Previous: Of Kobolds And Arcane Magicks, p1
Next: Of Kobolds And Arcane Magicks, p3

So what do I do with all the archmana I ate (figuratively)? At the most basic level, regeneration. My body is perfectly ordinary, except it's passively using some amount of archmana to remain in one of two metastable states - namely, the "base" and "normal" forms. This takes care of aging, structural damage and biological needs. Additionally, separated matter (like severed pody parts and expelled fluids *wink wink*) spontaneously disintegrates in a matter of minutes and returns to the body.
Next, shapeshifting. Remember metastable forms? I can spend an additional amount of archmana to deliberately shift to an unstable one and remain there. The available changes are size and mass (adjustable on body part level), some bone structure, presence and size of horns, claws, spurs, spikes, genitals and breasts, and finally voice. The archmana requirement and max rate of change are proportional to the current body mass (with a hefty coefficient). Should I stop channelling the required archmana for whatever reason, I'll revert to the closest metastable form.
Finally, all the archmana hanging around in my body at any given moment provides structural reinforcement resulting in increased specific strength (muscle effectiveness, if you will), durability, resistance to G-forces, etc. The magnitude is proportional to the square root of body mass with the base value of 3, compensating for the square-cube law and then some. Around max mass, my claws are, uh, just over 9 on Mohs scale and, errrr, I can (theoretically) survive orbital reentry. Aheh.
I mean - Yeah! Science, *****!

That said, laws of physics still apply in other respects, which presents a number of challenges. You may be strong enough to lift a building, but without good positioning, you'll just tip over. And even with good positioning, your hands will rip through the concrete you're gripping. Or you'll sink to the waist in the dirt you're standing on. Also, at max size and mass, my feet exert nearly 1 MPa of ground pressure, which is about 1/4th of a stiletto heel. Which may be fine on a stone floor, but on dirt - not so much. And jumping? Forget it. Basically, the only use for the max strength level is destroying stuff EXTRA thoroughly. At least, in 2 years I've never had a reason to get even close.
Said problems can be alleviated somewhat with kinesis, but they're still at the top of the list to be fixed with further archmana infusions.

- R