The beauties of shapeshifting came with a perplexing set of demands. It was not a branch of magic for the dumb, and yet, people could not choose to be born as shapeshifters.

One would be burdened by the fact that they were born as puddles, and had no shape they could call their own, except the puddle. It could cause identity issues to people who thought about the matter, but this circles back to the issue of intelligence.

Not all shapeshifters were born smart, and just like any species, their intelligence could be measured by the Bell Curve.

The shapeshifters who were born smart, naturally assumed the position of leaders, because they were the best at what they did.

Laylania was born smart. Every decision she made was calculated, and depending on the situation, even if she may not seem that way. Jimmy picked up on the fact that she was smart a long time ago, but he didn't know what to do with that information, because at the time, his experiences with Laylania were mostly sour. Other than that, he knew she was not a threat to him, and his friends, so he let her carry out some of her plans, in the expense of creating a clone of himself that might become a huge problem under the right circumstances.

The matter was complicated, but he tried not to think about it for now.

Besides, Laylania and Jones weren't here with him now. Almara was.

Almara wasn't born smart, but she always aspired to become better at shapeshifting. She put in so much effort to become a better shapeshifter, that it even affected her intelligence. Her intelligence battled with two states of learning, them being fluid, and crystalized intelligence.

Crystalized intelligence, it being knowledge she already knew and was used to, allured her to rely on it. It was less of a hassle, and it usually assured that her shapeshifting was done quicker.

Fluid intelligence prompted her to experiment. Her spilled neurons when she fell down to the shapeless shape of a puddle, fired off within her, demanding her to try harder.

It was difficult to have a headache when one did not have a head, but she experienced it often. Her body parts were somewhere in the puddle anyway, and they functioned well when she tried to be better at her craft.

Today, she was asked to turn into a flying animal that could support two people on its back, for hours at a time.

At her current rank amongst her peers, she knew that it was impossible for her to shapeshift into anything like that. She felt that it was impossible, but the little voice in her head encouraged her to give it a shot anyway. She was no quitter, and cowardice was not embedded in her genetic code.

Within the puddle of human flesh belonging to her, within the void of mixed up nerves that could be described as senseless at the very least, she tried her best to use her spilled brain chunks.

This time she was not in a rush. There was not a bird around trying to peck their friends to death, thankfully, she just wanted to turn into something resembling a dependable, big bird.

Her bits of liquid body parts spread across the ground around her, like a chunky, muddy puddle.

Her eyeball rolled out of the puddle, catching a glimpse of the vibrant jungle, before she lost connection with her eye. The endless caws of birds, and animals that were related to birds kept gnawing at any bit of concentration she could muster.

There was something about a vibrant, lively jungle that made her feel sick. She has lived near the jungle for too long, and could not appreciate its beauty.

Her big, peach-shaped butt-cheeks that Jimmy loved so much, floated across the puddle for a while, seemingly sensitive to the touch. Sensitive in the sense that they would fall apart if anyone tried to touch them.

Jimmy and Anna were not tempted to touch her when she was in her natural, pre-shifting form. In fact, they believed that the scene in front of them would out-compete every horror movie from back on Earth, and yet, they had to watch over her, because they didn't want some random animal to stomp over, and take a 'sip' of the mystery puddle.

They were not comfortable, regardless of how many times they've seen the shapeshifters shift, but they had to stay here, because after all, they were desperate for an advantage against the dangers of the jungle. Almara was doing a favor.

Within the darkness of the puddle, where her five senses rarely worked at the same time, or even together, Almara tried her best to focus. Her neurons were flaring, demanding an advantage, as her headache pointed out.

"Come on…" She tried to speak, but her words came out all gurgly, and a couple flesh of bubbles rose up, and popped above the puddle. "Focus…"

Almara took her time. It was difficult to focus on her state, but she did her best. Other than that, she pictured the type of animal she wanted to shapeshift into, before she turned into a puddle.

The most difficult part of the animal she aimed to turn into, were the muscles.

She had to figure out her muscle density, particularly the ones around, and involving her shoulders.

Turning into a big flying animal was not enough. She also had to make sure that her bodily density wasn't too heavy, to the point where she couldn't even get herself off of the ground, not to mention carry two people on her back.

The problem with this part was that muscles, by themselves, were heavy. They were heavier than fat, by square-inch, and were heavier than the bones she aimed to build, which were supposed to be quite hollow.

"No… that wouldn't work…" She grunted within the void of flesh.

Almara has had enough experience with shapeshifting to know that if her bones were too hollow, too weak, they'd implode if she flexed her muscles too hard.

It was a perplexing matter overall.

Initially, she planned to dedicate ten minutes to the shift, just so she'd get everything right, but now, ten minutes weren't enough.

She felt ashamed that she was this slow, especially since she shifters back home rarely needed more than a minute to change forms. She felt devastated, but she took comfort in the fact that she was trying to better herself, by trying to assume a form that was considered impossible to her.

That aside, there weren't any other shifters around her right now, and she knew she could convince her guests to not mention to the other shifters how long it took her to assume the form of a flying animal.

Jimmy and Anna were concerned when she went past the ten minute mark, but since the bits of flesh, particularly, solid organs were floating around within the puddle, they assumed that she just needed more time, and was not malfunctioning.

"I know she's not dead, but… when should we get concerned?" Jimmy asked, "Shifters can't die mid transformation, right?"

"I don't think so," Anna said, "She is alive, even as a puddle, so we have to assume that she won't be that hurt if she designs an organ wrong. She can always try again."

"Right, but with less mana," He sighed, and calmed down a little bit.

Almara's process went on for thirty minutes.

During this period, they saw the puddle form into a blob.

The blob multiplied in size every other minute, as if she was a very absurd slime monster.

The blob slowly grew more defined, and when they saw a pair of talons, specifically, bird talons, they were confident that she was going to achieve a decent result.

"Wasn't she supposed to shift into a QT?" He asked.

"It was my suggestion," Anna answered, "But I guess she went with turning into a bird. I don't know if it's easier for her to turn into a bird, but she seems to be doing well so far."

"Maybe she's pushing her magic beyond her limits?" He added, "I'd need a lot of time too if I was in her shoes… or, talons."

Almara's form became more and more defined. Her feet were as big as a human torso now, in length, that is, but they were even bigger in width.

This did not look like a light-weight bird, so they were curious what she was trying to achieve. The blob wasn't giving them a lot to work with.

During the final parts of her transformation, she finally extended her wings, which had been otherwise mended to her torso until now, and revealed a fourteen meter, or forty-five foot wingspan!

Standing at twice their height, the two of them could safely assume that she went above and beyond to achieve good results.

The rich, brown feathers that covered her, helped them understand that she assumed the form of the brown eagle they had killed earlier on! Her beak alone was twice the size of a human head!

"Alright, how do we talk to her?" Anna asked.