《A weird snake eats everything it can》


 A headstart on the competition

    After a life of mediocrity, I felt a twinge of regret as the knife plunged into my heart. It was only a slight twinge though. I was ready to leave already; this life had been a hassle.


    Do you know the light at the end of the tunnel? That¡¯s your past. Your past lives to be exact. The moment the blade pierced me I remembered my past lives, and I realized how mediocre the life I had been leading really was, and then it was gone. I could no longer remember any of my other past lives, only the last one.


    <hr>


    I was suddenly alive again. I knew this because I could feel once more. I could remember my past life, and I remembered remembering more, but I couldn¡¯t remember them anymore, but I knew that remembering was not something that I was supposed to be able to do. I was supposed to start with a clean slate, an infant.


    I shook of such thoughts; they wouldn¡¯t help me now. I tried to move, and succeeded at least partly. My body moved, my neck moved and my legs moved, but they were stuck together somehow. I didn¡¯t think too hard on it, I had probably not always been human anyway, so this shouldn¡¯t come as a surprise. I kept up my struggling, because what else can you call wriggling like a worm? A worm? Wait¡­ I struggled for my life until I figured out a trick, or rather, I figured out I had a tooth, and with it, a mouth. I wasn¡¯t a worm; I was a snake. I felt relief flood me. Being a worm would have sucked.


    After some time trying to figure out how to use my newly discovered tooth, I managed to make a crack in my egg. It felt glorious to feel the fresh¡­ something trickle into my egg, it was starting to smell very me in here, or maybe it was just a sort of eggy smell I was smelling. Whatever it was it smelled much worse than the outside so I used my newly perfected trick to hatch myself and after a bit of wriggling I managed it. I was out.


    {Congratulations. You have been born as a Coastal Snakeling. As an infant, you will struggle to find food and survive, but thanks to your tenacity and grit you are the first of your siblings to be born and get a bonus.}


    [First of many snakes]


    // You are the first of your clutch of hundreds to hatch. Whether through luck or strength of will it remains that none of your siblings have you beat in speed. Gain a bonus when your first sibling hatches. The greater your lead, the greater the reward. //


    {Coastal Snakeling Infant}


    Level: 1


    Skill points: 1


    Might ¨C 1


    Toughness ¨C 1


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    // The most basic of basic forms when newly hatched, the Coastal Snake, when fully grown, has a variety of advantages over other creatures sharing its environment. From a snakeling barely capable of breaking out of its egg to a powerful adult snake capable of crushing crustaceans for the succulent meat inside, and suffocating baby seals with ease before swallowing them whole, the Coastal Snake is a terror of the shallows. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to imagine them at the top of the shallows food chain if they weren¡¯t so incredibly territorial. So territorial are they in fact, that infighting begins the moment they hatch and out of the hundreds of eggs that a mother Coastal Snake lays, only a few dozen at most can be expected to survive infancy. Those that survive do so in two ways, they either fight and devour their siblings, or flee immediately. //


    {Sapience detected. Sapient Coastal Snakeling Infants before now: 0. Congratulations, you are the most intelligent Coastal Snakeling Infant ever to exist. Have a bonus.}


    [First signs of intelligent snake life]


    // You are the very first of your kind to look inside yourself for the answers. You want more than food and safety, you don¡¯t know what it is you want just yet, but you want something. Do more, get more. When you have everyone else beat, you don¡¯t just win, you dominate. //


    Alright. This is getting off the ground nicely, rewarded for being born. I¡¯m going to call myself the one percent from now on, hah.


    {Name accepted. You are hereby known as: The One Percent. Number of Coastal Snakeling Infants who chose their own name: 0. Congratulations, you are the first Coastal Snakeling Infant to name itself. Bonus time.}


    [Snake names have power]


    // Names come with burdens, and none are as ponderous as those we give ourselves. You are The One Percent, envied for your status, the other 99% don¡¯t realize the burdens placed upon you. Be more than them and it will stay that way. //


    I just placed a curse on myself. Envied by who though? My siblings are supposed to be just normal baby snakes¡­ Aggressive baby snakes¡­ Are they going to gang up on me now? Oh hell no, I am going to live this life to the fullest after squandering the last one.


    I look around myself for the first time and I see exactly what I expected to see. Hundreds of snake eggs littering the ground. I see no baby mama, and perhaps that¡¯s for the best, she might just eat her own children if what I just learned of my species is all correct.


    Suddenly I have a realization. I¡¯m floating. I¡¯m underwater. Of course I am, I¡¯m supposed to become a ¡®terror of the shallows,¡¯ that means I should be an underwater snake. I wriggle around for a bit to try and get better control of my body, and after some time I feel I have it under fairly good control. I can swim forward, turn, go up and down, and I can even swim backwards a little bit. It¡¯s time to enact my plan, my survival plan. I am going to become a cannibal, or at least a mass murderer of my own siblings.


    I don¡¯t give myself more time to think of the wrongness of that statement and just do it. I look around, and thankfully my eyesight seems to have remained relatively the same, though a bit blurry near the edges of my vision, and I can see a greater angle than a human, almost a full circle around myself. I flick my tongue out of my mouth and taste the water. It tastes weird, that¡¯s all I can say for it. I really wish I knew more about sea snakes.


    I wriggle up to an egg I can see is shaking a lot, it will probably hatch soon. I had a plan to start squeezing the others eggs one by one and that is what I began to do. After some fiddling, I managed to wrap myself around the egg and began to squeeze. It took some tries and some re-wrapping before I figured out what muscles to use when, but finally the egg cracked and I squeezed it in half. Inside was a tiny little snake. It was smaller than me, and its eyes didn¡¯t seem capable of opening yet. This was news to me, I had thought my siblings would be hatching soon after I did, but apparently this egg that I had thought was just about to hatch still had had a good while to go. Nothing for it then, in you go.


    I opened my mouth as wide as it would go and caught my sibling¡¯s tail in my mouth. I had him half inside me when I finally had to start gulping him down. He didn¡¯t resist at all, and I decided not to question my good luck. When I got to his head I bit down as hard as I could and his still maturing skull squished more than cracked as I killed my own sibling.


    {You have ingested your first meal. Congratulations, as a sapient you will now have access to skills that you can purchase with your skill points. Non-sapient individuals do not have the required intellect to make their own choices and follow a predetermined path. You have a choice to make.}


    There were a lot of choices let me tell you. I had a choice between everything from (Sneak) to (Berserk), and other opposites such as (Compress) and (Enlarge), (Camouflage) and (Overbearing Presence), and these were barely a drop in the bucket. I read as many as I could bear to, but eventually I settled on (Enlarge). It suited my needs perfectly.


    (Enlarge)


    // Temporarily convert density to size. Increases might and toughness depending on density of musculature and defenses. Allows a creature with more density than size to become larger and stronger at the cost of its swiftness and finesse. This skill causes its user to consume more energy than it can reasonably acquire with its larger size, making it a detriment to stay enlarged for any period of time over a few minutes. Some creatures will be better suited for this skill than others. //


    It was perfect¡­ probably. If I could enlarge myself and go on a feeding frenzy as a B I G B O Y then my problems would be solved. I took the skill, felt a tingling in my head and used it immediately. I watched as everything around me got smaller and I wriggled with glee at my genius. Then it stopped and I hadn¡¯t even doubled in size yet. I felt a bit cheated, but it made sense. I was an infant still, barely out of my egg and I probably still needed to put some meat on my bones. I really wanted to check if that list of my abilities woul- Oh there it is.


    {Coastal Snakeling Infant}


    Level: 1


    Skill points: 0


    Might ¨C 2


    Toughness ¨C 2


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    An increase of one in both of my Might and Toughness¡­ Well at least I got something out of this, now that I actually put some thought into it, I could have been really screwed if I wasn¡¯t as dense as I am. Well, no ragrets as the saying goes. This turned out just fine after all. I doubled both in might and toughness, so that¡¯s something.


    I turn my enlarged head to my left and right, searched for my next meal/sibling. I see one egg is shaking and immediately head over to it. With my new strength it cracks in two with little effort and my little sibling floats out of it. I quickly eat it and move on to the next. There is some yolk or something also floating out of the egg, but I regretfully ignore the nutritious treat in favor of my siblings.


    After some more fratricide I get a message.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 2. You have matured into a Coastal Snakeling Toddler. For being the first of your clutch to level up you get a bonus.}


    [Big sister snake]


    // You have become the strongest of your clutch through determination, grit, and sheer force of will (or luck). Your lead is impressive. With two levels over all of your clutch mates you have become the biggest fish by a wide margin. You are lucky you were born in a small pond, as you are now the apex predator in your little cave, but will you stay the mountain¡¯s peak? Become the top of the food chain and you will find it easy to stay there, for a time. //


    It looked like a straight bonus, but really, what is with these so-called bonuses? None of them have actually given me anything straight of the bat. When am I going to get some ability boosts? I did just level up. Isn¡¯t that when I¡¯m supposed to get my ability boosts? I think of the list from earlier and find a pleasant surprise.


    {Coastal Snakeling Toddler}


    Level: 2


    Skill points: 1


    Might ¨C 2


    Toughness ¨C 2


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    I was kidding, it wasn¡¯t a pleasant surprise, it was horrible. I¡¯m still just as weak as before. Damn it. This sucks. Ok calm down, this isn¡¯t all bad. I have another skill point, so I can get a new skill at least. I let (Enlarge) go and- Woah! I grew again? Wait that¡¯s not how this works. I check my abilities again.


    {Coastal Snakeling Toddler}


    Level: 2


    Skill points: 1


    Might ¨C 3


    Toughness ¨C 3


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    Oh, now I get it, I got bigger when I leveled up, and instead of (Enlarge) making me even bigger it just sort of turned off when my natural size caught up with my (Enlarge) size. That¡¯s sort of neat, but what about when I don¡¯t catch up? What happens then? I guess I might find out eventually, but right now I need to eat more of my unborn siblings and level up again. I¡¯ve only eaten 6 up until now, I still have hundreds to go if I want to be completely safe here. Alright, let¡¯s get back to the fratricide.


    I ate my siblings much the same as before but with my new strength and size I could just ram into the eggs and they¡¯d break enough for me to bite into my siblings with my toothless maw and gulp them down. I must have eaten a dozen or so before the next message.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 3. You have matured into a Coastal Snakeling Child.}


    {Coastal Snakeling Child}


    Level: 3


    Skill points: 2


    Might ¨C 4


    Toughness ¨C 3


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    This time as I grew, I noticed it, as I actually outgrew my (Enlarge) state. How did this work? Was (Enlarge) actually a really bad skill with very diminishing returns as I leveled? I had noticed that I only grew by about the same at Level: 2 as I did at Level: 1 but I didn¡¯t give it as much thought as I probably should have. I used (Enlarge) and again, only about as much as before. I had nearly doubled in size at Level: 1, but now I only grew by about a quarter. How did this work? Help?


    {Request for help answered. (Enlarge) works by converting density into size. Once a creature has become an adult, they can control whether to grow in size or density, until then they will only grow in size. Exceptions exist.}


    Oh, alright, thank you strange voice in my head. That explains it. So maybe (Enlarge) isn¡¯t as good right now as I thought, but it was really useful at level one, I couldn¡¯t have eaten 6 of my siblings otherwise, even if they¡¯re still just fetuses. Well, back to eating.


    I gobbled up more snakelings and was feeling pretty good about myself all things considered, but I was getting damn near full at this point. I had killed and eaten around 30 of my siblings when I first started to feel it, and at 40 I had found my limit. I hadn¡¯t leveled up again, which was frustrating, but whatever. The real problem was what I knew would soon happen. I had thought that things matured at the same speed here as in my previous life, but in hindsight that was dumb of me to think what with my own growth rate. The latest embryo I ate had fully open eyes, and it had swum. It swam very poorly but it had swum for a few moments before I devoured it. They would be hatching soon, I knew it. I had tried to eat the most active ones but it would seem that being able to eat 40 did not equate to being able to digest 40, and on top of that I was actually feeling hungry. I had a stomach full to bursting and I was hungry. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was (Enlarge) that was making me so hungry. It¡¯s warning of using more energy or something had been rather clear.


    I decided to get more skills, after all I still had two skill points. The list was as long and daunting as before, but I managed to find something I wanted in it, two somethings.


    (Devouring Vacuum)


    // Create a strong suction force in your throat by forcing water out through your gills. Sucks water and anything in it into your mouth and separates it into your gills to be expelled in the case of water, and your stomach in the case of food. Anything small enough will also by expelled through the gills. //


    (Gastric Burst)


    // Turn a sizable amount of your bodies energy towards creating gastric acid to more quickly digest the contents of your stomach. Side effects vary. //


    The warning about side effects was a little worrisome but with these two and my size I should be able to quickly devour all of my siblings as they hatch. I have scouted the chamber and located the only exit and there I will stay once my siblings start hatching. I won¡¯t be able to eat all of them, but if they¡¯re going to be as aggressive as I¡¯ve been told they will be, then I¡¯ll only need to eat a few dozen at first and the rest will kill each other.


    I take my place in the exit tunnel, which now that I think about it, it looks like someone dug this and the cave with the eggs. Did mama snake dig this? Whatever, I need to digest what¡¯s in my stomach. I activate (Gastric Burst). Immediately I feel so drained. What was I doing? Eh, it doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll just¡­ float here for a bit. Mhhhmmhh.


    <hr>


    I wake up some time later to a strange feeling. It¡¯s like someone¡¯s nibbling on me. I open my eyes and to my surprise I see a tiny little snake using his toothless maw to try and chew on my tail. Oh my god, it¡¯s adorable. It¡¯s trying to swallow me whole. I¡¯m at least 4 times its width and it¡¯s trying to eat me whole. I feel so reinvigorated by the sight that I decide to do something special for this one. I eat it alive. Now it can be cute in my tummy.


    [First of many snakes]


    // Your lead is impressive. Your first sibling took two days longer than you to hatch. Maybe you had something to do with that? Whatever the reason you hatched days before your siblings, the fact remains that you are unrivaled amongst them. As a cannibal, your bonus has been set. Gain Might upon evolving from devouring the young of your own species. The closer the relation, the more Might you gain.


    0.001 Might from distantly related snakes.


    0.01 Might from cousins, nieces, nephews, and descendants beyond great-grandchildren


    0.02 Might from siblings and great-grandchildren.


    0.03 Might from grandchildren.


    0.05 Might from children.


    X level until adulthood.


    Proliferate and grow strong. //


    Alright, that¡¯s a bit morbid. I guess I deserve it though, I did already eat 40 of my own siblings after all. 41 after the cute one. I can feel him wriggling around inside me. That sounded wrong, but enough of that. Let¡¯s focus on the problem at hand. My siblings are hatching.


    That (Gastric Burst) seems to have put me under for a couple of days as I digested. That could have been bad if my siblings had hatched sooner, but there has only been one so far. I think there has only been one, but maybe some of them just left already? I look over at the eggs, and sure enough, a few eggs near the exit have hatched already. I look around but I see no other cutie-snakes. They must have left.


    I am feeling a bit peckish. Might as well use that bonus now.


    I eat a few of my siblings as before, but as I¡¯m eating my 45<sup>th</sup> sibling I heard it.


    CRACK.


    It echoes around the chamber and at first I¡¯m not sure what is happening, but then it begins. My siblings hatch almost all at once. I panic a bit and freeze from the unexpectedness of this. I didn¡¯t think this was the reason for the infighting.


    As I look around, I see my siblings all over fighting each other by just sort of flailing around and hoping to injure each other, a few of them even come after me. I watch in a sort of daze as my adorable siblings gang up on me and try to eat me. They fail so delightfully I can¡¯t help but laugh a little in my head. They have no teeth except the one blunt egg tooth and that can¡¯t pierce my scales in the slightest.


