Cain led Prana outside so he could experiment with various spells and see what worked best for her. Since they're still in a group, he can simply share it with her and see what she prefers.
"Alright, the first spell for today's test will be [Crushing Tentacles]. I'm hoping that you can use them as vines and control them freely." Cain demonstrates and a dozen long Tentacles extend from his arm and wriggle around the area, looking for targets and waiting for orders.
He can control them, but not precisely enough to write with them or perform other such delicate tasks.
"Those aren't bad. More like octopus Tentacles, but with beaks inside the suckers." Prana says, grabbing one to admire the design.
Most spells that a Treant casts are modified to match its body, a peculiarity of the species. Cain makes it the group ability and Prana immediately activates them. The spell creates tentacles identical to Cain's on the first try, but black and rough-surfaced like the bark portion of Prana's body.
"Oh, you can use it on the ground as an area effect. That's much better." The demonized Treant declares, her face lighting up with happiness.
She casts the spell again and steps into the Area of Effect, causing all the Tentacles to become vines with sharp barbs. From the look of it, she isn't having any trouble controlling them. She has them do a little dance, pick up and use rakes to smooth out the garden.
"Honestly, I don't think we can do any better than this. They're a Mythic attack ability, right? Well, I suppose they are also a crowd control ability, but they look like they do a lot of damage." Prana asks.
"Yes, they can crush or tear apart a group of Mythic Beasts in a very short time." Cain agrees, nodding his head.
"Then why did you summon so many Lamia?" The representative from the witches asks curiously.
"Because they're cute. He won't admit it, but he likes warm cuddly things like Lamia and beastkin." Moana informs the witch in a conspiratorial whisper that everyone in the room can hear.
"Fifty Lamia also does more damage than one [Crushing Tentacles] spell." Cain defends his decision, but Moana waves it off as making excuses.
"I'll take this one if you can grant it to me. Can you write Mythic Spellbooks or something?" Prana asks and the witch almost swallows her tongue in shock at the idea. Even she, who lived long before the Great War, has never heard of an inscriptionist that could write Mythic Books.
"No, I have a special ability that can grant a person a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get an upgraded skill. Many use it for an advanced class, some use it to awaken, or to gain a system interface in the first place. But for you, it could give you the chance to be a Guardian. Plus I'll be able to tweak your physical abilities and appearance a little while I'm at it." Cain answers and the demonized Treant sinks deep into thought.
"Can you make me cuter? The plague skin isn't exactly an endearing feature when I'm trying to get a date." Prana asks, and the witch nods her head in agreement.
The old woman has multiple bumps and deformities on her face, possibly from potion-making failures that left curses that can't easily be broken.
"I could make you a great many things, but it's probably best if you stay as some sort of a demonized Treant, or it might mess up your Class abilities." Cain agrees.
"Then, how about that pale violet skin that the Succubus have?" She suggests, pointing at Erin, who matches the light purple shade exactly.
"Violet with black bark would be amazing. And some big ol.." Levi only gets halfway through the sentence when a vine smacks him in the side of his head, knocking him directly to the ground and knocking the wind out of him.
"I'm just saying, wouldn't it be nice?" He continues from his spot in the dirt, dodging her next vine attack with great difficulty.
Looking into her mind with [Superior Mental Domination] Cain can see exactly the body she had in mind, and Levi was actually right, her vision of herself is decidedly voluptuous. But the proud Treant would never admit to such a thing.
She is also imagining a much more human form than her current one. She's already close to the point that she would be called a Dryad by most though. A few more changes toward the humanoid would definitely change her race. She might still be able to keep her class though, Cain will just have to verify before she finalizes anything.
"Alright, I can do that. I have a skill that will make you more like what you are imagining in your mind, but if it changes you to a Dryad, or interferes with your class, do not accept the changes, or it will be permanent and it could leave your power level crippled." Cain cautions her.
"Demonized Dryads can be Plague Casters too, so I think I should be safe. The tentacles might not become vines as a Dryad, but they also might. Either way, I think they would still be strong enough to get the job done." Prana shrugs, more concerned with no longer having this sickly green pallor.
It isn't natural to her, it came with being a Plague Caster, and she isn't happy about it. It has been nearly impossible to get a date when everyone thinks that they might catch something just from touching her. The skin isn't contagious though, at least not if she doesn't want it to be.
