《Infinite: Monster》 Chapter 1 - Thoroughly Screwed The first thing Matthew thought after stirring from sleep was that he was having one of those half-lucid dreams he sometimes got when he underslept. He could barely see anything and he couldn''t feel his limbs, and his attempts to move felt like he was compressed into a ball instead of laying on the nice comfy mattress he remembered. He also felt like he was starving. 5 minutes later and the situation not improving sent him panicking. What the hell? Did I suffer some accident I don''t remember and am on life support? That train of though was interrupted when something bumped into the edge of his confines, and something in Matt''s instinct screamed at him that whatever it was it wasn''t friendly. He heaved at his constraints, and felt whatever it was distorting in an oblong shape. A few struggles later and he was rewarded with blinding light as his head poked free. He looked around in horror with his still poor eyesight and recognized what had been holding him. An egg. Are you fucking kidding me?!? Wait, are those scales as well? He was on the edge of hyperventilating when a couple of blue screens popped up to add to his confusion. They were clearly readable despite his own poor vision making it hard to see more than a few feet.
Congratulations! You have randomly been selected to play the Divine Games!
Assigning Faction.....Villain Camp Assigning Race.....Random
You have broken your shell! You have 30 days to prepare in Tutorial World #AXY72H for the first game!
For questions you may consult your status and the shop at any time. I wish you a pleasant game.
What? There were so many questions Matthew didn''t even know where to begin, but either he was having an incredibly realistic dream or some being had kidnapped him and forced him to be born as a snake. That should have angered him, but all he felt was the absurdity of it all. Operating on web novel logic, he thought [Status] and was rewarded with another blue screen.
Player Name: Matthew Forester Titles: N/A
Species: Assassin Viper Evolutionary Points: 0
Threat Level: F Special Skills: Rapid Digestion Rank 1, Camouflage Rank 1, Deadly Poison Rank 1, Deadly Poison Resistance Rank 1, Infrared Vision Rank N/A
Before he could really consider the whole thing, he was distracted from his shock by the feeling of increasingly insistent hunger and the sounds of his ''siblings'' breaking their shells. Matt was no snake expert, but he had heard some breeds of snakes eat their siblings due to lack of food. He didn''t know if that was true for alien vipers, but it was time to get out of here.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I can consider the implications of the mysterious blue screens later, after my stomach isn''t cramping in on itself. What does a baby viper even eat? Rodents? That thought was repulsive, but a guy''s gotta do what a guy''s gotta do. The problem was the only thing he knew about hunting as a snake was learned from a half-forgotten documentary aired on Discovery Channel years ago. Sigh, let''s get this over with. He found a burrow and settled in to wait, checking out his own body as he did so. He was currently about 6 inches in length, with his coloring warping oddly. He decided to play around with the status in order to see what extra information he could gain. [Assassin Viper]
Assassin Viper A dangerous viper native to the jungles of planet #AXY72H. They possess an innate ability to shift their scales to blend into any environment and strike with enough venom to bring down a wild boar. Adults can grow in excess of 5 meters. Rated F in the Divine Games.
Ok, that was more informative. What about [Rapid Digestion].
Rapid Digestion (Rank 1) x10 A power given to all Predator Villains in the Divine Games. It represents the ability to digest food in shorter times in order to turn them into Evolutionary Points. Rank determines speed, and can be upgraded through evolution or through purchasing the upgrade in the shop.
