Mash returned to the world to feel incredibly trapped. His arms, legs, neck, and even his ears felt locked in place. As soon as his consciousness returned, he could feel Priscilla delving into his thoughts. He let her but found it strange that he could feel it now. Normally, she could operate mostly without notice, but now he could feel her presence clearly. With the feeling, came knowledge. His power over her had grown more complete, and he was fairly certain he could remove or absorb her if he wanted to.

[It was a risk I accepted in binding myself to you. You have always had this power, whether you knew the method or not.]

Her message was unneeded. Both of them were fully aware that he wouldn’t harm her for any reason. Even if she acted with more freedom, he still wouldn’t act against her. He owed her more than a little trust.

[You know I wouldn’t, but what changed?]

[I assume it is your domain. It is considerably larger now.]

Mash wasn’t sure how she knew that. All he could sense was wood. Now it was more than that. Stone, ice, lava, and even flesh in some places. It had formed around him in a shell. An egg that would send shivers down the bravest hero’s spine. When he tried to move, the whole thing shuddered. Cracks spread from his slightest movements. He could break out. Priscilla said his domain was bigger. How much though? And how big was this cocoon?

[Check your abilities. Delay and I will do my best to attack you.]

Mash felt the message and chuckled. Rarely had Priscilla been the one to lose patience. Actually, he didn’t think it had ever happened before. He sent her a mental shrug and felt her spike of annoyance. Then he couldn’t hold back anymore and shifted his focus away from the shell encasing him. It was time to see what had changed.

Name: The Chimera of the End and the Beginning

Stage: Hatchling

Level: 150 → 1

Health: 10010 / 10010

Energy: 8290 / 8290

Fortitude: 501 → 1001

Endurance: 329 → 529

Strength: 393 → 693

Agility: 429 → 729

Intelligence: 250 → 300

Wisdom: 150 → 200

Charisma: 150 → 200

Free Stats: 0

Skills: Hunger, Magical Layered Wood, Inhuman Hibernation, Chimeric Transformation, Wooden Birth, Chimeric Reconstruction, Vagabond’s Path, Chimeric Domain, Reconstructed Adaptable Monster Core, Chimera’s Constitution, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Harbinger of Nothing, Devoured Soul Body, Mark of the Devourer

Hunger (Passive): You have gone beyond your limits when fighting enemies and devouring their power. Your limits know no bounds. Gain stats continuously when hunting. Rate increases with hunger. Stats decrease rapidly when out of combat.

Current Rate: + 1-100 all attributes per minute

Magical Layered Wood → Magic Layering: You started with sticks and grew them into something that could not exist naturally. But what does the Chimera of Ends and Beginnings care for the natural order? All magic you steal can be combined to create impossible and unnatural magics. The more magic you use at once, the more energy you consume.

Inhuman Hibernation → Begin Anew: You have stolen the techniques of mages and monks to form an artificial technique. You molded those techniques into your unnatural existence. Recover from nearly any wound. As a fundamental aspect, your life is tied to it. The greater your end the longer you need to begin.

Chimeric Transformation → Chimera: A Chimera in truth you change your body changes through your species. Transform your body by taking on aspects of those which you have consumed. Control which aspects to take and combine them to create the perfect form.

Wooden Birth → Magical Beginning: Form imitations of creatures you have consumed, imitating life through your magic. Impart your own life into the creatures to grant them true vestiges of life. As the Chimera of the Beginning, you can create true life.

You cannot gain experience by killing the life you create. A portion of what monsters earn gain will be returned to you.

Chimeric Reconstruction: Consume what you kill for more than just stats. Steal their flesh to repair your own. Their blood becomes yours. Your enemies are nothing more than your medicine.

Vagabond’s Path → Path of Change (unique): Having chosen the path of change, you have freed yourself from your own world. An ender of eras, your journey is one filled with hope and devastation. Open portals to worlds you have already been to. Once per year, travel to a world in need of change. Your world is one of endless change, of boundless freedom.

Chimeric Domain → Domain of the End (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the reality around you. Connect to the mana and life in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana and life. Your presence permeates the space around you, bringing an end to the magic and strength of enemies beneath you. The end touches all.

Current Range: 75 → 18300 feet

Reconstructed Adaptable Monster Core (Passive): An unnatural mana core has fundamentally altered your body, fusion with a monster has given you access to its potential. Stamina and Mana combine to become energy. Your monstrous body is better able to handle the changes to your core. You have progressed your core further, by forcing it to adapt. Now, you may only further your core by repeating the process.