    Ara ara. They¡¯re so cute, nibbling on my scales like that. I just want to wrap around them and hug- Oh, I killed them. I was so much stronger than them that they just died the moment I tried to hug them. That was a bit sad, I wanted to play with my little siblings. I wanted to rub them against my scales and cuddle against their cute little snaky bodies. Oh well, there are more where these came from, a lot more.


    I activate (Devouring Vacuum) and make my way over to the exit, all the while sucking up as many of my siblings as I can manage. I finally lose count of how many of my siblings I¡¯ve eaten as I¡¯m doing so.


    I turn around in the exit and face the rest of my siblings, and it¡¯s a bloodbath. There are snake parts everywhere, and a few of my siblings have matured a little, though I doubt any of them will get past the toddler stage and to the child stage I¡¯m apparently in. I find a little corner in the exit that hides me from the bloodbath and allows me to keep an eye on the exit to make sure no more of my sibling escape.


    Over the next few hours ¨C I don¡¯t really know how long it was, but it was longer than when I was eating them out of their eggs ¨C I eat only about a dozen or so snakes that try to make a run for it. All the ones I eat are infants likely running from their toddler siblings, and they¡¯re just so cute I can¡¯t kill them, so I eat them alive and let them wriggle around in my stomach. Who knows, maybe one of them will get lucky and kill enough to become a toddler while in my stomach. Ah, I want to feel their larger forms try to escape my stomach acid¡­ Maybe I shouldn¡¯t be finding pleasure in this. Coastal Snakelings have weird instincts.


    I take a peek into the cave. I can see a few toddlers duking it out and infant corpses absolutely everywhere. A few infants are darting around eating their dead siblings. One of them evolves right then and immediately joins the toddler brawl. This would not be tolerated if this were a kindergarten. I should make them play nice¡­ In my stomach. I¡¯m so weirded out by my own instincts. Whatever, I¡¯m just going to go back to my nook and wait for this to blow over.


    Some more time passes and then I can¡¯t hear any more fighting, though I suspect this snake form has pretty poor hearing. I take another peek and can only make out two toddlers now. They seem to be too tired to keep fighting, as the only movements they make are lazy tail swipes at each other. It would seem that a lot of infants were waiting for this, as they rise up from among the eggshells and start greedily gulping down their dead infant brethren, and I watch, fascinated, as they mature in droves and the two tired toddlers are quickly killed and eaten by a small hoard of about a dozen other toddlers.


    Coastal Snakelings are brutal. They start their life with a cannibalistic bloodbath, and then become a terror of the shallows, eating baby seals and crustaceans and probably everything between those two¡­ No, they eat baby seals whole. How big do they need to be to do that?


    I look at my siblings. They look just like land snakes, though maybe a little more¡­ vertical? They have no fins. Their jaws stick to the sides a little bit, meaning if they can squeeze their head into something then the rest of their bodies can follow with ease. If I were to put their body width at an arbitrary 1, then I¡¯d say they were about a 10 in length. Cute little noodles. This stays true for the toddlers as well, though I¡¯d put their length-to-width ratio at about 15:1.


    I decide this will be my moment of glory. I exit my nook and enter the cavern. My siblings react in different ways. Most keep doing what they were doing, but a few toddlers and infants swim my way, seemingly intent on ganging up on me. Let them, I am more powerful than they could ever imagine!


    I use (Enlarge) and grow by a quarter. None of them seem to notice, or at least they don¡¯t care if they do. They don¡¯t care to surround me, instead they just all charge me and try to squeeze or bite me. Ah, my cute little siblings are hugging me! Ow, actually, those toddlers can squeeze, damn it! Die!


    I start flailing around while coiling myself around one of the toddlers that were dumb enough to try and bite me instead if squeezing. I quickly leave him a mess of innards floating in the water and move on to the rest of the ones surrounding me. I leave the infants alone, or rather, I don¡¯t deliberately kill any of them for now. I question whether they could even bite into my eyes they¡¯re so adorable.


    I use (Devouring Vacuum) to scoop the toddler goop into my stomach and coil and uncoil to try and get rid of the toddlers wrapped around me. They don¡¯t seem capable of doing any real damage to me, but they do smart though. They¡¯re like a whole-body noogie. After a time, I get one of them in reach of my mouth and quickly bite down into its scales. I don¡¯t quite manage to bite it in half, but I¡¯m close. The toddler lets go, or more likely, loses his grip without the entirety of his body to work with and after another bite I grab one lose end and gulp it down. I hastily devour the other end as well, and continue my struggle with my siblings.


    With the toddler around my neck gone I twist around and bite the rest into pieces. I don¡¯t have any teeth, but my jaws are strong enough to crush soft toddler bones, and I have ridges on the outside of my mouth that I can use to crush-cut my siblings. After freeing myself and sucking up the toddler pieces I start to swim around and eat the infants still here. Some of them escaped while I was occupied, but that¡¯s alright, they might make some cute nieces and nephews for me to cuddle and eat.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    After a while of eating, killing, and eating some more I¡¯m rewarded for my wholesome nature as a caring older sibling.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 4. You have matured into a Coastal Snakeling Adolescent. venom glands and injector fangs grown to adolescent standards (20% of adult size)}


    {Coastal Snakeling Adolescent}


    Level: 4


    Skill points: 1


    Might ¨C 8


    Toughness ¨C 5


    Cunning ¨C 1(?)


    Charm ¨C 1


    That took a lot longer than the others. I don¡¯t know how much I¡¯ve eaten by now, but it is a lot. Does time matter? Is it just how much I eat? Is it relative to my size or not? Does the number of things matter more than the overall amount? What about levels? Do I get less from lesser leveled creatures? I¡¯ll have ask for help I think. Help?


    {Request for help denied. Try again in: 8 days: 18 hours: 54 minutes.}


    Crud, I¡¯m on my own it seems. Oh well, I just grew to almost double my previous size, so let¡¯s keep eating these cute, delicious morsels of noodly adorableness.


    <hr>


    After using (Devouring Vacuum) to eat every last one of my remaining siblings I finally say goodbye to the cave and swim through the exit tunnel to leave. After a little bit of time I finally see the sun! How was I seeing before? I look back and realize that I had completely missed the glowing plants sticking to the cave walls and ceiling. Huh. No matter.


    I exit the tunnel into the sun and a fish swims up from beneath me and tries to swim away. I gobble it up and keep going but again a fish swims into my path and I gobble it up too. That¡¯s when I really take a good look around, and holy snaketits, there are a lot of fish around here. I can sea shells and some rocks on the seafloor around me. There is a definite slope, and in the distance, I think I can see where it probably turns into a beach. There are corals and seaweed where the water is a little deeper. There are barbed balls of flesh, and slugs on the seafloor being avoided by crustaceans of all kinds. I can¡¯t see anything bigger than myself around here. Oh yeah. Dinner time.


    I swim around and suck every fish I see into my waiting maw with (Devouring Vacuum). I really like (Devouring Vacuum). It leaves all the fish alive. A massage from the inside is really something. I keep it up until I can barely move and I can see I¡¯ve almost tripled in width along most of my body, just from the amount of food in me. It¡¯s getting very hard to swim in fact. This is probably all I can eat for now, but damn it, just you wait fish! I¡¯ll eat all of you!


    I head back for the cave where I hatched and while I don¡¯t quite need to squeeze to get inside the tunnel, I do scrape the walls on every turn until I get back to the cave. I look around just to be safe and once I deem it so, I activate (Gastric Burst) and lose consciousness.


    <hr>


    I awake an unknown amount of time later in- Wait! Genius thought. Help?


    {Request for help denied. Try again in: 7 days: 2 hours: 13 minutes.}


    Alright, so about a day and a half since I began the final cannibal feeding frenzy. I look myself over and I seem to have successfully digested everything I ate. I¡¯m back to my slim, fit and ¨C I wriggle around ¨C curvy figure.


    I leave the cave again and this time decide that rather than immediately gorging myself on the lesser beings around me I should explore a bit. Doesn¡¯t mean can¡¯t have a snack on my way there. (Devouring Vacuum)!


    I swim towards what I think will be a beach and poke my head out of the water. Yep, decent beach alright. Sand, more sand. Ooh, and sand! I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s just this snaky form, but I am really unenthusiastic about this beach. I dunk my head back underwater a take a breath. Maybe it was the whole not being able to breath thing, but who knows.


    I poke my head back out of the water and look around. This time I notice something in the distance. Is that¡­ a pier? I swim towards it and yep, it is indeed a pier. There¡¯s even a small rowboat on the other side of it. Ooh, another genius idea.


    I swim until I¡¯m beside the boat and then use it to measure myself. Hmm. I¡¯m about 1 ? of a small rowboat in length. Are they 2 meters long? I¡¯m going to say they¡¯re 2 meters long. That makes me¡­ 3 ? meters? I think that¡¯s right. Nice, I know how long I am now. But what about the people here? Surely they would recognize a ¡®terror of the shallows¡¯ if they saw me. Hmm. How would people react to a many meters long venomous snake hanging around their rowboat? With fear? Probably. With violence? If I don¡¯t leave as soon as they see me, probably. They would most likely get something to at least scare me away, and if they know how aggressive my species is, they¡¯ll likely kill me flat out so I can¡¯t grow bigger than I already am and become a danger to them¡­ Do I want to talk to people? Not really. I don¡¯t really feel the need to talk to other people, or other snakes for that matter. Coastal Snakelings are solitary hunters, likely only ever meeting on friendly terms during mating season.


    I won¡¯t dwell on it too much, but since I¡¯ve already eaten, and if my speed of digestion without (Gastric Burst) is any indication then I probably only really need to eat a little bit each day, or a big, bloating meal every¡­ week? Month? I didn¡¯t actually know how much I needed compared to how much I had eaten. Anyway, my point is that I¡¯m going to wait here and see if I can hear these humans talking or something. Maybe I¡¯ll learn where I am, and if they have levels too. I look up into the sky and after a little bit of focus I can see the sun is rising, which would make this the middle of the morning, a perfect time to go fishing!


    I waited patiently for the fisherman to come and after waiting about an hour ¨C I checked ¨C I was rewarded with the sounds of footsteps on the pier above me.


    <hr>


    ¡°Samson! You know it¡¯s too dangerous to go fishing now! The Snakelings will hatch any day now!¡±


    ¡°I know that Doris. I¡¯ve got my machete, and they can¡¯t capsize the boat until at least adolescence and that won¡¯t happen for another month. You¡¯ve got nothing to worry about. I¡¯m just going out to the fishery. I¡¯ll throw one net and then come back.¡±


    The speakers where a pair of humans. One was a woman with dark brown hair in a single braid down to her lower back and a thin build. The other was a redheaded man with a full beard, short hair, and a wide but obviously strong frame. She wore a faded light blue dress and an apron. He wore a checkered shirt and loose pants.


    ¡°I know all of that already, I just think you¡¯re being silly. You can just wait until your brother comes back, he¡¯s due in no more than two days. There¡¯s no need to risk yourself like this!¡± The woman was staying relatively calm, her urgency was clear, but she kept from raising her voice more than a little.


    ¡°Doris, you know that the toddlers aren¡¯t a risk to me, and even if there is a child, then I have the machete to hack it in half. You know I¡¯ve done this before, why are you so adamant I not leave shore this time?¡± The man sounded exasperated. He seemed intent on soothing the woman before he left, but he was a little bit annoyed that he had to do it at all.


    ¡°I just have a bad feeling about this, Samson. What if there¡¯s a leader among them? Or they have serpent blood in them, or behemoth blood? I have the Gypsy class; I can feel something is going to go wrong today if I don¡¯t do something to stop it and going fishing is the only dangerous thing that either of us is doing today.¡± The woman was a little worse now. She seemed intent on talking the man out of going to the fishery. ¡°If you go out to that fishery then I won¡¯t put out for a month!¡±


    The man¡¯s eyes widened in horror at the threat and he gaped just like the fish he was going to catch. He looked at the woman in front of him and seemed to consider whether further arguing was worth not getting any for a month. He closed his eyes and mouth, put one closed fist on his hip and stroked his beard. He stayed like that for a moment but sighed at last. ¡°Alright Doris, you¡¯re holding my sanity hostage here, but the fish need to be culled. They¡¯ll get agitated and start leaping out of the fishery or swimming into each other and bruising if I don¡¯t reduce their numbers. Besides, the Gypsy class is barely accurate enough to be considered a seeing class at higher levels and I know you¡¯ve only got 20 levels at most in it.¡± The man seemed reluctant to argue anymore but apparently, he was really afraid his fish would do something stupid.


    The woman looked aghast, as if she couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d kept trying to sway her. ¡°Samson, it¡¯s two days until your brother gets here and he has a much bigger boat. You can just get him to take you there and back. You¡¯ll be able to get more fish then and you won¡¯t need to go today. I¡¯m telling you; this isn¡¯t a good day to go fishing. We might lose a few fish if you don¡¯t go, but at least you¡¯ll keep your life! That¡¯s what¡¯s important to me. Would you rather keep your fish or your life?¡±


    ¡°Doris, that¡¯s hardl-¡°


    ¡°Answer the question Samson! Are you going to just leave me on my own here? I¡¯m not going to be able to make a living! I¡¯ll have to move into the city once your brother gets here and join a brothel! Is that what you want!?¡± She was screaming at the end there, all attempts at staying calm thrown out the window.


    ¡°No! That¡¯s not at all what I want and you know it! These fish are our livelihood! I¡¯m trying to prevent exactly what you just told me from happening! I love you Doris!¡± With his large, calloused hands, he grabbed her waist and pulled her into him. She gave a token resistance of punching his chest, but it wasn¡¯t long before she gave up and hugged him, at which point he hugged her back. ¡°I want to stay on this island with you for the rest of my life, just the two of us and some kids down the line.¡±


    Doris hugged him fiercely, her fingers locked behind his back as if to keep him stuck where he was. ¡°I better be wrong about the but I feel coming. I swear on my mother¡¯s grave, if you say but I¡¯ll-¡°


    <hr>


    Well that¡¯s a bust. I have no idea what they¡¯re saying. I angrily flick my tongue. Is that blood? I smell blood in the water. I submerge what little of myself I kept above water to listen to their conversation and slither along the seafloor until I¡¯m sure they can¡¯t see my shadow anymore.


    Where is this blood? I can smell it somewhere around that stack. I get close to a wide stack sticking out of the water and make a circle around it. Hmm¡­ I stick my head out of the water and take a look around. Wait. Is that¡­ I think it is!


    I leap up onto the stack, which I can now tell is only a stump and flat on the top and dive straight into the pool of water in the middle of it. There are so many fish! I could see them jump out of the water when I took a peek, but I didn¡¯t think there would be so many! I Only need to swim around for a moment with (Devouring Vacuum) and I¡¯m full. I¡¯m already bloated from the abundant amount of fish in here!


    I look around the place for a bit after eating my fill, but I can¡¯t find any openings. How have these fish multiplied so much in here without fresh seawater getting in here? Do they have to wait until it floods for new water? Hmm. Well, whatever. I¡¯m taking a nap here anyway. (Gastric Burst).


    <hr>


    I wake up a day later with an empty stomach and some fish nibbling on my scales. Hey! Don¡¯t you try and eat me! (Devouring Vacuum)! Oh, dear lord that was quick. I¡¯m full again. (Gastric Burst).


    <hr>


    Another day passed while I digested. I awoke to more nibbling. This is getting old. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t sleep in a cage full of living food. Oh well. (Devouring Vacuum)! Ah, that hits the spot. (Gastric Burst).


    <hr>


    When I open my eyes this time it¡¯s to a very pleasant surprise.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to level 5. You have matured into a Coastal Snakeling Adult. Skill levels, Biomass, and Modifications no longer hidden. Evolutions available at level 10. Further Modifications available in the Evolution Menu.}


    [Monstrous Snake]


    // You have proven to all that you are more than just an animal. Your voracious appetite and incredible speed of maturation have left little doubt about just what you are. You are a monster. Fighting and eating other monsters grants much better rewards than fighting and eating animals. //


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult}


    Level: 5


    Skill points: 2


    Biomass: 11


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 2(?)