[Camouflage] , [Deadly Poison], [Deadly Poison Resistance], and [Infrared Vision] represented the racial skills of the Assassin Viper, and were not particularly different than expected. The shop on the other hand offered a truly dizzying amount of options. It would take hours to sort them all, but they all had one thing in common. It needed points, lots of them. If he was understanding correctly, points would determine is future survival, and to get points he just needed to eat a lot. His reverie was interrupted by the sounds of cracking wood. He turned to look at what caused the noise, and was rewarded with a sight that further trampled on his 27 years of common sense. A giant that might have best been described as a troll stood there, with green skin and tusks but still bipedal. His eyesight still wasn''t good, but he would guess it was at least 10 meters and almost as tall as the nearby trees. Oh give me a fucking break. I was just trying to hype myself up for some ''king of the food chain'' action here. What the hell kind of world is this? Chapter 2 - First Hunt The troll giant thing payed him no mind as it sniffed the air. Why would it when Matt''s current body was nearly invisible against the grass and wouldn''t plug it''s teeth even if he was found? Comparatively speaking, he was more worried about being accidentally stepped on... After getting whatever prey scent it was looking for, it continued it''s rumbling chase in a different direction from where he lay. Matt could finally relax a little tension. That was a good wake-up call. I had been thinking this was just something like Earth, but that is clearly an unfounded and dangerous assumption. This ''Tutorial World'' could have any manner of dangerous animals I don''t know about, just like the Assassin Viper that I am currently. Even if something looks like prey I have to treat it like it possesses a fatal threat until it''s danger is clearly understood. He moved back to considering the burrow he had selected for his stake-out. Fun fact, snakes have excellent senses despite their relatively poor vision and lack of external ears. He could smell things he had no names for, as well as things he did, like wet fur and plants. He also discovered how to use [Infrared Vision] like flipping an internal channel on TV. Though it couldn''t be upgraded directly, it was quite powerful as is. His senses were telling him there was something furry in the hole, and he was now internally debating lying in wait for it to come out on it''s own for an ambush or going in on his own. Waiting would be the smart choice, especially since he had no idea what he would find. Screw it, I''m going in. Despite it being a bit contradictory with his earlier resolve to treat everything like it possesses a fatal threat, he couldn''t afford to go with the patient game. He didn''t know what the Divine Games were, but he definitely got the feeling it wouldn''t be a friendly contest. He was set for risk no matter what he did, so betting on getting stronger wasn''t a wrong move, and to get stronger he needed to eat. Inside the burrow was dark, so he flipped over to infrared and creeped closer. He could hear something down the tunnel, and as he got closer he recognized it. A rabbit, though it''s fur is bright yellow..... Many people have a misunderstanding about rabbits that because they are herbivorous they are somehow harmless. That was bullshit. Rabbits have been known to kill snakes in self defense or even in simple revenge.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He must have gotten lucky though, as this one was alone and must have just started digging this burrow. It had no room to maneuver or escape, and as he got closer the rabbit must have smelled him. It turned to face him and it''s yellow fur started sparking. Pikachu, is that you? Not willing to give himself more time to think how the hell that was even possible or rethink the wisdom of this attack, Matt lunged at it. His fangs snapped out and found their mark in the electric rabbit''s body, and as his jaws closed it felt like he''d bitten a metal prong inserted in an electrical socket. Fuck, that hurts! He''d been planning to let go after injecting a payload of venom to beat a hasty retreat, but as his body spasmed he realized in panic that he couldn''t control his muscles to do so. The rabbit went apeshit, and while it didn''t have room to bring it''s powerful hind legs to bear, biting worked just fine. Matt was powerless to resist, so he just crossed his fingers mentaly and hoped the venom was everything it was described as. The rabbit had latched onto his neck, but it''s teeth seemed unable to puncture through his layer of scales. It held on and started jerked itself in an attempt to inflict tearing injuries as the venom made it to it''s heart. The sparking stopped as it spasmed and Matt was finally able to let go. He backed up as the rabbit gave it''s final throes. Holy cow, that took like 15 seconds! They weren''t kidding about it being potent enough to take down a boar, though I''d wager it would take a lot longer. Now how to eat this thing? After a few minutes of a process better left unmentioned he managed to get the rabbit whole down his throat, and was rewarded with a new blue screen.
15 Evolutionary Points gained! 1:12:52 until digestion
There wasn''t a lot to do while he waited on account of having a huge lump in his stomach at the moment, but he brought up the [Shop] window to check. 15 points was hardly anything, but one option stuck out to him.
