Nilbog woke up to a vicious hunger in the pits of his stomach. It burned fiercely, sending him up in quiet screams instantly. He held it in out of habit, though. No reason to alert anyone.

“Quickly,” Kara said overhead.

“What...did you do… to my body,” he groaned. His entire body flared in an intense burn. It was as if his bones turned to mush. He could only imagine how worse off he would be if his Shapeshifter did not prevent internal damage. After all, a freaking sword was stuck through his stomach. Like hell Lesser Bleed Resistance can do anything against that.

Bodies were littered around him. A few paces away a fight was occurring between two groups.

If you can complain, you can heal, Kara said. Open the Shapeshifter related skill descriptions while you do that.

For Jack, he thought as he crawled towards the same person that had stabbed him. Nilbog regained consciousness before the fight began, but he had held his tongue. He wanted to see what she was capable of, what she wanted to do. He witnessed her helping a party, but it didn't mean she didn't do it for the points. While there still was no guarantee that she would uphold her part of the deal, Nilbog had little choice but to place his faith in her.

He made a mental command to open all Shapeshifter related skills. As he did this, Kara crashed into his body. He felt her looking through his eyes. It was an eerie feeling.

Shapeshifter (A-Rank Race)

Your sole goal remains to be the death of all Sentient life, but as a monster hybrid you have gained the unique ability to participate in the Game as a Sentient rather than a monster.

All critical modifiers to your Husk’s vulnerabilities are removed. Internal damage, including damage done by poison, blunt force, or self-inflicted damage, is negated. Damage to your Heart, however, will cause significant damage. You will not be able to use your Shapeshifting skills to recover damage done to it.

Siphon Soul (Racial Skill)

You are now able to Siphon Souls. Souls will reside in corpses for up to 24 hours. You may only Siphon Soul creatures with a higher rank than you if you played a major role in their death.

Siphon Soul will allow you to either store or use the Soul to heal.

Healing Power Per Heart: 25% of your MAX HP.

Healing Uses: 4/4 (5/Hour) Shaper (Racial Skill)

You can create Husks though the use of Souls. You will gain the race’s Racial Skills, but you will not be able to change your stats. You may only medium-sized husks.

To create a Husk, you must use 5 Souls belonging to the race of the Husk you chose.

You may create specific Husk by only using its Soul, but you will not be to gain EXP or its Racial skills until you fulfill its Soul requirements.

You can store 1 Husk(s).

Stored Souls: 0/5 Shifter (Racial Skill)

You may use your stored Souls of equal Rank to your current Husk to either Heal or Morph.

Healing Power Per Soul: 25% of your MAX HP.

Healing Uses: 4/4 (5/hour)

Morph: You may alter your Husk with parts of different creatures. To gain a part of a race you must use a Soul belonging to it. You may close wounds through this method, but you will not be able to regain HP.

Morph Uses: 4/4 (5/hour)

Facing his memories removed every doubt he had. In whatever form it took, those three needed to die. Becoming a vicious scoundrel was the least he could do.

He couldn’t escape his fate, and neither will they.

Nilbog reached for the corpse in front of him. He pressed his hand against its chest, pushing until ripples extended from the corpse’s chest. After a small resistance, Nilbog’s hands plunged in, ignoring its flesh. As Kara mentioned, It's Soul was its where its heart resided. Using Soul Siphon, Nilbog yanked his hand out, taking its Soul out.

A small white glob jiggled in his grasp. It shinned and moved like a heatless flame with the wind. “For…Nelly,” he said, as he tossed the Soul inside his mouth.

***

Kara left before the Soul touched Nilbog’s mouth. She felt what he felt when she was inside his body, and she had little desire to have the first thing she’s tasted in four decades to be a human Soul. Maybe later.

His body began healing. Combining the total healing he can get from the Soul Siphon and Shifter, can heal for 200% percent of his original constitution every 20 hours, which was about 260.

Things only good better from there. Not only did he lose all damage modifiers to vulnerabilities, much like how a Ghoul could still attack with a sword through the head, he could also use a Soul to morph his body. That meant closing wounds or adapting to different situations. It didn’t mean he would heal, but damage from bleeding is easily controlled now—like that sword being stuck through him. Having an arm chopped off is no longer a disaster. Some monster limbs are even more proficient at skills than others, like Fairy's wings when casting External Life Force skills.