    Charm ¨C 2


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 3


    (Devouring Vacuum) Lvl 4


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 3


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Scales +3: Eyes +3: Tongue +2: Inners Ears +0


    Well, that sure is something. I¡¯m a monster now apparently. I don¡¯t really know what to do with that information. I guess I¡¯ll just¡­ Eat more fish? That sounds good, I¡¯ll do that for now and think about all this other stuff later. Om nom nom. I have a bit of fun with catching the fish without (Devouring Vacuum), even successfully injecting venom into some of them.


    I swim in lazy circles inside this strange hole full of fish, admiring my new size. I can even see a small luster on my scales. I wonder if that¡¯s got something to do with Charm getting a point as I leveled up. Would I get really shiny with more points in Charm? Doesn¡¯t matter I guess, there¡¯s food to be eaten!


    I keep eating for a while, not enough to bloat myself, but enough to feel fairly full. My curiosity finally wins out over my hunger and I take a look at the modifications.


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Scales +3: Eyes +3: Tongue +1: Inner Ears +2


    Now, how does this work? I have 11 Biomass. 6 things I can modify. What do I use most out of these? I think that would have to be Scales, and then Eyes, but they already have the highest numbers. I really wish I could ask for help with this. Shit! I¡¯m going all in! Increase Scales and Eyes to +5!


    {Denied. 11 Biomass available. 7 more Biomass required to upgrade both Scales and Eyes to +5.}


    Drat, going with Scales +5 then.


    {Scales increased to +5. Mutation available. Please choose a Mutation from the list.}


    Oh. Oh. Oh! This list is just as massive as the Skills list! All this just for my scales? Damn, and I can only have one? Well ok, let¡¯s look through this thing.


    I spend a good while browsing the list. Most of the things on the list help me resist things, including magic. So, magic exists here, that¡¯s nice. Maybe I can be a snake mage. Hmm, probably not though, my Cunning is only a 2, and that¡¯s the only mind stat I have. The question mark doesn¡¯t open up into a menu or anything, so I guess that just means I¡¯m smarter than I¡¯m supposed to be as a snake.


    After some more time reading about resistance after resistance, I try something new.


    Sort into offence and defense!


    It worked. Before me was a list containing only defenses, and I could switch that out for a list with only offensive uses for my scales. Wait, there¡¯s a 3<sup>rd</sup> list? The Special list? Hmm, wouldn¡¯t Conductive Scales by in defense? Oh, they can absorb both large quantities of electricity and small quantities of static electricity, and then I can discharge the stored electricity in some kind of attack? Neat, but I think it¡¯s still rather niche. Hmm. Exclude all elemental focused mutations. The Special List shrinks a lot, enough so that I found the end of it! Ah, knowing the end of it makes me feel so much better. Camouflage Scales seems nice, is there something else more interesting here? Hypnotic Scales? Let¡¯s read about that.


    Hypnotic Scales Mutation: Make brilliant patterns of shiny colors dance on your scales. Distract and/or confuse easily tricked creatures such as fish, less intelligent birds, insects, the offspring of a variety of creatures, and those too curious for their own good. More effective on creatures with a sense of beauty. Gain +5 to Charm upon choosing this Mutation and +1 Charm every evolution.


    I want it. I want it so bad, but there is also one I found earlier that just makes my scales tougher overall and gives me the same stat boosts but to Toughness. I really should get the Toughness one, it¡¯s the smart choice here. Shiny Snake. If I can resist things like another adult snakes biting or constricting me then I live, and hopefully kill the other snake. Shiny Snake. I can¡­ constrict spikey things! If my scales are too strong to penetrate then I don¡¯t have to worry about spikey balls on the seafloor! Shiny Snake!


    Mutate Hypnotic Scales!


    {Mutating Hypnotic Scales. This will be over quickly.}


    <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re learning fast, Sammy. The sea is a terrible place. You should always listen to a Seeing Class, even one not known for Seeing, like the Gypsy Class your wife has. It¡¯s obvious a predator got into the fishery, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, you got this island for cheap because of the Coastal Snakeling nests around here,¡± says a short man.


    ¡°I guess she might have been right, but what if the bad feeling she had was that I wasn¡¯t here to stop it from getting in in the first place?¡± A larger man asked back.


    ¡°Sammy, that¡¯s not how the Gypsy Class works. It¡¯s focused around the actions of those having an impact on their life. The closer someone is to a Gypsy the more accurate their Sight. Even if she¡¯s only a level 20 Gypsy, that¡¯s plenty to tell her if her thickheaded husband is going off to his doom.¡±


    ¡°You say that, but she said she had a bad feeling about me going now as well. If what you¡¯re saying is true then why are we even here now?¡±


    ¡°The Sight will get less accurate and more muddled the more often a Seer Sees the same thing. Less accurate Seer¡¯s like Gypsies are especially vulnerable to this. Her Sight is probably still recovering. She¡¯s still a very low level, and Seeing can often leave the Seer with an imprint of the Sight they See. This could last for weeks in less Sight focused Classes like Gypsies.¡±


    ¡°You seem to know a lot about this. Where did you hear all of this?¡±


    ¡°Oh, my na?ve brother. I didn¡¯t hear this, I read it. I have recently figured out that my frost magic can store books and scrolls just as well as fish. Meaning I¡¯ve branched out into shipments of literature. You should get out more, visit the capitol and see the things you¡¯re missing.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m on this island specifically to get away from the nonsense in the capitol. Here I only need to pay my taxes on time and me and my wife can live in peace. No dumb wars with sea creatures, no dungeons popping up out of long forgotten mass graves surrounding my farm, and no kingdoms forcing me off of the land my family has been tending to too long to be remembered!¡±


    ¡°Geez, Sammy, relax. You bought this island with the money you got from that land being taken. I¡¯m not saying you should be thankful, but-¡°


    ¡°Good! Because I¡¯m not!¡±


    ¡°But! But it could have been so much worse. Just be glad you got away before the dungeon killed both of you, yeah? You¡¯ve got a nice life here away from the drama, yes, but you¡¯ll lose track of what¡¯s happening in the world if you don¡¯t go out at least a few times a year.¡±


    ¡°The world can go and rot for all I care. I¡¯ve got my wife, and if the rest of my fisheries haven¡¯t been attacked as well, I¡¯ve got a living. Now let¡¯s just throw a net in there and see if-¡°


    ¡°Sammy, have you been throwing coins into the fishery?¡±


    ¡°What? Of course not. Why are you- Oh. I see. Your books tell you what this is?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Johnny?¡±


    ¡°The sun is right above us. You¡¯re always here midmorning. This looks just like a shallow pond you can find on most flat stumps. Sammy. Do you think maybe someone threw a treasure down there? This could be like the buried treasures I¡¯ve read about!¡±


    ¡°Johnny, we were just talking about a predator getting in there. What if this is some kind of tactic to lure you closer?¡±


    ¡°Relax brother, I¡¯ve got this. See this? I¡¯ll throw this in and wait for a while. If nothing bites, then I¡¯m going in.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I guess that should be fine. Just be careful if you go down. You¡¯re the only captain dumb enough to make a detour to this random island.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Hup! And now we wait.¡±


    <hr>


    God this itches so bad! All of my scales itch! Dear lord! Walls! Walls! Scratch me!


    It does nothing! I itch everywhere! Undulate! Constrict! Wiggle! Swim in circles! Oh my god! I can¡¯t think of anything to do about this! This better be over quickly! I¡¯ll go mad! This can¡¯t be healthy! I can feel the skin under my scales peeling! This is hell! Gah!


    Okay. It¡¯s over? Seems like it. Okay. I¡¯m good, I¡¯m good. All the itching is gone. It¡¯s gone. You¡¯re good now. I¡¯m good now. I check myself over just to be sure.


    Woah. I¡¯m so shiny. I glisten in the sunlight that reaches me down here. Do I need sunshine to make this work? Hmm¡­ I look beneath myself and think of making a wave pattern. It happens just as I imagined it, thin waves of ever shifting colors make their way from one side of me, until they ¡®crash¡¯ into my other side and dissipate.


    I love myself. God damn I love myself! Ain¡¯t no snake shinier than me!


    Pwahahaha!


    Ah, I could go for a bite to celebrate. Are there any fish left? I look around. A few, but I seem to have eaten the majority of them. Hey, there¡¯s one fish coming right to the bottom to me. Don¡¯t mind if I do! (Devouring Vacuu- Wait! What is this?! This fish is already dead. Did my venom get into the water or something? Hmm¡­


    I look the fish over carefully, even giving it a tentative lick. Is this fish cold? How is this fish colder than the water it¡¯s in? I look the fish over even more carefully, until finally I see it. A line. Thought you were going to fish me out huh? Well, too bad for you. I¡¯m going to stay here until you leave. I¡¯m a snake with a full stomach, I can stay down here for weeks! You can¡¯t trick me, I¡¯m as smart as you! Well, if these are humans. I can¡¯t see anything peeking into the water, and even if I could I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell if they were human or something else.


    This world has levels, there are surely elves and things here too. Maybe even mermaids¡­ I want. I want a pet mermaid! That¡¯s it, when this is over, I¡¯m getting out here and I¡¯m going to find a mermaid! Ah, I can imagine it now. The struggle the mermaid will put up as I eat her whole. The feeling of her slowly dissolving in my stomach as she loses the will and energy to fight.


    There is something very wrong with me. I think my snake and human desires have gotten mixed up somewhere. I¡¯ll find a mermaid, and not eat her. Okay, with that out of the way I can focus on the issue at hand.


    Where¡¯s the fish? Did I eat it while I was fantasizing? I hope not, that might make things a little more complicated. Oh? A silhouette? It¡¯s looking into the water. What is it looking at? I turn my head around until I realize it. Is it looking at me? Am I glittering like gold down here? Does that mean I¡¯ll be able to eat it if I play my cards right? Maybe if I¡­


    I slowly stop the glittering on the head half of my scales, shifting the glittering into smaller patterns on my tail half. I snake my head up the side of the hole, making certain to keep myself as far away from the sun¡¯s rays as I can while I¡¯m at it. The silhouette moves backwards. Damn, I scared it away. Guess I should probably get out of this hole now, there¡¯s little to do here anymore with most of the fish gone.


    Alright, let¡¯s go and find a mermai-


    SPLASH


    Oh, it¡¯s a human. He hasn¡¯t noticed me yet. Well, he hasn¡¯t noticed the non-glittering part of me anyway. He swims with practiced motions down towards the glittering that has so enticed him. It helps that this hole is probably at least 20 meters deep, and 30 meters around. I move my head to follow behind him at about a meter¡¯s distance from his kicking feet when he passes me by. Ooh I can already taste hi-


    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t eat a human¡­ That¡¯s probably a line I shouldn¡¯t cross.


    SPLASH


    What¡¯s this? I turn my head towards the surface. Ah, there was another human. He probably saw me when I moved me head. Is that a machete? They can¡¯t be very useful underwater, surely. I watch him anyway, and he starts swinging his machete while still a good meter away from me. Is he stupid? That can¡¯t hit me. Have you got no depth perception? Actually, that¡¯s a really good point. He probably can¡¯t see as well underwater as I can. I look at the one beneath me. He probably can¡¯t see much either. He¡¯s just following the shinies.


    I tilt my head slightly at the madman coming at me from above. I probably can¡¯t just pass him by. He¡¯ll probably cut me if I try to snake myself out of here. I should probably just kill him. Probably. The one beneath me is getting close to the shinies, but he¡¯s slowing down. Is he apprehensive, or just stunned by my beauty? He stopped. He¡¯s just staring at this point. I think he¡¯s stunned. Machete man is trying to get my attention though. Probably not a good idea to look away from the angry man with the machete. There¡¯s probably a movie about that somewhere. Probably not in this world though.


    Swing. Swing. Swing.


    He¡¯s kind of slow. These swings are at least a second apart each. That¡¯s more than enough time to immobilize his swinging arm. Yeah, I¡¯ll go with that. A heavy blow to immobilize the danger and then I¡¯m out of here.


    Swing. Swing. Swing. Swing.


    Strike!


    I move forward in a burst of speed with the intention of bashing into the man¡¯s shoulder, but some instinct changes that plan in the heat of the moment and I bite him and inject my venom into him. Oops. At least the machete isn¡¯t a threat anymore. He¡¯ll probably be fine. I mean, the description of my species said baby seals, not full-grown seals. I¡¯m sure the venom isn¡¯t strong enough to-


    He¡¯s not moving at all. I just killed a man. Mama! No! No singing! And it¡¯s the other way around idiot, at least panic-sing it right you doofus.


    I wait a moment for him to burst into action and tell me it was a prank or something, but nope, he¡¯s still very still. Ooh! Bubbles! Oh wait, that was his dying breath. He¡¯s sinking now. I should probably let go. (Devouring Vacuum)! Ahh! I didn¡¯t mean to eat you! It was an accident! Look, I shut it off before I could swallow your legs! I¡¯m not an evil man-eating snake! Oh. You don¡¯t really seem to care much. Probably has to do with either death or paralysis. For your sake man, I hope it¡¯s the former, cause it¡¯s too late to chew my meal now.


    Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.


    Ahhhhhhhh. That was a damn fine meal. I should really separate my human and snake instincts; they¡¯re making a mess in my head. I feel so satisfied, but also mortified. I¡¯ll deal with that later; I have another human here I need to deal with. Is he¡­ Yep. He¡¯s still staring at my scales in wonder. What is with this guy? I¡¯m starting to feel a bit self-conscious here with how he¡¯s staring at me, I mean, I know I look good but can you at least go up for air or something? You¡¯re going to die if you stay here any longer than this.


    The man stares intently at me for a little longer, and I start to feel less self-conscious and more playful. I change the pattern a little bit, making a light appear a bit closer to my head. He doesn¡¯t seem to notice, but when I¡¯ve slowly made lights appear one after another in a pattern reaching half the way to my head his head turns and he seems to snap out of the trance he seems to have been in. He starts swimming down.


    Really? Does this man not need to breath?


    He swims further down until he can touch my scales. I position myself behind him and just as his hand makes contact, I create thick waves of shimmering lights that emanate from the place he touched. The waves die out as they reach my tail - which he can see ¨C and my head right behind him.


    He watches as the waves reach my tail and die away. Then he watches as the waves travel in a line up the wall, then away from it, and end in a dazzling display of colors right in front of his face.


    He doesn¡¯t startle. He seems to lose himself in the display before his eyes. He seems none the wiser until he¡¯s suddenly surrounded by darkness and pain radiates out from his chest before he loses all feeling.


    He¡¯s a bit on the chilly side. He¡¯s been down here for a few minutes at this point. He should be the same temperature as the water around him. He¡¯s just like that fish. Is that it? He¡¯s half fish? Was that why he didn¡¯t seem to need to breathe? Whatever, he¡¯s dead now, and I feel conflicted about it. I am quite full though, so that¡¯s nice.


    Let¡¯s get out of this hole and back into the cave.


    I raise my head out of the water and I can immediately see a much larger boat than before. I¡¯d almost call it a ship in fact. I would actually call it a ship. It¡¯s probably about 12 meters long, with three sails, one in the middle like normal, one sideways at the back, and another sideways on the thing that sticks out the front. I could take a small peek before I fill up completely and have another nap.


    I slither onto the ship, careful of suffocation, and have a short look around. I find some books and scrolls in boxes that I break open in the cabin. There¡¯s a small staircase going down into the hold I think it¡¯s called. I slither down and look around. I find a lot of weirdly shaped empty boxes. I know they¡¯re empty cause I crush them to see what¡¯s inside. Big snakes are strong. Nothing of value here, oh well, I did get a meal out of it.


    I look up at the ceiling of the hold I think for a moment.