6 Months Natural Growth 10 Evolutionary Points Natural growth for what your species would normally receive in an accelerated timeframe. Consumes lifespan.
It seemed pretty straightforward. It wasn''t flashy like some of the skills that he had drooled over, but growing larger would let him swallow bigger things and digest faster instead of struggling like he had with the rabbit. It was also dirt cheap. The loss of lifespan was a problem, but there were plenty of things in the shop that added lifespan as well. He needed to survive now. He selected it and a sudden overpowering wave of drowsiness struck him. Sleepy.... Chapter 3 - First Week Matthew was awakened from his dreams by the sound of falling rain, and it took a moment for his situation to re-register. He surveyed his body, which was now dirt brown and too big to really turn around in the burrow. He was surrounded by shed snake skin, and all signs of the lump in his body from eating the rabbit were gone. Right, so it wasn''t all some weird dream. I''ll have to be extra careful about buying things from the shop in the future since I could have been suffocated or ambushed by predators during the forced coma. How long was I even out? Matt had no answers to his questions, but he felt it probably hadn''t been longer than a day. He was already oriented towards the exit, so he slithered up and out of the hole. It was raining, but that didn''t seem to be a significant problem for his now cold-blooded body. The reason most snakes don''t go out in the rain is because their sense of smell and heat are weakened, but Matt had a human mind. He reasoned that even if there were no animals going around on the ground, there should be plenty of birds nesting in the trees. Even if they weren''t, there might be eggs or other small animals like squirrels. With some fumbling he managed to figure out a technique for climbing that would work with his now 2 meter long body and got to business. Not very stealthy anymore...
As near as Matt could tell a week had passed, and he had swallowed everything he could get to in a way that would probably make wildlife conservation agencies cry at the mere mention. He had learned the ropes of being a viper and bought a few upgrades, leaving his status like this...
Player Name: Matthew Forester Titles: Poisoner, Big Eater
Species: Assassin Viper Evolutionary Points: 340
Threat Level: F Special Skills: Rapid Digestion Rank 2, Camouflage Rank 1, Deadly Poison Rank 2, Deadly Poison Resistance Rank 2, Infrared Vision Rank N/A
He had purchased the [6 Months Natural Growth] upgrade an additional 5 times, leaving his body at what was close to maturity for his species. Additional purchases wouldn''t make much difference since he was already close to the promised 5 meters, so he had decided that was enough. For the titles...
Poisoner Poisoned 20 enemies intentionally
Effect +1 to ranks of poison related skills
Big Eater Ate 5 times your body weight in one day
Effect +1 to rank of [Rapid Digestion]
The titles had saved him hundreds of points from buying in the shop, but he was somewhat at a loss as to how to get more. He could only try to do impressive things and hope for the best while trying not to get killed.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He had saved 340 points since reaching maturity, and it was time to pick a new upgrade or two. 4 stuck out after he had weeded out all the options that were way outside his budget for now.
