stopping at the 30-minute mark without any further mutation.

  While others, if given more time, mutate further. For an unknown reason, certain types of 'tempte forms' have emerged within the subjects. In the cats and dogs, these forms are likely the best suited for combat/predation.

  While the most diverse forms came from very simple-minded chickens, their forms were the most diverse. Why this variance occurred is up to specution; factors like the environment, health of the user, and stress are likely to impact possible mutations.

  Removing the neckce reverses the changes. For some, this effect happens slowly over time, taking about as long as the initial transformation before returning to normal. For others, it's a rapid shift, appearing as if the video had been sped up, returning to their initial state within a dozen minutes.

  Notable drawbacks:

  Aggressiveness - Most creatures that don the neckce beyond the initial transformation seem to experience heightened aggression. Some become aggressive during the initial transformation.

  Uncontrolble Mutation - There are too many unknowns in how the mutations occur. What direction they take seems somewhat random per individual; they could go in any direction. Or they might pull from the user’s genetic ancestry.

  Compatibility - Compatibility with the neckce also seems to be a major factor. Around 1/3 of the tests didn't make it past the initial transformation; no matter how much time was added, they remained as they were at the 30-minute mark.

  This might have something to do with the reverse shifting speed as well.

  Holding a remaining copy of the neckce balled up in my hand, observing it closely, "If a human used it..." I sat there wondering, thinking about early human ancestry. "Probably something like a neanderthal?" That’s probably what the first transformation might look like.

  As for the second, going off the simirities from the others, we would pull from apes, maybe even monkeys... "Then, something like Bigfoot?" And with all the other powers and mutations around, a really weird one at that.

  That is, if the user’s current mutations don't alter direction entirely.

  (I might try it out ter, just to see what happens. After my Bloodborn can respond and remove the neckce if I become aggressive).

  After making sure every video was saved into the neckce's folder, I put the remaining copy inside along with the original before closing the window.

  Switching to the other window, pulling out an item bag from the image on the ptop. Reaching inside, I was able to grab the only item stored inside without issue.

  Pulling on the totem, it unched out from the bag. Grabbing on to it with both hands before it hit the ground, I was able to pce it nicely in the center of the operating room.

  "It weighs a lot less than I remember." I mused. (I am a lot stronger than when I first found it).

  Object: Totem Pole

  Description: A strange totem pole with four strangely carved creatures. Despite being a totem pole, I find it hard to determine whether the material is some form of wood or a wood-like material. The surface cks paint but does contain intricate details.

  The totem is a little over 3 meters tall with four distinct creatures carved into its surface. Originally, these features were indecipherable due to the totem being covered in goblin scat. One deep cleaning pressure wash ter, while I can make out certain details of their design, they look nothing like any creature I know.

  The creature on the bottom of the totem has rge eyes and what looks to be fur covering most of its body. Off to the sides are a pair of sharp cws, a pair of tails wrapping around each one from the back.The second creature has a rge, open mouth and is covered in heart-shaped marks reminiscent of scales. Its eyes are forward-facing and dug out into the pole's core.The third creature appears to be a bird of some kind, with features simir to those of a beak and feathers. Across the section, this depiction shares a strange swirling pattern with some feather features curling in on themselves.The fourth creature at the top of the pole coils around its section like a serpent. Carved intricately into the entire section was an incredibly intricate creation of gem-shaped scales, even having variable depth based on how the serpent coils its segments. On the front-facing side, there is a sharp V-shaped head from some unknown creature.While found in a pitch-bck stone dungeon where my apartment's closet used to be, the inhabitants are incapable of creating something with such a complex design.

  Not only did they ck tools, but they also cked the culture and innate creativity required for this creation to have come from goblin hands.

  Trigger: _

  Affect: _

  Putting the tablet down, I walked over to the totem, pcing my hand onto the surface, my hand went straight through. It felt simir yet different from how my ability works on screens. less like I was stretching something and more like a hole opened up around me. Pulling back out, I grabbed one of the random examination tools lying around the room, pressing into the bird's beak, it too went through.

  "So, it's not my ability that's doing it." That required direct contact, I could rule myself out as the cause of this phenomenon.

  Trigger: Touching any of the totem's faces.

  “Now, I have to see what’s on the inside now…” Pressing my left hand against the second face of the totem, it sank in. Pressing further, I felt the sensation shift around me as my arm dove deeper. Pressing my head into the totem's faces, it felt jarring for a moment as something seemed to shift around me. Opening my eyes on the other side, inside the totem was a bright cave. “The fuck?”

