That same day.
Aries had gone to the forest by the park. Since he wasn't making any progress with swordsmanship, he decided to focus on training his powers before training with the sword anymore.
It was due to this that he decided to come to the forest near the park, as he didn't want to disturb anyone accidentally.
Before he truly began training, there was something he wanted to check.
'Since I am a mythical creature and am technically always transformed, would I be able to use the skills of my source manifestation without transforming?'
Once a mythical creature is fully transformed, they fuse with their source manifestation to become an entirely new race. As a result, a mythical creature is technically always at least partially transformed. This made Aries think.
'If I am always partially transformed, wouldn't I be able to use the abilities I normally wouldn't unless I was transformed?'
It was something he had to test immediately. For the first time in an eternity, he would be learning something new.
'Light Guide!'
He lifted his disguise and called upon his ability, and tried activating it.
Like Alice, Aries had named and associated those names with his abilities.
Aries felt his chi bubble and rush through his body, burning away in the process. And then…
Light enveloped him.
'Bright Eyes.'
Then he activated a second ability. Light entered his eyes, coating and enchanting them. It was an ability he created that allowed him to see perfectly in light and darkness. He felt that the ability could do more, but hadn't gotten the chance to test it.
But that didn't matter at the moment, as his theory turned out to be true. As a mythical creature, he could use his transformation skills without transforming. A genuine smile beamed across Aries's face.
'It worked! I actually worked!'
He clenched his fist and silently cheered in excitement.
He then gathered the light around him and focused it into his palm.
There was one more thing he wanted to try. Ever since he learned his transformation abilities, he felt as if something was missing, as if there was an ability he had missed.
He shot out the condensed light in a beam, which hit a nearby tree, but did nothing.
Frown… "I thought that wou-"
The image of his transformation appeared in his mind.
'Wait, does it kind of look like…'
He quickly activated his transformation and looked around at himself.
'I do! Then maybe…'
Gathering light into himself, causing his eyes, mouth, and chest to glow. Then he took in a deep breath, puffing up his chest, and releasing the light.
BANG!
The light shot out in the form of a beam, like before, but unlike before, the beam struck the tree and left a visible dent and burn mark on it.
'I was right!'
When Aries used the beam the first time, he remembered the appearance of his transformation. While his transformation was more serpentine, it looked like a type—or at least an offshoot of that type—of dragon.
And it seemed he was correct to make the association, as he was capable of using a breath attack.
From what he knew about dragons, which he knew a lot about, a breath attack was just a condensed expulsion of chi infused with an ability that, as the name suggests, had to be done through the mouth and only dragons could do effectively and efficiently, which meant he was at least part dragon.
So while he used light to do it just now, he could, in theory, do it with his other abilities.
So that's what he did, he tried using his breath attack with each of his skills.
'Desire Toxin!'
'Golden Smoke!'
'Lucky Break!'
One by one, he tried each of his abilities, and each worked perfectly.
'Desire Toxin' let out a stream of golden liquid and most likely carries the same effects as the regular ability.
'Golden Smoke' let out a line of golden smoke that bellowed out the farther away it went; it also likely carried the same effects as the regular ability.
Even 'Lucky break' worked, letting out a beam of blue light, Aries assumed that it had the same effects as its regular ability, but he was not sure how that would even work.
After testing everything he wanted to test, Aries returned to his normal form and redid his disguise.
"I need to get used to using my abilities with my disguise."
Then he began training his abilities, using them over and over again and in unique ways, improving his ability to utilize them.
Eventually, he stopped training after a few hours, realizing it was getting dark. Wiping off his sweat, he began to leave.
Rustle. Rustle.
His head quickly turned to where the sound was coming from.
Three gray rats walked out of the bushes, pausing as they saw Aries.
"Oh…"
He stared at the rats for a moment, as they did too. Then, he turned and walked away. He took a few steps before stepping to the side, dodging the lunging rat.
"What?"
Sensing the vibrations, Aries dodged again, causing the second rat to crash into the ground.
"Do these rats have rabies or something?"
'Light Guide.'
Aries created a flash of light, which stunned the rats, who began clawing at their eyes.
'Breath attack: Desire Toxin.'
Shooting out three thin beams from his mouth, Aries struck all three rats. While 'Desire Toxin' had its special effect, it could still be used as a regular toxin.
As the beam struck the rats, it left punctures in their bodies, and the toxin made sure they were dead.
'These rats are getting out of hand. Where the hell did they come from?'
He swiftly left the forest and went into the town. After a few minutes of walking, he eventually reached home.
"I'm back!"
He announced as he entered the house. After, he entered his room and sat on the bed after tidying up.
'Seriously, where did these rats come from? Were they brought here on a merchant's wagon or something?'
Scratching his head, he sighed.
'Whatever it is, I hope they deal with it soon. I'll just focus on training.'