Improvise, Adapt.

"I mean, yeah, that makes sense. It's the same energy I've always had in me, so it should be familiar, right?" John asked, shrugging.

"Well, yes, but there's more to it than that. I think I have an idea of why it felt so wrong, and how you might be able to fix that, if you wouldn't mind giving it a try."

"Can't hurt. Well, actually, this time it can. But go ahead anyway," John said, giving a slight snort that Vallya echoed.

"The energy feels almost raw when you're striking," Vallya explained. "It's the same kind of energy that surges through you when you're unleashing the Shard of Bishamonten in the first place, but there's no 'you' in it. It's pure... whatever that energy is. Bishamonten, I guess. That might be why it's harder for you to control, and why it felt so off-putting compared to normal—I'm used to primarily feeling your energy with a little something extra, not sensing someone else's energy coming out of your body with no 'you' at all. Reminds me of how it felt when…"

Vallya tensed up and shivered a little when she realized what she was about to say, her eyes shifting focus and journeying to a place John couldn't follow.

"I'll keep it under better control," John promised, giving a quick nod. "Thank you, Vallya. You're really helping me out here. I'll try adding my mana to the mixture and see if that stabilizes it, makes it a little more... uh... 'me', I guess."

John raised up his fists again, wondering what was about to happen. This time, instead of isolating the Shard and nothing else, he split his focus between the Shard and the mana within. Manipulating the mana was actually more difficult for John—somewhat ironic, given that it was the part that actually belonged to him. He couldn't feel it casually resting in his body the way he could the Shard's energy, and he rarely practiced seeking it out. Observe's new passive wasn't much help either. He had to spend several minutes doing the mental equivalent of fumbling around in his own body to really get a sense of how to touch his mana reserves, and the grasp was tenuous at best.

"Guess it's only fair that I have to struggle with something. I'm sure mages like Kim, Moira, and Etriyya probably had to learn this a long time ago. I only practice it when I'm doing something new or stupid... or both."

If touching the mana was difficult, moving it in tandem with the Shard's energy felt almost herculean. The Shard was so easy to feel, its energy so warm and overpowering in his body, that he had a hard time telling if he was still in control of his mana reserves at all. He felt like he was trying to feel for a strand of thread in a windstorm, the sensations of his own mana so much weaker than the Shard that it was completely overpowered.

"It's too hard for me to do this on the fly right now. What if I got the mana running first, and then added the Shard energy to it, instead of trying to tie them together right away?"

It was still a difficult thing to pull off for him. And the fact that he had to have his mana actively churning meant that he couldn't use it for combat very easily. When he cast a spell like Fire Orbs or White Lightning, the mana was conjured and used up in an instant. He'd have to keep the energy running through his body instead... and so, he started working on exactly that.

Grasping at the mana within himself, John started to cycle it through his body, visualizing it as something like a circuit that ran through his entire body. He could vaguely feel the mana start to shift down and back up each limb, a flowing river that fed into itself. Oddly, he felt no different, even with his mana actively running through his body, but of all the new things he was experiencing, that surprised him the least.

With abilities like Gamer's Body, he was probably constantly churning mana through his whole body, after all. This was just a matter of being aware of it, and controlling the flow to some degree. If anything, he was just grateful that controlling the flow himself didn't seem to be messing with any of his abilities or making him weaker by throwing off the natural rhythm. He side-eyed Vallya and opened up his stats page to glance it over, but there were no changes to his numbers and no new status effects either.

So he kept practicing for a little while, focusing on leveling out the mana and stabilizing it. Once John was sure he had the flow constant and consistent, only then did he reach for the Shard. It took a few attempts to be sure that he was still keeping a constant grip on his mana while he drew out the Shard's energy, but eventually he was able to unite the two.

The results were subtle, but fast. The warmth of the Shard filled his body, as usual, but it felt more charged. So did he, actually. His heart rate jumped up, his eyes sharpened, and even time seemed to dilate for him. It wasn't all that different to when he got into a fight and his awareness sharpened to match his enhanced speed and strength, but it was interesting for it to happen while at rest.