Or maybe growing another set of arms. Combining the best parts of different races was not a far off dream.

By itself, it was not a front-line focused race. It had great utility and survivability, but in terms of combat, it wasn’t as good as other rank A monsters. The true glory of it was is that no race was barred from the Shapeshifters grasps.

Just you wait, brother. I’ll catch up, one way or another. She can see the possibilities. It was doable. She had all the right tools—the rest is up to her execution.

A Life Force explosion caught Kara’s attention.

Caldain’s crew had not farewelled well during the meantime. One fight after another left no time for their STM or Life Force to regenerate, leaving them in quite the bind. Horn and Caldain held their own, though the other two Warriors did not. They fought shoulder to shoulder while the Ranger and Aron once again fought at the sidelines.

The enemy Rogue was able to fend off Aron while still chasing down the Ranger, not allowing him to send in arrows at his friends back. Everyone was a Wolf, but the difference in experience was clear.

Caldain’s too weak. He must have enormous debuffs. Probably the reason why he’s able to enter a low-level area.

Kara was no different. In the end, their experience and utilization of their skills were supposed to fill in that gap.

Choose a branch.

Beware that this decision will significantly impact your Profession.

Single Tune

Gain complete control of the Dancer.

You may use your skills as long as your Dancer meets the requirements for it, but while in Single tune your Dancer’s non-racial skills will become inactive.

While in Single tune, you may use Life Siren skills at 50% effectiveness. You may use Single Tune 20 minutes with a cooldown of 1 hour.

For Single tune to activate, you must have successfully used Life Siren’s Requisition on your Dancer.

Duel Duet

Co-exist with the Dancer.

The Dancer will be able to move and cast skills independently from you. You may use your Dancer’s resources and body for no more than 2 seconds for every 10 seconds that pass.

You may use Duel Duet 20 minutes with a cooldown of 2 hours. You may decide to take complete control with the permission of your Dancer at the cost of halving the left over time of Duel Duet.

For Duel Duet to activate, you must have successfully grasped your Dancer’s Essence.

So it was possible--Single tune was what Kara had originally wanted, but the 20-minute duration was a severe limiter, and even with training she’s unlikely to increase it to an adequate amount. Having a few hours of the day to complete Dungeons was not optimal. She’ll never be able to catch up at that rate.

This skill wasn’t meant to give her a permanent body. Treating it as such would put her at a disadvantage.

On the other hand, with Duel Duet, she could raise Nilbog into becoming powerful enough to be useful. A fight against Shinkro would only last a few minutes at most, anyway. She didn’t need an hour.

Plus, Kara would be able to utilize two classes instead of just one. It would be in a limited capacity, but the potential of it working...it wasn’t an option. Going with Single Tune would provide her with nothing but temporary relief.

The main issue with her Sky And Earth Weaver class is that it required duel sources: Life Force and Mana.

The Lordan race was the only Sentient race that had a body that can host a Soul which uses both Sources at the same time. Shapeshifters, however, seemed to be immune to internal body damage. It wasn’t quite the same, as some skills specifically required the Duel Source racial skill, but it was a start. A really good start.

It’s all or nothing.

You have chosen Duel Duet

You may no longer cast Life Siren's Requisition on Nilbog

Capturing and using your Dancer's essence has caused you to learn a new Song: Steadfast

Steadfast

Steadfast generally provides defensive buffs that became stronger the more damage someone negates, blocks, or avoids damage.

Interesting. She had been wondering how she would gain more songs. With that done, Kara floated down to Nilbog. He had guts, she had to give him that. Now that he used all 4 Souls from the previous party to fully heal himself, he stood staring at her with expectant eyes. His clothes, previously brown, were now dyed in his own blood. The blade that was in his stomach was now held by his own hands.

Show me, he seemed to say. Show me what you can do.

Kara could only oblige. She began to cast Duel Duet as she floated down to him, letting her spectral form enter without resistance this time.