《Kings: Immortals Amongst Us》 The Awakening, Call of Destiny Ba-bum Ba-bum... Ba-bum... Jade Jaeger held her breath and tried her absolute best to eliminate any and all sounds. Curling up as much as she could in a small hiding spot beneath the roots of a large tree assome...Thing was sniffing around her home. She was scared. Terrified actually. Just a few weeks ago she was watching movies in her house under thick blankets to keep away the winter''s chill. How did it end up with her finding herself in the middle of an Amazonian forest filled with monsters and fighting for her life? The beast was unlike anything she had ever seen before, it was like someone had hit the randomize button on a creature creatorgame and made the result into a real living nightmare. It was covered in grey fur with hard spikes sticking out of it like a porcupine. Its eyes was a beady yellow too large for its head that bludged out on the side as if a frog, and it''s long shout opened as wide as a crocodile with the teeth to match! She felt like crying and would''ve prayed to the Gods if she didn''t know for a fact that they were a bunch of dickheads who would laugh at her situation. They tossed her ass in this godforsaken forest, they took her from her family and home, and they turned shoved her into the body of a damned snake! She wouldn''t give them the satisfaction of knowing they beat her, one day she''ll get them back for everything they had done with interest! Suddenly broken out of her thoughts she could hear the beast''s ragged breath as it drew closer, could feel the warmth of its breath as it sniffed around the tree, and smell the scent of decay it gave off. She was frozen stiff and if she still could she probably would''ve cried. She''d have to find a way out of her current crisis first before any plots of revenge. The birds had long since left sensing the superior predator, it was so silent she feared it would be able to hear her heart trying to burst out of her chest. She heard it drag its feet on the ground and some light scratching of claws on treebark. Even that soon grew faint and disappeared. Had it left? She didn''t move and counted her lucky star. That demonic mutant of an anteater was the size of a German Shepherd! She waited a couple more minutes before relaxing her guard. It was her first mistake. She had peeked out from her hiding spot and did a scan of the area. She couldn''t see anything and so assume it had left. Not paying attention to the odd tracks was her second mistake. She left her home and went to go about her day''s business. She still had to find food after all. That was her final and almost fatal mistake. The Anteater was more clever than she had given it credit for. It knew damn well where she was, but couldn''t reach her under her tree, so it had pretended to leave to lure her into a false sense of security. She fell for it like an idiot and it had costed her badly. As soon as she fully emerged, it pounced on her with a ferocious screech. It had slammed her into the ground and then used it''s front paw to knock her heavily into a tree. While she didn''t actually know if the back of her skull had fractured from the impact, it sure felt like it. Evidently, the creature didn''t feel like letting her off so easily. Dizzy and disorientated, she couldn''t defend herself as it came back for round 2. It had closed the distance quickly and opened its jaw wide to take a bite out of her, one that would no doubt either snap her spine or sever her clean in half. Thankfully she managed to instinctively wrap her body into a coil. The extra thickness to distribute the force had saved her from a painful death, but she had still terrible gashes upon her back and sides.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Quick as the cobra she now was, struck at the only weak point she could from her position. The eyes. She lunged with at it with reckless abandon. This was life or death. Her fangs easily punctured the thin membrane as she gorged out its left eye, thick blood and sloppy chunks of it flooded her mouth, the scent horrid and nauseating, but she held on. She jerked and pulled with all her might until with a wet splosh it pop she tore it clean off, it howled insheer agony as it slammed itself onto the ground and surrounding trees. As soon as it''s maw opened wide enough she quickly threw herself onto the ground and hide in the tall grass. She stayed a moment to watch the beast''s rampage in madness. It was quite satisfying as she swallowed the remains of its eye vindictively. She would''ve loved to stay and watch it some more, but she had to leave before other predators were attracted by the scent of blood and the loud noises. She had to suppress a hiss of pain as she slowly crawled away to find a new home to tend to her wounds. She refused to die in this freaky forest. Under the cover of the thick canopy above, a small brown snake disappeared within the tall grass barely holding onto its life as blood made a trail behind it. Just another day in her new life she supposes.
