《Ecdysis (Monster Evolution, System LitRPG)》 Prologue 1 When the woman came to awareness, her already open eyes were observing a waiting room of some kind. The room was vast, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was also long, and she couldn¡¯t see an end to it. Numerous ceiling lights hung down in a perfect line, fading off into the green tinted distance. The waiting room was broken into smaller sections that consisted of blue chairs, boring plants, and the occasional poster on the wall. Many of the chairs were empty, but many were also occupied with people, animals, and creatures she had never seen before. Directly across from the waiting area was a marble counter that stretched to seemingly infinite lengths. People of all shapes and sizes stood behind the counter. While they didn¡¯t have a similar uniform, or seemingly any other physical trait in common, they did all appear bored and exasperated. They were also all talking to various beings. The woman drew her attention in and looked down, where she noticed that she was holding a small ticket with the number 65,409 in between her thumb and forefinger. Where am I? She thought as her head spun. How did I get here? A quiet humming interrupted her musings and she looked to her left, where an old man covered in wrinkles was sitting in the blue chair next to hers. He was mostly bald, but had a rim of tufty white hair wrapped around his head. From where she was sitting, the woman could see that the man had odd black hairs growing out of the tip of his nose. He was staring straight up toward the ceiling and giving it a wide gummy smile. He also had a ticket in his hand, with a similarly obscenely large number on it. She turned from the old man and continued inspecting her subdivision of this endless waiting room. Next to the old man sat a golden retriever. The golden was actually on the chair, which was surprising to her, until she noticed that the dog also had a ticket pressed between its paw and the cushion of the blue chair it was sitting on. It noticed her gaze, and cocked its head to the side questioningly, its tongue rolling out of the side of its mouth as it panted. She looked back down into her own lap and felt her face flush, as she had just been caught staring at the dog. Why am I embarrassed about looking at a dog? It seemed so intelligent¡­ As the old man continued to hum what sounded like an old army tune, she took a closer look at her hands. They weren¡¯t as she remembered them. Wrinkles and sunspots adorned the top of her palm. They trembled. She took a deep breath. The woman looked around for a mirror but didn¡¯t find one. Instead, there were some magazines and information pamphlets strewn about the table in front of her. The magazines had a myriad of pictures and titles, and she realized that she didn¡¯t recognize any of them. She reached out and sifted through them with wrinkled hands. One was called ¡°Top Dungeon Worlds¡± and had a cover picture of an ominous looking cave. Another was called, ¡°Abilities Today¡±, and had a picture of a woman on a stage, playing the violin in front of a massive audience. Eventually she settled on a small pamphlet that she picked up and brought back to her lap. On the front cover, there were two smiling women and a child. All three were dressed to go to the beach, which was behind them in the distance. They were standing on a hill above what appeared to be an enormous floating resort. It looked like a travel advertisement from a fantasy novel. On the top of the brochure and in large blue script, it read, ¡°Come to Elysium Today!¡±. ¡°That¡¯s where I hope to go!¡± A voice broke through the woman¡¯s concentration, and she turned to see the old man staring at her with his gummy smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been through here at least four times now, and never had enough tokens. Hopefully I do this time! I¡¯m getting sick of this song and dance.¡± ¡°Tokens?¡± She responded, trying to return the old man''s smile, but ending up with a constipated looking smirk. The old man nodded, and the woman asked the question that she truly wanted to ask. ¡°Do you know where this is? Um, I mean¡­ Where we are?¡± She gestured around the enormous waiting room for emphasis. The old man chuckled before responding, ¡°It must be your first time here. I felt the same way my first time. It¡¯s not quite what you expected, is it?¡± The man¡¯s eyes were kind and knowing. ¡°Your first time?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes, the first time I passed away!¡± The old man replied, smacking his lips together and grinning. ¡°Passed away¡­¡± The woman¡¯s head spun. ¡°You mean like¡­ died?¡± The man chuckled. ¡°Of course! What else does ¡®pass away¡¯ mean? Anyway¡­¡± The old man kept talking, gesturing, and laughing, but she slowly tuned him out as she stared at his mouth. Am I really dead? The woman heard a faint ringing, the idle chatter of the huge room blending into a churning mass of sound. Her breath quickened, and a black ring started to enclose her vision. How did I die? She wracked her brain, but the clearest memory she had was on a bus, with her peers - other students. She couldn¡¯t remember anything clearly after that, but knew that there was more. It was as if a steady and impenetrable haze filled with vague impressions and half remembered conversations had settled over her memories. Something was wrong with her. With her memories. She looked again at her hands, wrinkled and old. A low whine broke through the chaos in her head, and she looked down to see the golden retriever sitting on the floor in front of her, its head resting on the top of her knee. She looked into the kindly dog''s eyes and took a deep breath, then patted the dog''s head. Slowly, she brought her surroundings back into focus. She turned back to the old man, who was somehow still talking without having realised what his words had put her through. She cleared her throat, and interrupted the man asking, ¡°How old do I look to you?¡± He paused, and scratched at the bald patch on top of his head. ¡°Well I¡¯m no good at these games, young miss, but I¡¯d say you¡¯re about sixty. No, sixty five?¡± He chuckled, ¡°Or I guess you were¡­ How about it, am I right?¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Sixty five?! She did some simple math, and realized that, if what the man said was true, that she was missing over forty years of her life. How could that be? ¡°Umm¡­ I don¡¯t know, exactly.¡± She responded ¡°You don¡¯t know how old you were?¡± The man replied, confusion marring his jolly expression. ¡°Odd.¡± The woman shook her head slightly. ¡°I remember being on a bus. a band trip with other students.¡± She looked up to see the old man¡¯s mouth close, and his forehead scrunch. ¡°Anyway,¡± she diverted, ¡°you said something about tokens?¡± The man hesitated before continuing, ¡°Yes. Tokens are used to-¡° ¡°Number 65,407, please come up to the nearest window!¡± A booming voice interrupted, echoing across the large room. The woman jumped and looked around. She noticed that the dog she had been absentmindedly petting had bent over, and now held its ticket in its mouth. It looked up at her, and then winked - before making its way up to the counter. The woman strained to hear what the person at the counter said as the golden briefly stood on its hind legs in order to put its front paws up onto the counter. The clerk mumbled something, looked down, and then back at the dog. ¡°It looks like you¡¯ve been a good boy!¡± The clerk said, and the dog¡¯s tail started wagging furiously. She looked back to the old man, who was still talking. ¡°-anyway, I hope to use mine to go to Elysium! I think I finally have enough.¡± Embarrassed that she missed the answer to her question, the woman flushed. The old man didn¡¯t seem to notice, so she asked something else. ¡°How many times did you say you¡¯ve been here?¡± The old man paused in his ramblings, and gazed toward the ceiling. ¡°Oh I¡¯m not sure exactly. It¡¯s hard to remember. At least six.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. This is just a little too much. You¡¯re saying that I died, and now I¡¯m waiting in line for judgement at some kind of mystical DMV?¡± She shook her head. ¡°On top of that, someone¡¯s pet dog was in line ahead of me?¡± The man shook his head and chuckled. ¡°Yes, I suppose that¡¯s an accurate summary. I don¡¯t know why they make the dogs wait though - all dogs go to Elysium after all.¡± The woman continued to chat with the old man, but it wasn¡¯t too long until he was called up as well. He said farewell and wished her luck when he left, then walked away down the room to an open counter.
So if this is real, then I¡¯m dead. The woman thought to herself. I also died at a much older age than I have memories for. The idea scared her, but she realized that if it was real, then she was already dead. There shouldn¡¯t be too much to worry about. What else could happen? A loud slam interrupted her train of thought, and the woman looked off down the counter to a middle aged man slamming his fist into the counter. ¡°Atonement?! There¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯m choosing that. I don¡¯t care about the damn tokens!¡± The clerk in front of him did not react as the man¡¯s eyes glared around the room, a wild and unhinged gleam in them. She thought that she recognized the man, but couldn¡¯t put a name to the face. When the clerk said something - the woman couldn¡¯t make out what it was from this distance - the man angrily reached back and punched the clerk. Well, he tried to punch the clerk. When his hand reached a few inches from the clerk¡¯s face, a barrier materialized, and stopped the man¡¯s extended fist in an instant. It looked as if he had punched a concrete wall. It was obviously painful, as he immediately dropped to the ground clutching his hand and wrist to his abdomen, his face twisting in shock and pain. He frantically looked around, before lunging forward and onto his feet, sprinting directly towards her. The look of panic as he fled twinged a memory in her mind, and she placed his image. He had been on the news before she had¡­ before she was here. He was a wanted criminal and serial killer, infamous for murdering transient people at truck stops. He was much older now, but his sharp nose and shark-like black eyes - it was definitely him. The woman started breathing heavily, fear taking over as she stood up and backed towards the wall. The man was getting closer and closer. The woman frantically looked around, but no one seemed to notice or even pay him any mind. No reaction what-so-ever. Didn¡¯t they realize that a murderer was here? That he was insane and probably going to try to kill someone? How can he kill them if they are already dead? A faint voice whispered from the back of her mind, but the panic blocked it out. The man drew ever nearer, he must have noticed that she was reacting when no one else was, and for some reason it seemed to draw him to her. The woman stumbled and tripped backwards, falling into one of the cheap blue chairs as he reached her section of the waiting room. He let out a yell, his eyes red, crazed, and appeared as if they would bulge out from his eye sockets as he lifted a chair above his head. Then he froze. He just froze in place. It looked like he was suspended in time. The chair was lifted above his head, his face a mask of insane rage. The only thing that didn¡¯t seem to freeze completely were his eyes. Just a minute ago they held anger and rage, but now only shock and panic. They darted around the room, searching for understanding of what was happening. A being appeared next to him. The woman didn¡¯t know what else to call the creature. It was completely white, and humanoid, but lacked any and all features on its person. It had no mouth, no lips, or nose. Where its eyes should have been, there was strange scarring - as if pieces of its glowing white flesh had grown and knitted together over the eye sockets from where its cheekbones would have been up to its brow. The creature stepped from a crack in the air, and stood right next to the frozen murderer. His eyes stared at it, and low whimpering came from his still form. The woman was pretty sure that if he wasn¡¯t frozen, he would have been soiling himself at this moment. The creature slowly reached out towards the man, and touched his exposed collarbone. From the point of contact and extending outwards, the man¡¯s flesh rapidly decayed. Crusted black skin flecked off of his form slowly at first, and then all at once. In the blink of an eye, he had completely turned to ash and vanished. The chair clattered to the floor, before flashing in and out of existence, and appearing back in its original location. The creature turned to the woman and seemed to take her in, before it vanished as well. The woman, who was still in the chair, unclenched her white knuckles from the frame of the chair she was cowering in, taking deep breaths and looking around. No one else - human or otherwise - seemed to have noticed what had happened, and if they did, they did not acknowledge it. Prologue 2 ¡°Number 65,409 please come to the nearest window¡± The booming voice said. The woman took a breath. It hadn¡¯t been long since the glowing white creature had vaporized the murderer. She scanned the counter, and realized the window assigned to her was the same window that he had just ran from. On unsteady legs she rose from her chair, and started making her way to the window. She was careful to avoid where the glowing creature had been, instead slipping through the gap between chairs to get to the tiled floor ahead. As she walked towards the open window, the woman inspected the various other beings whose number had already been called. She passed the old man with the gummy mouth and strange nose hairs. He looked slightly disappointed, but still happy, as he flipped through some kind of touch screen display with intense focus. The golden retriever was also still at the counter, the clerk who was helping the dog was giving it headpats and smiling. From what she could see, none of the other clerks looked as happy as the one helping the dog. She continued walking, and passed more and more creatures that looked nonsensical. There was a large lizard man, who was hissing at the clerk helping him. The clerk was hissing back. She passed a djinn, a bunny with chicken legs and eye stalks, and a large snake that was coiled up on the counter. None of them gave her a second glance as she walked past them, trying not to stare, and in some cases, failing miserably. When she was finally nearing her assigned window, the woman walked past a handsome raven haired fellow. He was tall, slim, and very pale. His hair was long, and fell past his shoulders and down his back. As she was observing him, he turned and made eye contact with her. His eyes were black with red irises, an orange slit in the place of his pupil. The woman¡¯s face flushed, and she noticed that when he turned, his long hair pulled away from his back. It had been covering a set of black reptilian wings. One of the wings seemed to wave to her, and as she looked back to his face, he winked. She looked at her feet and picked up her pace. Definitely not human, she thought to herself, and her face felt hot as she heard his deep sultry laugh. Basically speed walking at this point, it didn¡¯t take long for her to close the distance to her designated window. She glanced up at the woman who did not flinch at the murderer¡¯s attempted attack. The clerk''s form was smooth and lithe, her face sharp and pointed. The clerk was rubbing her temples, and didn¡¯t seem to notice her approach. She was wearing a nametag that labeled her as ¡°Betty¡±. The woman gently cleared her throat to get Betty¡¯s attention. Betty opened her eyes and forced a smile to her face, exposing teeth that were too long and pointed. It took a lot for the woman not to step back in fright, which the clerk, of course, noticed and frowned slightly before speaking. ¡°Give me a ssecond to pull up your file¡­ Okay. It ssays that you haven¡¯t been here before. That¡¯ss quite rare, mind you. You wouldn¡¯t believe the amount of people that die on a daily bassis.