"Not bad. Bit like a manual trigger on my own adrenaline. Not sure that has much use, since it already happens when I get in a fight though. Maybe something happens if I fight like this?"

John set himself in place, planting his back foot and stepping in with the other. His right hand clenched into a fist and slammed into the faceless apparition, and once more, he could've sworn the skin he felt give way beneath his fist was truly there.

985 DMG!

No extra damage, but at least there was no explosion. And something had definitely happened. Not even something particularly subtle. The comparison to an adrenaline rush had mostly been about the way his perception and heart rate raced, but now, there was something of the same euphoric feeling, as well.

"Once again, not that helpful in a fight, but... damn, it does feel nice. Really nice, actually."

Not sure what else to do, John started to repeat his experiments from earlier, altering the way that he was flooding his own energy through his body while striking the illusion repeatedly. He wasn't really sure what he was doing, so he tried anything he could think of—spirals down the length of his arms as he struck, intricate laces along his knuckles, focusing it on his muscles, focusing it just under the surface of his skin... his control was awkward at best, sloppy at worst, but he wasn't sure it mattered much.

Nothing seemed to change the damage he did, nor the way that he felt. After a while, he found himself simply enjoying the thrill. Whatever he was doing felt like the drive that the Shard used to give him, only without the anger. The longer he kept it going, the more it grew, to the point that he felt almost intoxicated by the pleasure. He felt strong, he felt powerful. Yes, this time was going to be different. This time, he wouldn't fail. He had learned, he had struggled, he had even died. But this time, no one would withstand him. Neither man, nor god, and certainly not the worst of-

Ding!

"-really enjoy fighting this much?"

"Not usually. This is something new... and so are those markings."

John paused after a particularly vicious blow that, messy as it may have been thrown, still sent the illusory foe sprawling for a brief instant before it popped back into place. For a little while, he'd almost forgotten that Vallya was there entirely. Only the sound of a notification popping up had brought him out of his rhythm enough to notice Vallya's voice, and that of the person she was speaking with.

"Oops. Dang it, he was really enjoying that, too."

John shook his head a little, chasing away the last remnants of the madness he'd allowed himself to revel in. When he cleared his head and brought himself back to reality, he found that Aria had arrived at some point, and was currently standing next to the same tree Vallya was sitting at.

"Aria? What brings you out here?" John asked, throwing the two blondes a curious look.

"Oh, I felt that you were having a lot of fun out here. Like, a lot of fun. I kinda assumed that meant you were doing something, y'know." Aria smirked and gestured as she spoke, thrusting one finger into the ring of the other hand. "I was kinda surprised to see you out here doing... whatever this is."

"Oh, Vallya cast a spell on me. I'm not just-"

"I cast the same spell on her shortly after she got here. It was kind of fun to see the look on her face, but I thought you'd appreciate it if she didn't think you'd gone mad already," Vallya interjected, hiding a cheeky grin behind one of her tails.

"That... yeah, thank you."

"And now that you've snapped out of your little rush there, mind explaining what you managed to accomplish? Looks like you had quite a breakthrough there."

"Huh? What makes you say that? I didn't really accomplish much other than a dopamine surge, really."

"Oh, really? What's that on your arms, then?"

John's body stutter-stepped as his brain jolted a half-dozen commands to his arms, as if she'd just told him there was a spider crawling up his sleeve. All along his lower arms, from his fingertips to his elbows, were a series of glistening orange-red lines. They were bright; enough that if it had been nighttime he was sure he'd have stuck out like a sore thumb, and they mostly ran in straight lines. They looked like something out of an electrical diagram, or perhaps because of the color, a less-curvy series of lava flows.

"Ooh, those look warm," Aria noted, stepping closer. "I know you were fighting with it, but do you think I could learn to do that? Whatever it was, it was making you feel great."

"I don't think so. I'm not even entirely sure how I did it, to be honest, but, uh, but it involves energy from this- this Shard that's embedded in my body. It's, uh, it's, t-the only one of its kind." John stammered over his words as he tried to focus on keeping the energy flowing. The sight alone had nearly caused him to lose focus. Although the ability hadn't actually seemed to do anything to the illusion, he didn't want to let it drop now that he'd noticed an actual effect of it.