    Could I¡­ I guess I¡¯d need to try to be sure.


    I shimmy around a bit, positioning my tail in the optimal position for penetration. I tense up and ready myself for every outcome. Then I slam my tail against the ceiling.


    CRACK


    A plank comes loose and a few others crack and splinter.


    CRACK


    A second slam and I¡¯m rewarded with a hole in the planks.


    CRACK


    A third slam and my tail exits out the other side.


    CRACK


    The fourth time was more just to make sure, but after it I stick my head up and slither the rest of myself out and take a dip in the water to catch my breath. It¡¯s weird to not be able to breath air.


    After a brief reprieve, I stick my head back out of the water to look the ship over.


    It¡¯s not a bad looking ship. It¡¯s probably made for one or two people to crew. Weird squiggles on the side that probably mean something. No barnacles anywhere, so the ship is well maintained. It¡¯s very likely the humans I just ate really liked this ship. Nothing for it then, I just have to destroy it!


    Okay, I don¡¯t have to destroy it, but I really want to. I want to really put these snake muscles to the test! How to do it though¡­


    I slither back onto the ship and try to think of how to destroy it. There is the main mast, that¡¯s a thick piece of timber fastened to the bottom of the ship. I did also make a hole down into the hold. Hmm¡­ Let¡¯s do this one piece at a time.


    I slither up onto the cabin where a sideways sail sits closed. I wrap my tail around the thin mast and after letting a part of my middle hang down the side of the ship for leverage, I pull as hard as I can.


    Come on sailors! Put some effort into it! I know you¡¯re in there! Now, heave!


    The mast splinters and breaks apart where I grab it. The force is enough to send it flying a meter away from the ship with my tail in tow. I almost tumble into the sea myself from the sudden shift in weight, before I let go of the mast and let it drift in the ocean, only tied to the ship via a single rope in the back.


    Hot diggity, I¡¯m strong! I might not even need to take this one piece at a time. I can probably just crush the ship right through the middle! Well, one more test before I do that. The main mast! But first, oxygen.


    I take a dip and breath for a little while playing with my new scales. I manage to trick a few fish to swim all the way up to my nose, where I bite into them and gulp them down. Not many are fooled by an obvious glowing snake in the water, but enough are to make it a worthwhile experiment.


    I get back on board the ship and wrap my tail around the main mast. I do the same as before, hanging a part of myself over the side of the ship for leverage, and then I pull it. Unlike before, the mast doesn¡¯t immediately break, put instead it cracks down the middle all the way to the top. I give it another good yank and the ropes holding it to one side snap and it lists to the other side. A third, solid tug, and the base of it breaks apart and the whole thing comes loose. Only the ropes on one side remain.


    I try to lift the mast into the air, and I sort of do it. The ropes make it a bit difficult but I manage. I give it a few swings before letting it go and join the other mast in the water.


    I probably don¡¯t really need another breath, but better safe than sorry. I jump back into the water and play with the masts a little. I wrap myself around them, snap the roes still holding them, and use them to skirt along beneath the surface of the water with minimal effort.


    Well, enough fun, back to work!


    I climb onto the ship once more and this time I slither into the hold. I stick my head out of the hole I made and slither half of myself overboard and into the water. I press my body against the outside and inside of the boat and pull my middle towards my tail and head.


    The ship creaks, and a few cracks appear in the planks.


    I pull again, rubbing my distended, human-filled snake gut against the ship in my effort to break it apart. The ship creaks again, and more cracks slither along the planks. A few boards break apart on the ship¡¯s solid wood railing and I fall a little.


    Another pull, and the side of the ship starts leaking water into the hold.


    I almost have it now!


    CRACK


    With a final wrench, I break the side of the ship open and water comes flooding in. I break away from the ship and watch from the water as the ship sucks in water like a sun-dried sponge. It isn¡¯t long before the whole thing leans to the side and lays down on the surface. It looks almost like it¡¯s tired.


    Don¡¯t worry ship, you can rest in piece now. I ate the bad humans using you for profit. Go to sleep now little ship. The ocean floor is a relaxing place for ships like yourself. Shhhh, you don¡¯t have to stress anymore. Let Big Sis Snake lay you to rest.


    That begs the question; am I female? The bonus said Big Sister Snake, so I¡¯d think so. I have no idea what snake genitals look like, so I¡¯ll have to just wait for some instincts to tell me to mate. Can¡¯t imagine a snake with a penis though, so that¡¯s probably not it.


    What gender was I as a human? I can¡¯t remember. Hmmm¡­ I can remember a relationship with a¡­ Woman! I was in a relationship with a woman! So, I was probably a man as a human. Or I was a lesbian. I really can¡¯t seem to remember myself. Oh well, not like this matters anymore. I¡¯m a snake now, so I should probably not try to woo humans anyway, that would just be awkward.


    I swim away from the ship, using (Devouring Vacuum) to top myself off before I snuggle back into my birth cave and activate (Gastric Burst) for an instant snakenap.


    <hr>


    ¡°Samson, please be safe¡­¡±


    <hr>


    What a nice nap. I wasn¡¯t very keen on the whole passing out thing at first, but it¡¯s really grown on me. I can barely imagine needing to fall asleep the old-fashioned way anymore.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 6.}


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 7.}


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 8.}


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 9.}


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 10. Evolution Menu available}


    Woah. How did this happen? Did I get all this from the humans? This seems rigged somehow¡­ Are humans considered monsters? That¡¯s the only thing that makes sense to me, unless humans are something else¡­ Maybe monsters get more for killing and eating sapient creatures. Does that make me a double whammy? A two for one, snake-n-sape, is that it? Damn you voice in my head, if I could ask for unlimited help, I¡¯d have so many questions for you!


    Alright, Evolution Menu.


    [Current Status]


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult}


    Level: 10


    Skill points: 7


    Biomass: 21


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 2(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 3


    (Devouring Vacuum) Lvl 4


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 4


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Eyes +3: Tongue +2: Inners Ears +0


    [Evolutions Available]


    Giant Coastal Snakeling


    // Think Coastal Snakeling, but more Coastal Snakeling. The Giant Coastal Snakeling is the most common, and the most generic 1<sup>st</sup> tier evolution of the Coastal Snakeling. Bigger body, thicker scales, longer fangs, more venom, just bigger and stronger. Most Coastal Snakelings that manage to become a monster, and then evolve, pick this evolution due to their inability to understand anything more complex than ¡®big snake strong¡¯ and thus the other 1<sup>st</sup> tier evolutions are overlooked in over 99% of evolutions. This one does have something the others don¡¯t however, and that is an immediate leap in strength, more often than not doubling in power as soon as the evolution is over. //


    + Might


    + Toughness


    Size increase


    Wyrm of the Coast


    // Sporting sharp teeth, and often horns, the regular Wyrm is a cave-dwelling creature descended from dragons. You would be forgiven for mistaking their bodies for a large snake, as only the head and sometimes the tail retain any distinctly draconic features. The Wyrm of the Coast - named by a Drow Alchemist as he succumbed to the slower acting, hallucinogenic venom of a Wyrm of the Coast ¨C looks even more similar to a snake than its closely related, cave-dwelling cousin. With mostly smooth scales, and only a tiny tail fin, the Wyrm of the Coast is very snakelike in appearance. With most people only spotting them through the water as they pass under ships, the draconic, hornless head is left almost unnoticeable to the surface races. Like all dragon descendants however, the Wyrm of the Coast grows bigger as it grows older, and it can become several centuries old. //


    + Might


    + Toughness


    + Cunning


    + Charm


    + Size per month of life


    Additional Modifications


    Amphibious Snakeling


    // Mostly identical to the Coastal Snakeling, the Amphibious Snakeling has the added benefit of lungs, as well as gills. It is capable if breathing salt water, fresh water, and air. The Amphibious Snakeling would still be a rather sorry excuse for an evolution if not for the addition of several new [Skills] and Modifications, as well as a sizable increase to the Cunning stat. The Amphibious Snakeling stays the same size over the course of its life, neither growing nor shrinking. It should be noted that of all the 1<sup>st</sup> tier evolutions available to the Coastal Snakeling, the Amphibious Snakeling sports the highest kill to death ratio of same, or higher, tier monsters.


    + Cunning


    Additional [Skills]


    Additional Modifications


    Core Creation


    // Revert back to Level: 5, stay a tier 0 monster, and gain a Monster Core. A core is what allows monsters to store and channel Mana. Available anytime a monster evolves, but can only be chosen once. Other, more difficult ways exist to acquire a core. //


    + Cunning


    Additional [Skills]


    Well, I¡¯ll be damned. These are choices alright. Oh, boy. I¡¯m not good with choices, maybe I should just pick at random¡­ No that¡¯s stupid, I have to weigh these against each other. More power, more everything, more versatility, or more¡­ something, maybe magic.


    What would the best choice here be I wonder? My gut tells me food, but that guy has a one-track mind so I guess I¡¯m on my own here. Snakeling instincts are surely pushing for the Giant Coastal Snakeling, so it¡¯s pretty clear where that repeating ¡®bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger,¡¯ in my head is coming from. I hope I¡¯m not developing a second personality or something, these snakeling instincts need the single filter that is my consciousness to not do something stupid, like eating a live mermaid whole just to feel her struggle inside my stomach.


    Shudder


    I need to reign these instincts in somehow.


    Actually, evolving into something else, or even just increasing my Cunning might be enough to get rid of these instincts. Every evolution besides the Giant Coastal Snakeling gives me Cunning, so I should be able to more effectively curb my non-human desires once I¡¯ve evolved.


    I just wish I didn¡¯t have to make the choice myself!

 Peace was never an option

    Alright, let¡¯s think about this logically. I¡¯m in a safe place here around this island. I am the apex predator here as far as I know, though I haven¡¯t really explored much. I have that bonus that somehow makes it easier for me to stay the apex predator in an area, but I don¡¯t know how that works, so I can¡¯t rely on it or manipulate it. I am capable of eating two grown men whole and not be full ¨C don¡¯t think about that ¨C so I think I might just be big enough for now. Out with options 1 and 2 then. The Amphibious Snakeling intrigues me with its ability to breath seemingly anywhere, and the rest of it is also promising.


    Now, the Monster Core. I have a very strong hunch that this is something I should get as soon as possible. Mana means magic, and magic means I don¡¯t necessarily need to be the biggest to be the strongest. Big is still going to be better though, let¡¯s be real. I¡¯m already over a dozen meters long though and if I get any bigger, I might not fit in my cave. My cave is my safe haven! I need it! I earned it fair and square by cannibalizing several hundred of my siblings and I don¡¯t want to have to abandon it just yet.


    Alright, while the Amphibious Snakeling might not make me much bigger, I¡¯m still going with the Monster Core. It just seems like the smart decision. My situation might change drastically before my next evolution, so I think keeping my options open with the Monster Core might be the best choice.


    Evolve a Monster Core!


    {Evolution commencing. If you are not already in a safe place, I recommend regretting the choices that brought you to this point. Beginning now.}


    What was that? Sass? Snark? A bad sense of hum-


    <hr>


    Ah!


    Is it over? Wha? How long have I been out? Do I have a Monster Core now? Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 5


    Skill points: 7


    Biomass: 21


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 3


    (Devouring Vacuum) Lvl 4


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 4


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Eyes +3: Tongue +2: Inner Ears +0


    Okay, I have a core now. I don¡¯t really know how to use it though, and where are the [Skills] I was supposed to get? Don¡¯t tell me I need buy them. Though maybe that isn¡¯t so bad. I have 7 Skill Points I have yet to use, and I need to do something with all that Biomass. I got 19 Biomass for those two humans? Damn, that¡¯s a lot. I got 11 for everything else I¡¯ve eaten, and I¡¯ve eaten a lot. Should I try to find more humans? I feel like I should, but I also feel like I shouldn¡¯t. Damn it, why am I even considering this, eating humans has never turned out well for any animal! Maneaters get hunted down and killed as soon as they¡¯re known, that has always been the truth! That is, it has always been true where I¡¯m from, where there are no monsters, only animals.


    I¡¯m going to focus on something else. Show me the [Skills] I can buy since I have a core. Hmm, only 1?


    (Mana Manipulation)


    // Allows a monster to manipulate the mana inside their Core to a basic degree. //


    Huh, so it¡¯s a practice [Skill]? Well, let¡¯s buy it!


    I can already feel that something has changed. There is a small ball inside me, about half a meter away from my head. It¡¯s tiny in size but I get a sense of power from it, like a tiny bomb.


    Shudder


    Let¡¯s not think of that, I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t kill me. Let¡¯s instead try out this new [Skill].


    I use my new [Skill] and like with the others, it¡¯s almost an automatic process. Unlike the others though, it¡¯s tiring. I¡¯ve barely started and I¡¯m already feeling strained. I push through it though and guide a portion of what I guess is mana up my body until it reaches my mouth. There I try to expel it out of my mouth, but this proves harder than I¡¯d thought. I had intended to expel it with a breath, but then I realized I breathe with gills. I reroute the mana to my left gills and there I manage to sort of attach it to the water that leaves my gills and I see a slight blur of blue in my peripheral vision for a moment. I do this a few more times, swapping between sides as I do, but on the 11<sup>th</sup> try I lose control and my Core feels empty.


    What level is (Mana Manipulation)?


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl: 2


    God damn it. Can you just tell me from this point on when (Mana Manipulation) levels up?


    ¡­


    No answer huh, well I hope it works anyway. I¡¯m getting out there now to get some grub, I¡¯m starving here.


    I exit the cave and grab a few small fish to take the edge of my hunger. I find myself a small school of fish and suction them all up. Then I decide that I should explore a bit. I¡¯ve left myself in the dark by not exploring my surroundings more. I swim around a bit, this time going the opposite direction relative to my cave. I see many patches of seaweed, and something colorful in the distance. I swim towards the colors. When I¡¯m closer I see that what I just swam into is a reef. A genuine coral reef!


    I watch the hustle and bustle in amazement from some distance, as I would likely scare every fish in the reef away if they saw my come any closer. Already the part closest to me is almost completely devoid of any fish, and even the crabs on the bottom are running away from me. I wriggle myself to the seafloor in an attempt to hide a bit and maybe grab an unaware snack. I try to bury myself in the sand, but I¡¯m not quite sure how to go about it.


    Show me any [Skills] that would let be bury into the sand.


    Okay. There are a few, but I think (Dig) should be the obvious choice.


    (Dig)


    // Makes digging of any kind easier by providing instinctive guidance towards the best dig spots. Works on every kind of surface. Usefulness varies. //


    Hmm, oh alright I see what I did wrong. I need to shift to over here, and do this¡­ and then wriggle like so, slither a bit, shake, make breathing room, scoop the sand out, and done!


    Using my new digging instincts, I managed to make myself a small hovel in the sand right next to the coral reef that should let me hide from any potential prey or predator. I hadn¡¯t seen any predator that could hope to match me, but better safe than sorry.


    And so, I wait for something to happen. I wait a long time, completely still. I keep my eyes on my surroundings, but while life returns to the coral reef, no fish venture very far away from it. That¡¯s when I begin to rethink my strategy.


    It had been a good idea in theory, but if no fish strayed away from the coral reef then my hovel was pretty useless. I need to either lure them here or move closer to the coral reef if I want to pull of this whole ¡®ambush predator¡¯ thing. I don¡¯t have any bait though, so I guess the only choice is moving clos-


    But I do. I have my Hypnotic Scales. With some more maneuvering I might just be able to make fish swim right up against my mouth, and then I only need to use (Devouring Vacuum) and bam, easy peasy.


