Chapter 180: Testing - Clothes.
After resting for an hour and having something to eat, Little Xue was ready to continue their testing; For this round they were stood inside a larger room that had was used to keep small sized animals in when they were injured, there was plenty of space to move around in while being more private, so it was suitable for what they wanted to do.
Shu He was sat on a wooden box with his elbows resting on his knees and hands on his chin, he was essentially an observer here since he could do nothing but watch right now, Elder Bai was currently trying to teach Little Xue right now.
"You were in your human form when you first awakened, so you should be able to remember the feeling; But what you need to learn is how to switch between the two" Elder Bai explained "The best way that I can explain, is imagining a switch inside your head and assigning your two states to either side, so the human form would be 'on', and your original animal form would be 'off'".
"Quack?" [Switch?] the duck cocked her head in confusion, she wasn't quite sure what the concept of a switch was.
"Oh… uhm, let's see…" Elder Bai looked around the room for an example, but Shu He stood up and held out his hand, a couple of seeds rested in his palm before they grew and became intwined with each-other.
"See this? This is a lever, a kind of switch" He pointed to a long, solid rod that one of the seeds grew in to "And this, this is a representation of you" there was a small plant that loosely resembled a 2d duck in shape.
Little Xue stared intently at the 'diagram' Shu He had presented her with curiosity.
"If you do this…" Shu He pushed the lever to the left, and as he did the small plant changed shape, resembling a person "You 'switch' the lever, changing the plant, you see? This is what a switch is".
The little duck was mesmerised as it lifted its little wing and pushed the small lever back and forth like a child playing with a toy. "Do you get it now?" Shu He asked, worried she had become distracted from the testing.
"Quack!" [Okay!] She quacked with confidence, her rubellite eyes sparkled with joy. She tottered on over in front of Elder Bai once more who said, "Exactly like he showed you, picture that lever in you head, but the plant would be yourself instead".
Little Xue bobbed her head lightly before her little eyes closed as she began to concentrate. Shu He watched on in silence, he was incredibly curious on how she looked in her human form, he had only managed to catch a glimpse before he fainted before after all.
He had spoken with Elder Bai about the transformation just before this, he wasn't quite able to understand just how it worked, the idea of a small animal turning in to a human was amazing in a fantastical sense, but he was confused, in this world while things may seem to defy physics there was always a special logic behind them, he wanted to try to understand this as well.
Unfortunately Elder Bai wasn't able to give him a clear answer, instead what he said as essentially that Ascended Animals had a strong relation to cultivators of the 9th rank - those that have undergone heavenly tribulation, though it was closer to a half-step version; Their bodies are primed for the full transformation between mortal and ascended, yet they weren't quite there. The transformation between beast and human exists to prepare them for the tribulation, when they transform they don't 'Change' their flesh, instead they go through a process called Qi Transfiguration, the body dissipates into a Qi substitute before reforming into another form, all of this is centred around the Mana Heart which remains the same in both forms.
But the inner explanations of this were beyond Elder Bai, he said it was an instinctual process imprinted on them at ascension, the only thing they had to do was learn how to trigger it.
As Shu He was thinking about the transformation, a faint light overtook his vision.
"?! It's happening?!" He stood up in surprise as he witnessed Little Xue's small figure become cloaked in a light, it wasn't bright, it was more like she herself was becoming the colour white, what's more was that he could see the Qi in the surroundings surge towards her, including the Golden Qi like it was assisting in her transformation!
In mere seconds the white form shifted and bulged like a rough stream of water before it began to settle into another form, it wasn't too tall, about just over a meter tall; the light suddenly dissipated like it was sinking into her pale skin.
"Well done, you did it" Elder Bai praised her as she shook slightly, blinking her large eyes and shaking her head, flipping her long hair. Shu He on the other hand jumped as he realised that he had overlooked something obvious.
'Clothes!'
He should have remembered that beasts don't magically conjure clothes when they change form from Elder Bai's antics, yet he had overlooked that fact!
And indeed, Little Xue was as nude as a newborn child.
He flipped off her upper robes leaving only his inner wear and wrapped her in them before either of them could react.
"Put this on" He said, Little Xue's head tilted back to look upwards at him, her rubellite eyes confused as strands of her pure white hair fell to the size of her forehead.
"Okay…" she lightly spoke, unused to using an human mouth before grasping his outer robe and fumbling around before Shu He had to help her put it on as well, luckily she wasn't very tall, so it covered her perfectly.