It has beenfive very long and brutal weeks since she found herself in this new world. She had been one amongst a dozen others who were given the "privilege" of receivingblessings from the gods and had acquiredmiraculous powers to give them a head start to "influence the world". They didn''t give a damn how they did it, and it seemed they picked a large variety of people for the job. They didn''t have much time to interact before being tossed into this world, but she knew one of the other was a police officer judging from their uniform and another was a nerd in some cosplay outfit. The powers they got were all unique, and it seemed she got the bottom of the barrel. It gave her increased regeneration speed, which was fine and dandy... if it wasn''t for the fact thatEVERYTHING IN THIS FOREST COULD ONE SHOT HER! You have to actually survive to be able to heal, and even getting grazed by anything would cripple her. She healed faster than average, but it wasn''t to the extent of a comic book character, more of small cuts healing in a few days than a week. While that might sound like an impressive 50% decrease in time, larger wounds obviously took longer. A broken bone that would take 2 months to heal wouldn''t directly take only 1 for hers, but rather maybe 5-6 weeks. Basically fricking useless. The Mutant Anteater, as she had decided to name it, had absolutely mauled her the first day she had arrived. She suffered from severe blood loss, a concussion, and multiple torn muscles. Every twitch sent fire racing down her back, and every brush of the wind pure agony. She was delirious from a high fever and spent days on the verge of death, only surviving thanks to pure luck and willpower. She had subsisted on morning dew and insects. She felt pathetic and disgusting just remembering those days. She spent weeks just to recover enough to move without feeling like she wanted to die. Jade wonders if the others were in similar circumstances as her? Were they also turned into animals? Were they nearby or scattered across this new world? In the end, she supposes it didn''t matter. She didn''t have the time or energy for such leisurely thoughts, she needed to find more permanent shelter and source of food. Even the goddamn plants tried to eat her. She didn''t have a hope in hell of taking down anything in this forest, so she had taken the first two days observing the other animals and hiding. Marking down danger zones and which plant seemed edible. Even then she had almost died more times than she could count. She had gotten sick attempting to eat some small berries. They had the same appearance as blueberries but tasted oddly sour and bitter. An unpleasant taste, to be sure. She had found them while stalking some rodents. It had gone into a clearing with many large bushes full of the things. She deemed it safe enough for consumption as many manners of creatures gathered there for food. The fact that she was now a snake and had a new and different biology and digestive system didn''t occur to her until later. It took some experimentation, but she found that if she mixed only a small amount of them with insects in a roughly2-8 ratio than she would be much more full of energy. Of course, it still tasted terrible. However, that was her only true success at a more reliable and alternative food source. One time when she took a bite out of a plant, it bit back. She had been badly wounded and couldn''t leave her new home, a small hole in a tree she had found, for days after that. A careless mistake she never repeated. Chapter 1 It was a hot afternoon in the large forest. A small red squirrel nibbled on an acorn as it sat on the branch of a tall tree. It was content as it ate its meal. Satisfied. careless. A fatal mistake it would not live to learn from as a shadow swooped down from above and swallowed it whole. It let out a short-lived cry as the predator swiftly closed its mouth and gulped it down, trapping it in its gullet and suffocating it. Strong muscles contracted and it squeezed and crushed its prey within. hanging from a higher branch was Jade. She had wrapped her lower half around the branch to strike down from above her unsuspecting target. It had been a harsh few months, but she had adapted to her new form and life. It was hard, so hard she wanted to give up, to let some beast end her. But then they would win. And if there was one thing J.J hated, it was losing. So she survived, fought tooth and nail for her life every single day. She wouldn''t roll over to die, she would get them back for this. Running on a heady cocktail of hate, spite, and determination she learned to thrive in her environment. From a mere garden snake cowering in fear of the smallest of shadows, she turned herself into a deadly predator. She sought to improve herself every single day. From insects and berries to rodents and even other serpents. She watched, she learned. The law of the land was harsh. Since birth, things were out to get you. Many times had she sneaked into an unattended nest to pilfer some creatures'' younglings. There was no place for hesitation or misguided kindness here. A lesson she learned was to only aim for smaller prey. Not only because they were safer to hunt, but because having a large animal inside of her made her vulnerable to other creatures looking for an easy meal. Another reason was that of the changes she had gone through. While she could get used to many