    I enact my plan and in less than a minute, a curious fish swims up to the glittering light on the tip of my nose and pecks it. It does this a few times while I bathe in the glory of knowing my plan works. I suck it up, and it¡¯s glorious. The water around my exposed gills is disturbed, but other than that there is no hint of anything out of place, and even as I feel the last fish hasn¡¯t fully entered my stomach another swims over and the whole thing repeats itself. This happens over and over again until I feel like I need to start loosening my belt. Of course, I¡¯m a snake so I don¡¯t have a belt, but my hiding place is getting tight in all the wrong places. I deal with it like a grown snake though and stick to my hiding spot until I¡¯m completely full.


    Upon exiting my hovel I¡¯ve yet again achieved chubby snake status, and every fish within sight quickly either hides or makes a run for it.


    Yeah, you should be scared! Not really though, I look bigger than before because I¡¯ve tripled in width, but I couldn¡¯t possibly fit another fish in there. Unless¡­


    (Enlarge)


    There, now I can fit a few more.


    I swim back to my cave, using (Devouring Vacuum) to suck up a few fish that didn¡¯t notice me, until I really can¡¯t eat any more. I enter the cave with some minor difficulties, but after I do, I coil up on the floor and use (Gastric Burst).


    <hr>


    I wake up feeling a bit drowsy, which is a first. I usually wake up completely refreshed. I consider it quickly, and I figure it probably has to do with the Monster Core and my practice with (Mana Manipulation). Hmm. Status.


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 5


    Skill points: 5


    Biomass: 22


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 4


    (Devouring Vacuum) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Ravaging Vacuum)}


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 4


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 2


    (Dig) Lvl 2


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Eyes +3: Tongue +2: Inner Ears +0


    That whole maneater thing really distracted me before, but this time I¡¯ll really use that Biomass. Then I¡¯ll think about [Skills]. Stuffing myself with fish gave me only a single point of Biomass. Don¡¯t think about it. Okay, I should really focus on getting those mutations as soon as possible, so let¡¯s do some math.


    I have 22 Biomass, that will let me upgrade 22 modifications from +0 to +1, 11 from +1 to +2, 7 from +2 to +3, 5 from +3 to +4, and 4 from +4 to +5. If I decide to go with a pyramid plan, then I can get everything up to +3 at least, and be left with 3 Biomass for later. What I really want to do though, is to get as many things up to +5 as possible, so I can get Eyes and Tongue to +5 for 21 Biomass and have 1 left over that I can use on Inner Ears if I want. I do feel a bit bad about just leaving Venom Glands and Injector Fangs at a measly +1 when I know they¡¯re so strong already, but then again, if they¡¯re so strong already, then they don¡¯t need to be any stronger. Maybe I¡¯ll regret this choice once I finally meet another monster, but for now this seems like the smartest choice.


    Go on then! Do me dirty, Voice in my Head!


    {Command not recognized. Please try again.}


    Agh, fine. Spend Biomass on upgrading Eyes and Tongue to +5, and Inner Ears to +1.


    {Eyes increased to +5. Mutation available. Please choose a mutation from the list.}


    Ah, here we are. Already my eyes feel sharper. Gone is the blur from my peripheral vision, and I¡¯m only now noticing that the glowing plants in my cave are probably fungi, and not plants. Whatever, I¡¯ve got bigger fish to fry.


    The Mutation List is as massive this time as with the scales.


    Sort into the same offence, defense, and special lists as before.


    Okay, this is useful. Since most upgrades to Eyes are to somehow see better, the offence and defense lists are very limited in scope. I can go through them quickly and then move over to the special list.


    I skim the two lists, but nothing catches my eye, so I move over to the main dish.


    Only show upgrades that let me see farther, while retaining my ability to see around myself.


    The list shrank, but not enough.


    Then I had a change of mind. Maybe I could actually focus my sight in front of myself and use my other senses to watch my back. Tongue was next in line for a mutation, so maybe that would work.


    Let¡¯s do it. I¡¯m gimping myself if I don¡¯t focus my mutations.


    Show all upgrades that focus specifically on granting me frontal vision and ignore my previous command.


    The list shrank quite a bit more this time, and almost every choice lessened my field of vison to 200 degrees or less. There was even one that gave me owl-like eyes, capable of seeing details at great distances in low-light conditions, but left me unable to move my eyes at all. The one thing that most of these had in common however, was that they made me look really derpy. Either my eyes got too close together, or they were too big, or too small. I couldn¡¯t look stupid after all. Then I wouldn¡¯t be respected.


    Okay, amend that last order. Only show me mutations that don¡¯t change the size or positioning of my eyes, but only those that let me see farther in front of myself.


    Ahh, now this is a list I can work with, and right here is exactly what I was looking for.


    Scoped Eyes Mutation: Develop a special eyelid over each eye that magnifies a very limited field of view in front of you while lowered.


    This is it; I choose you!


    {Tongue increased to +5. Mutation available. Please choose a mutation from the list.}


    Again, another very long list, but I had a very specific use in mind for my tongue.


    Show only mutations that allow me to feel miniscule quantities of organic matter in the water.


    I was going to use this as a sort of compass for the general area of prey, then my eyes would reveal their exact location to me. Ears were going to become my warning system. They would be my way of feeling for approaching danger, but since I hadn¡¯t actually ever been in any serious danger, and none from other sea creatures, I felt good about leaving them at +1 for now.


    Ahh, here it is.


    Hollow Tongue Mutation: Sense tiny particles in the water with great accuracy by flicking out a forked tongue and then drawing water through the prongs into the mouth, and out the gills. A dense net of olfactory ducts inside the tongue allows for accurate sensing of the direction of prey using the two prongs as directional guides.


    Perfection. It¡¯s like it was tailor made for me! Though with the amount of choices I think there¡¯s surely something there for everyone.


    {Mutating Scoped Eyes and Hollow Tongue. This will be over quickly.}


    I feel like I¡¯m forgetting something. I can¡¯t seem to figure it out, but I can feel it right on the tip of my tongue! Actually, it¡¯s everywhere on my tongue now and my eyes itch like crazy all of a sudden. Oh, now I remember.


    After writhing around and maybe banging my head up against the cave wall ¨C everything during the itch is a bit of a blur ¨C I regain full cognitive functions.


    {Inner Ears increased to +1}


    I wait with baited breath, but I only end up feeling a refreshing loosening in my ears, like yawning after a flight. I guess it¡¯s only torture when I mutate them. Thank god for that, or perhaps the voice in my head. Whichever it is, I¡¯m thankful for at least this small relive.


    Now for (Devouring Vacuum). I can upgrade it to (Ravenous Vacuum) with a skill point, but I don¡¯t know what will happen if I do. Will it change somehow, or is this just a straight upgrade in power? It has never been very tiring to use, and since it routes the water to my gills I can still breath even while using it. Maybe it would be better to not upgrade this? I do depend on it a lot, and if it changes somehow then it might not be as useful anymore. Then again, since I¡¯m not given any choice in how it will change, it probably has either a linear line of progression or it upgrades depending on how I¡¯ve been utilizing it, and ravenous is a very apt description of myself. I should upgrade it.


    Upgrade (Devouring Vacuum) to (Ravenous Vacuum).


    {Upgrading (Devouring Vacuum) to (Ravenous Vacuum).}


    Huh, turns out there is more to sucking up seawater than just sucking up seawater, who¡¯d have guessed.


    (Ravenous Vacuum)


    // Further builds upon the strengths of (Devouring Vacuum) by providing instinctive tells of when to activate to minimize the chance of prey escaping. //


    I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve noticed much prey escape from the S U C C but I guess it¡¯s good to have, though I think it would have been better to buy a new [Skill] than to get this slight upgrade. Well, no matter. Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 5


    Skill points: 4


    Biomass: 0


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 4


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 1


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 4


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 2


    (Dig) Lvl 2


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +1


    Well, I¡¯m looking good, I¡¯d say. I¡¯d like to see a fellow tier 0 monster with all of this! No, actually, I¡¯d prefer if I never saw another monster. I¡¯m fine with being the uncontested apex predator of this island¡¯s coast. I prefer slow gains without the threat of death looming over me.


    It would probably be best to go back to exploring. If there was one Coastal Snakeling nest here then it stands to reason that this is a good nesting ground for them. I¡¯ll see if I can make a lap around this island and look for other snakes. I might even find more humans.


    Haah. Why do all my thoughts of food always circle back to humans? Maybe I¡¯m being silly to hold on to my human identity so tightly. I don¡¯t even remember anything about myself except by proxy. All memories of mirrors, water surfaces, or even just looking down are blurred to the point I can¡¯t tell if I had 1 or 8 legs. If I wasn¡¯t so certain that nothing but humans had the ability to think like I do, I¡¯d be confused about what I even was. I can¡¯t stay attached to something that no longer exists, so I should let this go.


    The problem is that I still exist. It was my human mind that allowed me to get (Enlarge) as an infant, and that was what let me evolve as fast as I did, and thus dominate my clutch. If I had not had that, then I wouldn¡¯t have known that I had to get bigger fast if I wanted to survive. Even if I had been born a sapient snake I wouldn¡¯t have known what to do except follow my instincts, and those would have probably told me to flee the cave like every other snake that hatched before the bloodbath, thus I likely wouldn¡¯t have become the apex predator of this area without a more serious fight where I would have been much more likely to die. This means that being human has already saved me once, and it will likely save me again.


    The problem with that kind of thinking though is that even if I eat more humans, I won¡¯t become stupid, so really, why can¡¯t I have both?


    Because eating sapient things is wrong. A cow doesn¡¯t realize its own mortality except by instinct. It can¡¯t realize the implications of a slaughterhouse, or even a pen. It doesn¡¯t dread an insinuation of death. The real question though, is why I¡¯m considering humans, but have written of monsters as a food source?


    I haven¡¯t yet seen another monster though, so I don¡¯t know if I can even consider them as anything other than a danger or a threat. Humans, by comparison, are known to me. Even in a world of fantasy, so long as this isn¡¯t some kind of cultivating eastern fantasy, a strong man will die when his heart is pierced, his head is crushed, or his breathe is robbed. I¡¯ve killed two already, and they were very easy to kill.


    What about the morality of it though? Would I want to be eaten?


    Well, no, but that¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to avoid by eating easily killed, but very rewarding creatures like humans. So, if I really don¡¯t want to be eaten, then I should eat more humans. This makes sense to me, so it should also make sense to me.


    It does make sense, but the fact remains that I¡¯m only a snake in body. In mind I¡¯m a human. My snake and human instincts might be mixing a bit weirdly and making me want to eat mermaids to feel them alive inside me, but eating a human should be something to be avoided still, for my own peace of mind. How about this; I don¡¯t eat humans, but I can eat other sapient individuals, how about that?


    But why them and not humans? If the argument is about not eating sapient things then it¡¯s all or nothing, no playing favorites. Should I eat some fantasy elf man who¡¯s trying to provide for his family over a human psychopath murderer if I¡¯m ever starving? That seems like selective cruelty to me, like I¡¯m choosing who¡¯s worthy of life by the merit of their birth.


    Then I should go by the merits of their actions. If I¡¯m in that situation, then I eat the murderer, and the species doesn¡¯t come into play at all. If I don¡¯t know who¡¯s worse though, or the choice is between two individuals of equally high ethical standpoints, do I eat neither, or whoever is easier to kill?


    Well, that¡¯s obvious without even thinking about it. I of course eat both if I have the room. Only if I thought eating them was somehow detrimental to myself, like if there were more people than I could handle, should I scorn the plentiful feast before my newly enhanced eyes and keep to a less rewarding diet of animals. Besides, if there are humans swimming in the same water as the nests of Coastal Snakelings, a ¡®terror of the coast¡¯, then they need to be culled so they don¡¯t contaminate the gene pool. I don¡¯t see why I should make other people¡¯s problems my own. I don¡¯t feel the need to socialize, so being alone doesn¡¯t really scare me. I can¡¯t socialize with humans anyway, since I can¡¯t understand them, and neither can they understand me.


    Well, I guess that settles that. I¡¯m going to become a cannibal of both my species. Hell yeah. I guess I won¡¯t really seek out humans, but if I find one in the water then he¡¯s done for.


    What about boats and ships then? Should I kill people on boats and ships too? They¡¯re not showing the required stupidity to swim in the same water as me and make the act of killing them a mercy to their species. Do I treat that on a case-by-case basis? A hunger-by-hunger basis?


    If I can eat it, I should eat it. That¡¯s what I should go with. It¡¯s the key to this sort of world, I¡¯m convinced of it. Now let¡¯s go out and practice what I¡¯m preaching!


    I leave my cave with a swagger in my wriggling. I had come to a decision on the whole ¡®eating humans¡¯ issue, and it was showing. I felt lighter than before, and if I had lips still, I would be smiling. I swim around, just playing with my new mutations a bit to get used to them.


    The Scoped Eyes were amazing, I could see so much farther than before! There was a little blurring when the eyelid was settling and again when I raised it, but for seeing a distinct and colored shape in the water at a distance where I only otherwise saw a speck was so worth it.


    The Hollow Tongue was a bit different. I still didn¡¯t really know any distinct smells because I had been relying on me eyes or ears for everything like a human would. I knew the smell of blood because of the birthday bloodbath, but besides that I only knew the eggy smell of my egg.


    All in all, it was as I had hoped. I could use my sensory organs just as I had wanted to. Since I still have my normal eyesight as well, I can still use my eyes to make the final approach towards my prey and accurately bite or vacuum them. Now I just have to upgrade my ears and I¡¯ll have no blind spots! I wish I had some more senses too to be honest. I feel like a gimped land snake with gills¡­ I know land snakes can sense vibrations, and surely sea snakes should have something to make up for that, right?


    Maybe I¡¯ll get an answer to that later, but for now, I smell blood in the water.


    I swim towards the direction my tongue tells me, and it isn¡¯t until I¡¯ve been swimming for at least 10 minutes that I realize the smell I¡¯m following is ridiculously far away. It still has barely increased in strength at all, and I might get lost if I stray to far from my island. It is with a heavy heart that I make the decision to head back and find some other source of food.


    When I¡¯m halfway back to my island however, I smell blood coming from the stump with the fish and head there. I¡¯m almost sure that what I¡¯m heading for is the same smell as originally drew me to it, but then I compare it in my head and I realize this smell is slightly different. I know the smell, but it smells distinctly different from both snakeling blood and fish blood. It was human blood.


    I remain intrigued the whole way to the fishery. I know it can¡¯t be the two men I ate, as there was too little blood that got into the water for it to remain even now, and I should have smelled this before the incredibly faint one. The smell gets stronger every time I flick my tongue, until it¡¯s so powerful I feel like I shouldn¡¯t be able to smell anything else at all. My instincts are telling me that this is not very much blood at all, and while my mind would disagree there is something glaringly obvious that proves my instincts right.


    I can¡¯t see any blood still.


    My tongue is so powerful that I might just be a match for sharks at this point in terms of smeller. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a match for them otherwise though. I might be very long and quite thick, but I feel a shark could still bite me in two. I¡¯d need a healthy dose of luck to survive an encounter with a hungry shark.


    As for the source of the blood? Well¡­ I stuck the top of my head out of the water and used my new scoped eyes to survey the stump. I saw the rowboat I¡¯d measured myself against, but no people. The wreck of the ship was still there, half sunk as I¡¯d left it. Where was the blood coming from?


    I swim to the seabed and slowly slither my way towards the stump, flicking my tongue rapidly. I make a slow circle around the whole stump, and I¡¯m sure the blood is coming from it. I tighten my circling and make another round, trying to make out any details with my eyes. I kind of find it.


    There is a small pool of blood on the edge of the stump near the rowboat, and I flick my tongue against it.


    Yep, that¡¯s indeed human. It¡¯s recent, probably no older than half an hour. I can tell there is more to it, but I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m smelling in it. I might be accurate enough to find it, but I don¡¯t have any reference to compare to so I¡¯m left in the dark a bit. Though I do indeed make out enough to make a decision.


    I slither onto the stump slowly, using every one of my limited number of senses to determine if there is danger. If there is blood, there should be a bloodied, and a blooder. It seems reasonable to think a predator might have made there way here, drawn perhaps by the sight of a meal, instead of the smell of blood like I was.


