Roge felt like he was absolutely right when he immediately woke up, his eyes listing across the now black sky as he focused with all of his might to resist whatever effect he was under. He could now feel it too, creeping along his scales and fully engulfing his right arm and torso. It couldn’t go any further, though, Roge wondering by how much he overshot the snake’s charisma.

  “Sssstay assssleep,” a voice hissed at him, Roge only having so much energy to move his head slowly in the direction of the sound. What he found was a bipedal lizard, just like himself, although this one looked a bit odd from what Roge could see of its under-lit form. Having a bit of mental space, and giving up a bit more of himself to the power, he pulled out a light stone from his inventory, finally being able to see the creature who was crouched over him. They were both in the wagon he’d summoned, hidden a bit by the sides, especially since the being had shrunk since Roge had fallen asleep.

  The creature did look more snake-like, its left arm somewhat stubby attached to a really long body. Green light reflected off of some of its scales, though they quickly turned sapphire as he looked closer at its right arm. ‘Or should I say… my right arm…’ Roge thought to himself, the creature’s golden eyes distracting him for a brief moment. ‘What is…’ All thoughts stopped in his head as he looked at his right arm, the normal sapphire scales replaced with brown fur. His hand was also bigger than normal, nearly twice the size of the claw that was grabbing onto his arm. ‘He’s swapping us…’ he idly thought, pushing back harder against the magic flooding his body.

  “You… can’t… win….” Roge grunted out, feeling his muzzle change shape as he lost concentration.

  “Assss long asss I can get your mind, I win,” the being hissed, pushing even harder against Roge’s will.

  ‘Sucks to suck. My mind can’t be taken.’ But neither did Roge want to become a minotaur, keeping his current skills or not. ‘The only way to end this is… is…’ It was hard to think around the invasive mana running through his system, the snake’s skill stupidly powerful. ‘His skill!’ It felt like lightning coursed through his brain at that, Roge losing some ground as he accessed his hoard.

  He couldn’t do much other than spray the dust at the snake, coughing and confused hissing ensued that at least halted the progression of the skill. Ten such explosions of dust followed, coating the snake’s scales with some landing on the dragon. ‘Is that enough…’ he thought to himself, firing off an [Inspect] once again at the ash coated creature.

  The snake’s skill, [Doppelganger], reactivated at that point, pushing even harder against Roge’s will. Now, though, it had practically no effect on him, Roge easily able to keep the skill from progressing any further. ‘Would love to keep these muscles, though…’ he thought to himself, willing the box closer so he could stick his still Draconic left hand into the box.

  It felt remarkably different than before, Roge feeling gems clattering against his scales rather than hot sand. He grabbed at as much as he could, feeling his ability to take having increased since the last time he did it. With a pained screech coming from the snake, Roge ripped out as many things as he could from the box, finding twenty objects clattering to the wagon floor along with the creature. It finally let go of him, allowing the dragon to shuffle back and away as shock soon overtook him.

  The damage to the snake was severe, most of its form charred and sizzling as it lay still. The only parts that didn’t seen to be effected were the parts that it had stolen from Roge, the sapphire scales still shiny and unblemished. ‘We didn’t change back…?’ Roge thought, shock soon replaced with horror as he felt over his still bovine face. ‘Because you stole the skill. You didn’t stop it.’ He felt his breathing spike at that, the unbalanced form flopping as he tried to sit up.

  “ROGE!” Sean’s voice yelled out, most likely attracted by the creature’s screech. Roge couldn’t think as the lion appeared next to the cart, Sean flinching at what he saw in the bed. He was soon joined by Marge and Hops, both equally frozen as they gazed at the two combination creatures.

  “Help…” Roge mumbled, feeling tears running down scales before it hit fur on his muzzle. “I thought it would… reverse…”

  “Everybody back up!” Sean yelled out, Roge thankful that the sides of the wagon were high enough for no one to peek in unless they were right next to it.

  Hops jumped up in to take a closer look at the situation, the elf noticing the various gems and other items scattered on the floor. “You stole it?” he whispered, gesturing to Roge’s form.

  “Yes… Should I give it back? Is it still alive?” Hops was shaking his head before Roge was even finished asking his questions, though he didn’t say anything more as he looked everything over. “Should I put it in one of you?”

  *That* caused a reaction, Hops giving him a confused look. “I thought you could only…”

  “I haven’t tried. Never wanted to try.” Sure, Roge might have had a fleeting thought about adding the abilities and skills he got into his own [Status], but he was afraid to even try. What if he was corrupted by the powers? What if he blew up, like everyone kept warning him about? And he never wanted to experiment on other people. In fact, this exact situation was something he was worried about. An effect of a skill becoming permanent.

  “It seems you took its skill, ability, and its class,” Hops muttered, Roge’s anxiety increasing as several voices started arguing outside the wagon. “You need to add them. Not to your hoard. But to your sheet.” Roge almost jumped up at that, though he allowed Hops’ hand to keep him lying down on the floor. “It’s the only way I can think of here. Due to how your buffs work, and from what I can extrapolate, none of them will give you the ability to return to yourself.”