¡± When Betty spoke, a fork tongue shot in and out of her mouth. The woman took another step forward, and went up on her tiptoes to have a closer look at Betty before responding. From the waist down, Betty was a snake. She faltered for a minute and then responded. ¡°So I¡¯m really dead?¡± The woman asked hesitantly, ¡°Can you tell me how I died?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Betty responded, looking down at a screen that lit her face with pale blue light. ¡°Your family took you off of life support.¡± ¡°Life support?¡± ¡°Yess. It looks like you were in a coma for many yearss.¡± Betty¡¯s face was apologetic, but stern, as if she had given similar news many times before. The woman¡¯s mind raced, and then stumbled. It did make sense. The haze of half remembered conversations and memories, the years missing, how old she was¡­ She realized that she was holding her breath, and let it out in a long and slow exhale. ¡°Can you tell me what happened to my family?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, your file only contains your life. The most I can see is that they came to visit you periodically.¡± ¡°Would it be possible for you to tell me about what they were like when they came to visit?¡± She asked, her eyes pleading. ¡°I can¡­ show you some moments if you¡¯d like.¡± Betty said. The woman nodded vigorously, and Betty gestured for her to give her her hand. She complied. The woman¡¯s vision briefly went dark before she was transported - looking down at herself in a hospital bed. A familiar man sat beside her, holding her hand as he talked about his day, about meeting a woman that he liked. About how he missed her and her teasing. He apologized that their parents didn¡¯t visit. The scene switched, and she was older. The man was back again, with a comely yet angular woman. The man introduced the woman to her, but she didn¡¯t respond. She tried to. To get her body to move and say something, to say anything, but she could only observe. More and more scenes swam across her vision and across the years. It was almost always the man who visited - she instinctively knew that he was her brother. Sometimes he came with his wife and children, most of the time he came alone. The chair he sat in was worn and used. Each time he talked to her, giving her updates on his life, news of his family. The woman took solace in the lives he spoke of, and the life he had built for himself. Eventually she watched a memory where her hands looked as they do now. Her hair was gray, her face withered. The man was there. He was old like she was, and was introducing her to a new baby. His children - now adults - were standing and looking on fondly. They were smiling a sad smile, watching the old man talk to his lost sister. He was introducing a little baby to her - a baby that was named after her. She drew all of her attention to the man, but when he said the baby¡¯s name, the woman didn¡¯t hear anything. She realized that anytime a name was mentioned, it was completely erased. She couldn¡¯t remember her own name. She panicked. How did I not realize that I don¡¯t know my own name? Abruptly, she was removed from the vision. Betty was sitting across from her and grimacing. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The woman stared into Betty¡¯s eyes, and took multiple shaky breaths before talking. ¡°Why can¡¯t I remember my name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± Betty replied, ¡°They take them once you die.¡± ¡°What? Who?¡± ¡°Whoever controls this.¡± Betty gestured around her to the endless room. ¡°Why?! Why would they take my name?¡± The woman asked. ¡°Apparently it helps with transitioning into your new state of being.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± the woman trailed off and pointed to Betty¡¯s name tag. ¡°Oh that.¡± Betty rolled her eyes. ¡°My name isn¡¯t actually Betty. Can you imagine? A Yuan-Ti being named Betty?¡± She cackled and it sounded strange, reptilian, and alien. ¡°It¡¯s just one of the rules. I get a new tag periodically.¡± The woman forced a hollow chuckle, even as her stomach dropped and her mouth went dry. ¡°Well anyway, thank you for showing me that.¡± She said, ¡°It helped, and meant a lot to me.¡± The snake woman¡¯s eyes softened as she gazed back at her. ¡°Should we move on to your tokens?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± The woman responded. ¡°Tokens are the currency of this place. You may spend what you¡¯ve earned in life to choose what happens next.¡± ¡®Betty¡¯ responded. ¡°How many do I have?¡± ¡°One thousand.¡± ¡°Is that a lot?¡± ¡®Betty¡¯ actually winced before responding. ¡°No. I¡¯ll pull up the menu for you, so you can see what your options are.¡± As she finished talking, a faint blue screen materialized in front of the woman.
Life Summary Tokens Earned: 1,000 Afterlife Options:
    1. Ascension - Conditions not met
    2. Elysium - 10,000 tokens
    3. Reincarnation - 1,500 tokens
    4. Atonement - No Cost
    5. Hidden - Conditions not met
The woman¡¯s breath hitched as she looked through the menu. Once she finished, she stated, ¡°The only one I can afford is ¡®Atonement¡¯. What does that mean exactly?¡± ¡°Atonement is where you go to earn enough tokens to be reincarnated. The standard rate is one token per fifty years.¡± Betty sighed and looked down at the screen in front of her. ¡°The closest thing you have from your world¡¯s mythology would be the concept of Hell or The Underworld.¡± The woman¡¯s breath caught in her throat. She clenched her fists, her voice breaking as she yelled, ¡°How is that fair? I only have enough tokens for hell?!¡± ¡®Betty¡¯ straightened in her chair, and scanned her eyes back and forth. ¡°What a day¡­¡± She mumbled under her breath before responding, ¡°Look. It¡¯s really not as bad as it seems. I¡¯m in atonement right now, working at this desk.¡± The clerk¡¯s expression brought a flash of memories to the woman¡¯s eyes, of a murderer being frozen in spot, his flesh burning to crisp and flaying from his body. A cold sweat ran down her back, and she forced herself to calm down as frustrated tears ran down her cheeks. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but how do I only have enough tokens for atonement? I didn¡¯t do anything that bad in my life! I didn¡¯t even get to live most of my life because I was in a coma.¡± Betty hesitated, and looked down at her screen. After a short moment she replied, ¡°You make a good point. It looks like you had enough tokens to be reincarnated, but many were taken away due to you not progressing in your goals and stagnating.¡± The woman¡¯s mouth dropped. ¡°Are you serious? I was IN A COMA. I didn¡¯t want to be in a coma or ¡®stagnate¡¯.¡± She sucked in a breath, ¡°This is not fair!¡± ¡®Betty¡¯ stared at her, thinking. She took a breath and responded, ¡°You¡¯re right. Let me see what I can do.¡± The snake lady seemed to pause, a silky white film covered her eyes and she sat motionless in her seat. Unclenching her fists, the woman realized that there was a small amount of blood in her palm, welling up from indentations left from her fingernails. Her mind rushed through a million terrible ways she would have to atone, but she slowly forced herself to focus on other things. She looked around and took in the scene around her. The dog and old man were gone, as was the handsome demonic fellow. A few windows down from her, a cat was sitting on the counter with its leg above its head, cleaning itself and ignoring the screen floating in front of it. The clerk with the cat rolled her eyes, but had a small smirk on her lips. Well I guess cats aren¡¯t fazed by this whole situation. She thought to herself, idly wondering if cats really did have nine lives. The woman turned back to the floating screen in front of her, and as she stared at the word ¡®Atonement¡¯, a description popped up in front of her eyes. Atonement: This option is for those that did not achieve enough tokens. It is typically reserved for those who lived their lives in a way that requires more instruction. If this option is selected, you will earn 1 token per 50 years of torment. No Cost. The woman scoffed. Requires more instruction? That¡¯s a joke. Also that rate is insane. It would take me¡­ TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND YEARS? Her breath quickened, but she forced the resurfacing anxiety to the back of her mind. I need to be calm right now. She decided to gather more information. She was hoping the snake lady - ¡®Betty¡¯ - would be able to help her out, and wanted to be prepared just in case. ¡®Betty¡¯ was obviously frustrated, and had even said that she was currently in atonement. After witnessing how the murderer acted, and what had happened shortly after that¡­ Well, she could see how this could be a personal hell for someone. She turned back to the menu, and mentally prodded each of the other options, reading each description that popped up in turn. Ascension: Ascend to a higher level of being. This option has pre-set conditions, and can only be accessed by those who have achieved magnanimous feats and accomplishments during their lives. Conditions not met. Elysium: Move your soul to Elysium, a veritable utopia where life is easy, relaxing, and wonderful. Spend your days doing whatever you desire and never have to worry again! Cost: 10,000 tokens. Reincarnation: Get a second chance at life. If you select this option, you will be reincarnated to a new world where you can attempt to live a more accomplished life. Upon selection, you will be given world, vessel, and ability options that you can spend your remaining tokens on. Cost: 1,500 tokens. Hidden: This option is not available to you. Description is unavailable. Requirements are unavailable. Cost is unavailable. She idly wondered why this was even on the list if she couldn¡¯t see any information about it, but her thoughts were interrupted by a soft ding. Instinctively, she looked up to where her tokens were displayed, and watched the amount rapidly increase before settling in on 1,500. Thank the gods and everything holy in this creepy ass place, she thought to herself. A weight lifted off her shoulders, and she looked up to see Betty smiling at her. ¡°I was able to get you your tokens back.¡± The snake lady said and nodded to the menu, ¡°I¡¯m guessing you know what you are going to choose?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m going to choose reincarnation!¡± Prologue 3 ¡°Excellent. Now that we have that figured out, all that¡¯s left are the details.¡± Betty stated, giving the woman a fanged smile. ¡°The world you will be going to, along with your vessel and ability.¡± ¡°That sounds good.¡± The woman replied. ¡°Will I get to choose any of that?¡± ¡°It costs tokens, unfortunately. You¡¯ll have to go spin the Wheel of the Tokenless to have those assigned to you.¡± ¡°The Wheel of the Tokenless?¡± She questioned. Betty nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t give you any details, but you¡¯ll understand when you see it. Are you ready?¡± The woman nodded, and Betty reached down to press some sort of button. A vibrant blue vortex materialized next to the woman, causing her to jump and let out a high pitched yelp. It was large enough that two people could have walked through it holding hands, and had streams of white and blue light swirling continuously within it. ¡°You could have warned me!¡± The woman accused. ¡°Sorry,¡± Betty replied. ¡°But it¡¯s best if you stay on guard for this next part.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± The woman asked. Betty looked around before whispering, ¡°He¡¯s not like me or the other clerks. He chose to be there.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Betty gave her a sad smile before saying, ¡°I hope everything works out well for you. Step through the gate when you are ready.¡± ¡°Thank you for all the help.¡± The woman responded, then stepped through the blue vortex¡­ And onto a stage. Her surroundings had changed drastically. No longer was she in the largest afterlife DMV she had ever seen. Looking around, she noticed that the floor consisted of crisp white tiles, and had an elevated circular platform in the center. There was a large unlit sign hanging above the circular platform that read, ¡°The Wheel of the Tokenless!