    I give the sky a thorough scan for birds, but I see nothing that could even harm me, let alone endanger me.


    There¡¯s a path of blood leading from the puddle to the water in the middle and I follow it first with my eyes, and then with my body. I peek over the edge and into the water only about a centimeter below the rim. Inside is a shocking sight.


    Floating on the water is a fully nude, human woman probably in her late 20¡¯s, and she¡¯s seen me. I can tell cause she¡¯s talking to me. She makes no distinctly hostile motions, and she doesn¡¯t seem panicked either. There is dried blood on her face, and she¡¯s got a large cut on her forehead still leaking a bit of blood.Stolen story; please report.


    I did decide that I would not shrink away from eating humans, but this just feels wrong somehow. I feel like she¡¯s bait. I can¡¯t see, smell or hear anything suspicious despite my best tries. But I know better. I know there were two humans on the island with that rowboat. The other one must be here if she¡¯s this calm. I¡¯ve already circled the whole stump twice, and hiding form me in the water would be stupid anyway, so it has to be right here, on this stump. There is no one in the rowboat, and neither is someone clinging to the outside of the sunken ship, and I¡¯d have found their scent if they were hiding in the water inside it. So that only leaves the stump, where my sense of smell is back to basically the pre upgrade sense. It must be magic. I already know for sure that there is magic in this world, so if everything else is impossible, then it has to either magic, or their waiting in the pool of water somehow. I still have no idea why their hidden, but they have to be!


    I circle the pool of water carefully, keeping a certain distance from it at all points. I find nothing like this, so I change tactics and make short walls out of myself around parts of the island at a time and writhe into the center of the part I choice while I try to keep my movements as random as possible so I hopefully snag the sneaky human if he tries to jump away. While doing that though, I plan out where a sneaky human would move if they where trying to avoid me touching them, and then as I¡¯m still closing in on the third part I suddenly leap across the stump, over the pool, and onto the spot right across from where I had been. I¡¯d imagined myself surprising a sneaky human with this maneuver, but there¡¯s nothing.


    I¡¯m long and strong enough to keep my body out of the pool of water as I move the rest of my body to the side to not fall in, but I¡¯m a little stumped. I would have stood right there, as far from the obviously suspicious snake as possible. I don¡¯t really know how else to look for them now. Either they¡¯re very well hidden and smarter than me, or they¡¯re in the pool. I take a short swim, my eyes above the water like a flat shark fin. There is also the woman.


    I get back on the stump and carefully snake my head to the pool, and the woman is looking at me a bit incredulously. I¡¯m not sure if she¡¯s been talking the entire time, but she is talking now. She¡¯s making a lot of hand movements while she talks. It¡¯s a bit entertaining to be honest. Maybe I was a little lonely after all.


    I curl around the pool, and just watch the woman go on for a while. My interest in her does not go unnoticed, and soon she¡¯s increased the pace of her gesturing to a frankly rather incredible rate. She looks angry now, probably because I pushed her clothes into the sea and she¡¯s just realizing it now.


    Oh well, she¡¯s still very entertaining. Oh, she¡¯s coming closer? What¡¯s she going to do? Has she deemed me harmless, or is she trying to bait me by getting closer?


    The woman surprises me though and leaves the pool of water. In all her naked glory, she walks almost all the way up to me. She just stands there for a time, and while she does that, my eyes feast.


    So maybe I am actually really lonely after all. I can tell from my intense desire to swallow her whole and un-venomed so I can feel her struggle inside me. This is still not a feeling I¡¯m comfortable with, nor do I think I ever will be fully comfortable with it. Though maybe this feeling is for the best. I might become a pervert snake if I had my human instincts still unmuddied. That would really suck. I like having at least a semblance of control over myself, so the off-puttingness of my newfound vore fetish might be exactly what is needed to keep my instincts off of women. Though that doesn¡¯t seem to be stopping her.


    The woman steps all the way up to me and places a hand on my nose. I make the same ripples as when the sailor touched me, as if my scales were water. The woman startles and steps away, but then steps back my way and places both hands on my nose. It feels a bit weird to be treated like an actual animal, but what the hell, I can¡¯t speak to her anyway.


    I flick my tongue out and lick the blood on her face. She is startled again, but it¡¯s only visible on her face and she doesn¡¯t step away. Then she smiles for some reason.


    Are you that happy about my barely contained gluttony? I haven¡¯t eaten at all today, and you¡¯re looking like a mighty fine snack. Why, I can just imagine you sliding down my gullet, fighting against the powerful muscles pressing in on you like a whole-body latex suit. I¡¯ll eat you feet first and keep my mouth open just so you can watch the light get further away as I swallow you down. Then you¡¯ll struggle even harder than you thought possible as my stomach acid begins to slowly eat away at your-


    {You have been afflicted by (Gypsy¡¯s Curse).}


    // You have done something to earn a Gypsy¡¯s wrath, and they have cursed you with a willing blood sacrifice. Since they chose to sacrifice themselves, you have until their death to attempt to make amends and beg for forgiveness before the curse takes a hold of you and they die. //


    What the muck?! I¡¯ve been cursed?! By a gypsy?! Where the cluck have I pissed of a gypsy?! I haven¡¯t seen any caravans, hack fortune tellers, nor been robbed! There is nothing to indicate there being any gypsies around! This is an island for snake¡¯s sake! Where ¨C wheeze ¨C are thee- wheeze -se gyp- wheeze ¨C sies!


    Wheeeeeze!


    I can¡¯t breathe air! I¡¯ve been on land way too long! Back in the water!


    SPLASH


    Haaaaaaagh¡­ Ah, sweet oxygen. It seems there is a discrepancy in how long I can remain on land. I think I remember snakes having a very slow metabolism, so maybe that helps me stay on land longer when I¡¯m not exaggerating my reaction to being cursed.


    Wait, that was a completely reasonable reaction to being flaming cursed! That wasn¡¯t an overreaction in the slightest! How the dell did I earn the wrath of someone I¡¯ve never met?!


    Wait¡­


    This happened just as she smiled¡­


    I poke my eyes out of the water, and right there, with a very smug smile, is the naked woman. She¡¯s lain down on her stomach and propped her head up on her hands. I try to glare at her, but with rigid eyebrows it doesn¡¯t quite translate, so I just tilt my head forward till I look like I¡¯m glaring. If the brightening expression on her face is anything to go by then she snakeclammed knows what I¡¯m trying.


    [{(Killed mate. Feel it. Curse.)}]


    What? Mate? What the schnell is she tal- Is this two way? How do I know it¡¯s her?


    [{(Intent. Think. Understand.)}]


    Okay¡­ so a crazy woman can think straight into MY head. As if ruining her own mind wasn¡¯t good enough. I might become the first person to ever contract crazy like a common cold. Ooh, she¡¯s not happy now, this is definitely two way.


    [{(Killed mate. Not crazy. Grieving. Did this. Fault. Monster.)}]


    So, this is probably the ¡®attempt to make amends and beg forgiveness¡¯ part of the curse. I honestly figured I¡¯d be grit out of luck with that part because of the whole monster/human barrier. Well, a curse doesn¡¯t sound like something I¡¯d want, I¡¯d much rather beg than be cursed.


    [{(Understand curse. Smart monster. Dangerous monster. Small snakes nowhere. Big snake here.)}]


    Hmm, my siblings? I ate them. Damn my eyes are getting dry, I¡¯m going under.


    [{(Siblings? Small snake? Old?)}]


    Yeah, I ate almost all of them. They were so adorable trying to eat me, I tried to eat as many of them alive as I could to feel them wriggle inside me. I had hoped to feel at least one of the infants mature into a toddler inside me, but no such luck unfortunately.


    [{(What? Crazy? Crazy! Old? Ridiculous.)}]


    You think I¡¯m crazy? I¡¯m not the one killing myself to avenge either a weirdo or a madman. I still don¡¯t know which was your mate. Oh, and I¡¯m¡­ uh¡­ there was the first nap for two days, then that second one after, then the one after I went out that was 1<sup>1/2</sup>, and another in the pool, then a second in the pool, then I went back to my cave and slept for a day, then I passed out I don¡¯t know how long, then I hunted and slept for a day, then I dug a hole and slept for a day and I think that¡¯s it. So, I¡¯m¡­ between 8-10 days old, I think.


    [{(What?! Young?! Child! Mate fool! Warning! Listen! Listen. Force. Made. Safe. Machete. Machete! Adult?! Know! Brother know! Brother know! Brother fool! Think know! Mate dead! Brother blame! Snake Blame? Snake Blame?! Snake eat! Snake eat! Eat! Snake snake!)}]


    I think the reception might be bit spotty or something, but personally I don¡¯t blame the snake for eating food, even if it was partially an accident. Oh, and the madman had the machete and the weirdo just stared at my scales and I guess he sort of became bait for the other one. I¡¯ll admit, I kind of lost control there and instinct was behind the wheel during most of it, but I really did intend to just kind of leave them with maybe just a broken arm or shoulder so I could escape. I would regret it, but they gave me a lot of everything I needed, so I¡¯m not. Why am I saying that? That is not something that I should be telling a grieving gipsy who¡¯s mate I ate, and neither is this! Why am I saying this? I have had such good impulse control since getting that core!


    [{(Core? Monster Core? Monster monster?! Animal monster. Bad monster. Monster monster! Brother fool! Mate fool! Brother magic! Brother addicted. Shiny scales. Brother fool! Monster eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Monster eat!)}]


    Yeah, ok they were fools, I get it, I was there, I ate them. Machete man didn¡¯t have any depth perception in the water and the weirdo just stared. It was creepy. I get shivers under my scales just thinking about it. He never used any magic however, unless you call having a below average body temperature magic. Addiction is the right word though. If we hadn¡¯t been underwater, he¡¯d have been drooling with how low his jaw hung. The machete man jumped in after I moved my head to follow weirdo and revealed myself to someone looking from above -which he was- because I only saw one silhouette before weirdo jumped in.


    [{(Brother fool. Want rich. Easy life. Addicted treasure.)}]


    Yeah. I can¡¯t quite put it into words just how creepy it was being looked at like that. It was sort of how I was looking at you earlier and thinking about how beautiful you are and how I¡¯d like to swallow you whole and undamaged just so I could feel my throat muscles (No please, stop! Mind! Stop! I was supposed to just live with this shame in silence!) caress every single one of your curves and ridges as you¡¯re slowly pushed farther and farther down my gullet as I think about the hope fading from your eyes and being replaced with dread at the prospect of getting slowly digested alive. (It¡¯s over. It was torture while it lasted, but it¡¯s over. Thank the seafloor for that.) And then-


    [{(Stop.)}]


    At least that was the plan, until you revealed you had a death wish.


    [{(Repeat after me; the seafloor sees Seers Seeing seas see Seers.)}]


    The seafloor sees Seers Seeing seas see Seers. Why?


    [{(You¡¯re intelligent? As in, you can think, and reason, and plan?)}]


    Well, I don¡¯t like to brag, but I am definitely smarter than the average CS.


    [{(CS? Never mind that, you understood me and repeated my words, so you must be intelligent. I thought the curse was just making sure I understood your intent, but those were your actual thoughts. These are your actual thoughts. You¡¯re thinking to me in words, and sentences! I dumbed my own words down so you could understand, but I didn¡¯t need to do that. You are an actual, real, thinking Coastal Snakeling, and a monster on top of it. With a core!)}]


    Yes, I think in words, and yes, I am amazing, I know. I haven¡¯t seen anything come even close to matching me in size or smarts, humans included. I do have a core; we went over that briefly already. If we can deal with this whole curse situation now, that would be nice.


    [{(The curse, yes. You killed Samson! You ate him! Like a monster would¡­ Like a Snakeling would. I feel I¡¯m being unfair, but you killed him! You didn¡¯t actually mean to though. Your instincts took over. You meant to just stun him and leave. You can¡¯t lie over the curse, so it must be true. I still can¡¯t just let you off the hook, you¡¯ve ruined my life and killed my husband. You even killed the only sailor who dared come this far out, so I can¡¯t even leave. You probably wrecked the ship too.)}]


    Yes, that was me. I¡¯m a bad snake, I get it. So, you have nothing to live for and no hope of ever seeing another human being and the party responsible is at your mercy. Now, what will you do?


    [{(¡­I really don¡¯t know. You acted on instinct, and you¡¯re only 10 days old at most. Your instincts are all you¡¯ve really had to guide you, but you have so much potential if you can escape the next purge, it wouldn¡¯t feel right to ruin that.)}]


    Purge? What do you mean purge?


    [{(I guess you really wouldn¡¯t know. I¡¯m not even sure if I should tell you. Maybe it would be a good test. Yes, it would. Murderer, if you can fight the next purge and live, I will dispel the curse. If you flee it, or hide from it, then I will activate the curse. If you die, then that¡¯s that.)}]


    O¡­kay? What is a purge? That feels like something I should know if I¡¯m going to fight it.


    [{(I¡¯m not going to tell you that. You¡¯ll know what it is when it happens, and it will happen only 13 days from now. It¡¯s always on schedule, so at least you¡¯ll know when, if not what.)}]


    I¡¯m still not feeling very good about this. This feels like a way for you to get out of the whole ¡®sacrificing yourself to fuel a curse thing¡¯.


    [{(So, what if it is? I can¡¯t avenge my husband except by a curse? You should be very glad I¡¯m giving you any chance to get out at all. Most people wouldn¡¯t care that you didn¡¯t mean to do it, but lucky for you, I can see value in your life. I know that if you can fight this purge, then you¡¯ll be able to help my people.)}]


    Help your people? I want to eat your people. Your people are full of everything I want in a meal.


    [{(I think you might reconsider when the purge begins. If it will get you to fight, then I will tell you that if you survive, you will get even more rewards than from humans.)}]


    Okay, yeah that kind of makes me want to fight this purge, but purge is still a very scary word. I feel like a single individual isn¡¯t enough to fight a whole purge.


    [{(You won¡¯t be alone, or rather, you won¡¯t be the only one the purge targets.)}]


    Targets? Is this a monster purge?


    [{(It is, but I won¡¯t say any more than that. Who, or what, is doing the purging, you¡¯ll only find out once it hits. Fight it and survive, and I¡¯ll dispel the curse. Do anything else about it and I activate the curse.)}]


    Well, I don¡¯t really have much of a choice, I feel. I¡¯ll fight this purge then. I just hope I can evolve before then. Since I won¡¯t find any more humans I¡¯ll need to start eating immediately, and do it in an efficient way. Do you know where I can find anything bigger than the fish around here.


    [{(I do, but I won¡¯t tell you. Now, if you¡¯re going to go hunt then I want you to give me a ride back home, and then bring the rowboat to me in one piece.)}]


    Okay, sure.


    [{(You don¡¯t feel like that would be degrading? I thought for sure you would fight me on that.)}]


    I feel like maybe feeling you on my outside will help my fight the weirder feeling of wanting to feel you squirm inside me.


    [{(¡­I forgot about that. I completely forgot about your disturbing confession. What is wrong with you?)}]


    I don¡¯t know! I¡¯ve been having these urges since I was a Snakeling Child! I don¡¯t know why I want this, I don¡¯t want this, but I do want this! It makes me shudder with delight and I hate it! Why do my instincts tell me to do this?!


    [{(Maybe this is just how Coastal Snakelings mate. Perhaps your genitals are somewhere in your stomach. You¡¯re still a weird murderer.)}]


    The weird part hurts more than the murderer part. So, are we doing this ride thing or are you a grown woman who can get home on her own?


    [{(You are a really weird Snakeling. I¡¯ll do it myself. The ride was supposed to be demeaning, not pleasant or erotic to you. Weirdo.)}]


    I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m female if that helps.


    [{(It doesn¡¯t. Now leave.)}]


    Alrighty then, your loss. I¡¯m certain I could make it feel really good too.


