Chapter 500: First Mission

(One Month Later, Planet Vorthas, Secret Training Arena)

*Huff*

Leo breathed heavily, sweat trickling down his forehead as he focused on perfecting the final piece of the transformation.

He had currently shapeshifted into Charles, and visually, he now looked exactly like the Monarch, except for two key details: the habitual smoker’s frown and the precise coloration of his body hair.

“You’ve nailed the transformation, Skyshard, but what you haven’t mastered yet is the expression. Right now, you look like a tired mule rather than an honorable Commander,” the Twelfth Elder remarked, watching critically as Leo grinned and let his exhausted body collapse to the floor.

Learning [Shapeshift] had proven to be a real challenge, especially when it came to mastering facial symmetry, but Leo had pushed through the hardest parts and was nearly there now.

Well… almost, since he still had to learn the final step, which involved altering his voice and hair color to fully match the person he was impersonating.

*Pant*

A few meters away, Veyr panted heavily as well, as he continued to struggle with restructuring his face.

Although he too had managed to achieve full body transformation, he remained one step behind Leo when it came to accurately mimicking facial features.

“To be honest, you’re both performing most admirably. You’re on track to master this skill in thirty-five days or less, when I had initially expected it to take at least a hundred days or more.

For reference, it took Noah a hundred and eleven days to master [Shapeshift], and he was already considered a genius…” the Twelfth Elder added, as Leo laughed while still rolling around in the dirt.

Apart from the obvious benefit that learning the skill brought, the training had also drastically improved Leo’s bone and muscle mobility.

Compared to before he began training, his body now felt far more fluid and adaptable in every sense, since he had repeatedly begun to alter his bone and muscle structure.

“All right… *huff*… I’m ready to learn the last step. How do you change the damn hair color and voice?” Leo asked, wiping his brow as he turned his head.

But the Twelfth Elder only shook his head, looking unconvinced.

“No. First, you’ll rest up and learn how to properly act like Charles. Only after that will I teach you the final step,” he insisted, his tone brooking no argument.

Leo groaned and sat back down on his butt, still catching his breath.

“Also, there’s some exciting news for both of you…” the Twelfth Elder began again, his face shifting from neutral to mischievous, as his eyes alternated between Leo and Veyr.

“The two of you have been assigned your first mission.

You’re both going to be deployed to Planet Koral very soon,” he announced, and both Leo and Veyr instinctively stiffened, their faces growing wary.

“Once you’ve mastered [Shapeshift], the two of you will be sent to Koral under the false identities of Lieutenant Aaron and Lieutenant Larry.

Your task will be to infiltrate the enemy camp’s military forces.

The objective is to gather intel on their planetary defense systems, and determine the best way to disable them.

The Cult is planning a full-scale invasion of Koral in approximately four to six weeks.

And before that happens, it will be your job— as the Dragon and Shadow Dragon, to come up with a viable plan of attack.

Because when the time comes, it will be your Dragon’s Army that leads the charge,” the Twelfth Elder revealed, as Leo felt a tight knot form in his stomach.

“Don’t worry, you’ll receive a detailed mission briefing once you’ve fully mastered [Shapeshift] and are ready for deployment.

For now, just consider this a heads-up regarding what’s expected of you in the next couple of weeks,” the Twelfth Elder finished, then turned and calmly walked out of the training hall, leaving Leo and Veyr behind to process the gravity of what lay ahead.

“Fuck me… I can understand them deploying you, but why the hell are they sending me too?” Leo muttered in frustration, as a faint maroon aura began to coil around his body.

“Well, I’m glad they are. I wouldn’t want to go undercover out there alone,” Veyr replied, glancing at Leo with a cautious look on his face.

“Also… I think your deployment might have something to do with that masked shadow guard of yours.

You claim he’s your slave and a Transcendent-tier warrior, but Valterri swears that he’s got the aura of a Monarch…” Veyr continued, his eyes narrowing as he studied Leo’s reaction closely.

“It’s funny, isn’t it? The Cult held a public execution for Dupravel Nuna just a few days ago… and then, suddenly, you appear with a new Monarch-tier slave. Especially strange considering no Monarch besides Charles has existed within the Cult in the last five hundred years.”

Veyr’s voice hardened slightly, the undertone in his words now clearly accusatory.

“Surely… your masked guard isn’t Dupravel, right, cousin?” he asked at last.

Leo simply shrugged, offering no real answer.

“My slave was a Transcendent when I signed the contract with him,” he said casually. And though his words weren’t technically a lie, the way he said it made it sound as though Dupravel wasn’t the guard in question, which was, of course, false.

In truth, Dupravel’s peak strength had gradually returned to him over the past thirty days, without any special effort needed to restore it.

Whatever strength-restoration potion Mauriss the Deceiver had administered seemed to have worked far more slowly than anticipated… but in the end, it had indeed worked.

Dupravel had his powers back and was now a Monarch again, which raised quite a lot of eyebrows wherever he went.

“Well…. Either way, I guess we are soon going to be teammates.

I hope I can leave my back to you cousin, in case you know….. things go wrong.” Veyr said as Leo nodded in agreement.

“You can. But try not to fuck up, it’s not my style to slow down for slowpokes like you—” Leo teased, as Veyr chuckled heartily.

“Hahaha, just you wait…. In the next skill training, I’ll surely be a couple steps ahead of you!” He retorted, as Leo simply rolled his eyes in response.

First of all…. Chapter 500. And we have hit this milestone in just 157 days. So yeah, let’s fcking go!

Secondly. I will try cover tid-bits of what happened in the last one month, like Dupravel’s execution, the cult releasing his son, him taking on a mask to be beside Leo and more, during active chapters.

Because I feel like it will drag the pacing too much if I show it chronologically and spend whole chapters describing it.

So keep an eye out for those bits.

Lastly, I want to take a moment and thank you all for your constant comments and support.

I don’t respond to those thankyou for the chapter comments everyday, but I do read them, and they’re the biggest reason behind my consistency.

This release rate, and this quality would not be possible without you guys supporting me via Golden Tickets, power stones, gifts and comments

And I’m genuinely thankful for it all.

So three cheers for you guys!

you’re the best.