of the new changes, even the fact she had to swallow live animals, the feeling of them kicking in her stomach while being disgested alive would still occasionally haunt her, there was one thing that frustrated her to no end. She couldn''t feel "full". No matter how much she ate, even when she still had a meal inside of her, she would always feel hungry. It was maddening. She assumes it was a side effect of her transition to a new species. Snakes don''t ever stop hunting. Even in captivity, they would often overeat and develop obesity. She could barely control herself, but even then the feeling would persist. the nagging sensation of impending doom, of a need to acquire and hoard more food. She felt like having an anxiety attack, and she wanted to scream out. Even when resting and finishing a meal, her eyes would unconsciously track for signs of prey, always seeking the next meal. If she repressed it for too long the pain would intensify and her head would pound like a claustrophobic kid being locked inside a crowded elevator. And so she hunted. Even if she didn''t always eat them, the action eased her instincts and left her with some peace, if only for a few hours. While other snakes are lethargic, sleeping most of the day away and only hunting in the early morning to heat up in the sun, she spent most of the time active. After all, if a human can train and grow stronger, why can''t a snake? She practiced all kinds of maneuvers and movement, practicing her stealth and tracking on a large variety of creatures. In this world seemingly hell-bent on her destruction, the only tools she had was her sharp mind and new body. She had to master her new form as quickly as possible, to know every inch of it and control it as freely as if she had been born in it. She slithered down the tree and went down the small burrow she now called home. It had belonged to a small family of rodents before she liberated them of it along with their lives. Exercise and a high food intake diet had seen changes to her body. No longer was she the thin snake of barely three finger''s width and mere foot in length. She was now four inches wide and two feet in length. Although she had to hide from a majority of the animals here, she was no longer bottom of the food chain. Even others of her "species" which she had encountered couldn''t match her in strength nor speed when she fought them. Her scales were tough, her muscles dense and supple, and her reflexes lighting. And she would only grow from here. Life was finally settling down. It wasn''t good by any means, but she was content by the way things were going. She should''ve known better.
Congratulations! Out of 10,000 lucky humans who had been selected for the 73rd batch, you are amongst the 1,259 to survive The First Year! Rejoice, as you shall all be rewarded according to the efforts you''ve made! Always remember,The Gods are watching.Stolen novel; please report.
What the fuck? Jade almost fell out of the tree she was resting on when she suddenly saw the blue screen appear in front of her eyes. She tried to look away, but it followed her line of sight no matter what she did. She checked her surroundings before carefully slithering down her nice perch to the hole she had called home for the past year. Finally, in a secure location, she began to carefully read the message. She wasn''t quite sure what she was feeling, but she was shaking. Was it shock? Rage? Or perhaps, though she loath to admit it even to herself, fear? This was clearly a system message like she had often read in novels and mangas back in her previous world. She already knew she was in a fantasy setting based on her past experience with the creatures of this forest, but this was on another level. Still, it wasn''t all bad as it meant she could grow much stronger than the limits of her species, she didn''t know if evolution and species change existed here, but it gave hope she could regain her former body. It wasn''t all sunshine and daisy either though. How many people died she wondered. If she assumed every batch consisted of 10,000 people...didn''t that mean 730,000 werekidnapped already? The population was only 7.7 billion. That meant almost a tenth of all of humanity was taken. It was a bone-chilling thought. Especially if you considered that only roughly 12.5% of them survived the first year. Wouldn''t that number just continue to dimish? Would everyone in her world eventually be displaced here, or perhaps another world? What was the rate of incoming batches? Were they even still humans? What if some were even more unlucky than her and turned into a bug? She was by no mean a saint, she would probably even classify herself an asshole indifferent to her fellow man at times, but not even she could just shrug off the possibility of the extinction of humanity. Would she be stuck in this godforsaken world surrounding only by things trying to kill her? Was that how she would spend the rest of her days? If she still could, she would''ve broken into a cold sweat at the thought. She was never one to shy away from hardships. Physical pain didn''t scare her, butthat, the idea of being alone forever did. She wasn''t one for crowds, but even someone normally as cold as she longed