  “There has to be something else…”

  “Nothing that wouldn’t take months of research. Normally, if a doppelganger snake is killed, the person regains their original form. But this is unprecedented, you stealing the skill while it was in use.” Hops took a deep breath, Roge mimicking it to help himself calm down. “Add one of each. That should emulate getting your class, and would be safest. See what you can do from there. We’re here for you, Roge.” That last part was said as gently as possible, the dragon nodding as he took the three items he hadn’t even realized Hops had taken.

  The first was a coin, green in color with the snake’s face on it. It seemed weird for it to be that, but once Roge thought of Hops, the image changed to that of the elf. ‘Creepy.’ The second item was a gem, that one taking the shape of a dragon. The third was a weird one, a green gem-like object with what looked to be a baby snake trapped inside. That one he fired [Inspect] on, having never seen a class object before.

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  Roge took a deep breath as he gathered the three objects, summoning his [Status] and looking at the progress he had made. ‘Please act like a normal class acquisition…’ he prayed, focusing on that intent as he slotted the three in all at once.

  “Please please please…” Roge mumbled, waiting what felt like an eternity before the box changed.

  The next box opened all on its own, Roge suspecting he needed the description right that moment.

  Roge blinked hard at that, looking up at Hop’s alarmed face once he started hearing shouts. With no time to lose, Roge grabbed onto the dead snake’s head and activating the skill. It was slow, probably due to its low level, but it only took Roge a half minute to fully absorb everything in the snake’s body. It looked very strange after he was done, looking more like a life sized doll or teddy bear. The body had no features to speak of and looked to be made of black fabric. Shuffling beside the cart pulled him back to the present moment, Roge shunting what felt like both the snake and minotaur forms into his hoard and pulling forth his own. Thankfully, the change was very swift, earning him a level in the new skill as he fully took his Draconic form.

  “What the hell is-“ Ms. Zamora cut herself off as she looked within the wagon, seeing Roge and Hops sitting next to each other and the weird black doll. “Did something attack you? Where is Alton?!” She must have finally inspected the weird body on the floor of the wagon, as that was what Roge had done during her screaming.

  “Everybody back to your wagons!” the caravan leader shouted, her hair more fiery than usual and making Roge back up as much as he could. Once everyone had cleared out, she pinned a stare right on the dragon, Roge feeling himself cowering at the anger. “Do you know who it was?”

  “Alton,” Roge mumbled, earning shocked looks from Hops, as well as Marge and Sean who had stuck around. “He came around to apologize and… when he shook my hand…”

  “Is Roge possessed?” Sean hissed, his glare softening at the hurt look on Roge’s face. “I mean… how would we know?”

  “I know,” Ms. Zamora stated, giving all of them a stern look. “No one speaks of this. And dragon, you better put that body in your inventory.” Once the doll was gone, she let out a sigh. “I’ve seen those dolls once before. It was when a snake failed to absorb someone. I have to assume your bard class makes your charisma high?”

  “Not really… I actually pumped all of my free points into it when the thing attacked,” Roge said, his emotions feeling a bit numb now that he was calming down. “Then I don’t know what happened…”

  “Well, that’s the risk of skills like that,” Hops interjected, apparently knowing a bit about the topic. “Usually, if a skill can be contested in some way, the person with the higher stat wins. So this thing probably wasn’t smart enough to think that a bard could have a higher charisma stat than it.”

  “Well that’s where it failed.” Ms. Zamora sighed as she looked towards the other wagons, shaking her head. “Now I’m down a guard. Figures. Can I depend on you to defend the caravan if something goes wrong?” That question she pointed at Sean, the big lion giving her a strained smile and a nod. “Good. Now get to bed. And make sure the dragon is with you. I don’t want him getting ambushed.”

  ~~~

  Roge fell asleep as soon as his head laid down in his hammock, Sean giving it a few minutes to make sure the dragon was fully asleep. “Is it really him?” he asked Hops, his worried look warring with an angry one.

  “Definitely. It looked like he ripped out the thing’s entire [Status] in one move.” The elf grimaced at the picture he summoned, shaking his head and sighing. “Besides, he was part minotaur and dragon, while the other creature was mostly snake creature and a bit dragon. Makes sense for the dead body to be the snake.”

  “But why was it dumping the minotaur form on him?” Marge asked, rubbing her muzzle in frustration.

  “Most likely an added effect to the skill. From the gems I currently have, it was over rank five.” Hops sighed, pulling out one of the dragon gems. “I’m really hoping Roge keeps some of these. They look beautiful.”

  “Once we get into the city, we need to take him to a healer,” Sean growled, scratching at his mane. “I haven’t heard of any doppelganger snakes, but I do know that the healers can see trickery of any sort.”

  “So until then, we treat him as Roge,” Marge grumbled, putting up her own hammock and getting into it. “For now, get some rest.”

  “We couldn’t have seen that thing coming,” Hops murmured, the lion giving him a disgruntled glare. “It’s true. That thing even had the higher level guards fooled, and you think we could have protected him from that?”

  “I think I do need a God aligned class…” Sean muttered, Hops looking at him with wide eyes. “They have perception skills for stuff like that. I’m going to need it if things are attracted to Roge too often.”

  “Just… be careful. You know how… fanatical the clergy can get.” It was Hops’ turn to get into bed at that, the lion the only one standing as he looked over Roge’s sleeping form.

  ‘Maybe I should just ask him. You never know what day will be your last,’ Sean mused, quietly setting up his hammock to the tune of the three sets of snoring.