This, predictably, caused no end of troubles for those Temple Knights who used Silhouettes while mana in the world was drying out. They had to adjust their Silhouettes practically every morning before they could use it reliably for that day.

But the Conglomerate's Psionic Training pack taught how to form a Silhouette out of pure Psionic energy. These had a way of shrinking or growing in accordance to the user's mindset and development, but generally maintain their form and function without breaking apart. On top of that, a skilled Psionic wasn't limited to just one.

The question of what form his Silhouette would take, however, was somewhat worrisome. It was often said that a person's Silhouette was a projection of his characteristics or beliefs (or at least one of his traits). Once it took form, it was painfully difficult to change.

If it was a cool one like Darian's dragon-form, with wings and the ability to fly, that would be great, but what if it came out like a fat pig or a chicken…? (no offense to Chirpy). According to Conglomerate training, he would be stuck with that one weird form until he reached Cla.s.s-7 and could develop a second one.

There were things he could do to try to direct it. That was the reason why you sometimes found some middling Cla.s.s-6 Psionic studying animals or vehicles they liked, or drawing the same images over and over for days. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

Remian sat down and worried about it for a moment… and then suddenly it started taking form before he even realized what was going on. Psionic energy coalesced around him as he floated in the air…

"Whoa! Wait, wait, I'm not ready!" Remian protested, as the half-formed Silhoutte s.h.i.+fted and morphed and threatened to settle into any number of weird combination of shapes before he could even focus his thoughts.

It wobbled from a blob to something four-legged, then some winged combined creature that looked suspiciously like a griffin (or a chimera?), and then it looked like a wolfcat, and then some giant suit of armor…

"Wait, the wolfcat wasn't so bad…" Remian thought. "Is there a way to stop it and choose?"

All his training said it would simply settle when it would settle, but none of the training said it would suddenly start taking form before he purposely started.

Just as he was thinking about how to stop it, it stopped. The final form of his first Silhouette snapped into tangibility and stopped s.h.i.+fting in an instant.

"Uwaah…?!" Remian gulped, realizing that it was already over. What… what did he end up with…?

Looking at the bedroom mirror, Remian saw a large humanoid form.

"Giant armor." He sighed. No wings, no claws, no tail. Just the shape of a man and the protection of armor. "Actually, that's pretty good too. I don't need to learn anything weird like using wings or a tail."

Oh well. Most of his dealings would have to be with humans. Certainly the giant armor form should be most easily accepted by men. But for a moment there, he'd actually been tempted with the wolfcat form. It would have been fun to put it on and run with the wolfcats.

Just as he thought that, his Silhouette suddenly flickered and then Remian saw an image that looked suspiciously like Carrie in the mirror.

Tier 4 Wolfcat! Or not… not really Tier 4, and not really a wolfcat, but in size and shape, it looked so much like Carrie! Except this one was male. Right? Right?!

Actually no, Silhouettes didn't have genders, only shapes. Let's not make Shadowflash jealous.

Maybe he should have taken Vigil's form instead? If only it wasn't so small…

"But this is great!" Remian exulted. "I have a wolfcat form Silhouette! For a moment there, I thought it had settled into the giant armor form…"

And with that, the Silhoutte flickered again and the giant armored form was back.

"Eh…?" Remian winced. "But I liked that wolfcat form…"

Flicker. He was back to wolfcat form. Remian's eyes widened. "No way…! Don't tell me…"

With a thought, he experimented.

Flicker. Giant armor.

Flicker. Giant wolfcat.

Flicker. Giant armor.

Flicker. Giant wolfcat.

"Awesome!" Remian beamed. "I can s.h.i.+ft between both forms!"

Wait, was that even legal? Didn't Cla.s.s-6 Psionics only have one form unless they got another one at a Cla.s.s Promotion? Even then getting a second Form was troublesome and uncommon. Many Cla.s.s-7 or 8 Psionics still only had the one Silhouette. Getting a third, while possible with another Cla.s.s Promotion, was downright rare. In every case, additional Silhouettes after the first one happened during a Promotion.

Could it be a mutation? But Remian hadn't eaten any weird drugs or gotten irradiated or anything.

Other than new forms or mutation, a Silhouette changing form usually involved a great deal of pain. Loss of a loved one, for example, or seeing one's world eaten by Mitigoks… those painful experiences could change a Psionic's Silhouette forever. Or maybe not forever. There were cases of 'mutated' Silhouettes recovering their original forms after the Psionic got over the trauma. It was arguable whether those were actual changes or just a form of lasting damage.

But there was no such thing right now. s.h.i.+fting from armor to wolfcat form was painless.

Or maybe it was just his individual talent? There were some Psionics out there with rather queer special talents. There were the more common ones like being able to control more fire than normal, or having being especially sensitive to emotions, but then there were the weird unique ones that quickened an egg to hatch or changed the color of a piece of clothing…

Incidentally, those weird ones were more likely to end up dying as a lab specimen.

Anyway. It was weird, but not that weird, compared to other Psionic talents.

So thinking, Remian happily opened the door with telekinesis, and padded out of his room in Tier 4 wolfcat form.

The two wolfcats guarding outside raised their heads and looked at him curiously.

"Whuff?!" The one on the left was named with a concept of 'falling leaves. .h.i.tting my nose and covering my head', or 'Leafy' for short. [I've never seen you before.] "Yiyip?"

"Woof." Remian tried, but though his Silhouette was wolfcat, his actual mouth was human. "Sorry, it's me."

[Remian!] the wolfcat on the right was named 'scenery zipping by as I run past', or 'Zippy', for short. [Nice tail!]

Incidentally, Zippy was female. Remian felt quite flattered about that remark. He found his Silhouette's tail starting to wag. [Thank you.]

Yep, he definitely needed to learn to control his tail! And four legs! Otherwise, something embara.s.sing might happen…