Radeon's consciousness began like a blade being set into a hilt.
The misfortune crystal and the living wood around it started to spin him a body on their own.
Veins first, then muscle, then bone, eager in their craft.
Radeon halted it. He took the reins, qi pressed in on him from every direction. He did not let it rush. He drew.
For veins, he refused the thin human lines the world expected. He reached for memory and for instinct, and he stole the pattern of the sturdiest beasts he had ever bled.
Thick channels that would not collapse under strain. Vessels that could take heat and cold and still carry life.
Muscle came next. He did not choose strength alone, and he did not choose speed alone. Both had betrayed him before, each in its own way.
He balanced them and paid extra for flexibility, laying each strand longer and more resilient, like braided cord that could stretch without snapping.