for companionship. She didn''t feel it much in the beginning as she could only focus on survival, but the past year had been hard on her physically and mentally. The isolation was grating at her as time flew by, like a thousand paper cuts, it didn''t kill you per se, but it was absolutely miserable, to say the least. She made up her mind then and there to try and help people if she could, only when it was within her ability, and to get some friends. But first, she would get strong, so strong that nothing could threaten her again. She would be in control of her own life, and no manner of man, beasts, or Gods themselves would get in her way. After all, you can''t save anyone if you can''t even help yourself. Only those with power are able to have freedom and choices. A harsh fact life had repeated thrown in her face time and again. She looked through the screen when she saw a small blinking icon in the corner, she prompted it to open. Jade Jaeger (Copperhead) Rank: 0 Age: 1 Strength: 9 Agility: 10 Vitality: 13 Defense: 7 Dexterity: 8 Divine Gift: Shedding Skin Racial Traits: Venomous It looked like the standard RPG set up, if not for the small amount of stats. Where was Intelligence or Wisdom? Did levels not exist or had she not reached a requirement to unlock it? She didn''t know, and relying upon assumptions was a quick way to get you killed here. She tried to mentally focus on each option until something happened. That''s how it usually worked in the novels anyway, and voila, within moments it happened. Rank-A system of scaling of a beast''s power. Once one reaches the required requirements, different evolutionary paths will open to increase in rank. Strength- Improves the body''s power Agility- Improves the body''s speed and reaction time Vitality- Improves the body''s life force, healing, and resistance against ailments Defense- Increases the body''s toughness, unique to armored beings Dexterity- Improves control and coordination of the body. Divine Gift- A blessing bestowed by a Deity. Most are rewarded for accomplishing great feats, others are because of gaining favor. Racial Traits- A special ability that is inherent to a species. It appears that some stats were onlyexclusive.You must already meet the criteria for them, or unlock them yourself. A stat for mana might very well exist, but she just currently didn''t have it. The average range for her species in stats was 7-8, but her training had evidently paid off. It was even more impressive when you consider the fact she was merely 1 year old compared to the others. Her divine "gift" had unlocked her vitality stat and helped her improve it. Shedding skin. Someone up there had a sense of humor she supposes. It helped her heal faster as she thought, but there was another aspect she didn''t figure out. If she could gather enough energy then she could force herself to go through a molting process. It would heal her much more quickly though reduce her in a weakened state for a short period of time depending on the extent of the injury she was healing. The new scales would be slightly stronger than before, like a broken bone healing back tougher. Definitely not something she could use in battle, but helpful for recuperating faster and surviving the aftermaths. All fine and dandy, but it was the Rank aspect that truly made her giddy with joy. Were she still human, surely her mouth would''ve split in half from the grin she felt. Not only did the chance of her regaining a humanoid form drastically increase, but she found her path to power. She didn''t have concrete detail, but the implications were enough. All living things had rank, and all could evolve above their stations in life if they were willing to put in the time and effort. The Gods were watching huh? She just couldn''t wait to show them what the inside of her stomach looked like. Chapter 2 Calculating Rewards... -Lesser Poison Resistance -Lesser Stealth -Lesser Regeneration -Burrow -Poison Creation -Trait Unlocked: Omnivore It seems that she had received things that she had been had already been doing and a general increase to what she already had. Stealth was obvious from her usual methods of hunting, regeneration was probably from healing after all the beatings she took, burrow was from the few small holes she had made and the ones she had stolen she guessed. Poison creation was pretty obvious, and omnivore and poison resistance was from her stubborn and consistent attempts to eat berries and other plants materials. While knowing the names and origin of the rewards were well and dandy she had to actually test them to know their effects. Lesser Stealth was a slight bonus to all attempts to hide. She wasn''t sure how it worked, it seemed to give her subconscious hints on how to best sneak around. Like a tingling sensation in the back of her head, she had never had this much sheer ease before, as if it was now second nature. Lesser Regeneration was her tied with Omnivore for her favorite reward. Bruises and small cuts that used to take days to heal now took mere hours. She was now confident enough to attempt different preys. Not only that, but it also seemed to work off her vitality. With enough practice and usage, she was sure she could level up her