"Okay then, let's head to the bedroom. Sorry, Levi, no peeking while the Treant gets changed." Cain teases, making the girls give the mage a dirty look.
They retreat into the single bedroom of the cabin that the redwood tree has overgrown, and Cain closes the shutters on the single window. "It's best if you unequip everything so that you can see exactly what you're going to look like as we go. There is a large mirror over there on the wall, so you can watch the progress and tell me if you want anything changed."
Even with everything unequipped, the appearance of a treant doesn't change much, unlike the Dryad she is most likely about to become.
Cain starts slowly, changing her skin tone to Succubus violet, then tweaking her bark to be a deep black version of the smoother Sakura tree, giving her body a more lithe and less armored look. Then he tweaks the branches of her hair to have Sakura blossoms instead of the plague-dripping leaves. Finally, he alters her form to be more humanoid, with one slender trunk-like leg and one elfin one, long pointed ears, and fully black eyes. Then her hands become a bit more slender and graceful, but still covered in the bark of her natural armor with long fingers ending in pointed branch claws that are articulated like fingers, but with an extra joint.
The next stage is to increase the durability of every part of her skin, and the density of her muscles. It's not an easy task since she's already Epic, but Cain is pretty sure he managed to increase her stats by at least a little bit. She should also be more agile in this form than she was in the other, with much more flexibility.
For the final steps, he gives her a good bit more backside than she had, since before her torso was more of a tree trunk, and then enhances her chest until the Demon begins to blush slightly.
"Is that what you had in mind?" Cain asks with a smile.
"It's exactly what I had in mind. How could you know? Are you psychic? You are, aren't you? How much did you see?" Prana asks accusingly.
"I only looked for the essentials, what you wanted to look like, and nothing more." Cain declares, pretending to be offended by her lack of trust.
"But more importantly, did you get any notifications about your class?" He asks, stopping the [Modify] so that any notifications that she might get from the bodily changes would come up.
"There's a notification about my modifiers increasing, and it says that one of my Class Spells has been altered from [Toxic Aura] to [Hypnotizing Aura]. The new one looks pretty good though, it will confuse and distract enemies within ten meters, with a chance to fully bewitch them and make them fight on my side. It's not as damaging as the other, but really useful." Prana informs him with a smile.
"Alright then, the last bit is the easiest," Cain tells her, using Modify to make a few final adjustments, smoothing a few rough spots on her skin and bark that he missed, and granting her the [Crushing Tentacles] spell.
"Oh, there it is, I can see that I have a new Mythic Spell. And it says I have a new class option available. Plague Caster is only a first advancement class after all. The new spell must have unlocked a specialty class." Prana cheers, loud enough that those outside the room can hear.
"Can we see now?" Levi calls through the door hopefully.
"Two more minutes. We've got to have her looking her best before the big reveal." Cain calls back and winks at Prana.
"Looks like you've got an admirer. But you should likely put your gear back on since in this form your bark doesn't cover all the essential bits." Cain whispers.
Prana hurries to get dressed, gaining a slinky black and pink dress that looks like it is made of black leaves with Sakura blossoms growing from them. Her feet stay bare, despite equipping shoes, and Prana lifts her humanoid leg to see that the bottom of the foot is covered in hard and durable bark, making shoes unnecessary in most situations.
"Alright, class options, class options. There we are. The new option is [Lost Forest Guardian]. There are extra skills for long-ranged casting while in the forest, mind control, and a Class Skill of [Misdirecting Mist] that confuses targets, making them get lost and rapidly draining their mana without damaging them. It has a radius of up to my level in meters, so I could cover a whole section of forest with it.
That's not bad at all, if they don't take damage they might even end up at zero mana before they notice, and then it would be too late to even try to escape."
It's an insidious sort of class, as suited to a Demonic Dryad, as the system interface says her species is now. Just walking into her forest would be enough to put you under deadly attack, and get you lost in a seemingly endless mist.
Prana finishes her class change and smiles at Cain. "I have no idea how I can pay you back for this, but I swear one day I will."
The mischievous smirk on his face gives her a bad feeling, but what he says is: "If you really want to pay me back, join my Guild. We're always looking for good members with great credentials."