"Dang! That's too bad. That'd be a neat trick." Aria pouted a little as she stepped even closer, leaning down to inspect John's arm. She reached one hand out, glancing up at John even as she leaned down to waist level. "Seriously, I wasn't kidding about how it felt. I got so much energy from you that I thought you must have had four- no, five people out here with you, and all of them-"

"I think we get the picture," John cut in.

"No, no, let her go on. I like this one, Master, let's hear her out," Vallya said, not bothering to hide her devious grin this time.

"Well, I'm glad you found something new, Master. Think it's gonna be useful in that war you were talking about?"

"I don't really know. Nothing cha-"

John cut himself off, abruptly remembering that he'd forgotten to check the notification that had gotten his attention in the first place. It had been pushed off to a corner of his vision, but he easily dragged it back.

Shard of Bishamonten: 15% Transcendence Achieved!

"That message again. Last time it was right after I saw Lord Brighton and Adantia dueling."

John frowned deeply. He'd thought the Shard under his control. Perhaps that had been foolish to begin with, but realizing that it was once again influencing him was upsetting all the same. What did it even mean? What exactly was it that was triggering these, and what was going to happen when it finished?

"Something wrong, Master?"

"Something did change, I think. Not something I can really do much with, though." The last part was spoken more to himself than anything, as a quick glance of his menus confirmed that just like the Shard itself, his "Transcendence" was nowhere to be seen. "Other than that, all I have is a new way to make myself feel good, and an RGB upgrade to my arms. Speaking of which, are you quite done, Aria?"

"Mmm, it seems to please you, so no, not yet," Aria responded, still shamelessly running her fingers serenely over his arm, giggling at the sensation of his skin against her own. John moved to pull his arm away gently, which only caused Aria to break out into another pout. This one was adorable enough that John couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling her hair when he did finally tug his arm away. Aria made a flustered, exaggerated sound of annoyance and backed away, furiously combing her golden locks back into place with her fingers.

"Well, this is something to practice, anyway. I'll spend the night experimenting to see if I notice any changes when I cast spells like this, and tomorrow morning when we start training, we'll see if it reacts any differently to real monsters than it did with your illusions. So far, it doesn't seem very useful, though."

"Wait, you're gonna stay up all night, and then go fighting in the morning?!" Aria grimaced widely, shrinking in slightly on herself, clutching her arms to her chest anxiously. "Isn't that kinda reckless? Jeez, I don't wanna sound selfish or anything, but I just met you and bonded with you; don't go getting yourself killed!"

"Oh, that's not a worry. I don't sleep." John tried to remember if he'd actually explained that part when they went over his abilities. It was something easy to overlook, despite the huge advantages it had for his life. "I can work all night and won't be tired. I only sleep now if I'm trying to avoid thinking about something, or if I'm bored out of my mind and need to pass time."

"Really? Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Aria groaned, arms flopping slightly as she released the tension in her body. "I got done with that list of games and consoles in, like, less than an hour or something! I could've come up and kept you company. Or, y'know, company?"

John quirked an eyebrow at Aria. He was already expecting Vallya to have another remark on that one, but the quip never came. Surprised by the Kitsune's silence, John's eyes flicked to the side and found Vallya approaching him, her expression serious despite the lewd remark.

"That energy…"

Vallya's words were light and breathless, almost awed, but her face showed only distaste as she stepped closer. John had only just freed his arm for Aria, and already, he found it ensnared once again as Vallya reached for him. But this time there were no gentle brushes, no affectionate caressing.

Vallya locked her fingers around his wrist, and the flow of magic in John felt as if it were beginning to vibrate and rattle in his body, without him changing a thing about how he was controlling it. John tried to pull away, but Vallya kept her grip locked tightly around his wrist, and he didn't immediately put enough strength into the attempts to throw her off.

Worse, the way that the Shard's energy had started to oscillate beyond his control made it strangely difficult to put a full stop to it. Rather than running wild and disrupting itself, it seemed to be drawn to move faster, like when he'd charged the Rune of Disruption with it by accident.