abilities. Passive skills seem to have ranks such as lesser, low, mid, high and more. They rank up after reaching a certain requirement, unlike active skills which have levels and can be increased with practice and mastery. Poison creation allows her to make a few different poisons, although at level 0 it was hardly impressive, none being more than mild annoyances for anything that she would actually need to poison. It also had to use the materials for it from what she ate, not out of magic, which she was still peeved to not unlock. She had spent time meditating, trying to "Sense the energy around her", not that she actually knew what that meant besides sunbathing and feeling the heat, and yetnothing worked! From climbing up the tallest trees she could find to watch the sunset and sunrise, or swimming in the streams and bathing in the sun, listening to the sounds of early birds and night owls alike, she immersed herself in nature. It was all for naught.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. How was she supposed to get it if she didn''t even know what to do and what it actually was?! Complete bullshit if you asked her. Maybe she needed to find some magical creature and eat a few? Regardless of her contempt at the unfairness of her lack of magic, burrowing was pretty useful as she wouldn''t need to constantly look for a new home every few weeks once she outgrew her current one. Now she could simply enlarge and shape her current one to her desire! It was inconvenient to do so without hands, but beggars can''t be choosers she supposes. Poison Resistance would surely come in handle not only in battles, as a number of the beasts in this forest were toxic besides serpents, but in testing out new potential food sources. It wouldn''t do to kill a beast or find some delicious plants only to accidentally die from food poisoning. She would probably die again if she ended up facing the Gods in such a stupid manner after swearing vengeance. While Regeneration was far more practical, she couldn''t help but consider her gained trait the true treasure of the lot. It not only allowed her to digest plant materials but also convert everything she ate into nutrient she needed more efficiently. While she had gotten over most of her grievances with...eating small prey alive, she still used to be a young woman! She was far from those wimpy girls who screamed at the sight of a mouse, but swallowing one fur and all was still revolting in her mind. The fact that she even got used to it in the first few months was a miracle in and of itself. A true testament to humanity''s ability to adapt if she ever seenone. It was still absolutely gross and she would be damn sure to avoid it as much as she could though! It also tasted like shit and considering where she was and what she was eating that might be literal. She hoped she''ll get a human body soon. She didn''t know if her poor abused tongue can handle much more of this for long. She had spent a long time looking through her screen and planning her course for the future. She wonders if and when there''ll be another milestone for her to gain more rewards, but she wouldn''t just dick around hoping she''ll stumble into something. She''ll plan her future course. Now that her status and system was unlocked, she could more proactively take advantage of it. Satisfied with her plan she went into her home and slept. It was cold out and she was feeling lethargic. Tomorrow marks the true start of her journey. Chapter 3 Her new internal alarm clock woke her up as the sun started to rise. She could hear a few birds singing in the early morning. Back when she was still living in her apartment she used to hate it. Both getting up early in the morning and the annoying and headache-inducing feathered friends. Now however she welcomed the sun, basking in its glory and warmth. The calls of birds no longer induced her anger, but rather her hunger. She coiled around a particularly large and dark stone as she waited for the sun''s rays to heat her up and wash away the lethargy she felt in her muscles. She arched her back and rolled her joints as she stretched. If anyone had passed by to witness her strange movements they might''ve thought there was a spasming snake. She had thought that having large breasts were painful, but nothing compared to the backaches she had as a snake constantly slithering and wiggling around. Worse still, she had no hands to rub them, nor anybody to give her a message. Jade had soaked in the sun for a good hour before starting her hunt. Today she was after bigger prey. She didn''t see an experience bar last time she checked, but that didn''t mean it didn''t exist. For all she knew, it might also have been a requirement for evolving. That seemed typical in these types of situations in novels, right? Eat, kill, eat some more, do some stupidly dangerous stuff, BOOM instant ticket to badassery and OPness. Her new bonus to stealth served her well, as while searching for tracks of her target she had slipped right pass a number of creatures from birds to rodents, and even a few horned rabbits. She hadn''t tried any of those yet. Making a mental note of where she found them and to come back for a taste, she continued on her way