Gigantism(Rank 1) Doubles size limit for your species Cost 200 Evolutionary Points
Camouflage(Rank 2) Increases response time of passive camouflage and allows for a degree of active use. Cost 300 Evolutionary Points
Environmental Resistance(Rank 1) Increases resistance to natural elements beyond what your species would normally allow Cost 200 Evolutionary Points
Enhanced Senses(Rank 1) Increases all natural senses by 50% of base amount Cost 100 Evolutionary Points
I want them all and more besides, but let''s prioritize. [Environmental Resistance] was important since he didn''t know what conditions he would face in the so-called ''game.'' If he ended up in a cold environment then it would practically kill him right there. He could afford to delay it however. He planned to stock up on points before the game and purchase any adaption he needed while he was in the game. Right now he needed to focus on what would get him points faster. [Gigantism] would again let him swallow bigger prey and digest faster, but it might also bring him to the attention of predators who had so far ignored him. [Camouflage] had shown to be overpowering in hunting so far, and the idea of some active control over the process intrigues him. Would he be able to make himself look like a fallen branch or something even with nothing to backdrop against? [Enhanced Senses] might be an answer to his poor eyesight, and is a direct force multiplier when it comes to tracking. They all looked so good, but in the end Matt chose [Gigantism] and [Enhanced Senses] after finding an empty cave to hide himself in. The now-familiar drowsiness took hold once more and he sank into darkness. Chapter 4 - The Troll After Matt had shaken off the lethargy that came with changes in his size, he flipped on the infrared to check out the changes his new skills had inflicted on his body. Holy shit, I''m now the reality version of the monster from Anaconda! The first thing he noticed was that he was now truly monster looking. 5 meters was huge, but there were snakes on earth that were even larger than that. It wasn''t only the length that had increased as well, as he now felt it would be no problem to swallow a boar, or a person, whole. Was it strange that thought didn''t make him shudder and instead filled him with a ''job well done'' feeling? The second thing he noticed wasn''t so obvious until he left the cave, but his senses were all more accurate and extended farther than they had before. While it couldn''t be considered superhuman, he now had at least a normal human''s 20/20 vision and range of color. Smells were sharper and more varied as well, including smells he didn''t know how to define yet. While Matt would have liked to spend a few hours growing used to his new senses, his stomach started making it''s protests known by gnawing on his spine again. It seems my energy demand has increased as well. That might be a problem later if I grow any larger or need to spend any length of time stealthed. I''ll need to buy a skill to solve it eventually. He set out to the watering hole that served as his favorite hunting spot, and was shocked at the unexpected gain to his speed. Though if he''d thought about it beforehand, it made complete sense. His muscle had increased in proportion to his size, so what happens when you can travel your body length every second or so? Matt had no way to measure miles per hour, but in short bursts he could get the trees to blur by. It made hunting a piece of cake, but left him feeling cold about what to expect in the game. He was already this strong a week in, so what could he expect from the people he would be fighting?
Another week had passed, and aside from buying [Camouflage(Rank 2)] and a skill called [Natural Armor(Rank 1)] there had been no big developments. Natural Armor was a skill he had found that increased the toughness of his scales, and if the description could be believed it would protect him from most cold weapons and small arms fire.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Today was shaping up to be different though, as he had only made it less than 100 meters from the cave he had made his home before hearing a bellow. He recognized it from his first day in this world, especially when the smell hit to accompany it. The troll thing. Shit. Matt had grown large and accumulated some experience, but he still didn''t want to mess with that thing. By his most optimistic estimates it was a 50/50 chance of victory, but even if he won there was nothing to gain from a confrontation. It was too big to eat for him without chopping it up, which was hard without hands or tools. The troll didn''t seem willing to overlook him though, as he could smell and hear it getting closer and closer. It''s definitely aiming for me this time. No point fleeing when I''m built for short distances. What can I use to my advantage? With no time to think up anything clever, Matt quickly wrapped around a tree and took on a bark coloring. It wouldn''t hold up to close scrutiny, but it might let him get the drop on the troll as it searched for the smell. The sound of breaking tree limbs started getting louder, and then it was in view. The troll stopped and sniffed around, looking confused. Score 1 for the plan. It wandered closer to the tree he was disguising as, and knowing hiding wouldn''t hold up if it really checked he struck and bit him in the throat with a full payload of venom