"Vallya, what are you doing?" John exclaimed in a half-shout.

"Nothing."

John had a sarcastic reply dancing on his lips, but he realized before the first word made itself known that she was actually right. She wasn't casting a spell, or even touching him with her mana, yet the contact of her skin was throwing everything off. And as she held onto him, her own arm was beginning to change. Matching lines, digging into her pale skin and burrowing up her arm just like his own, save that these were radiating a deep blue light.

"Vallya, you're going to-"

"I know. Just..." Vallya winced as John finally managed to stop the flow of his energy, causing a slight burst of crimson mana from his arm and separating the two forcefully. John stepped back before Vallya could do something rash like grab him again, his brows knitting together as concern gave way to irritation.

"Vallya, what the hell was that? You should have just let me go, I didn't want to hurt you like that!"

"That's the thing, Master. You didn't. I feel wonderful, actually."

"Wonderful?" John repeated, startled. "That... that's not right, is it? It felt like the Shard's energy was going out of control again."

"She's... feeling pretty wonderful alright," Aria said with a knowing grin. When John looked at her, she just shrugged. "What? I only feed off pleasure from people I've bonded with, but I still know enough to read a mortal. I mean, I think. Never heard of one like her back home..."

"Yeah, she's pretty unique alright," John said dryly.

Despite escaping from her grip, the lines on Vallya's skin were slow to fade. The glistening sapphire energy remained, receding only reluctantly over the course of several seconds. John was somewhat alarmed to note that his own skin was acting in a very similar manner; although he had ceased the flow of mana and energy, his arms remained textured in crimson fury for quite a while after he stopped.

"I guess it's technically not damage, but Gamer's Body usually keeps any changes from lasting more than a second, at most."

"Well, that was... certainly something," Vallya said, as casually as if she'd just been shown a magic trick.

"What gave you the idea to do that, exactly?" John asked, trying to keep some of the accusation out of his voice.

"Something about the way you felt, even though it was so distinct, reminded me of the changes I've been experiencing," Vallya explained. She didn't look at John as she spoke, watching the last azure fade from her pale skin with rapt attention. "It was subtle at first, but as you started to really release it, as those marks on your arm grew, it became impossible to miss."

"Well, give me a heads up next time, or something," John grumbled, rubbing at his arm, though the gesture did nothing to speed up the last few fissures still sealing themselves up and vanishing away.

"I apologize, Master. I let myself be overcome with…"

Vallya's mouth hung for a moment as she reconsidered whatever she'd been about to say. She must have decided against it; rather than finishing her sentence, Vallya gave him a reprimanded smile and bowed low before him. By the time she came back up, her usual confidence and elusive grin were back in place.

"Well, no one got hurt, so I suppose it's not a big deal," John finally said, though he didn't stop rubbing his wrist. "What exactly did it feel like? Why did it freak you out so much?"

"Earlier, when you were drawing on the Shard alone, it felt startlingly similar to the energy I could feel while Jiina was possessing me," Vallya said, narrowing her eyes. "That's why I said it felt familiar. But when she was doing that, that energy was so much of her that there was nothing left of me. The energy you were just using? It felt like there was no one else there. Like you'd isolated the Shard's influence and made the energy completely your own."

The ghost of a frown haunted John's face. "Is that really how you'd describe it? The Shard is already supposed to be fully integrated. It should be all me at this point, I'd think. Is that not normally how it feels when I use the Shard?"

"No." The answer came immediately, accompanied by a firm shake of Vallya's head. "I told you earlier, that energy still has influence from the Shard, from Bishamonten. And when you were wielding the Shard alone, that's all I could feel. Somehow, though, when you mixed the two, it was like your mana acted as- almost as a sieve, of some kind. Like you were sifting away all the outside influence, all of what makes the Shard feel like the Shard. You sifted away everything but pure, raw power, and made it your own. It felt like you, John, just... more of you."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"I'm not sure I do, either," Vallya huffed, looking at her arm as intently as if she could still see the magical blue lining. "This is different from any magic I've felt before. And it was even stranger how my body reacted when I touched you; the energy was completely different. And I'm not just talking about the color, either. Even though touching you was what caused it, that power that seeped into me didn't feel like you, it felt like me. "

John leaned a little closer, but remained silent. Vallya's fascination seemed to turn to regret for a moment, or perhaps bitterness, her fingers rubbing her wrist as if it were injured.