¡±, and had a large arrow pointing down. Directly below the arrow there was a single podium with ¡°Contestant¡± written on the front. She looked across from the raised section of the stage, and where she expected to see a large screen divided into numerous small green squares, there was only darkness. Yet, it wasn¡¯t like any darkness the woman had seen before. It was an all-consuming, endless void. She gulped nervously. A large clanging sound echoed through the strange set, and the pale white lights of the sign began lighting up. They flickered on and off, which vaguely reminded the woman of various horror movies she had watched in her previous life. Slowly, the lights on the arrow began to alternate, giving her the impression that she needed to stand at the podium to begin whatever this was. The woman hesitantly walked across the tiled floor, her footsteps echoing over the faint buzzing sound the lightbulbs from the sign made. making her way to the steps that led up to the elevated platform, she noticed that the circular portion was a wheel. The wheel was large, and separated into thousands of different sections. It began to light up as she claimed her spot at the podium. The majority of the sections on the wheel were grey, some were green, and there was a single blue tile. Other than color they were completely blank. An odd cracking sound broke her attention from the wheel, and she looked towards the sound. The air across from her - on the other side of the wheel - was twisting and contorting, as if space itself was trying not to sneeze. A tall, humanoid form pulled itself from the twist in the air and immediately bent over to dust its black dress pants off. As it stood up, the woman realized that this man was very tall. He had an unusually long tophat on, which obscured his face as he finished brushing off his suit coat. Then he looked at her. The woman¡¯s breath caught in her throat as she gazed into the empty black pits in the man¡¯s face where his eyes should be. His skin was off-white, a dull grey that looked as rotted as the teeth that made up his wide, face splitting smile. ¡°What are you looking at hag?¡± The man spat with a voice and face made for radio, before smoothly walking to stand next to the wheel. ¡°Let¡¯s get this show on the road.¡± As the words left his smile - which never moved even as he spoke - more lights lit up around the wheel and the stage. He stood there, unmoving, for a moment before his form burst into animation as he gestured to the wheel and projected his voice into an old fashioned microphone. ¡°Welcome back to Wheel of the Tokenless! Your favorite all-stakes game show, where you can scout for your favorite mortal. Our contestant today is a frail old lady with the mind of a young adult!¡± While he was speaking, the woman felt one - then many - presences fill the void beyond the stage she was on. She tore her gaze away from the man, and towards the vast abyss. She could see numerous shapes moving in the darkness, and while she couldn¡¯t make out any specific forms, she could feel them pressing against her soul. It was terrifying, and unlike anything she had experienced before. ¡°Will she be lucky and have an ideal next life, or will she be one of the many, many beings sentenced to yet another mundane and unimportant existence?¡± The host paused, ¡°Personally, I think it will be the latter, but let¡¯s find out!¡± The wheel lit up, and each section glowed with a faint underlight. As the woman looked at it, words began to scrawl across the many different green and white sections of the wheel. She tried to read some of it, but was interrupted by loud and unsettling game show music. It was discordant and ominous, sending a spike of ice down her back. ¡°First up, spin for ability!¡± The man proclaimed. The woman didn¡¯t respond. She tried to tune the music out as she looked back down to the wheel, and was able to glimpse some of the words. She noticed that the grey sections of the wheel had things like, ¡°really good at making tea¡±, ¡°can put keys into a lock on your first try¡±, and ¡°time travel: +1 second into the future at will¡± written on them. She glanced back up at the host and asked, ¡°These are abilities?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± He said to her with his wicked grin, before turning back to the amorphous shapes in the void. ¡°Hopefully the old bag will get, ¡®can remember where she is¡¯ as her ability!¡± A mixture of laughter, hissing, and deep booming guttural clicks came echoed across the stage at his words. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Well go on, spin it already!¡± The host demanded, an edge of irritation creeping into his voice. Shakily, she reached out her hand and grasped the wheel. With a light pull, she sent the wheel spinning. As it rotated, the needle in front of the podium clicked loudly against the edges of the wheel. She watched the colors of the wheel blur into a single dark green color as it spun faster and faster. As the wheel continued to spin, the host addressed the audience once again. ¡°What will the decrepit old woman get as her ability, I wonder!¡± He loudly asked the abyss. When hardly any of the creepy sounds came back in response, he turned to the woman. ¡°I suppose I can¡¯t keep calling you an old woman - what¡¯s your name anyway?¡± The inflection in his voice when he asked the question clued the woman in to the fact that he knew. Anger and frustration pulsed through her mind at the fact, and made it difficult for her to respond. Her face flushed an angry red. The host didn¡¯t wait for her to recover, before jumping on her hesitance with glee. ¡°Oh that¡¯s right! You can¡¯t remember!¡± The host cackled vindictively. She looked back down to the wheel amidst the demented laughter, and noticed that it had finally started slowing down. The needle was currently ticking past a grouping of green panels, and the woman peered at the words. She was able to read ¡°musical prodigy¡± and ¡°calm mind¡±. At least those would be more useful than the grey options. The wheel looked like it was going to stop at a grey ability that read, ¡°moderately good at tying knots¡±, but at the last second it clicked over to the only blue space on the wheel. ¡°Wheel upgrade, spin again.¡± The colors and words on the wheel shifted, blended, and briefly went dark before it lit up again, having undergone a drastic change. The grey and green spaces were replaced by blue and purple. Instead of a single blue panel, there was a single gold one. The woman¡¯s eyes darted up to the man, who¡¯s posture had become strained, but he quickly flicked back to his normal domineering bearing. ¡°Well. It looks like this old crone will get something a little more rare, but will it matter? Even a smart pig is still a pig. Well go on, spin it again.¡± She repeated her previous action, and sent the wheel careening around again. While the host continued to mock her, she tuned him out and focused on the wheel, trying to pick out the words as it spun by, but had trouble picking out specific characters. The wheel had a hypnotic quality to it as it spun, drawing her attention but not letting her focus on any one aspect. Before long the wheel had once again slowed, and the pin was sliding over and almost past the only gold tile, pressing up against the outer edge of it. The needle bent, and seemed like it was going to tick over to a purple tile that read, ¡°begin next life with one wish¡±. She thought that wouldn¡¯t be bad, but the force of her spin wasn¡¯t able to push itself out of the gold panel. It once again read, ¡°wheel upgrade, spin again.¡± ¡°FUCK!¡± The host screamed once the needle settled, causing the woman to jump. Her eyes snapped back up to him and she took in the overbearing silence and tension that filled the stage. The host froze for a moment, before slowly turning back to the abyss. With what sounded like forced joviality, he said, ¡°Well it would appear that she was given ¡®great at spinning life altering wheels¡¯ in her previous life.¡± Two loud clacks burst from the abyss, but other than that it was completely silent. The woman did not speak. The host turned to her and said, ¡°Well?¡± She looked down at the wheel in front of her, and she realized that she had missed its transformation. The separate spaces on the wheel were now all brightly glowing gold or red. The spaces were also much less in quantity, having gone to what she would estimate as thousands down to a few hundred. This made the words on each tile much easier to read, and she urgently scanned the new abilities. While she didn¡¯t understand all the terminology, she did immediately realize that they were amazing. No matter what she spun, her next life would be vastly different to the life she had lived previously. She looked back up to the host, and gave him a big smile. ¡°Are you having fun?¡± she taunted. She was feeling good, her fear at the situation, the host, and the abyss having faded to the back of her mind. Well maybe not the abyss. She mentally corrected. The host¡¯s posture visually tensed, giving his wide smile a somewhat feral look to it. She looked at his hand clenching the old-timey microphone, and saw that his fist was clenched so tightly that the metal on the microphone had begun to dent. ¡°Just spin.¡± He hissed. Not wanting to push her luck, she spun the wheel yet again. As it spun, she looked at the potential abilities with excitement. Why wouldn¡¯t she, when she could be starting her life with ¡°stop time without aging¡±, ¡°plant growth¡±, and ¡°true prophecy¡±? She held her breath. The obnoxious music that played when the wheel spun earlier was absent, and no sounds were coming from the host or the abyss beyond the stage. The only sound was the needle clacking against the edge of the wheel as it spun. Finally, the wheel came to an abrupt halt, stopping directly in the middle of one of the red spaces. It read ¡°Ecdysis¡±. A moment later, a blue window popped up in front of the woman¡¯s face.
Ability Determined: Ecdysis Grade: Mythic Description: The Ecdysis system will allow you to shed your various forms and weaknesses, continually advancing down a path of power.
As soon as she finished reading the message, another replaced it.
Ecdysis system activated. Overriding system "Wheel of the Tokenless" to find a suitable vessel and world.
She glanced up to see the host, wheel, and abyss dissolve into small motes of golden dust which swirled together and blew off into the distance. She thought she heard the host swearing but as she looked around, she realized that she was completely alone and surrounded by darkness. The only light present was the faint blue glow of the system message.
Calculating a suitable starting vessel and world¡­
The woman idly wondered what the message meant by ¡®starting vessel¡¯ as the system was calculating. Clearly the ability she had gotten was powerful, and she couldn¡¯t help but feel thankful to it that she didn¡¯t have to be around the host or whatever lurked in the abyss beyond the stage. While she was still floating in darkness, this one felt¡­ empty. Safe. Her thankfulness did not last long, however, as another system message ballooned into her vision.
Suitable starting vessel found: Venomous Snake Attributes: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 16 Constitution: 11 Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 3
¡°A snake?!¡± The woman yelled, her mind reeling. ¡°You¡¯re telling me I¡¯m going to be a snake? Are you kidding?¡± Unfortunately, the next system message did not answer, or even acknowledge, her outburst.
Suitable World Found Class: Dungeon Type: Monster Infested Hellscape Description: This world is a variation of a dungeon world. While this world has many dungeons, the world outside of those dungeons is similarly dangerous. Places of relative safety are few and far between, as many monsters dominate the landscape in an unending war of attrition and survival.
This is insane, the woman thought, I couldn¡¯t even live a good life on Earth! How am I going to- Her thoughts were cut off as the next message appeared, and her perception faded to black.
Beginning reincarnation...
Chapter 1: Rebirth Ecdysis: The act of casting off the outer layer of skin in order to prepare for new growth.
Flecks of ash drifted to the bottom of the forest floor, gradually carpeting the undergrowth of the primeval forest. The usual chittering of insects and calls of colorful birds were absent. Save for the occasional quake wracking the landscape and vibrating the ground for miles, silence blanketed the forest like the ash that fell from the sky. One of the innumerable flecks of ash falling towards the ground blew off course. Its path adjusted as an enormous tree creaked and groaned, its branches laden with ash as it crashed down to the forest floor, tearing through the limbs of other trees before startling ash up in a frantic cloud. The solitary ash flake jettisoned through the vines hanging from canopies, over enormous rotted logs coated with vibrant green moss, and through the humid mist hanging underneath the trees that contested mountains to touch the sky. It slowed, danced back and forth in descent, and settled on a single egg that was poking out of a small burrow in the ground. A tiny, and vibrantly red, snake head pushed through the outer layer of the egg, sending the fleck of ash to continue on its way before fully slithering out of the shell. The little red snake wound around itself, consuming the remaining yolk sacs clinging to its slight frame. Then it perked up, glanced around and flicked its tongue out to taste the air. A faint blue screen illuminated in front of the tiny creature with a small popping sound. The snake let out a startled hiss.
Reincarnation successful! Ten attributes points awarded in accordance with place of birth. Please allocate your unassigned attribute points.
The snake lunged out and struck at its ambusher, the floating blue predator, and phased through its target before collapsing on the ground behind it. Letting out an angry hiss, it quickly collected itself to strike again, but its fangs closed around nothing but the color blue. Encountered with something it could not comprehend or hope to defeat, the snake''s instincts issued a single command: Flee. The blue menace followed the tiny snake as it darted through the underbrush, slithering and dodging expertly through tall grass. It dove through long dead and moss covered stumps speckled with clusters of enormous mushrooms, yet the blue torment followed. It gave no ground, was never deceived or led astray. Before long, the newly born snake collapsed into the spongy earth, resigned to its fate and overwhelmed with exhaustion. It glared at the floating message with hate, as the patterns on its blue body continuously morphed, declaring its victory. It lay there as the screen mocked it, and the snake awaited death.
Selection of attributes has been declined. Scanning for sapience¡­ Sapience not detected. Attribute points will be automatically assigned to Intelligence until rudimentary sapience can be established. Ecdysis system interface is being modified to suit the current vessel.
Overwhelming pain. The little red snake writhed on the ground as heat and pressure bloomed in its mind. The pain brought understanding - the blue menace had finally decided to finish the job. The snake tried to force itself to move, to flee, in a last ditch effort to escape, but it had already given everything it had. Reluctantly, it gave in to the rapidly encroaching darkness, and fell unconscious.