Current Bonus: 100% efficiency

Wooden Body → Body of the Beginning (Passive): You can connect with the world around you. By expanding your energy, you bring your magic to life as another one of your limbs. All of your magic within your domain is bound to your will.

Chimera’s Constitution (Passive): Giving up your humanity has improved your body, improving your physical control, natural defenses, animalistic intuition, and mana control. No longer a human in any sense, you are no longer bound by that which limits them. You have created your own race, improving your rate of growth.

Mimic’s Avarice (Passive): Devour your enemy in battle to temporarily raise your stats. The fresher the victim the stronger the bonus. Gain full benefits even when consuming through your magic. Absorbs some properties of those you devour alive. Removes the negative effects of things you consume.

Harbinger of Nothing (Passive): Belonging to no race or group, you have embraced the nothingness that is a part of everything. You are free and deny others' attempts to bind you. Constantly emit the aura of nothingness within your domain. Your allies will gain some of the freedom you possess. You are a bringer of nothingness. Your power causes all that would oppose it to fray and slip.

Devoured Soul Body (Passive, Unique): You have devoured your own soul, uniting it to your body through the primal action. Your body and soul are one, changes to one are reflected in the other. Changes you make in your body are now permanent.

Mark of the Devourer → Mark of the End: Having devoured the marks of greater beings, you have stolen the keys to their power. Mark those who would become the best of meals. The mark will bring you to them when their power becomes significant. Bring about their End.

Mark of the Beginning: The Chimera of Beginnings can grant a boon to those that desire change. Grant them the power to grow. Break all the bonds that would restrict them. Greatly improve their growth at the cost of their species. You grant them a new beginning.

The Aspect of Change: Having manifested an aspect, your existence embodies that aspect. The appearance of a new aspect can be felt across reality. As an aspect of the fundamental, even your power is but a tiny piece of what it embodies. The aspect grants you limited use of its power. Forcibly change something. Energy costs are proportional to the rigidity of that which you strive to change.

Aspect Lord of Change Boon: You grow by bringing an end. You grow as the beginnings you begin growing. The more you change the more you can change. Your previous achievements and accomplishments allow you to claim an additional Aspect.

Aspects Available:

Aspect of Hunger

Aspect of Freedom

Aspect of Dungeons

Warning accepting an additional aspect will have consequences. Holding two aspects signifies your existence as a calamity.

Mash didn’t return to his body but remained in the semi-conscious state of gaining information from whatever was granting him power. He had always thought of the force as the class system, but it was clearly something different. Who was behind it? That was the first question that sprung to his mind. Although the answer came along with it. No one created it. The class system or a variant of it likely existed for most beings. That begged the question of who could change. Was a world owner really capable of that? That would make them powerful. Seeing that an Aspect of Dungeons was a thing, he bet the world owner had something akin to it for the class system itself. The Aspect of Classes? What could someone do with that? Did Mash even want to meet that person anymore?

He had hoped more power would lead to answers, but all he got were more questions. Those would come later. He had the decision to make. An easy one, even after the apparent warning. He was fairly certain being the Chimera of the End and the Beginning, was calamitous already. And he couldn’t resist something like that. The fact that his name changed was strange, but that didn’t compare to all the other ridiculous changes, so he paid it little mind.

His level had been reset. His attributes were wildly different, and the range of his domain was going to be a lot to adjust to. He didn’t even want to consider the implications of creating actual life. That was going to get him in some serious trouble if he did that. Also, could he die? Begin Anew certainly made it sound like he couldn’t. The change to his magic was something he couldn’t wait to try though. And now he was being offered even more power, albeit with some inherent risk.

He would tell anyone that asked that he long debated the matter. In reality, he took the Aspect of Freedom eagerly. If he was going to climb the mountain of power, he would choose the tallest one he could find. Plus, he cared about freedom. Even after he read what had happened, he was still confident in his decision. Well, he was mostly confident in them. Literally, everyone was going to yell at him. The thought made him smile. He focused on the last two things that were added to his status. It was time to go back.

The Aspect of Freedom: Your refusal to be bound by any bonds or limits has let you claim the Aspect of Freedom. Manifest the aspect to free yourself or others from restrictions or corruption.

Brand of Change and Freedom: Possessing two aspects marks you as an enemy of those who would resist them. All those who wish to remain unchanged will become your enemies. All those who wish to bind others will become your enemies. Your marks do not allow you any influence over the marked. When you create life, you have no dominion over them. You can never gain or uses skills or items that would be used to bind or restrain others. You can only grant people their end or a new beginning free of any limitations.