"It was a rush, a real thrill. But it was also scary, in a way. It felt like I wasn't enough for whatever was happening. Like there wasn't enough me there. I felt as if I was tied to a rock in a typhoon, just letting waves crash over me. I wasn't in danger of losing myself this time, but I was still staring down something I had no hope of comprehending, much less defeating."

John grimaced. He didn't like the sound of any of that, and even less that it had come from something he'd caused, even inadvertently.

"I don't really mean it in that way. I'm not afraid of it, or you," Vallya clarified when she saw the grim look on John's face. "It never felt as if I was in danger. I wasn't threatened, and I certainly wasn't a threat to whatever that was. Just a kit who was getting too rambunctious with her mother—a single growl, just one swat, and the dynamic of power was made clear in an instant. And I can only guess at why it affected me, but not Aria. Based on the fact that it's so similar to Jiina's energy, it seems obvious that it must be tied to the divine in some manner, but it's impossible to say how. I can't even say that part is true with any certainty, given that you've only done it once."

"We could try again?" Aria offered, sticking her hand out without hesitation. "She said it's not dangerous. Worst case, I get to feel up Master's nice arms some more, right?"

Vallya leaned in and held her hand over her mouth as she spoke, but made a point of "whispering" loudly enough for John to catch every word.

"Good try, cutie, but you'll learn fast he's a little paranoid. Never say 'worst case' around him."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go with a definite 'no' on that idea," John grumbled, stepping a little further away from the two. "I don't care if it felt good, I don't like that some part of me can act so... out of control."

"It's completely under your control. None of this happened until you started drawing on it," Vallya pointed out.

"Yes, but... it's not supposed to do things like this." Perhaps not a fair statement. John had no idea what any Shard was supposed to do, if they were supposed to do anything at all. "This thing was supposed to be fully integrated, it wasn't supposed to be affecting me—or anyone else—like this anymore."

Vallya blinked twice. Her eyes flickered to John's face, his chest, back to his face, then dipped to the ground below, where she resumed blinking.

"...You have an idea?"

"...Just a theory. More of a philosophical observation than that, if I'm being honest."

The sigh that left John's lips held as much resignation as his shrug. "That's the best we've got, at least for now."

"The word 'Integration' would normally imply that the Shard has been combined with you fully, that you've been connected to the extent it's possible to do so. But perhaps that isn't the case. Refresh my memory—did Himiko not say that it was likely you'd die when she planted that Shard into you in the first place?"

"She definitely did." John's hand went to his chest at the memory, one of the only times Gamer's Body had ever failed him, temporarily or otherwise. "Guessing it would've happened quickly, too. The way she talked, it sounded like she was planning on grabbing the Shard back if I didn't survive."

"Your abilities are what has given you the messages about Integration. Your game-based abilities." If her tone wasn't enough, Vallya paused and slid her eyes up to John's to emphasize the words further. "Perhaps that message was never about the Shard and how well you had integrated it with your powers, but rather, how well your abilities were adapting to it. Adapting to the intruder within your own body, a sort of **** evolution to survive—even thrive—with something that would've killed others."

"So you think 'Integration' was more about my body forcing itself to adapt for the sake of survival? Could be, I guess," John murmured, scratching at his chin. "Took me forever to hit 100%, but I might have died right away if I wasn't capable of reaching it eventually. Vallya, when I was practicing just now, and one time before that, I got messages that said something similar to the old ones. Only this time it was 'Transcendence'. Any 'philosophical observations' on that one? So far I don't even know what triggers this one."

Vallya looked surprised for a moment, genuinely caught off-guard. Her shocked expression slowly morphed into one of concern... and then a wicked grin spread over her face, two fangs poking between her lips.

"Well, if we make the generous assumption that I'm right, then you've already finished evolving for the Shard, John."