through the forest. She spotted signs of her soon to be breakfast. It was a small pale blue frog with yellow spots. It was sitting near the edge of a tiny pond. Its tongue darted out every not and then catching some bugs. The little critter secreted a nerve toxin from its skin. Thankfully she learned that only the older ones were deadly, denoted by how dark their blue was and the density of its yellow spots. This one was still young and it''s poison only caused numbness or stiffness from what she had observed. She hoped by hunting enough of these and eating them she could level up her abilities relating to poison creation and resistance. Maybe she''ll be able to learn how to make their variant of poison instead of the pain-inducingone she already had. She slowly crept behind it while being careful to maintain vigilance in case more of them were lurking around or something worst. She was within striking distance from it, but she waited. She didn''t want to waste time looking for another one if she messed this up. There was a certain time when these things were most vulnerable. She waited and watched silently as it continued you lazily flick out its tongue. She knew her chance had come when a particularly large bug had flown near. A dragonfly. It hovered above the water and came close to them. Suddenly the frog jumped up while darting its tongue out and grabbed the insect. It retrieved its prize with a satisfying crunch, but its joy was short-lived as right before its feet touched the ground Jade had stuck. It didn''t expect to become someone else''s meal right as it was eating. It was helpless as there was no way for it to move or change it''s direction while in the air.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. She kept a tight grip on it and pumped it full of her poison. It wouldn''t kill it, but case it immense pain and fatigue. It was evidently effective as the creature wildly bucked and kicked its feet in the air. She shook it around a bit as if she was a dog playing with a chew toy. The weakened and disorientated frog let out a series of weak groans before it finally croaked. She could''ve swallowed it hole and suffocated it, as it lacked claws or anything to threaten her with, but she preferred to eat dead things. Not only to reduce unnecessary cruelty, but the idea and feeling of it kicking still made her ill at ease. It also made her belly feel weird. She coiled around it with her midsection and carefully returned to her hideout. stopping occasionally to loop around herself and make sure she was safe. Being a snake was very inconvenient as small rodents and birds were the most numerous animals in the forest, and while she does occasionally hunt them, she was equally likely to become the prey. Even a mouse could easily take down a snake. Plenty of times when snake owners left their pet snake with a live mouse if it doesn''t eat it right away or makes a mistake then the mouse could badly hurt or even kill the snake. She didn''t have arms or legs anymore, and her body was long making it easy for her to get flanked or taken from behind. Even her main method of attack, her head and fangs, could become a fatal weakness when facing something larger such as a fox or a dog, they could easily tear her head off, or fit it inside their mouth and crush her. There was just too many downsides to her new form. Thankfully with her access to the system and defense stat she''d be able to accurately analyze and overcome her weaknesses. She took twice as long for the return trip, but she eventually returned safely with her prize. She licked it and could barely stop herself from recoiling in disgust. ''So bitter!'' She was curious about how it would taste especially since this was the first poisonous creature she had tried to eat. She was hoping it would add a nice kick to things, maybe something spicy or sour, but this tasted like shit! Not only did it vaguely taste like mud and swamp water, but there was also a gross slimy texture. Absolutely horrid. It was with a heavy heart full of disappointment that she ate her breakfast. She spent a few hours of the early morning hunting down a few more, although she didn''t eat them and merely left them in her home''s storage while occasionally licking some poison off them. She had dug out another few rooms next to her sleeping chambers to store stuff. One for plant material, one for food, and another to train. It was too risky to exhaust herself outside her home or wander carelessly. She couldn''t very well focus on her workout if there was a risk that a random bird would swoop in and carry her away to their nest. So she had spent a lot of time on making a large space. It had earned her Burrowing skill 5 levels. Her snout had changed ever so slightly in shape that made it easier to dig through and carry dirt and her scales pushed them aside with ease. It took weeks, but she made an obstacle course that took up 25 square feet. Not bad for a snake barely over a foot long. She worked on it every other day as part of her work out routine. Pushing aside dirt, carrying gravel and rocks and tossing them outside, it was hard work. Still, she did it without missing a single day. Cardio and weightlifting where important after all.