"You should let her revel in the freedom that she deserves, you humans and the need to wear clothes, seriously…" Elder Bai said with disappointment.
"I'm not raising a pervert like you" Shu He spat back.
"I'm not a pervert! We spirit animals don't need clothes!" The elder complained once more.
"That's when you're an animal! As a human you do as a human does!"
"What the difference?!" Elder Bai huffed and crossed his arms "Xue, what do you think? It's better to not wear clothes, right?" He questioned the small girl who was exploring the robe Shu He put on her, lightly sniffing it before tlting her head at the annoyed elder.
"Clothes… comfy…" she said as she rubbed the material.
"See? You're just a pervert" Shu He couldn't help but grin, secretly glad she didn't agree with him.
"Tch, just because she's young and hasn't spend much time as an animal" The elder gave up, clearly sulking before he took another look at the young girl "That said… she's rather small isn't she?".
"Isn't that because she's young?" Shu He replied, not thinking it was a problem.
"Maybe that's the case… we don't have much to go off unfortunately, beasts that undergo ascension tend to have lived a long life after all…" Elder Bai scratched his chin before shaking his head "Anyway, how do you feel Xue? Do you feel tired?".
Little Xue's expression turned from frowning, confusion, and indecision before she shook her head, the small red strands of hair among her white flickering as she did "No? Little tired… maybe?".
"Transforming and maintaining it does take both physical and mental energy and after all, it's fine for me but maybe because you're only a Birth ranked spirit animal it's too taxing for you" Elder Bai explained.
"So that's why she reverted before?" Shu He asked to confirm.
Elder Bai nodded "Whatever she did to help you must have taken a lot out of her, we should see how long she can maintain the transformation before she reverts".
"That's a good idea… Little Xue, is that fine with you?".
"Yeah!" She nodded enthusiastically, the thicker strand of red hair atop of her head that resembled a cow lick bobbed back and forth as she did so.
And so they began walking around the sanctuary to get Little Xue used to her human form, she tripped a few times and had struggles picking up items at first, but the more they practiced the faster she learned like she had always been able to do such things, it wasn't even comparable to teaching a newborn how to walk.
After she was used to it, it became a game of follow the child around as she was making use of her larger body and check every single thing she was curious about, surprisingly a lot of the other animals welcomed her and enjoyed playing with her, it was like they had a innate degree of respect towards her.
Shu He questioned Elder Bai about such a thing, and his answer was –
"Of course they do, we're a greater species! If an Ascended cultivator came and stood before you right now, wouldn't you pay them your respects?"
To which he couldn't disagree.
After about three hours of wandering Little Xue's body became enveloped in light once more until she disappeared, leaving a small bump covered in Shu He's robes; Shu He dug the tired little duck out of them and picked her up, laying her in his robes in his arms.
[Tired…] she quacked as her little eyes threatened to shut on themselves.
"Go ahead and nap, good job" Shu He nodded to her as she dropped off to sleep, he then turned to Elder Bai "I think we've done enough for today… it's getting late, so I'll return home".
"Alright, she needs a proper sleep so that's a good idea, the more she practices and grows the easier it will be for her to maintain that form" said Elder Bai "By the way, what are you going to do about clothes?".
Shu He grimaced slightly "That… I have some spare clothes she can use at my home, my mother was a seamstress and I kept what she had left behind so…" he sighed "But I have no idea how we're going to get them on her as she transforms, let alone having to lug them around…".
"Those clothes will be fine for when she's at your abode, but I have a suggestion".
"What?" Shu He asked with surprise.
"There's something called 'Memory Thread' that can be used to make clothes that can transform, the clothes are essentially a Spirit Item that binds with the user, for a spirit beast like me and Xue it can be made to change based on our form".
"That sounds expensive…" Shu He immediately grimaced, it sounded complex and hard to make, the marks of a premium item.
"It is, but I'm sure if you go ahead and show Xue here to him, he'll give you a discount" Elder Bai grinned "Here, let me write you a letter, you'll just have to get one of his disciples to give it to him" he ran off before coming back with a sealed letter, there was a claw mark stamp with a Qi imbued in it on it.
"Okay…" Shu He took the letter and stashed it in his pocket "You say him, but who do you mean?".
"Oh, right, I mean the Elder of the Crafting Division!".
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