    [{(Don¡¯t make me change my mind about this chance I¡¯m giving you.)}]


    I¡¯m leaving, I¡¯m leaving.


    I leap out of the water and dive back in like a snaky dolphin and head to the coral reef. I had a lot of fish to eat.


    <hr>


    It was 4 days later, after eating my fill 4 times and sleeping in a hole I had dug near the reef, that something happened. It came as a relief to me, but I had hoped for it sooner. This was of course a level up.


    {Congratulations, you have leveled up to Level: 6}


    I need way more time than I have if I want to evolve before the purge, but higher levels always need more than the last, so even if I had three times the time I probably won¡¯t evolve before the purge! I have to do something different. I have also gotten (Mana Manipulation) up to level 3, though I see little use in it still. There is just nothing useful about tiny puffs of mana!


    Maybe I can use it differently? Ahhhhh! I need more time! I can¡¯t fight a monster purge like this! I¡¯m big and strong and smarter than I¡¯m supposed to be, but they¡¯ll surely expect a monster to be strong!


    Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 6


    Skill points: 5


    Biomass: 3


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Expand)}


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 2


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Gastric Regulator)}


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 3


    (Dig) Lvl 3


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +1


    (Enlarge) and (Gastric Burst) had been upgradable for a few days, but I decided against upgrading them. Both upgrades are only an increase to control, not a boost. (Expand) let me control how big I got, between my normal size and my maximum size. (Gastric Regulator) is the same concept, so neither one would help me. Maybe the upgrades beyond that would be boosts, but I don¡¯t have the time to get them to that point. If this purge is intended for monsters like the naked crazy woman said then I would be need to be more than a monster. That¡¯s where (Mana Manipulation) comes into play.


    If I can learn magic before the purge gets here, then I¡¯ll have a trick up my sleeve that won¡¯t be expected. I just wish I could practice it faster. I¡¯ve been practicing every chance I get, but I¡¯ve only got a feeling of how full my core is, and I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m maximizing the efficiency of it by practicing every time I wake up. What if it fills faster when it¡¯s nearly full? What if emptying it over and over again damages it or weakens me? There is so much I don¡¯t know! I can only hope I¡¯m doing this right. Maybe I should do something different with the mana, like trying to send it somewhere other than my gills. I¡¯ll do that now, in fact.


    I do just that. I draw mana out of my core and try to find someplace to put it, or something to use it with, but very little happens. I can feel that if I surround something inside me in mana then it absorbs a little of the mana, and a part of that mana goes back to my core. It is an interesting development, but I don¡¯t feel like it helps. If that means that I¡¯m absorbing the mana rather than generating it then all that means is that I decreased my mana absorption a little every time I did that. If I generate it however, and this means I can absorb my own mana back into myself, then I have a way to get maybe 1 more try out of every practice. I just don¡¯t know.


    I can¡¯t feel where the mana I get comes from, so I thought the core was creating it, but that doesn¡¯t have to be the case. I can¡¯t sense any mana around me, even when I¡¯m practicing and I¡¯ve let out the mana puffs. I can always sense my core, and I know when there is mana in it and a rough estimate of how much compared to how much I use for every puff, but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s a little or a lot. I need more knowledge!


    Wait a moment, I might have a way to get that. I want to buy [Skills].


    The massive [Skills] list greets me like an overeager puppy. The sheer amount is still staggering, and I kick myself for not using it a little more. I have the points to spend so I shouldn¡¯t be stingy with them.


    Show me [Skills] that about magic.


    Nothing. There is nothing. I know the list is still there, but there is nothing to help me with magic. There is literally nothing magic related on this entire, massive list. I can not overstate just how large this list is, the numbers boggle the mind. Nothing on magic though. Nada. Nil. Nothing. Nix. Zero. Zilch. That boggles my mind. How can there be nothing? Ooooh, I probably need to upgrade (Mana Manipulation) for that. Of course I do.


    Show me [Skills] that give me information about myself.


    Oh, there is actually 1.


    (Basic Info)


    // Know yourself better. See otherwise ambiguous facts about yourself. Usefulness varies. A monster with the intellect to acquire this should be old enough to already know everything this [Skill] offers, making it redundant and a waste. //


    A bit of a weird description but I¡¯ll take it! Use (Basic Info).


    (Basic Info)


    Health: Perfect/Perfect


    Mana: 6/10


    Long, powerful sea snake with a venomous bite.


    Capable of constricting large creatures to death.


    Venom contains a neuro-necrosis toxin that seeks out neurons and kills them. Venom does not seek to enter the bloodstream and spreads little. Injected limbs almost certainly become paralyzed. Causes almost certain, instantaneous death if injected in the neck close to the spine, or anywhere close enough to reach the heart.


    Capable of manipulating mana.


    Capable of seeing great distances in front of itself.


    Capable of sensing miniscule amounts of chemicals and the direction they originate from.


    Capable of making colors dance on its scales, and glitter in the sunlight. Very limited ability to camouflage.


    Yes! There it is! 6/10 Mana! The rest I don¡¯t care about. Except maybe that venom. I knew it was deadly but that sounds incredible! If I get a clean hit on anything with neurons -so anything more complex than a jellyfish- then the part I bite becomes useless. I can¡¯t see anything but a whale coming out of that alive! Even if I only get a limb, then that limb is useless forever right? Do neurons regenerate? I don¡¯t know, but enough about that, now I know how much mana I have.


    I return to my practicing, and do the same experiment again. By surrounding something with mana I can make it absorb a small part of that mana, and it then gives a part of the mana it absorbed back to my core. I do this repeatedly until I run out of mana, but from what I can see it¡¯s a net loss of mana.


    I guess that means I¡¯m absorbing mana? I think it does, but I wouldn¡¯t put more than maybe 20$ on it. So, I¡¯m out of mana now, which means it time to hunt again.


    I peek over the rim of my hole, and see nothing dangerous. There are the same fish as always, around the same corals as always.


    This whole ¡®apex predator¡¯ thing gets old pretty fast I got to say. I have a goal now at least, but a goal given to me by a vengeful gypsy wife does not make me feel any better.


    It doesn¡¯t take long to vacuum up enough unlucky fish to fill me up and I return to my hole.


    Mana: 1/10


    I wish there was some mana just lying around for me to slurp up. That would make this whole process much better. I should just go to sleep now. There is nothing for me to do without mana or an empty stomach. I can use some Biomass, but there¡¯s only 1 thing I can upgrade. I¡¯ll just put this in ears, I guess.


    Upgrade Inner Ears to +2.


    {Inner Ears increased to +2}


    The same pleasant sensation as before massages my ear canals. It¡¯s over very quickly, but it does relax me enough that I¡¯m ready for another nap.


    Mana: 2/10


    What? I¡¯ve already got 2 mana back? It¡¯s been at most half an hour since I emptied it. Has this been happening every day? Have I been wasting¡­ 2 mana per half hour, 2 and a half hours for a full core. That means that, with my 24 hour digestion naps I could have instead been practicing (Mana Manipulation) every 2 and a half hours for¡­ around 7 missed practices every day. Duck! I thought it was empty though¡­ Did I ever actually check except when I woke up? No is the answer to that. Ducking muck! I¡¯ve been horribly inefficient! I could have already upgraded it! Well, this stops now. I¡¯ll lie here and digest like a normal snake until I can do magic! It can¡¯t be that long right?


    <hr>


    {(Mana Manipulation) has reached Level: 4}


    Oh god, this took 21 hours. How can I tell? Cause I bought a new [Skill].


    (Internal Clock)


    // Always know what time of day it is. //


    I regret it. Not only did I waste a point on it, but it¡¯s torture to be constantly aware of every passing second as I wait for my possible demise. I¡¯ll probably get used to it though. I got used to being a snake very quickly. I remember handling being something other than human very well as soon as I was aware again. I can¡¯t always rely on being denied help to know what time it is, especially now that I need the help function.


    What is the purge, in detail, that the naked crazy woman was talking about? Help?


    {Request for help answered. The purge the Gypsy talked about is a bi-monthly extermination of all monsters too close to the population centers of the Merfolk. A few days before the purge they scan the oceans around them by channeling the mana of their mages into constructs that then send a pulse through the water. The pulse locates monsters and tells their tier. This pulse will then happen three more times, and if the monsters remain within their range then a squad of soldiers is sent to exterminate them. A group of soldiers is called a squad when they include 7-14 soldiers led by a sergeant. Exceptions exist.}


    Hoo boy, that¡¯s a lot of help alright. That last part about exceptions is a bit nerve racking, but as a tier 0 monster I shouldn¡¯t attract anything too difficult. I think I could handle 7 Merfolk. Once I can do magic, I should be a fearsome creature, unmatched in the ocean! I would probably be unmatched among tier 0 monsters at least. Not that I know how strong they are. I haven¡¯t met any other monster, probably because of these purges. Though that begs the question; where are all the other monsters?


    If there are so few that even my new sense of smell can¡¯t pick up anything besides fish, crustaceans, birds, slugs, corals, barnacles, seaweed, and other normal sea creatures, then why is there a need for bi-monthly purges? Where do monsters come from? I wish I could make a list of questions to ask the voice in my head. No such luck though.


    I have about 8 and a half days before the purge to learn magic, and if I don¡¯t see that happening, then I¡¯ve found a [Skill] called (Camouflage) that lets me change colors to match my environment. Its not shiny like Hypnotic Scales, so I know it¡¯ll be much better to hide with. I can ambush the squad of Merfolk and hopefully destroy any kind of formation, or pick them off one by one if I¡¯m lucky. I¡¯m kind of talking myself into buying (Camouflage) right now, but I only have 3 Skill points to spend, and I can only get more if I waste precious time on napping to digest, or I spend a Skill point to upgrade (Gastric Burst), which would defeat the entire purpose of leveling up in the first place. I need to stick to my decided path and follow it through.


    What I can do though, is get my other [Skills] up to max level anytime my mana regenerates.


    Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 6


    Skill points: 3


    Biomass: 1


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Expand)}


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 2


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Gastric Regulator)}


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 4


    (Dig) Lvl 3


    (Basic Info) Lvl 1


    (Inner Clock) Lvl 1


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +2


    I¡¯m not sure how to upgrade (Basic Info) and (Inner Clock) besides just using them, and (Ravenous Vacuum) needs an empty stomach, so I guess I¡¯ll focus on (Dig) and just stay aware of the time while I constantly check (Basic Info).


    Let¡¯s do this!


    I leap out of my hole and scare a great number of fish as my large form appears seemingly from nowhere. I move only a few dozen meters away before I start digging. I dig as fast as I can, but a serpentine body is likely a strong contender for worst digging physiology, right after slugs. Progress is slow, but perhaps that¡¯s for the best. I feel that maybe needing more guidance makes it level faster. Perhaps that¡¯s why (Mana Manipulation) levels so slowly. Perhaps I¡¯m imagining things. Yet again, I just don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t quite know how much guidance (Mana Manipulation) gives me, and I only need 1 more level anyway, so it shouldn¡¯t matter too much. There¡¯s probably just an obscene difficulty curve on it to really weed out the weak willed before the good stuff.


    I continue to dig until my core is recharged, and then I settle into my hole and start on the practice again. This time I let mana pass through me without surrounding anything, just passing it from core to tail to head again and again. I focus on not losing any of it, so I just kept the same mana flowing around myself for as long as I can before I feel I have to release it. I spend an entire 10 minutes on each point of mana, and manage to stretch my practice from the original 30 minutes each time to 150 minutes of practice with a 10-minute break after it, and then one more 10-minute practice round. This probably helps me level it faster, though I¡¯ll only know for sure once I do level it up. I should get rewarded for keeping hold of the mana like that I feel.


    I return to my digging mentally exhausted after the practicing and gain a level in (Dig) after only a couple minutes of digging. That does little, but the digging feels a little faster, so that¡¯s nice. I stay as aware of time passing as I possibly can, which might just end up giving me snake-anxiety as I watch the clock tick towards a fight for my life. (Basic Info) levels a little bit later, but I would be dead right now if I had epilepsy, just from the sheer speed of me opening and closing (Basic Info).


    I keep digging until I can return to practicing, which I do until I run out of mana, and then I dig more, practice mana, dig, practice, dig, mana, dig, mana, dig, mana. I keep it going until (Dig) reaches level five, and then I go into a hole and practice (Mana Manipulation) only.


    If I can stretch the amount of time I hold onto each point of mana to 30 minutes, then I won¡¯t need to stop practicing. I can just sit here and get a progressively worse headache, until I¡¯ve had it long enough to call it chronic. Maybe then this stupid thing will level up. I¡¯ll get the upgrade and it will be called (Mana Headache), and it will give me more mana the greater the headache I have!


    Maybe I need a distraction. I have digested a part of my food now, so I can hunt a little more. I think I¡¯ll do that and just think of something that might level (Mana Manipulation).


    I leave my hole in search of something to hunt, and I settle on a large crab trying to scuttle away from me. Every one of his fellow prey have abandoned him, and he tries to flee me along with them, but he appears to have a damaged leg that¡¯s slowing and tripping him. I reach him and he snaps his claws at me in an attempt to scare me. I snap my mouth in the same way, and the resulting water pressure sends him tumbling sideways again and again, until he hits my body. He appears a little dizzy once he¡¯s regained his footing, and he ends up tumbling over his damaged leg even more than before. I wrap my body around the area he¡¯s in and he tries to scuttle over me, but I start slowly moving in a circle, and he can¡¯t quite get a grip on my scales. I make a little lightshow to mess with him a little more, and it works to an extent. He snaps his claws at anything that he sees as a threat, and scuttles away when he can. This lasts for almost an hour before the crab lies down and stops moving altogether.


    Is he dead? Did he exhaust himself? Is it a trap?


    I put a body part close to him and nudge him, but he doesn¡¯t react. I push him with my nose and he doesn¡¯t move either.


    Oh well. He was fun while he lasted. I have gotten an idea though. I¡¯ve moved mana all over my body, I¡¯ve tried to surround parts of myself in mana, and I¡¯ve expelled it along with water through my gills, but what I haven¡¯t done is expel it with my venom. I think this crab will make an excellent test subject.


    I get the crab into my mouth and align him with a fang. He twitches, so maybe he isn¡¯t completely dead, but that doesn¡¯t change anything. I draw the mana I need from my core and try to mix it into my venom. It actually works. I don¡¯t know if it does anything, but my venom now has mana in it. I pierce the crab¡¯s chitin and push my fang into him slowly. He may be a large crab, but that doesn¡¯t make him large enough to even reach between my fangs, so I have to be careful not to go all the way through him. I inject my venom into him, and then try to get him off, but I end up having to scoop him off with my tongue.


    I watch him for anything odd, but it seems that nothing special happened.


    I might need a bigger test subject. Except there is nothing even a tenth of my size here. After the purge I¡¯m heading away from where the pulses will come from, if I can sense it. If I can¡¯t, then I¡¯ll head away from where the Merfolk come from. There should be monsters where the Merfolk don¡¯t purge them, and that will be away from the pulses. Now, to actually hunt something.


    I find some fish and suck them down, before going back to one of the many holes I had dug at this point.


    Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 6


    Skill points: 3


    Biomass: 1


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Expand)}


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 2


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Gastric Regulator)}


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 4


    (Dig) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Digger)}


    (Basic Info) Lvl 2


    (Inner Clock) Lvl 1


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +2


    I won¡¯t waste a Skill point on (Digger), but at least it¡¯s max level. I have just under 8 days to ready myself, and with the increase in practice I¡¯m certain (Mana Manipulation) will make it to level 5 soon. Now, back to the grind.


    <hr>


    18 hours later


    (Mana Manipulation) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Mana Shaping)}


    Do it!


