Jerome, in the ockdine’s body, was impaled on the spiky bark of a tree trunk with only 4 HP left.

He’d lived a good life.

He’d transformed into a gnoll and a ockdine, so he might have even lived three good lives. That was more than most people.

Being impaled was not a stable position, so his HP went down to 3.

Was this the end? It was a curious question. How could it not be the end?

Would you like to transform?

* Norrruru (ockdine, 24 hours remaining)

* Krystyna (human, 24 hours remaining)

Salvation! Two choices for salvation!

It was, perhaps, the easiest choice Jerome had ever made.

Back to human, here we go!

His new transformed body was no longer impaled, but it was really high up, so he fell unceremoniously into the dirt below and lost a small chunk off of his health bar.

It was good to be human. He didn’t even mind the pain of the fall. Time to pick himself back up and… why was his balance so weird? He stood up and almost immediately toppled forward again.

That’s when he realized that he didn’t just take on a specific race when he did the Transformation… he took on the entire body of that specific person.

He was himself, but in Krystyna’s body.

His balance returned and he was able to manage standing upright. This was almost as hard as getting used to the gnoll body. How could she fight like this? Suddenly Jerome had a newfound respect for women.

Speaking of… he looked down and started immediately respecting Wit and Charm. They looked so different from this angle… attached to him!

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Krystyna stood with her mouth open. “Holy hell! What the… how in the…”

“Hi to you as well. You almost killed me back there.”

“How was I to know? You looked exactly like the ockdine that chased after you.”

“I don’t know, maybe because I saved you from the other one?”

“It was a heated moment!”

She jogged over to where he sat, then crouched next to him, inspecting his face and arms. “Are you okay? You don’t seem hurt much, despite the whole fight.”

She continued her inspection, stopping at his (her?) chest. “Huh,” she said. “I get why you always do this.”

Finally, something he could bond with her over! “I know, right? I don’t get why girls seem to dislike it. Being wanted feels nice.”

She turned bright red. “No, I don’t want… I mean…” She looked around. “Let’s talk about your power. I think we’ve found your unique power.”

It made sense that she didn’t want to touch his boobs. They were her boobs, and she’d had many opportunities to touch them her entire adult life. Still, he was disappointed.

“Yes, my power. How did you know I had a power?”

“Every human in New Australia gets a power. It makes even a level 1 human dangerous, and it’s one of the reasons why we’re so feared.”

“One of the reasons?”

“The other is that a lot of the people sent here are convicted felons. There are political deportees like myself, and blundering idiots like you, but we’ve also got thieves, murderers, rapists, embezzlers, kidnappers, drug runners, gangsters… they got here and started wreaking havoc. Not to mention a good portion of the non-criminals thought it was a game and that they could just kill and steal without consequences.”

“Got it. So we’re fledgling superheros.”

This was going to be awesome.

“Were you listening? Maybe we’re superheroes, but ninety percent of the humans coming across the quantum border are fledgling supervillains. Actual villains, or idiots who think this is an MMO, given superpowers.”

It finally made sense why they were so hated, why people were trying to kill them. It also meant they were the last two humans here, and if they wanted a future for the species… he smiled to himself. Duty was a hard hard… well, no, his duty wasn’t hard at that moment because he was in the body of a woman. How were they going to make a future for the species like that?

“Why were you smiling?” she asked. “I just told you that we’re the most hated species in this world. Did I mention that the only human outpost is run by a convicted rapist? I don’t know how long you stay in my body, but trust me, as long as you look like that there’s nowhere safe for you.”

The gears in his head turned. Humans were hunted everywhere… but he had just turned into a gnoll and then an ockdine.

“I think I have a solution.”