before it could react. It roared in agony as it tried to pull him off, but he wasn''t about to give it room to play. He started winding around it like a constrictor with the rest of his body, fending off punches and shoves as he went. When attempts to pull him off failed, the troll started knocking into trees and even body slamming into the ground and nearby trees like WWE or something. If Matt hadn''t purchased [Natural Armor], he felt quite sure he would have been squished flat like a pancake in all the rampagings. As it was, he felt like he had cracked ribs and was feeling nauseous from some form of internal damage. It was taking an awful lot of time for this thing to settle down and die. He bit him a few more times just in case and felt his venom go empty. I hope that''s enough or I''m in some big trouble. I got him right in the throat and couldn''t have asked for better conditions for fast-acting.... He needn''t have worried. It took longer than he hoped, but Rank 2 of [Deadly Poison] didn''t let him down. Well, that or the gaping whole in it''s throat had caused it to bleed to death, one of the two. It gave a few more vain attempts to take him down with it before finally sinking into unconsciousness and then death. Victory! Now how do I eat this thing? He couldn''t do it now anyway when he may have a damaged stomach, so he reluctantly dragged the corpse with him back to the cave to settle in to heal from his latest brush with death. Chapter 5 - End of the Tutorial Matt spent the rest of the day in his cave trying to tear the troll into edible chunks with fangs not fit for the job, but by the end he had 400 more Evolutionary Points to add to his reserves. That prompted a new round of browsing on the shop. He still had only seen a fraction of the things available, which included things like blood upgrades, fantasy items, superpowers, etc. Most of the items were blocked by needing an additional currency called tickets, which he speculated came from results in the games themselves. With things like a Death Star up for sale for the low-low price of 1,000,000 points, it gave him a sense of perspective. There was no reason to get arrogant when he had just moved up to E-class threat on his status. A high enough calber gun could potentially kill him, much less some of the other things. There was even Saiyan-descent on there! If he wanted to live he needed to decide on a direction for development besides immediate benefits soon. There were 3 major directions that could be taken to the end from what he could see. 1. Keep getting larger and tougher until he could hard carry everything with his scales. 2. Focus on ambush style stealth with his poison. 3. Focus on a superpower like magic, ki, cultivation, etc that would make his attack stranger and harder to defend. To be honest, Matt figured he''d about run the potential out of #2. It was practically impossible to block every avenue of sensing him technologically or with superpowers, and he didn''t like the thought of being vulnerable in that situation. That left #1 and #3, and while both had elements he liked #3 was cut off for the moment until he had tickets. In the end he decided to buy [Strong Bones(Rank 1)] and [Sturdy Organs(Rank 1)] for the price of 300 points each. They were rather humbles skills, but the might save him from a situation where his scales held out but his body was still squished or attacked in an unconventional way. With that settled, he made himself comfortable for sleep.
Weeks passed, and by Matt''s reckoning his time in this tutorial was running out. He hadn''t run into any threats like the troll, which would have made him happy if it wasn''t for another thing that had happened to him. Evidently the designers of this game weren''t stupid, and as his strength increased the points he got from eating weaker prey decreased as well. That left him far short of his goal that he ha hoped for, but there was nothing he could do about it other than leave himself purposefully weak.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. His status was now...
Player Name: Matthew Forester Titles: Poisoner, Big Eater
Species: Assassin Viper Evolutionary Points: 2710
Threat Level: E Special Skills: Rapid Digestion Rank 2, Camouflage Rank 2, Deadly Poison Rank 2, Deadly Poison Resistance Rank 2, Infrared Vision Rank N/A, Gigantism Rank 1, Enhanced Senses Rank 2, Natural Armor Rank 2, Strong Bones Rank 2, Sturdy Organs Rank 2, Environmental Resistance Rank 1, Fatigue Resistance Rank 1
He had made some improvements as well as saved up for any emergency buys he might need, so he was as set as he could be. Unfortunately he had been unable to acquire any new titles no matter what he did, which was a sore point. Now it was just resting and making sure he was at 100% for whatever was to come. Speaking of which...
Congratulations Contestant #128523, You have cleared the Tutorial!
Now it''s time for something a little hard, are you ready?
Fuck you.
First Game''s setting is....
Random Type - Movie Random Beginner Movie - Predator
Main Task Kill Dutch as well as at least 3 Hero Reincarnations without letting the Predator die.
Reward C-level ticket and 5000 Evolutionary Points Penalty for Failure Death
Optional Task Kill additional commandos or Hero Reincarnations
Reward D-level ticket and 2000 Evolutionary Points each Penalty for Failure N/A
Initiating....
Good luck....you''ll need it
Matt''s vision went black.