As someone who lived two lives. How could Dylan not guess it? But he was confused by Priest Howard's motive. Why??? What would he get from doing this? For fun? The priest doesn't strike Dylan as someone that would do that.
For enmity? Dylan was sure that it was the first time Dylan met the priest. Enmity directed at David? Nah, Dylan couldn't perceive any malice when Howard and David interacted.
That leaves with one thing... The Savage Deer's evolution might benefit the priest in some way!
Suddenly, Dylan felt the tremor on the ground, the rustle of leaves, and the sound of heavy footsteps.
'I'm cooked! That thing is level 8. How am I supposed to fight it?'
Dylan, at this time, felt it unfortunate that he doesn't have the firebody and the buster tounge of the spark frog yet because it was still alive.
'Damn it!' Dylan held his breath. He knew that one wrong mistake and he's dead. He gritted his teeth. 'Status!'
...
Name: Dylan
Level 3
HP: 200/200
Mana: 110/110
Specie: Human
Profession: N/A
Attributes:
STR: 10
VIT: 10
AGI: 10
INT: 11
WIS: 20
CHA: 18
Free attributes: 10
-Skills-
Origin Skill:
Soul Split, Shared Senses.
Essence Skill:
Lvl1 Bloodsucking.
Super skill:
Advance Skill:
Lvl1 Fly.
Intermediate Skill:
Ordinary Skill:
Selves:
Evaluation: Weak as fuck. Can fight an adult human reluctantly.
...
'What can I use to fight the deer?'
Dylan clicked the Lvl1 Bloodsucking skill that he got from the mosquito.
Lvl 1. Bloodsucking (Essence Skill)- The ability to suck blood to gain 1 hp per second. It essentially steals the health of the target. No cooldown. Doesn't require mana or stamina. (Due to a different body, the user needs to touch the target for the skill to take effect.)
'This is too weak! 1 hp damage and its lifesteal is just a drop in the ocean. It seems its level isn't enough. I should've leveled it up before If I knew I would be put in this kind of situation!'
Suddenly, Dylan perceived a sudden change in the environment. He felt a strong aura of malice. At this moment, the Savage Deer was only 10 meters away from the bush where Dylan was hiding.
It's red bloodshot eyes scanned around. If one looks closely, they would see a large bloodied knife cut on its neck. However, it's not deep enough to hinder it.
Dylan didn't dare to move too much. 'If only David's attack managed to penetrate the neck. We wouldn't have been in this situation. Damned David! He's the one that forces me to be in these shitty circumstances!'
He looked at David's dead body, a little resentful. If you're looking for death, why drag him!?
However, Dylan also blames himself for being too greedy for mere silver coins. What's the use of money if you're dead? Dylan regrets it.
'No! I am not reconciled. I need to think of something!'
The image of the spark frog suddenly appeared in his mind. Then, Dylan clicked its name under the "Selves" in the panel to look at its status.
...
Name: Spark Frog
Level 4
HP: 280/280
Mana: 110/
Specie: Amphibian/Frog
Profession: N/A
Attributes:
STR: 11
VIT: 14
AGI: 12
INT: 11
WIS: 4
CHA: 4
-Skills-
Origin Skill:
Essence Skill:
Lvl2 Firebody.
Super skill:
Advance Skill:
Intermediate Skill:
Lvl2 Buster Tongue.
Ordinary Skill:
Evaluation: Belongs to the weakest kind of monsters in this world. A frog mutated to spark a frog due to the existence of mana.
...
As he saw the skills. David's eyes suddenly became hopeful. The Firebody and Buster Tounge skill had actually reached level 2. It means that the Spark Frog fought some creatures until it reached enough profiency which made it level up!
As Dylan thought of this. He clenched his fist. He hates what he is about to do. He used "Shared Senses" skill to communicate with the Spark Frog and told it to commit suicide. He told the frog that he was in danger. Once he dies. He would also die anyway.
What Dylan didn't expect. The Spark Frog was so decisive that it used its Firebody to its limit. Poured all its mana in one go that burned its own body. It screamed in pain before it turned to ashes...
Dylan who witnessed the scene through "Shared Senses" was touched. He didn't expect the Spark Frog to be so brave and novel!
As expected of himself!
However, Dylan also knew that the Spark Frog treated him as himself. The two of them are the same entity just in different bodies. After all, the soul fragment was part of his soul. Although the body died, the soul fragment would just reunite with him. Simply, only the vessel died, not the split soul.
Although the loss of the spark frog vessel was such a pity. The soul fragment Dylan understood that once the main Dylan dies. It would be a permanent death of both of them!
*DING!*
[The Spark Frog committed suicide! You successfully received its skills, memories, and talents.]
Dylan knew it's not the time to be happy or scan the memory of the frog. He immediately called out his status. As he did so, he immediately saw the changes.
...Name: Dylan
Level 3
HP: 200/200
Mana: 110/110
Specie: Human
Profession: N/A
Attributes:
STR: 10
VIT: 10
AGI: 10
INT: 11
WIS: 13
CHA: 18
Free attributes: 10
-Skills-
Origin Skill:
Soul Split, Shared Senses.
Essence Skill:
Lvl1 Bloodsucking.
Super skill:
Advance Skill:
Lvl1 Fly.
Intermediate Skill:
Ordinary Skill:
Selves:
The changes? Due to the death of Spark Frog. Its name disappeared under the "Selves". He also inherited its level 2 skills. Dylan knew how large the gap of skills was between levels. If in level 1, one could only use flame to fry marshmallows, level 2 can directly scorch a living human! Of course, it depends on the quality of the skill itself. But that's the gist of it.
Dylan decided to view the skills.
[Lvl 2 Firebody. Active Skill. Emit high-temperature steam around the body. A continuous damage directly proportioned to the INT attribute. Causes -50hp per second + -5hp extra damage per INT and -2hp per WIS. Consumed 20 mana per second.
[Lvl 2 Buster Tongue. Active Skill. Elongate the tongue and bless it with flame attribute aura. Deals total of -110hp + -5hp per INT + -hp per WIS. Consumes 50 mana.]
Without hesitation, Dylan used all his free attributes to intelligence to the two new monster skills he obtained to increase their damage!
From 11, his INT attribute directly reaches fearsome 21! That would be an extra -105 per second damage!
110 + 105 (INT) + 26 (WIS). That would be a total of 241 damage per second! Yes, per second! Just how much does the Savage Deer has? Even if one doubled its current HP, it still won't be able to resist. There was still the Lvl 2 Buster Tongue...
Unfortunately, he could only use Firebody for 10 seconds due to -20 mana per second. Dylan has only 210 mana even after he used all 10 free attributes to INT. The Lvl 2 skills were quite mana intensive due to their power...