  Inside was a rge cave with a gray stone hemisphere the ceiling stretched up several feet. Several haphazard thin ssh marks dotted the ceiling, allowing light to shine through. Looking around the room, these vents seemed to be the only openings to this strange room. There didn't seem to be any visible exits or gaps in the wall outside of where I was standing, the rest of the wall was a strangely smooth stone oddity. Off to the right of the room, I notice shimmering of light reflecting of the surface of water.

  Moving completely inside the totem, the hole seemed to patch itself behind me, leaving a strange mark of four diamonds on the back wall as I entered. The two on the sides were rger than the ones on the top and bottom. Pressing the mark, my hand went straight through, returning to the operating room.

  "Escape is possible, but, what is this pce?" Taking a better look around, the ground was a smooth clean gray stone, as were the walls. The room was around 24 feet wide with a ceiling height over 18 feet in the center of the hemisphere ceiling. Wandering over towards the shimmering reflection, there was in fact a basin filled with crystal clear water, there were even several small fish swimming around.

  Cupping my hands, I took a scoop of cold water. Observing it first it appeared to be clean, fresh water. Taking a sip, it tasted like crisp, cool, fresh water.

  Dropping the rest of the water back in the pond, I began circling the wall, my right hand held out against the smooth stone as I traced the room's circumference. I couldn't find any gaps in the wall or any air leakage as I made my way from 4 o'clock near the pond all the way back to 6 o'clock, returning next to the strange mark on the wall.

  I had a gut feeling something was off about this pce. And "I feel like I'm forgetting something important," I murmured, as I returned to the marking on the wall, passing through to the operating room. As my eyes gnced over the brown leather bag, I was storing the totem in due to its rge size, I had a momentary heart attack. The realization finally hitting me "It's a subspace!"

  "...How did it exist inside the Item Bag?!" I know that not every Item Bag was going to operate like those in DND and turn inside out. There were also settings where it's just impossible to put one inside another. But the possibility was enough to scare the hell out of me.

  "It's a subspace... No, there's got to be something more to it than that." I couldn't accept it as 'just a subspace'. My instincts were telling me otherwise. "If I used Pig Talisman and Nightbringer..." Combining the two, I'd have complete vision of the entire area inside, any secrets should be revealed. But I would have to interrupt the Beldum to gain access to the ptop, where I stored it.

  After a short moment to rex my nerves, I'd check what I could before I retrieved it. Heading over to the cart, grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of the totem. Pulling it up on the TV, my hand touched the screen properly. "Huh?" tapping the gss for a moment before looking at the image, I didn't screw up the image by catching my finger or my leg in the shot. So that left the culprit, a little pair of red eyes happily enjoying his time marinating in a bottle in the background. "Looks like you really did become a part of me."

  Without much choice on the method of the totem’s relocation, I picked up the bag once again, pcing the lip against the totem, before it was sucked inside again without issue. (Was the space inside persistent? Or did it stop existing when nothing was inside?)

  Browsing through the images stored on the ptop, I decided to use one of the padded cells. Inside, I set up the totem in the center of the room before exiting and moving the image to the video editor. After speeding it up for a few hours, I checked inside to see if anything had changed. Not seeing anything I didn't before, I added some junk, random tools lying around the operating room, pced on a surgical tray, then pced it inside the totem's space. Checking again after another few hours, the tools had remained unchanged. Trying a third time, I decided to see if time passed on the inside, taking out one of the cold food items, a tub of ice cream I had stored away, and giving it a couple hours inside the totem. When I returned, the ice cream had completely melted. "Time does pass inside." That at least differentiated it from the Item Bags.

  My attempts to suss out what it was about the totem that concerned me continued through dozens of different methods. But nothing seemed to change. Whether I added something new or took something out. Nothing seemed to change. I tried adding various different amounts of time (up to several hours at a time) and nothing. I even went inside and used the Pig Talisman, only to find nothing. Not a glow, or a speck of dust that wasn't my fault. In my frustration, I released the bsts from my eyes, singeing the smooth gray stone bck, only for it to disappear the next time I entered.

  I even went so far as to toss a chicken inside to see if anything would happen, and at the end of the test fast forward, I got nothing, even after several hours. As my frustrations mounted, I eventually had to call it quits on the totem for now and try again ter.

  END

  Spoilerkidmonkey94

  Ah, finally, The Totem. But what does it do?

  [colpse]