# 246
Chapter 246 – Transformation Magic
“Merlin treatment progress: 61%
Reward conditions met. Random Merlin godhood ability may be drawn again.
Merlin treatment progress exceeds 50%; short-term leave from the Asylum of the Gods is authorized…”
As expected!
The instant Lin Qiye saw the prompt, excitement surged in his heart. Once any patient’s treatment passed the fifty-percent mark, they could leave the asylum for a while.
More importantly, he now had a second chance to draw one of Merlin’s abilities. With the great catastrophe looming, every extra power meant one more hope of survival.
Lin Qiye’s gaze settled on the mysterious roulette suspended in the void. He spoke slowly:
“Draw ability.”
The next moment, Merlin’s ability wheel spun rapidly. The needle swept across one entry after another: Fire Magic Mastery, Spatial Magic Mastery, Abyssal Magic Mastery, Black Magic Mastery…
Finally, it stopped on a line of small text.
—Transformation Magic Mastery!
Lin Qiye’s brows lifted the instant he read those words.
Illusory characters floated in the air. He reached out; the moment his fingertips touched them, a mysterious force flowed into his body.
A few lines of text appeared before him.
“
Transformation Magic Mastery (Illusion Demon God’s Ruins):
You may use magic to perfectly transform yourself into any creature or object you have seen, and to a certain extent mimic their abilities and characteristics (the fidelity of the mimicry depends on how well you understand the target).
”
Lin Qiye finished reading, delight sparkling in his eyes.
Another ability that contained the power of a godhood—another God’s Ruins. From this, he began to see a pattern in the three draws.
At 1% treatment progress, the draw was completely random—any miscellaneous ability could appear.
At 50%, it was guaranteed to be a godhood ability, such as Nyx’s “Erosion of Utter Darkness” or this Transformation Magic from Merlin.
So what would happen when progress reached 100%?
He shook the thought away for now and focused on studying the transformation magic.
Standing in the yard, blue light flashed in his eyes. A deep-blue magic circle flickered beneath his feet, and in the next instant he had perfectly become Li Yifei—messy hair, slightly plump build, cyan orderly uniform, even the name-tag on his chest. Every wrinkle in the fabric was identical.
Li Yifei stared at his doppelgänger, mouth agape.
“Qiye… y-you you you…”
Another magic circle flashed; Lin Qiye became A Zhu—short stature, ashen hair, the spider-web lines on his face perfectly matching. If there was any difference, it was that his gaze was far sharper than A Zhu’s naturally vacant stare.
A Zhu’s eyes widened. “Wah!”
Next, Lin Qiye turned into Hongyan.
Li Yifei glanced at the real Hongyan, then at the fake, and swallowed. “Qiye, I’ve got a bold idea…”
“No, you don’t.” Lin Qiye shot him a glare and returned to his original form.
He knew the three orderlies too well. Besides them, perhaps he could try something else…
After a moment’s hesitation, he opened another magic circle—this one several times larger, nearly covering the entire yard.
Light flashed; Lin Qiye vanished, replaced by… an enormous frost dragon!
Everyone tilted their heads back, jaws dropping at the sight of the exaggerated beast.
It was the frost dragon Lin Qiye had glimpsed while traveling another plane. Though the impression had been fleeting, he’d filled in the gaps with imagination—resulting in the spectacle before them.
Size and species, it seemed, could be chosen at will.
The frost dragon raised its head, opened its mighty maw, and let out a deafening roar that echoed across the asylum. It turned, gathered power, a pale blue glow forming in its mouth—then forcefully…
hawked a loogie.
Lin Qiye: …
Why could other dragons breathe frost, while his could only spit?
Probably because his understanding of frost dragons was too shallow; he’d only glimpsed one in passing. And although he now looked the part, he was still only a “Pool”-realm human. Expecting to spew dragon-breath across several major realms was pure fantasy.
When he transformed back into A Zhu, he could shoot a few strands of silk, but they were far shorter and less tensile than the real thing—fine for sticking bugs, hardly adequate for Spider-Man.
In short, after transforming he gained a portion of the target’s traits, but only if they were below his own realm.
He tried becoming Mumu, Hongying, Chen Muye, Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan… Li Yifei and the others sat nearby with snacks, applauding and cheering as if watching a show.
Once he had fully mastered the transformation magic, Lin Qiye left the asylum.
He circled the office but found no sign of Chen Muye. After a moment’s hesitation, he stepped outside.
The once-bustling Heping Bridge street now lay in eerie silence. Most shops were shuttered; only a handful remained open. No private cars passed; military vehicles occasionally roared by.
Driven by the government and the military, Cangnan’s residents were being evacuated in orderly fashion. Yet with so many people, complete evacuation was impossible; those still waiting were ordered to stay indoors—no public gatherings allowed.
The vibrant city had turned desolate.
Lin Qiye crossed the empty street and walked onto Heping Bridge, following the canal’s flow with his eyes, lost in thought.
Suddenly he froze, squinting into the distance and rubbing his eyes.
Up-stream, a carriage was galloping atop the rolling water. As it neared the bridge, it inexplicably lifted into the air, made a wide turn, and halted before him.
On the broad, deserted bridge, only the carriage and Lin Qiye stood facing each other.
“Are you Lin Qiye?” an old voice drifted from within the carriage.