The snake jolted awake, snapping her head up in surprise. She was alive? Quickly, she scanned her surroundings, but found no trace of her enemy. Why hadn¡¯t it finished her off? Why hadn¡¯t it claimed its rightfully earned kill? Temporarily giving up on the mystery, the snake turned her sights to her red little noodle body and inspected for wounds or injuries. There were none. She was completely healthy, yet she was different. The little snake didn¡¯t think that she was this aware before the attack, and searching through her memories, she realized that she was in fact changed. She also realized that she had misinterpreted the previous situation, and that the system message she had been confronted with was not her enemy. In fact, the system message was part of herself. She could sense it in her soul bulging with warm energy that could be used to improve herself. Deciding that she needed more privacy, the snake quickly retraced its path back to the small burrow it had hatched in. Feeling a bit more safe and sheltered, and admittedly slightly embarrassed, the tiny snake hunkered down to understand how to use her system. Her instincts told her that she could use the warm energy stored within the system to improve herself. While some of the ways she could improve were simple and straightforward, such as growing stronger or faster, the little snake didn¡¯t comprehend the options in front of her. Deciding that was an issue, and not wanting to make a fool out of herself again, she reached out with her soul and grasped the majority of the nebulous warm energy before directing it to her mind. It once again brought pain, but it wasn¡¯t as bad as the first time. The snake idly wondered if it hurt less because she had been expecting it, but pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as a blue screen once again materialized in front of her.
Congratulations! You have accomplished a Feat of Power by increasing your intelligence to ten times its starting value. You have been awarded with the new skill: Literacy.
After internally acknowledging the message, it was replaced with another.
The Ecdysis System interface has reverted to original parameters due to detected sapience and the possession of the skill: Literacy.
Closing the system messages, the little snake felt a warm surge of accomplishment at its meteoric growth. She decided that she must be truly special, as most snakes couldn¡¯t hope to achieve such accolades - let alone at such a young age. Using the power of her new skill, the snake directed her thoughts and pulled up the status screen.
Tiny Venemous Snake Level 1
Attribute: Score:
Strength 2
Dexterity 16
Constitution 11
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 3 Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Unassigned attribute points: 1
With her newfound intelligence, the tiny snake now had the basic understanding of attributes that had eluded her moments prior. She had instinctively understood strength, dexterity, and intelligence, but now she fully grasped each attribute and its intricacies. Reveling in the power of her intelligence, the little snake was willing to acknowledge that her lithe form was not perfect. It was close, with her gleaming scales and sharp fangs, yet it was also small and designed for speed and stealth. It was useful, but wrong. Shouldn¡¯t she, the snake of legend that had immediately grasped for greatness upon birth, wield insurmountable power? Shouldn¡¯t her enemies shake at her approach, knowing their demise was imminent? The little snake meant to right this wrong and impulsively grasped the remainder of the warm power she felt, spreading it throughout her body and into her jaw muscles. She watched the screen as the small two next to strength moved up to three, and basked in her newfound power. The little snake was now nearly twice as strong. The warmth faded from her body as the power took hold, and she continued exploring the functions of the powerful system that was nestled into the core of her being.
Ability Grade Description
Ecdysis System Mythic Using accumulated power harvested from your actions, the Ecdysis System will assist you in shedding your weaknesses through a variety of methods.
While the little snake thought that the description was somewhat vague, she could feel the truth of its words. She would use this part of herself to grow more powerful. She wasn¡¯t surprised to see that her special ability was mythic. It was only fitting.
Skills Grade Description
Literacy Common The ability to read and write, along with an enhancement to comprehension.
Venomous Common Your body has the ability to create and weaponize a low grade venom. Venom is more effective against foes with lower constitution.
The little snake still jerked her head in shock. ¡®Common¡¯? How could her new skill be common? The word was an affront to her power, and she quickly scanned through her inherent instincts to find an explanation. Nothing explained it, and she couldn¡¯t find a single example, or even a hint, that being literate was ''common'' for her species. Begrudgingly, she admitted that there was nothing she could do about this problem at the moment, but it riled her emotions into a hot and searing mess. Why did her own system seek to offend her like this? She hadn¡¯t met a single creature stronger than herself in her whole life. A memory of overwhelming panic flitted through her head, as she remembered fleeing from her own system in abject terror. Shame flowed through her body, but she pushed it away - reasoning that it didn¡¯t count as it was before she had gained awareness. She still peered around anxiously to see if anyone had seen what happened, and was relieved to see that she was still alone. Tracing through her memories, she realized that she hadn¡¯t seen any other living thing at all. Not a track, scent, or wink of a living thing that wasn¡¯t a plant. Quickly darting atop a pile of moss covered boulders, the little snake curled up in a solitary ray of light that had cut through the dense canopy overhead. It was a serene sight, yet even as the light reflected off her vibrant red scales, the little snake realized that something was not right. Diving back into her instincts she saw that there should be small creatures to hunt and larger ones to fear, not that she would need to fear much with her newfound power. Still, this presented a problem. What would she hunt and how would she fill her belly? She didn¡¯t have to eat frequently - she could wait days if necessary - but she did need to eat eventually. The little snake realized that she would have to leave her home. Briefly, she considered waiting to see if her forerunner would return, but she acknowledged that it wasn¡¯t a common practice for her species. It wasn¡¯t a big deal to the little snake and she felt assured of her power, so without waiting a second longer she dove through the underbrush in search of adventure.
Passage through the forest was slow initially, as the little snake was hyper-alert for any hint of prey or foolish challengers. Yet after some time, she grew less wary and relegated the monotonous duties of travel to the instinctual part of her brain. This left the rest of her mind to wander, and wander it did. The forest was powerful and ancient, and she could feel the pressure of it weighing down on her spirit. Power radiated off of boulders crowned in moss and through enormous trees that captured the sunlight and fed upon its energy. She could even feel it in the mist that swirled around her lithe form. For a whole day she observed the majesty of her ever changing surroundings, and found that she approved. It was only right that her birthplace was such a powerful and noble environment. However she quickly realized that, for the most part, the trees looked quite similar to one another. She grew bored. There was nothing to hunt or to challenge her power. Her only companions were the miles of dense brush she slithered through. So as the days grew mundane and the nights grew long, the little snake decided to flex her newfound power. She decided to train. Admiring her status screen during her brief resting periods had quickly become a bit of a habit. She enjoyed marveling at the power that lay inside her, and it wasn¡¯t long before her attention was drawn to the numbers next to her attributes. There were many more words than there were numbers on her status page, so she reasoned that the numbers were rare. They also held great meaning. They quantified each and every aspect of her power, and she inferred that improving her talent with numbers could lead to even more power. So she counted trees. The first few hours were difficult. She occasionally realized that she had overlooked a sneaky tree or accidentally counted a thick vine, and would need to backtrack. At one point, she lost track entirely as the terrain changed and drew her attention. The tiny snake wasn¡¯t discouraged, however, as she expected brief pitfalls and various tribulations on her path to power. She persisted and after a couple more days, she no longer lost count. While none of her attributes or skills had improved on the system screen, she could feel that she was building mental alacrity and focus as the trees continually faded into the distance. She idly noted that the number of trees seemed to be declining when she was rudely startled by a popping sound, causing her to completely lose track. A blue screen materialized in front of her eyes.
Status Condition Detected: Starving
Effect: -1 Constitution, -1 Wisdom
Attributes will further decline if you do not find sustenance.
She had begun to feel hungry the day prior, but had quickly relegated that feeling to the instinctual part of her mind to deal with. Yet as she finished reading the message, her containment for the hunger broke and it ravaged through her body, mind, and concentration. As she continued on her journey, she had to turn her desire to grow in power aside and focus entirely on the task at hand. Her willpower had begun to wane, and she could no longer split her attention as easily as before. The days began to blend together, and she lost track of how long she had been traveling. Her mind sunk into a haze as thick as the mist that used to cover the landscape, and she relied heavily on the instinctual part of her mind. The hungry snake briefly recuperated in a shallow pool of water, slaking her thirst and scanning her current status.
Tiny Venomous Snake Level 1
Attribute: Score:
Strength 1 (3)
Dexterity 14 (16)
Constitution 7 (11)
Intelligence 8 (10)
Wisdom 6 (10)
Charisma 2 (3)
Unassigned attribute points: 0
Status Condition: Starving
Effect: -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -4 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -4 Wisdom, -1 Charisma
Attributes will further decline, and may lead to death, if you do not find sustenance.
Frustration boiled in the snake''s mind as she saw that her condition had worsened yet again. It plagued her every move, her every thought. It had been such a boon to be born in that place of power. It had been an indicator of greatness, and had proven that she would achieve great things. But that boon had twisted into a curse. She had developed superior awareness just to watch herself die. With one last drink, she left the pool of water and continued on her path. The hydration helped for a time, but it wasn¡¯t long before her mind grew blurry and it took everything she had to keep moving forward. Chapter 2: Enemy of my Enemy Darting to the side, the little red snake narrowly avoided the stick as it thwomped to the ground, missing her by a hair''s breadth and sending up a small cloud of sand. ¡°No leaving, little-tiny snek!¡± The lanky green goblin jeered, his voice pitched high with a nasally twang. A shoddy set of leather armor adorned his small green frame, covering everything within the snake¡¯s reach except his thighs, calves, and unshod feet. A wicked smile spread across his face, reaching towards his abnormally large ears. ¡°Our game isn¡¯t end-over yet!¡± The little snake hissed at the goblin. Every movement was exhausting, yet she coiled her body and prepared to lash out and bite the little green shit. The low crackling of stone over sand came from behind, and the snake abandoned her attack to leap to the side and out of the large rock¡¯s path. ¡°Little snek too fast! Hit it more! Doesn¡¯t count.¡± The husky goblin haltingly complained between breaths. He wiped sweat from his round face with one hand, while the other openly scratched at his large and fully exposed butt cheek. This goblin was not wearing nearly as much armor as his companion, just a leather loincloth that occasionally peeked out beneath his rotund green belly. ¡°Mog is just too heavy and stupid-dumb. Mad he will lose.¡± ¡°Am not stupid-dumb. You cheat!¡± The fat goblin - Mog - slowly replied. Taking the brief moment of respite resulting from the goblins arguing, the tiny snake collected herself. She had achieved her goal by making it out of the empty forest, but her single minded focus and waning attributes had led her directly into her current dilemma - trapped and used as the target in a sadistic game. She had found no prey, had still not eaten, and her Starving Condition had continued to worsen. So focused had she been on the hunt, searching for slight movements in the grass and for small burrows, that she completely overlooked the goblin footprints. The lanky armored goblin had suddenly appeared in her path, and led her on a panicked chase that ended with her trapped in a small circular playing field carved down into the now rocky ground. That¡¯s when she was introduced to the much larger Mog, who was standing on the lip of the circle opposite her pursuer. The armored goblin, who she had since learned was named Deeb, was now frantically shaking his stick in the air and yelling at his fellow. The little snake crept very slowly to the side, careful to not alert the goblins to her plan. Inch by inch she circled, until she had direct line of sight to Deeb¡¯s calf. Adrenaline pumped through the snake¡¯s small frame, temporarily pushing away the exhaustion and letting her focus completely on the task at hand. With a crack, she propelled herself up and into the air, rocketing towards the goblin¡¯s exposed calf and burying her fangs into his green flesh. Deebs yelped in shock and pain as she dropped to the ground and attempted to dart away. She wasn¡¯t fast enough and the stick slapped into her side, sending her flying back into the makeshift arena. The snake skid to a shaky stop directly between her two attackers. The low laughter of the big goblin broke through the ringing in her ears as she collected herself once again. ¡°Now who stupid-dumb, Deeb? Bit by tiny snek.¡± Mog gloated as he jovially slapped his knee. Deeb cautiously stepped around the lip, before standing over where the stone had stopped rolling. Pushing it with his foot, he sent it careening back towards Mog. Mog picked up the stone, which wasn¡¯t quite as large as his distended stomach, one hand below the stone holding it up while the other braced it on the side. ¡°Go Mog. Deeb want to kill stupid snek.¡± Deeb grunted in response, his face having lost its previously mirthful expression. Shame and impotent anger roared through the little snake, battering against the persistent fog of exhaustion. She glared at Deeb, willing the small goblin to keel over and die. He was leaning heavily on his weaponized stick, keeping his weight off of the leg she had bitten. His wounded calf looked slightly larger than normal, the once dark green skin blushing and growing lighter with a slightly red sheen. Pain sheared through her thoughts as the large rock rolled over the end of her tail, crushing it with a wet squelch. Darkness closed in as colorful worms danced at the edge of her vision, panic setting in as her wounds began to accumulate. With a force of will born from the desire to survive, to fight, the little snake fought for focus. Mog was cheering as he slapped his belly and taunted Deeb, who was sitting down and inspecting his leg. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. She needed a plan. Something to create an opening to strike at the goblins again. Glancing at her surroundings, she saw that a portion of the arena floor consisted of a shallow sand pit. A potential solution flashed through her mind and she darted towards it, startling Deeb. Jolting back to awareness, he snapped his attention up to the little snake. ¡°Now Deeb scared of little snek!