    I did it! I leveled it up! God I should be bored. Snakes spend a lot of time just lying around I think, so maybe that¡¯s translating to me being more patient. I can¡¯t think of any other reason why I could stay still for 18 hours straight. Anyway, that¡¯s off topic. I can feel a real change with this [Skill].


    (Mana Shaping)


    // Learn to shape your mana into specific shapes, and thus learn to perform magic. //


    I can see them. I see a number of shapes inside my head. I¡¯ll begin with the simplest one, a circle.


    I first try to shape mana into a circle, but that just makes the mana circle inside me. Then I first try to imagine a circle, and then put mana into it, but that again just sends the mana circling inside me. I realize I¡¯m missing something. This time, I think of (Mana Shaping) and all of the shapes that came with it, and I try to pull the circle out and into myself. It works this time. I imagine the circle and I see it wobble and shake in front of me, as if unsteady. It¡¯s transparent as well. I try to put mana into it, but it passes through as if the circle weren¡¯t there. This is getting annoying.


    I take the circle and this time have a ready-made circle that I overlap with the other circle. Nothing happens. I spin the mana. Nothing. I spin it the other way. Nothing. The damn thing won¡¯t stop wobbling! It¡¯s taunting me! I grab the circle and force it to stay still. It doesn¡¯t, but a part of it seems to grow more substantial, as if it¡¯s more there than it was before. The rest of it continues to wobble and shake, and soon it spreads back into the resting parts and they join the wobbling again. I grab the circle again, this time choosing a specific part of it. I grab hold of it and keep my hold on it. The wobbling parts change their rhythm, but they don¡¯t manage to introduce the wobble to the parts I¡¯m holding.


    This is it. This is what I was missing!


    I spread my mental grip along the circle, until only a small part remains wiggling and wobbling, looking a lot like a little sea snake trying to run away from something. I show it the same mercy as my siblings.


    With the entire circle calmed I release it and watch closely for any movement. The whole thing is solid now. It¡¯s no longer transparent either. I wait for a while, but nothing seems to happen, so I figure this might work now. I grab a point of mana and gingerly touch the circle with it. The mana collides with the circle, and the circle begins wobbling again from the point where the mana touched it.


    Fudgeknuckles!


    I grab the circle where the mana touches it and aim to stop it at the source. What happens is that the mana where I touch the circle starts pouring inside the circle and the whole thing gets out of control faster than I can react to it. The circle becomes see-through and goes back to wobbling and shaking, and the mana is gone.


    That was interesting. I need to put mana into the circle, but mana makes it unstable. How do I solve this? Can I grab the whole circle if I try hard enough? Hmm¡­ Will that help, or hinder? I will just need to try, I guess.


    So, I try. I do test after test, losing a point of mana every time until I have to wait for more. I do, and I continue to test my snake patience. I¡¯m on my third round when I get an idea. I place the mana where the circle will solidify, and then grab it and set it. The circle accepts the mana without trouble until I run out of pre-placed mana, and then the new parts I solidify immediately go wild from the mana in the other parts moving and the mana-filled portions of the circle follow suit and the whole thing collapses.


    I¡¯m so close!


    I do the same thing again, this time drawing 2 points of mana from my core. I start shaping the circle, and it goes well, until a fish swims past my hole and distracts me ever so slightly. The circle collapses and I lose 2 points of mana.


    Snake damn you, you plankton!


    I leave my hole and catch up to the fish in an instant. I bite its tailfin and inject venom into it. The fin stops moving and the fish¡¯s speed slows dramatically as it barely remains buoyant enough to swim forwards. I then return to my hole, satisfied in knowing that fish won¡¯t outrun its next predator. Then I calm down and feel a little bad. It was just swimming around; it didn¡¯t do this on purpose. I might have accepted eating people, but I never intended to be cruel.


    That fish doesn¡¯t deserve that.


    I go back out and eat the fish, injecting venom into its head to make sure it¡¯s dead.


    I get back to mana shaping after that. 2 points leave my core and settle in a circle where I then place the imagined circle. I solidify it, and the two points of mana are absorbed into the circle and fill it completely, with nothing remaining behind. The circle feels full and I feel the need to let it go, but I keep it under control and watch it. It does nothing, but that¡¯s only from an outside perceptive, if someone had an outside perspective on my mind. I¡¯m constantly rushing over the circle and grabbing it as it attempts to wobble and shake again. I can feel where it intends to wobble now, something I¡¯m attributing to it being full of my mana. That might mean that this circle is now mine in a sense. I make a risk and move the circle a little, but it doesn¡¯t seem to mind, only making as many attempts at wobbling and shaking as before.


    Holy snakemulch, I¡¯ve done it! I¡¯m holding a spell! A spell that I have no idea about! A spell that might explode if I don¡¯t focus on it! Back to it!


    The circle has managed to shake a little, but I fix all of it in only a moment. Then I move the circle to my mouth. Now that there is mana in the circle, there is a definite direction the spell desires and I aim that out of my mouth as I open it. I aim at a spot in the sand a distance away, and release.


    A light blue bolt rushes out of my mouth and into the sand. There is an explosion of sand as it¡¯s forced out of the way of the bolt, and then it disappears.


    I get out and begin digging where the bolt landed. I spend 2 minutes moving sand, until I hit rock. I had shot the bolt into the sand at an angle though, so I spent a little more time widening the hole before I give up. It¡¯s obvious the bolt didn¡¯t reach the seabed, but I would get more accurate results from firing it at the rocky seabed.


    I make the circle again and fill it with mana, successfully, and fire at the rocky seabed from the shelter of the edge of the hole and retreat back as soon as I fire. There is a small ripple of water that leaves the hole and I feel a little giddy at the thought of a hole in the rock.


    I glance over the edge and see a small hole in the rock. A very small hole. More of a dent than a hole. But it is in rock, and there had been a small shockwave, so maybe this isn¡¯t very accurate data. Maybe the bolt burst on the rock and dispersed most of its force into the water. I need live test subjects. So, I go and find some.


    I make the circle in my mind as I search for suitable prey, and it¡¯s difficult to split my focus, but possible. I follow the coral reef until I find a friend, a crab. Their chitin makes them perfect test subjects. I take aim and open my mouth. The crab keeps on scuttling in a straight line, but even then, I¡¯m not very confident in my ability to hit such a small target.


    I decide this might as well be a test of my ability to keep focus in combat. I slink towards the crab and catch it in my mouth. It attempts to pinch me but the angle keeps it from finding any purchase as I position it. I rise up a little and angle my head downward. I release the crab and it sinks towards the bottom. Then I make the magic happen.


    The crab is struck right as it reaches the sandy seafloor and is pressed into the sand for a moment before the bolt of mana breaks his chitin and the little crab ruptures from the inside. Little crab pieces spread out away from the center of impact, and I wiggle in happiness.


    This will work. This can surely do a sizable amount of damage to humanoid creatures if a crab just straight up explodes! Oh yeah, status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 6


    Skill points: 2


    Biomass: 1


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Expand)}


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 3


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Gastric Regulator)}


    (Mana Shaping) Lvl 4


    (Dig) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Digger)}


    (Basic Info) Lvl 2


    (Inner Clock) Lvl 1


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +2


    Woah, (Mana Shaping) is level 4 already? Then will I be able to upgrade it again before the fight? What would I get then? Will it just be more shapes, or will there be something more? Oh, I haven¡¯t checked if I can buy any new magic [Skills]!


    Show me any magic [Skills] I can buy.


    (Forceful Mana)


    (External Mana Manipulation)


    2 of them huh, well that¡¯s a lot better than before. Now, what do they do?


    (Forceful Mana)


    // Allows more mana to be input in a single spell, up to double the base amount. This can increase the power, or change the outcome, of a spell. //


    (External Mana Manipulation)


    // Manipulate the mana around you. //


    (Forceful Mana) is probably something I should get, but is it the best choice for the fight? If I use it, then I can make 2 powerful bolts and 1 normal bolt. I¡¯m already pretty sure a weaker bolt is more than enough to seriously hurt something using soft protection like skin, or even fish scales if it can straight up blow a crab to pieces. I¡¯m confident in my mana bolt, I won¡¯t get (Forceful Mana). Even if the Merfolk use armor of some kind I¡¯m still confident that my mana bolt will hurt them.


    Now, for the other shapes. There might be more useful magic in there somewhere, and since I¡¯ve gotten the hang of how to make the shapes solid and put mana into them the rest of these will be easy!


    <hr>


    28 hours later


    Ducking slitherspit! How can this be so much harder?! I already know how to solidify you and fill you with mana, so why won¡¯t you work?! I release you, and you just flop down like a dead fish! Then you dare to disappear!


    There was no progress. In 28 hours, all I managed to make was a short-lived decoration. I am determined to make this one work, not because it is the next easiest looking, oh no, but because I have no idea what it does. The shape is a short spring, wider on one end, ending in a point half as long as the spring on the other end that sticks straight up out of it. On the widest part, the spring flattens out and enters the middle of the of the spring. The beginning of the point and the flat part are then connected by a cable of interwoven strings.


    I have no idea how it¡¯s supposed to work. I have dropped it on animals to see if something happens, but nope. The animal just keeps running away, and the mana construct flops pathetically down into the sand where it then disappears, or dissipates, whichever works best. I¡¯m determined to get it to work, but maybe I should focus on something else for now. I only have 5 days before the purge. I should have as many weapons at my disposal as possible.


    I decide to pick a different shape, a simpler shape. I briefly go over them all, before I pick a straight line with a hoop around its middle. This should be easier.


    I begin by imagining the shape, then I place the amount of mana I feel is correct, 3 points in this case, and begin on the hoop. It takes 1 mana to fill the hoop, and then I move onto the line. The line takes in the 2 remaining points and is full, luckily for me. I can feel that there is a direction, and I angle it that way out of my mouth, and release.


    The line fires out of my mouth like a harpoon, leaving the hoop to dissipate. The mana harpoon fires into the sand and buries itself 90% of the way in the sand, before dissipating.


    Damn! That will be useful, though I can only use it 3 times on a fight, so it could be a question of quality or quantity here. If I fire 2 of these, then I can fire 2 bolts as well. I will have to start coming up with strategies soon.


    Let¡¯s think of strategies right now actually. If I stay here any longer, the Merfolk might suspect the monster of being a Coastal Snakeling and be ready for it. I should actually start moving away from here right now. If I can¡¯t find my way back though, the naked crazy woman might think I ran away from the fight and curse me anyway, so the whole point of fighting is moot at that point. I¡¯m stuck here until after the fight, I guess.


    Now, since I¡¯ve chosen the field, right here around this coral reef, then I next need to pick a spot to ambush the Merfolk, because of course I¡¯ll ambush them. What self-respecting monster doesn¡¯t lie in ambush? I will need to wait for the first pulse though. If the pulse is accurate enough, then it might reveal my hiding spot, and I don¡¯t want that to happen. I¡¯ll have to wait on top of the sand for the first pulse, and then quickly find a good ambush spot between where I was, and where the pulse comes from, and then return back to where I was when the first pulse hit, and wait for the other 3 pulses.


    Once I¡¯m in position after the fourth pulse, I will then need to determine how close I can be before they sense me somehow. This will determine whether I start the fight with magic or brute force.


    If it¡¯s magic, then I¡¯ll fire a mana bolt at¡­ how do I determine the best target? Once I fire the first shot, I lose the element of surprise. If I fire at the closest target, then I¡¯ll need to go further to get to the next one. Strategy might not be as simple as I thought.


    Okay, think of it this way; I am a large, powerful, single enemy. If I don¡¯t start with magic, and instead go straight for a bite, then I get to keep all of my tricks up my sleeves. I can save (Ravenous Vacuum) for those trying to get distance, and magic as a surprise ace. If they think they can outmaneuver me then I can catch a few by surprise and suck them up. If they try to group up, a mana bolt might be enough to scatter them a little, and then my sheer bulk can hopefully tear apart any kind of formation.


    With the rudimentary strategy session out of the way, I get right back to practicing, or I would have, if not for the first pulse.


    It passes through the sea like a bolt of lightning. The seafloor is undisturbed, and in fact the animals don¡¯t seem to have noticed the pulse at all. I however feel it like a sumo wrestler slamming into me, that is to say, I feel a weight, but it can¡¯t move me. A pressure from the pulse tries to push me along with it, but it can¡¯t, and it happens so quickly that I¡¯m left no time to react. I only realize what¡¯s happened a few seconds after as my mind catches up.


    I need to go now!


    I burst into movement and swim the way the pulse came from, over the coral reef. I swim for almost an hour over corals of all sizes until I find a good hiding spot for my long body. The spot is inside a tubular coral of massive size. It can fit all of myself and then some, and the best thing is that it faces away from the origin of the pulse, meaning that at least sight won¡¯t give them an advantage. There remains the issue of olfactory senses, and any possible electroreceptors, but nothing else should be able to spot me. I just hope this isn¡¯t a dumb spot. It does leave me blind to their approach, so maybe it isn¡¯t as ideal as I think, maybe a hole in the sand would be better.


    I rethink the coral spot, and I realize that maybe seeing their approach is worth more than keeping them blind. I move back a bit, swimming 20 minutes back where I came from and to a raised dune of sand the coral hasn¡¯t claimed entirely. I dig into it and find out that if I coil around the rock under the sand then I should be able to remain almost completely hidden aside from my head, which will be semi exposed so I can make full use of my senses. This spot will work.


    I go back to my practice spot, and there I stay, practicing my 2 spells, until the next pulse hits 2 days later. It¡¯s stronger than the last, but even that can¡¯t do more than pressure my outside a little bit.


    Status!


    {Coastal Snakeling Adult (Core)}


    Level: 6


    Skill points: 2


    Biomass: 1


    Might ¨C 21


    Toughness ¨C 13


    Cunning ¨C 7(?)


    Charm ¨C 7


    [Skills]


    (Enlarge) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Expand)}


    (Ravenous Vacuum) Lvl 3


    (Gastric Burst) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Gastric Regulator)}


    (Mana Shaping) Lvl 5


    (Dig) Lvl 5 {Upgrade to (Digger)}


    (Basic Info) Lvl 3


    (Inner Clock) Lvl 1


    [Modifications]


    Venom Glands +1: Injector Fangs +1: Hypnotic Scales +5: Scoped Eyes +5: Hollow Tongue +5: Inner Ears +2


    I¡¯ve found out to my annoyance that (Mana Shaping) does not upgrade at level 5 like (Mana Manipulation). I just have to wait and see when or if I can upgrade it.


    I look over my shapes on more time. With 3 days until the purge, this is my last chance to learn more spells. I consider a few, but ultimately, I need to pick a simple shape if I want to learn it before the purge. I end up picking a bowl-shaped spiral with a point on the underside.


    I do the same procedure as usually works, and it does indeed work. It works perfectly right away. Out of my mouth comes a spiral of mana that spreads out quickly and moves forward until it lands in the sand. The spiral then digs partially into the sand and inverts, so the point is now on the inside, and it sort of hops back out of the sand. It writhes around nothing for a time, until it finally dissipates after half a minute, much longer than any of the others. I need test subjects.


    The humble crab, while a slow-moving creature except in bursts, is not the slowest moving creature on the seafloor. That dubious honor probably belongs to the starfish in front of me. It can sense something big in the water, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯s probably toxic in some way, but for now, this starfish will do for a test subject.


    I make and fire the spiral at the starfish. The point hits the starfish close to the center, and then the spiral begins wrapping itself around it and constricting. It only takes a few seconds for the weak creature to be reduced to just arms and a center, interestingly the spell seems to differentiate limbs from the main body and as it likely tried to restrain the starfish it tore it to pieces instead.


    I like magic. I think I¡¯m about as ready for the Merfolk as I can possibly be. I can¡¯t get more Biomass without going to sleep, I can buy two [Skills], but I don¡¯t have the mana to make (Forceful Mana) useful, and I don¡¯t have the time to grind (External Mana Manipulation) until it¡¯s useful.


    What [Skills] should I get?