¡± Mog yelled between bouts of raucous laughter. Deeb yelled something back before getting to his feet and returning the stone to Mog. Furiously, the little snake lifted the end of her little body and pressed it into the sand. Spikes of pain began at her tail and sent tremors through her body forced herself to carve multiple characters into the sand. Panic and expectation rocked through her as she strained to hear any indication of incoming danger. Surprisingly, none came, and she finished writing the word that had plagued her status condition screen for the past few days: ¡®Death¡¯. Mog had been watching the little snake with wide eyes, scratching the bottom of his round belly. Deeb, on the other hand, had returned to a world of his own as he bent over and inspected the small black veins branching out from his wound. She turned back to Mog, and for a while the little snake and the fat goblin stared at each other in stilled silence. The unexpected break in action brought the exhaustion back in full force, and her head slowly drifted down to rest on the sand. Mog had a pained expression on his face as his brain sprinted at a pace that was unfamiliar to him. ¡°Why Mog not go?¡± Deeb spat. The little snake slightly adjusted so she could see him as he approached on shaky legs. ¡°Time to kill puny snek.¡± His breath rushed in and out in ragged gasps, his condition worsening with each passing minute. Yet even as she recognized his weakness, she couldn¡¯t push through the fatigue and weariness from her injuries and exacerbated status condition. As she prepared for the end, a loud thumping reverberated through the ground as Mog ran up and towered over her. His grotesque foot planted directly onto the sand she had labored over, chipped yellow nails brushing the hastily scrawled word out of existence. ¡°No kill snek!¡± Mog yelled, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. ¡°Why? Game over. Move Mog, stupid-idiot!¡± Deeb gasped. Mog, still looking at the ground by his green foot, mumbled to himself. ¡°Snek made sand book¡­¡± before trailing off into silence. His frantic search for the character the little snake had written shook multiple beads of sweat off his body and onto the little snake. One landed square on top of her head, and her senses were flooded with a rancid unwashed smell. If I could move, I would bite the husky goblin, she thought amidst the stream of curses running through her mind. She had glanced upwards to look at Mog, and immediately looked away after getting an eyeful of goblin parts. The loincloth appeared to be the only piece of clothing that he was wearing. ¡°Stupid-dumb Mog try to trick Deeb?¡± The smaller goblin huffed scathingly. ¡°Mog try to kill snek instead of Deeb?¡± As Deeb was talking, he lifted the staff above his head with both hands as his eyes grew more and more bloodshot. Mog absentmindedly began to mumble a response as he kept searching the ground, but was interrupted when Deeb brought the stick down onto his round head with a crack. Not at all phased by Deeb¡¯s weak attempt at a surprise attack, Mog immediately turned and shoved the smaller goblin. Deeb moved to brace himself on his wounded leg, which immediately gave out and sent him stumbling backwards before his head cracked into the lip of the arena. A small pool of brown blood began gathering at the base of his skull underneath Deeb. A rush of warm energy flowed into the little snake, and she heard a popping sound. She could feel her system pressing on her with mild urgency, so she pulled up the notification.
You have slain Goblin Conniver - Weak
Mog grew still and absently stared at Deeb¡¯s body, his face once again twisted in seeming agony as he struggled to understand what was happening. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The little snake continued on to the next notification.
Congratulations, you have leveled up! +1 unassigned attribute point
And the next¡­
Congratulations, you have accomplished a Feat of Power! Enemy of my Enemy
Description: Persuade an enemy to join you without the help of spells or potions.
Reward: +2 Charisma +1 Evolution Point
She had not only survived, but her plan had led to a set of circumstances that increased her attributes. A brief moment of shocked happiness flowed through the little snake, and she pulled up her status screen to verify her recent growth.
Tiny Venomous Snake Level 2
Attribute: Score:
Strength 1 (3)
Dexterity 14 (16)
Constitution 6 (11)
Intelligence 8 (10)
Wisdom 5 (10)
Charisma 4 (5)
Attribute points: 1
Evolution points : 1
Active Status Conditions: Starving
A thick fist coated in cold sweat closed around the snake¡¯s neck as she was lifted off the ground. She closed her status, and was came face to face with Mog¡¯s beady and panic filled eyes. His rancid breath rushed over her as he said, ¡°Snek come with Mog. Snek ¡®splain to boss how Deeb die.¡± She briefly fought, but was too exhausted to make more than a token effort of escape before Mog lowered her to his side and set off down a narrow and well trodden path. They passed numerous sandy bluffs with bushels of sharp looking plants and resilient weeds that jutted out of cracks in the rocky ground. As they walked, the little snake swung back and forth in Mog¡¯s clammy grip, moving in pace with his short and waddle-like stride. What felt like hours passed, until they eventually rounded a large rocky outcropping and stood in front of the mouth of a large cave. Movement shifted in the darkness, and the little snake watched as two more goblins appeared from the cave mouth. One of them called out to Mog as he came into view. ¡°Patrol done? Where Deeb?¡± The nasally voice asked. Not responding, Mog used his unoccupied hand to push past them and descend into the cave. The little goblins didn¡¯t protest, but the one who spoke made a quick gesture to his fellow and fell into step behind Mog. As they descended, the little goblin called out from a few paces back. ¡°Patrol usually take longer. Why Mog back?¡± As the light of the cave mouth rose into the distance and completely vanished, the little snake settled into a numb acceptance of whatever was to come. The last week had been very difficult, and it was all she could do to hold onto her vague awareness. A warm and potent smelling breeze blew upward from deeper in the cave as Mog responded to their pesky follower. ¡°Mog need see boss. Deeb dead.¡± He grunted as he continued his descent. The small goblin came to a brief halt before picking up his pace and continuing the pursuit. ¡°How Deeb die?¡± Mog pointedly did not respond to the question, but made a shoo-ing motion with his hand, inadvertently waving the little snake through the air. The little goblin did not leave, and the tunnel opened up into an enormous subterranean cavern. Being held by the base of her head, the little snake couldn¡¯t make out most of the details of her surroundings, but did see numerous huts lining the walls as she swung back and forth. They were circular, and were sized to hold a goblin or two each. The walls consisted of a dark brown material, sharpened stakes protruding from the top of their cone shaped roofs. Some had strips of ratty looking fabric draped over the doorways, but many did not, leaving the hut interior open for wandering eyes. She could see piles upon piles of useless nick-nacks, various trinkets, and shiny rocks. Goblin children were rushing through the open space, rough housing and fighting each other, some stopping to watch Mog as he beelined towards the center of the cavern. Mog continued past sharp stakes that jutted out of the ground, closing off small crawl spaces between large rocks. The ground of the cavern had transitioned to hard and well-packed dirt, having seen a lot of foot traffic. She tried to count how many goblins were walking around, but she just couldn¡¯t. There were too many, she was too tired, and her vision constantly being jerked around did not help. The little snake closed her eyes as Mog continued walking, and she felt his pace pick up as his breath shot in and out in short rasps. Mog¡¯s destination loomed into view as they crossed the cavern and approached an elevated hut. Raised well above the ground on large beams of wood to the height of three of four goblins standing on each other¡¯s shoulders. It was circular and wide, larger than any other hut in the cavern by at least three or four times. Its walls were not made from the same material of the other huts, instead consisting of wood, hide, shiny rust covered plates, and various other undefined materials hobbled together. A large beast pelt hung from the doorway of the elevated hut, closing off the interior from view. To one side of the doorway hung a netted bag filled with small animal skulls. To the other was a large bronze circle suspended in the air by two cords that connected to a giant tusk protruding from the side of the hut. A dubious looking ladder made of tied together bones reached down to the ground, where two goblins holding spears and dressed in leather armor stood and glared at Mog with narrowed eyes. Mog stopped walking a few yards from the guards, clearly exerted and attempting to catch his breath. The small goblin who had been pestering him didn¡¯t have this issue, and took the opportunity to dart past Mog and up to the guards. ¡°Mog back early. Deeb not with Mog.¡± He said in a loud whisper, his sharp teeth displayed in a sly grin. ¡°Mog have crazy look.¡± The slapping of little feet sounded from behind the group, and the other goblin they had met at the mouth of the cave ran up from behind them and past Mog. ¡°Deeb dead. Bit by snek!¡± He yelled. His eyes scanned over the situation at hand, over the guards, the hut, and Mog. His eyes widened as he urgently pointed at Mog¡¯s clenched fist. ¡°Snek!¡± The guards at the base of the ladder readied their spears and shifted their feet into a more aggressive stance. At this point, a gaggle of goblins had gathered around the growing ruckus, and a nattering chatter filled the open space. Mog took a step forward, and projected his voice over the crowd. ¡°Boss! Snek smart!¡± He yelled, ¡°Snek like boss!¡± A shocked silence filled the cavern at Mog¡¯s words, as the goblins reconciled what he said to the tiny snake dangling in his clenched fist. The little snake glanced at Mog and saw a thick bead of sweat rolling down the side of his plump face. When no sound came from the elevated hut, the crowd exploded back into noise. Some goblins were jeering, some laughing, and some scanned the ground to look for something convenient to throw. One of the guards approached Mog with a controlled gait, his spear leading the way. The crowd''s volume dipped as he got closer. ¡°Mog no see Boss. Boss busy. Too busy for fat-stupid Mog.¡± At the guard¡¯s insult, the crowd started slinging their own barbs at Mog. The little snake heard many crass insults, but most had some play on ¡®fat¡¯ or ¡®stupid¡¯. In response to their words, Mog¡¯s fist clenched tighter around the little snake. She was at a complete loss for what to do. If she somehow got out of his hand, there were numerous goblins surrounding her. If she stayed still, Mog might crush her little body in his hand. She was fairly certain that the only reason she still lived was because of how clammy and slick with sweat his palm was. Remembering the system message, she quickly assigned her free attribute point to Constitution, thinking that a little bonus survivability couldn¡¯t hurt her odds. A small rush of warmth flooded out from her system core, briefly reinvigorating her body and helping her focus. She glanced up and noted that the guard now had the tip of his spear pushed into Mog¡¯s shoulder, drawing a small amount of brown fluid that rolled down his chest and over his belly before being absorbed into his ratty loin cloth. The crowd collectively leaned in, trying to get a better look. Mog grunted as he pushed himself forward, driving the spear deeper into the meat of his shoulder. The guard''s eyes widened and shock wrote across his face. Many of the observing crowd gasped, and in complete silence, the snake heard one of the goblin children whisper, ¡°cool¡±. ¡°Boss! Snek made sand book!¡± Mog yelled, taking advantage of the goblins¡¯ shocked silence. It held for a moment longer as many goblins tilted their heads to the side and squinted their eyes, before the silence shattered and raucous laughter erupted through the cavern. A deep and rich gonging reverberated throughout the cavern, cutting through the laughter like a hot knife through butter. Every goblin¡¯s head swiveled to stare at the elevated hut. Atop the ladder with a mallet held in a small wrinkled hand, stood a short yet severe goblin. She was clearly elderly, as could be judged by her hunched back, sun spotted flesh, and wrinkles beyond counting. She was also fierce. Tribal white tattoos danced along her dark green arms and up her exposed shoulders and neck, outlining her pronounced jaw before disappearing into a wild mess of white hair. Her pointed beak-like nose sat above a wispy silver mustache that danced along her upper lip. Numerous rings of gold and silver adorned her fingers, ears, and nose. The goblin woman wore golden glasses with large circular lenses that magnified her hawk-like eyes, giving the impression that few things escaped her notice. The lenses were connected on each side to dainty golden chains that wrapped around her large green ears and dangled down beside her face, a glinting stone at the end of each chain. ¡°What¡¯s all this racket?!¡± The goblin boss yelled from atop her perch. Chapter 3: An Unlikely Friend Dangling from Mog¡¯s moist fist, the little snake focused on the goblin boss. She was surprisingly spry, and efficiently made her way down the bone ladder. Before she knew it, the tattooed woman was standing right before them. The crowd had, for the most part, yielded to the stern demands and icy stare of the goblin boss and dispersed. A few lurkers stood a short distance away, suddenly very interested in a rock laying on the ground. They periodically glanced toward Mog and the little snake, their ears twitching and turning as the goblin boss spoke. ¡°Why is this snek like me, Mog?¡± She was around a head shorter than him, yet presence towered over him. The snake attempted to cower into Mog¡¯s fist, withering under the female goblin¡¯s stare, yet she just dangled there. Mog, to the little snake¡¯s surprise, visibly relaxed now that he was talking to the boss. He exhaled, letting out the long breath. He wiped his forehead, smearing the orangish brown mixture of sweat and blood across his face. ¡°Snek made sand book outside.¡± Mog replied. His tone was respectful, and no longer held the tense edge it had carried since he initially picked her up. ¡°A sand book? Hmph.¡± She said, gazing down at the snake, ¡°Let me see snek, and then we can heal Mog.¡± ¡°Mog not hurt bad.¡± He grunted, then held up his clenched fist so that the snake was eye level with the boss. The goblin woman¡¯s eyes slowly began to change color as the snake gazed into them. Clouds of wispy white smoke ballooned outward from the center of her pupil, until each eye was covered in a hazy glowing fog. The snake felt an unknown presence balloon in her mind, establishing a foothold and pressing inward. Panic rose inside her as all of her instincts screamed at her to flee, to escape from this being before her. Her limp body writhed in Mog¡¯s grip as she mentally pushed back against the invading presence. With seeming ease, the presence slapped her feeble defense aside and began peeling back the layers of her mind. She could feel it digging for information, exposing her memories and reading her innermost thoughts. The moments crawled by, and the snake¡¯s world tunneled to the goblin woman¡¯s milk white eyes and the foreign presence dominating her mind. When she felt completely rung out, the presence finally retreated. The goblin woman smiled. ¡°Good job, Mog.¡± She said, taking the little snake from his hand. ¡°Sleep, hungry snek.¡± The snake felt a brief flash of power, and noticed the goblin woman¡¯s tattoos glowing faintly as darkness overwhelmed her.
She awoke inside a dark circular container. It felt similar to stone, but was shaped too perfectly to be something natural. The top of the container, directly above her, was completely blocked by a wooden lid. The faint smell of overcooked meat resonated from within her iron cage, and she could make out bits of crispy dried liquid and smeared streaks of fat and grease along its solid walls. With a brief surge of effort, she pushed her worries to the back of her mind and focused on the small rat that was laying directly next to her. Lunging, she bit into the carcass. It was already dead, so she swallowed it whole. The little snake pulled up the ¡®starving¡¯ status condition that had been plaguing her for days. To her satisfaction, the attribute penalties gradually lessened as she digested her meal before disappearing completely. She had survived. I got lucky, the little snake thought as she looked around at the walls of her makeshift prison. Maybe. She was able to deduce that she was currently trapped in some device that the goblins used to prepare their meals. The goblin boss had utilized abilities that were far beyond the grasp of the little snake, but she didn¡¯t seem cruel like Deeb. Thinking about it, the boss probably wouldn¡¯t have put her to sleep if she hadn¡¯t been planning on biting her. She had been at the end of her rope, which she probably saw when she was intruding in her mind. Her thoughts drifted to a notification she had received shortly after killing Deeb, and she quickly pulled up her status menu to verify.
Tiny Venomous Snake Level 2
Attribute: Score:
Strength 3
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 5
Attribute points: 0
Evolution points : 1
There it was - an evolution point. That was new, and she didn¡¯t have a clue what it meant. She turned her attention inward at the warm energy held inside her system, and prodded it for information. A blue screen opened up in front of her eyes.
Ecdysis Sub-Ability: Evolutionary Map You have unlocked the Evolutionary Map through your use of the Ecdysis System. It can be used to help you grow and develop in various ways by spending evolution points. Evolution points may be earned by accomplishing certain Feats of Power.
She opened up the Evolutionary Map, and a new screen appeared in front of her eyes. There were three options: ¡®Current Evolutionary Line (Serpentine)¡¯, ¡®Alternate Evolutionary Lines¡¯, and ¡®Mutations¡¯. She could only open the first option, as the other two were listed as unavailable. She opened ¡®Current Evolutionary Line¡¯, and saw what looked like an upside down tree, with numerous branches running downwards and expanding in three directions. At the very top of the branching tree, was a picture of the little snake with the words ¡®Tiny Venomous Snake¡¯ underneath it. There were three branches that ran down and away from her picture, each led to a shadowy caricature. They were labeled ¡®Tiny Constrictor Snake¡¯, ¡®Small Venomous Snake¡¯, and ¡®Tiny Flying Snake¡¯. The first two cost two evolution points, while the last cost three. She continued investigating, prodding her system for more information wherever she could. She felt her heart race at the idea of becoming a stronger and more powerful creature. If she could somehow survive her current situation, then she could maybe become strong enough to where nothing this humiliating would ever happen to her again. Apparently, in addition to evolution points, she would need to build up her attributes to the base level of the creature she wanted to evolve into. She wasn¡¯t even close. If she wanted to evolve into a Tiny Constrictor Snake or a Small Venomous Snake, she would need to greatly increase her Strength. Assuming she continued to get one attribute point per level up, she would need to hunt a lot more to be able to achieve that. Surprisingly, to evolve into a Tiny Flying Snake, she would only need to level up five more times. Her system didn¡¯t verify if this evolution could actually fly, but she thought she could make out small wings on the side of the shadowed out figure. She would, however, need an additional evolution point if she wanted to go in that direction. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. So far she had accomplished two Feats of Power: the first by raising her Intelligence to ten times its starting value, and the second by convincing Mog to fight on her side against Deeb. They both felt like flukes when she thought about it. Her intelligence had started at one, and she raised it to ten. That was quite literally the minimum amount of attribute points she would need to achieve that Feat of Power. The little snake had no idea how writing in the sand had convinced Mog to join her side, as she had serious doubts that he could read. She rested her head on her little coiled body, using the digesting lump as a pillow, trying to recover as much as she could for whatever would happen next.
¡°Is the little snek feeling better?¡± The calm voice of the goblin boss came from a slight distance away, rousing the snake from her resting daydreams. She drew completely still, and poised herself to strike if she needed to. ¡°Kor wont hurt little snek.¡± The goblin woman went on. ¡°Sorry for keeping snek in cook pot.¡± They waited in awkward silence. ¡°Kor is also sorry for looking in snek mind. Kor had to check if Mog was right, and he was. Little snek is very smart.¡± Kor paused, letting her words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. ¡°Kor will make deal with snek. Kor will keep snek safe, and snek will teach Kor words.¡± Kor said, then sighed. ¡°Kor saw snek kill Deeb. Kor doesn¡¯t care. Deeb was a sneaky gob, always tricking and taking from others.¡± The little snake let the silence stretch on as she considered the goblin¡¯s proposal. Could she teach her how to read? A pang of fury scorched through her little body as she imagined sharing the gift her system had given her. Yet¡­ Kor was powerful. She was the leader of the goblins, and had abilities that the little snake had never seen before. She also currently had her trapped in a cooking pot. The little snake didn¡¯t have a lot of options. She let out a low and short hiss. Kor approached, her light footsteps sending slight vibrations through the floor. A dim and warm light shone into the pot as the lid lifted off, but was then blocked by Kor¡¯s head peering in. ¡°Can Kor pick up little snek?¡± she asked, and the snake nodded slowly. Kor reached into the pot with both hands, and gently lifted the little snake up. It was tempted to bite the goblin, but the snake restrained herself. The possibility of making a powerful ally outweighed the potential levels she would earn, if she even succeeded, so she tentatively wound her body around the goblin¡¯s wrist and looked up at Kor. Her white hair was still wild and untamed, and her wispy mustache looked slightly twirled on each end. She smiled down at the little snake, and the wrinkles on the goblin¡¯s face multiplied. The smile was warm, and even though it revealed the goblin woman¡¯s sharp and pointy teeth, the snake felt her apprehension lessen ever so slightly. ¡°Mog said you made a sand book.¡± Kor said conversationally as she carefully picked her way across the floor of the hut. The little snake looked around and was astonished by the sheer amount of things the goblin woman had. There were piles and piles of random trinkets, rocks, shiny disks, and other bits and bobs the snake didn¡¯t recognize. Some of the piles even reached up and brushed against the ceiling. Almost the entire floor was covered, and Kor had to jump to and from various flat surfaces that breached the surface of the ocean of junk. There were so many places the little snake could hide and she was fairly certain that if she wanted to disappear, it would not be an issue. She tucked that idea away for later as Kor swung from a rope connected to the ceiling over a pile of rusty daggers and ratty armor, before landing with her feet on a small ladder that led up to a small and cramped loft. The loft contained a hammock that stretched out parallel with the wall, hanging over yet another pile of nick-nacks. There was a shelf that had a lumpy wax protrusion with a small flame jutting out of the top, a large book, and a closed jar that was filled with dense purple and cloudy liquid. A lump of wrinkled flesh briefly peeked out, but the cloudy liquid soon obscured whatever the little snake had seen. There was also a small wooden table underneath the shelf that held a small plate filled with sand. Kor set the little snake down next to the plate before dipping her face down close. ¡°Can you show me?¡± Kor asked in a low voice. The little snake let out a hiss and held up the injured tip of her tail. It was still raw and painful from being crushed by the rock Mog had rolled at her, but she started shifting the sand and writing the same character anyway. When she finished, she looked at the goblin woman who was staring intently at what she had written, then she blinked and reached up to the shelf above them. She hefted the large book off the shelf and pulled it into her lap, opened it, and turned it towards the little snake. ¡°Can you read this?¡± Kor asked. The snake glanced at the book, then back up to the goblin woman, who was intently staring at her. She turned back to the book. ¡°... yet the defining characteristic of the domains chosen by the tower is their inability to be breached. Various hunters have attempted to leave the pre-ordained area, yet none have reported any success in the endeavor. So what truly lies outside of the generated terrain? Is there a larger world that cannot be accessed?¡± She looked back up at the goblin woman and nodded. Kor grinned. ¡°Kor has hope now.¡± The goblin woman said as her shoulders dipped. ¡°Kor found this on the dead body of her daughter. Tor was a shamanka like Kor - powerful. She moved here to be mate to a different boss.¡± She took a deep breath before continuing. ¡°Mog found book and Tor¡¯s body. All gobs from the other tribe were dead. Kor moved her tribe here to find out what happened.¡± She explained to the little snake that besides the book and the bodies of the goblins, there was no other evidence as to what had happened. She still didn¡¯t know who or what killed Tor, and she couldn¡¯t read the book that potentially held the answers she was seeking. Kor wanted the little snake - or Snek, as Kor had officially named her when she found out she didn¡¯t have a name - to teach her how to read the book. In exchange, she would be kept safe and fed while her wounds healed. ¡°Kor can also help Snek be stronger.¡± She finished, and Snek turned her head to the side curiously. ¡°Kor saw how Snek got power when she killed Deeb. Kor has some ideas.¡± As Kor finished talking, she tapped her finger to the side of her head in consideration, but didn¡¯t continue. Snek agreed to Kor¡¯s deal, and began the process of healing and teaching her how to read. It was slow going at first. She would sit on Kor¡¯s shoulder as they flipped through the book looking for words that Kor wanted to learn. When they eventually found it, Snek would point it out and Kor would practice writing the word. It was inefficient, but that was fixed as the days passed and the little snake healed. Eventually, she was able to scratch words that Kor wanted to learn into the sand without pain. When Kor was busy, the little snake explored the hut and carved out a space for herself. There were many random and seemingly useless trinkets in the piles of trash that Kor kept in her house. Snek found some interesting yet useless things among the ocean of junk, but her favorite finds were always the rats. She hunted them with glee and a persistent desire for growth. When Snek brought up the rat infestation, Kor had mentioned another goblin in the tribe who raised them as pets. He was old, and had hated Kor ever since their daughter died. He somehow used the rats to spy on her, so she applauded Snek for each and every rat she hunted down. There were initially so many rats, that Snek was able to raise her level three times just from hunting them down. She put the first two attribute points she earned into strength, raising it to five, but tried something different with the other one and instead raised her charisma to six. When she did, she immediately noticed a slight improvement in her communication and relationship with Kor. It didn¡¯t take as long for the goblin woman to figure out the snake¡¯s sometimes necessary charades, and Kor began occasionally making jokes. Snek didn¡¯t understand most of the references, but enjoyed the goblin woman¡¯s squeaky laughter that always followed. Her greatest gain, however, came in the form of a system message that appeared after her most recent successful hunt. She had been skulking quietly amidst the piles of random junk, and set a simple trap with a dead rat. When its little rat friend came to investigate, she had immediately ended its life with a quick and undetected strike..
New Skill Acquired!
Stealth Common Gives a minor passive bonus to any attempts of avoiding detection.
Snek wondered what a ¡®minor bonus¡¯ meant in application, and decided to do some testing. She discovered that it was easier to conceal herself among the refuse, but she couldn¡¯t sense more prey in the vicinity. She waited for a while, but still no rats. She gave up and made her way back up into Kor¡¯s loft. The goblin woman wasn¡¯t currently in the hut. There had been some kind of disruption outside, and she had left to investigate around an hour or two ago. Snek wound her way up the leg of the table and coiled herself to rest in between the large book and the dish of sand. Kor had begun leaving the book on the table instead of the shelf, so that Snek could read through it whenever she desired. It was an interesting read, but little of it made sense. From what she had gathered, it was written by someone who was from another world. To the author, the world that Kor, Snek, Mog, and all of the other goblins resided in was inside an enormous tower that appeared on the author¡¯s world. The book primarily held theories on Snek¡¯s world - some of which Kor had confirmed to be true while others were objectively false. It mentioned gates opening up and locking down large areas. Hunters (which were people from the other world with special abilities) would go into a gate at each level of this tower and attempt to kill all of the ¡®monsters¡¯ (anyone from Snek¡¯s world that was in the locked down area at the time). It didn¡¯t mention why they went into the gates in the first place, though. There were small notes written into the margins of the book. Apparently its original owner had been interested in the topic, and had sketched out a map of the interior of the large cavern. Their running theory was that whoever killed Kor¡¯s daughter, Tor, was a person from the other world and likely the original owner of the book. The little snake didn¡¯t know what to do with this information, so like many of the other things that seemed to be out of her control, she pushed it down and thought about other things. Right now that happened to be the large sealed jar sitting in front of her on the table. Her eyes were frequently drawn to it. Kor had noticed her interest and immediately started boasting. ¡°The powerful bren jar is a relic that is passed down to each new generation of shamanka.¡± She had said. Her manner of speaking had changed dramatically over the past few weeks. It was becoming less and less choppy. Snek had wondered if it had to do with learning to read or the conversations they routinely had. What is a ¡®bren¡¯? Snek had written in the sand. ¡°A bren is what is in your head. The bigger it is, the smarter you are. I have mine, and the bren jar. That¡¯s why Kor is smarter than the other gobs.¡± Kor twirled her silver mustache as she said this - a frequent habit. While Kor talked, Snek smoothed the sand out and began writing again. Is it alive? ¡°Yes.¡± Kor said, but didn¡¯t explain further. She was fond of the bren jar, and would sometimes hold it when they would read the book together. The little snake would perch herself on the goblin woman¡¯s shoulder, and would follow along as Kor read aloud. The goblin woman would hold the jar in her lap and periodically caress it as they practiced. The little snake always kept an eye on the jar. She would watch for the murky liquid to clear and expose the bren as it bobbed against the glass. As she sat there alone and stared at the jar, the liquid was pushed aside and swirled in every direction. This time, however, it wasn¡¯t the folded lump of wrinkly flesh that swam to the surface. This time, the inky purple liquid parted to expose a scaled talon pushing against the glass. Chapter 4: Poisoned Kor perched atop the small stool in her loft, bare toes gripping its edge for balance. Her elbows rested against her knees as she leaned forward over the open book on the table. Snek¡¯s tiny head poked out from the goblin woman¡¯s tangled mess of white frizzy hair, eyes trained on the book. ¡°There do not appear to be any lim-i-ta-tions on what can become a zone with-in a get.¡± Kor slowly read, pausing to sound out unfamiliar words while twirling her moustache with ringed fingers. When she read the last word, the little snake tapped on the nape of her neck twice - indicating a mispronunciation. Kor sighed and her nose flared, the small silver ring that poked through the side of her nostril glinting in the light of the solitary desktop candle. Good natured annoyance crept into her voice as she let out a low growl and responded to the little snake¡¯s prompt, ¡°Snek¡­ Kor knows this! Kor cannot mek that sound with her mouth. How does Snek even know it''s wrong? Snek can¡¯t pronounce at all!¡± Snek lifted the end of her tail and patted the top of the goblin woman¡¯s head knowingly. She liked reading with Kor. It was fun, even if she had already finished both pages and was just waiting for Kor to catch up. She had been listening somewhat inattentively as she waited, staring at an interesting diagram that had been drawn in the margins of the page. The diagram was complex, and portrayed multiple circles ensconcing stars with candles at each point. The lines of the star were written in a language that Snek didn¡¯t understand - which had caught her off guard. She had believed that her Literacy skill had given her the ability to read all forms of writing, but as she gazed at the angular and sharp characters, no meaning came. They looked like a cross between letters and shapes, and seemed to indicate a different and deeper meaning than the other words. ¡°There are re-por-ts. Reports¡­ what is reports?¡± Kor asked. Snek made to move off the top of her head, but Kor continued before she did. ¡°Reports of zones the size of a single room up to containing an entire city¡­ Oh. So report is telling what happened¡­¡± Snek felt a surprised pride flow through her at Kor¡¯s words. The goblin woman had figured out what the word meant without needing Snek¡¯s help. A subtle popping sound resonated in her mind, and she pulled up the corresponding notification.
Congratulations, you have accomplished a Feat of Power! Take a look, it¡¯s in a book!
Description: Successfully teach a sentient creature one of your skills.
Reward: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence +1 Evolution Point
Snek had wondered if teaching Kor to read would earn her a Feat of Power, but had largely given up on the idea as the days passed. Apparently Kor learning to figure out what a word meant based on the context of the surrounding text had pushed her knowledge beyond some hidden requirement. Snek excitedly pulled up her status screen to see the new changes as Kor continued to read.
Tiny Venomous Snake Level 5
Attribute: Score:
Strength 5
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 10
Charisma 8
Unassigned attribute points: 0
Unspent evolution points : 2
Her level hadn¡¯t gone up at all in the last few days, and Snek wondered if her lack of progress was related to the relative ease she had been having while dealing with the rats. Her new stealth skill had made hiding and ambushing the unsuspecting rodents trivial in the chaotic mess downstairs. It was so easy, in fact, that she had been relegating the hunt to the instinctual part of her mind as she thought of other things. She had started referring to her instincts as her ¡®snake brain¡¯, and had experimented with its capabilities as she hunted the rats. Her snake brain could function almost completely independently from her thoughts, but couldn¡¯t handle deeper levels of speculation - hence the name she came up with. Snek was fairly certain that other snakes didn¡¯t think as deeply as she did. As her snake brain had hunted, killed, and eaten the trespassing rodents, she had let her mind wander over a myriad of topics. She thought about her life, about her newfound friendship with Kor, and about her goals. Snek was happy with her life, but knew that she needed to grow stronger. She knew that she had gotten lucky and had barely managed to survive - and she needed to change that. So she had been trying, with very little success, to push herself past her limits and develop new skills. She preferred focusing on this project instead of worrying about her future evolution. She still didn¡¯t know what would happen to her excess intelligence and charisma when she eventually did take on a new form, and those worries had plagued her mind and intruded on her thoughts frequently over the past few days. It was to the point where she was worried that she would earn a skill for worrying if she continued to worry, and that gave her a headache. So instead, she focused on her project of developing a new skill and had been imposing limitations on her snake brain as it hunted. She made it hunt in new territories of the hut, made it hunt without smelling the air around her, and even made it kill the last rat with her eyes closed. Yet she still hadn¡¯t earned a new skill. She had also pushed for more information about the brain in the jar and the strange talon she saw, and Kor had explained a bit further. ¡°Bren is special. Elder shamanka said bren is alive, and has much power. Bren can protect from worst kind of enemies.¡± How can it help you while it''s stuck in the jar? Snek had asked. ¡°Kor has not needed Bren¡¯s help. Shamanka before Kor also did not need Bren¡¯s help, so Bren is kept safe in jar.¡± Kor responded. Snek hadn¡¯t continued pushing for information. She could tell that Kor didn¡¯t like talking about the brain - not nearly as much as she liked holding it anyway - and Kor had been nothing but kind and helpful. That did not mean she liked the brain jar, however, as she always felt like she was being studied when in its presence. She felt that way now, as she gazed down at it from atop Kor¡¯s head. It was on the table next to the book, but she couldn¡¯t see the brain within. It was just cloudy and purple, swirling back and forth. A rattle and clunking sound from downstairs caught Snek¡¯s attention, and she made her way off of Kor¡¯s head and onto her shoulder. Kor absentmindedly lowered her arm to the ground, and the little snake slithered down the arm and onto the floor towards the ladder. Kor kept reading, but they both knew it would take her some time to get caught up to Snek. She moved down the side of the ladder before falling quietly onto a pile of stained fabric she had scavenged from the piles of random junk Kor kept in her hut. She landed without a sound, and began slithering through the various snake sized tunnels she had cleared through the mess. She felt the effects of her stealth skill as she moved through the room like a ghost. Her movements were exact and silent, and before long she located her prey. She wondered how she could push herself to grow while hunting this time, but Snek realized that something was off with the rodent sitting in the middle of the room. It was completely exposed as it jerkily cleaned itself on a small patch of bare floor. A low and persistent squeaking yowl was coming from the rodent, its eyes unfocused and darting chaotically around the room. Snek sat in a small coil as she watched its strange behavior from the shadows. As she watched the rat, it stood on its hind legs and reached up for something that was not there. It stretched up high before losing its balance and falling onto its snout with a small thud. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. It was amusing at first, but her snake brain was pulsing with unease. There was something wrong with the rat¡¯s actions, and it lay on the ground kicking instead of getting back up. Its squeaking had changed into a low but continuous chirp. She decided that she would give it a quick death, not taking any risks in light of the odd behavior. She moved into position and as the rodent went to scratch its chin, Snek lunged forward in a flash of speed. Her fangs sunk deep into its neck before its little paw was anywhere near its snout, and her jaw clamped down hard with a muffled squelch and crunch. A small amount of warmth rushed through her as she felt the small bones separate in her mouth. It was dead. No venom was needed to take down her prey, as her newfound strength was more than enough to finish the job. Snek pulled the corpse back into her tunnel and swallowed the rat whole as she listened for hints of other intruders. She hunted through the room for a while, doing a few circuits on various paths through the hut to be sure there was nothing else hiding, but she didn¡¯t find anything. She made her way back to the ladder, and as she approached the back of her tail flicked out - sending a shiny rock pinging off across the room. She froze, and turned to look in the rock¡¯s direction. She didn¡¯t remember leaving a rock out on her path. She couldn¡¯t see anything else unusual in the room, besides the strange tilt it had. She realized her head was dipping down to the left, and she accidentally clunked it into the side of a rusty drinking tin with a sharp clang as she turned back around. She heard a loud snap, and a red screen materialized in front of her eyes. It was her system, but it was different. The words and letters were expanding and shrinking before her eyes, the color of the screen shifting to different colors as she read the notification.
StATuS CoNdiTIon DetECteD: PooooiSONed
EEEEffect: TAkE ConTInOus dAMage aNd SuFFEr mID-GrADe HaLLuCinATionS uNTIl cUreD. efFEct wIlL WoRSen unTIl SoURcE OF poisON IS RemovED.
Snek blinked as she stared at the bubbling screen in front of her. It was continuously moving and swirling, changing colors and shifting around her field of vision. It was mesmerizing. For a short while, she lay uncoiled on the floor and stared at it. Distantly, in the back of her mind, she could feel her instincts telling her to keep moving. They wanted her to go up the ladder and into the loft for some reason. She flippantly gave control of that task to her snake brain so she could focus on the colorful presentation before her. Yet as she moved up the ladder, she glanced down towards the floor. It was swelling and shifting. The pile of trinkets shined below her and grew closer to her before falling back further away. She swooned, and wondered why she couldn¡¯t feel the ladder below her anymore as the ground rushed up to meet her. With a loud clang, she slapped against a shiny metal container head first and crumpled into a tangled knot on the floor. She heard Kor¡¯s voice from afar, but she was focused on the paneled wood below her scales. It was writhing angrily and Snek realized she must have upset it with her fall. She hissed in apology as she tried to prop up her body. She fell back to the floor as Kor¡¯s visage appeared before her. Kor¡¯s face was locked in stern concern, and Snek found it amusing how the individual hairs of the goblin woman¡¯s mustache were dancing around independent of one another. They looked like little snakes. Snek¡¯s heart was warmed by Kor¡¯s thoughtfulness. Who else would change their prized mustache into little snakes for their friend? Kor¡¯s eyes grew cloudy and white as her tattoos emitted a faint white glow. The light shone down on the little snake, and she felt like it was burning her. Had Kor betrayed her? Was she attacking her? That can¡¯t be right. Kor wouldn¡¯t do that. She thought. Suddenly Kor sped away, the little snek watching her friend¡¯s after image flick around the room as the goblin woman tore through the various piles of junk. Kor retrieved a large, and significantly charred, sealed glass jar that looked like it had been left in a fire. She darted across the room again to the large pile of ratty armor and rusty weaponry before pulling out a small satchel and throwing it over her shoulder. Then Kor was back in front of Snek and was lifting her into the air. Snek was feeling a bit sleepy, so she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was in the cooking pot she had been trapped in before. Panic rushed through her, and her snake brain screamed at her. Her whole body hurt, and she looked upwards. She expected to see the lid closing in on her, but instead she saw Kor holding a small vial of red liquid. The goblin woman deftly uncorked the bottle, and then dumped it down onto the snake. The liquid felt good, and as it touched her scales, she could feel her snake brain relax somewhat. Kor poured out two more bottles of the red liquid on top of Snek and into the cooking pot, until she was swimming in a little pool of the stuff. The space she was in came to a lurching halt, but with the sudden clarity the liquid gave her came a pain that wracked through her small frame. It came from the rat she had eaten. It felt like it was trying to dig its way out of her. She unhitched her jaw and opened it wide, attempting to regurgitate the creature, but it was stuck. She had swallowed it head first, but now she could feel the small bones pushing into the lining of her throat and tearing into her flesh as she tried to force it back up. ¡°Wait Snek, Kor can help.¡± Kor¡¯s voice came from above. She felt Kor¡¯s ringed fingers close around her body and press against the digesting rat''s body, pushing across its protruding form underneath the little snake¡¯s scales. She prodded and grunted as she felt the bones that were scraping through Snek¡¯s insides, and as Snek looked up at Kor, Kor began casting. Yet it was different this time. Snek could still feel the ambient power woosh towards Kor, but her eyes remained unclouded. This time, her nose ring began to glow, and Snek thought she could just make out the form of small yet slightly familiar characters glowing across the ring''s surface. She couldn¡¯t quite read them, but they looked so familiar¡­ Her attention was pulled from Kor¡¯s glowing nose ring as she felt the rat¡¯s bones move inside of her digestive track. The sharp leg bones that had been digging into the side of her digestive track relented and folded in towards the rat¡¯s center mass. Kor¡¯s fingers gently squeezed the bottom of the rat¡¯s corpse as it slid towards her open mouth ever so slightly. The little snake briefly wondered if and how Kor was controlling the body, but didn¡¯t have much mental acuity to spare on that problem as her body began heaving uncontrollably. It had decided that she could not wait to dislodge the rat corpse a minute longer. Kor was whispering to her in a calm voice, shushing her and reassuring her as her fingers probed the little snake''s body in the faint light of her glowing nose ring. Slowly and painfully, Kor worked the rat corpse out of the little snake¡¯s body. Snek¡¯s mind descended into a confusing and perpetual haze of pain and soreness. Whatever Kor was doing was taking care of the largest of the rat¡¯s sharp bones and folding them inwards, but more and more bits and pieces tore into her sides as the dead creature¡¯s tiny bones shattered and splintered under the pressure of her digestive track¡¯s powerful heaves, pushing the splinters into her sides with sharp pain. With each internal injury, each prod and cut, the red liquid she was laying in rushed into her dislodged jaw and mouth with a brief soothing feeling. She didn¡¯t know how much time passed like that. Constant pain and cuts being immediately healed as more cuts and pain took their place. She wretched and wretched, and throughout it all Kor¡¯s voice was a never stopping low rush of comforting words. Until finally Kor reached into her mouth, and pulled the dead rat out the rest of the way. Snek collapsed into a puddle, floating along the surface of the once red liquid in the pot. Now it was a dark brown color that stunk of rot and iron. Kor lifted her out of the liquid, seemingly unfazed by the stench and uncaring of the putrid liquid dripping off her lithe frame. She lifted a small cloth and dried the little snake, before gently lifting her up into her wild mess of hair. ¡°Sleep, Snek. Kor will protect you.¡± She whispered faintly. Snek fell asleep so quickly that she didn¡¯t hear the faint popping sound resounding in her mind. *** ¡°-poison rats into Kor¡¯s hut! Jigz should not be sending any rats at all!¡± Kor screamed from halfway up the ladder, startling Snek awake. She had been moved from her nest in Kor¡¯s hair and was now coiled up on a small towel atop the table in the loft. The little snake groggily looked up in the direction of Kor¡¯s voice, and could see the top of her frizzy white hair sticking up through the open hatch. A low nasally voice mumbled something back to Kor, but Snek couldn¡¯t make out the specific words. She was exhausted, but as her eyes began to drift shut once again, she felt a surge of intensity come from Kor and almost malleable tension filled the room. What¡¯s going on? Snek thought, and forced herself up into a more alert position. Did she say poison? Recent events flooded her mind, and her snake brain sent a vague pulse of concern down her spine. Her insides felt raw and torn, as if she had swallowed a tree branch wrapped in spikes. ¡°Leave my hut! There will be a meeting!¡± Kor shouted. Then continued with, ¡°Go!¡± as the other voice began to speak again. It abruptly cut off, and Snek could hear footsteps leaving the hut and the steady beat of Kor¡¯s angry breaths. Snek could feel a slight mental pressure, but waited a moment to see if Kor would return to the loft. She heard Kor¡¯s breathing shape into angry sobs, and she figured that Kor would come up when she was ready to talk. In the meantime, she pulled up the notification that must have arrived while she was sleeping.
New Skill Acquired!
Adaptive Resistance Rare Gain a minor passive resistance to negative status conditions. Resistance grows the more you are exposed to the each effect, and can be upgraded through continued exposure. Current minor resistances: Poison, Mental Delirium
As she dismissed the notification, another immediately took its place.
Evolutionary Map Update: You have unlocked a new mutation through analysis of the ingested poison.
A new skill and a mutation? She wondered as she pulled up the menu for her evolutionary map. Sure enough, there was a new option listed underneath the mutations category:
Mutations Available: Cost:
Enhanced Venom Glands Upgrade the skill ''Venomous'' by one step. Venom will also have hallucinogenic qualities. 1 EP
She selected it as soon as she finished reading. She didn¡¯t even really think about it and just immediately confirmed the mutation. An itching sensation blossomed on each side of her head, below and behind her eyes. It was uncomfortable, but slowly lessened before dissipating all together. Snek took a deep breath as it finally passed, and was greeted with yet another notification:
Congratulations, you have accomplished a Feat of Power! TMNS!
Description: Unlock and apply your first mutation.
Reward: +1 Constitution
No evolution point this time. She noted as she read through the description. Snek closed her menus. It was exciting, but she was worried about Kor. She moved to the edge of the table, slithering down to the floor and over to Kor¡¯s lightly bobbing mass of hair. Chapter 5: Magic Ring ¡°It is believed, and well accepted, that the difficulty of the zone within the gate relates to the level of the tower. A lower level will have less powerful monsters, and the size of the zone will directly correspond. Therefore, it leads one to wonder where the monsters come from. Climbers that have reached up into the higher levels of the tower have reported facing sapient monsters. Does the tower create these monsters, or does it simply link our world to another whose inhabitants are forced to be combatants when the gate is generated?¡± -Excerpt from Ruth Gabbinstone¡¯s, An In-Depth Exploration of Tower Related Portals and Dimensions
Snek slithered down and dropped from the edge of the hatch, falling through Kor¡¯s wiry hair and plopping down into her nest with a light thud. She stuck her tiny head out the front and gazed, upside down, into Kor¡¯s face. The goblin woman¡¯s eyes were red, but she let out a small giggle when she made eye contact with the small creature. ¡°Is Snek feeling better?¡± Kor asked. Her voice sounded worn and scratchy. Snek nodded and tapped her forehead into Kor¡¯s, indicating that she wanted Kor to use her spell and connect their minds. She complied, and as her tattoos faintly glowed and eyes briefly drew milky white, Snek could feel the presence of the goblin woman enter her mind. She pushed feelings of concern and curiosity towards her friend, and Kor sighed. ¡°Jigz was here and asked if Snek was dead.¡± The goblin woman said. How did he know what happened? Snek asked. ¡°Jigz is the gob who has rats spy for him. Jigz poisoned the rat.¡± Kor whispered. The little snake turned her head to the side as her small forked tongue flicked out and tasted the air. Why? ¡°Kor and Jigz had baby. Baby was Tor. Jigz thinks Kor isn¡¯t focused enough on what happened to Tor. Thinks Kor only cares for Snek.¡± She sighed, lowering her head and breaking eye contact. ¡°Kor is sorry, Snek. What happened is Kor¡¯s fault.¡± Snek felt hot anger boil within her. She wasn¡¯t mad that Jigz had tried to poison her. Every single creature she had met in her life, except Kor, had tried to do the same. How is that your fault, Kor? She asked. Kor twirled her moustache and took a deep shaky breath. ¡°Kor made deal with Snek to keep safe. Then Snek almost died again.¡± I got stronger because of what happened, and Kor - you saved me! Snek pushed her memories of her new skill and mutation through their link, along with some comforting warmth to emphasize that her words were genuine. Kor gasped, her beady eyes widening. ¡°Kor didn¡¯t know Snek could mek skills stronger. Skill can grow too¡­¡± She lifted her ringed green finger to tap on her chin before continuing, ¡°Kor knows how to make some poisons and can give small amounts to Snek to make skill stronger. Snek want that?¡± Excitement roared through their mental connection as Snek nodded vigorously, before upsetting her balance and falling from Kor¡¯s head. The goblin woman deftly reached out and caught the little snake before she could fall all the way to the floor. ¡°Snek should try not to fall so much.¡± Kor chided with a laugh, then carried her up into the loft and placed the small snake onto the table. She lifted the burnt looking black jar off the floor and into her lap, opened it, and began pulling out various stems, flowers, and miscellaneous vegetation. I don¡¯t try to fall. Snek responded, watching her friend with curiosity. ¡°Kor didn¡¯t know if she would need this when Snek was hurt, grabbed it anyway.¡± Do you have other things hidden in the mess downstairs? Snek teased. Kor looked up at Snek with a wide smile. ¡°Kor has many good things. Big collection!¡± Big collection is right, the snake replied as she pondered Kor¡¯s words. Jigz - Kor¡¯s previous mate - had tried to kill Snek because she had been monopolizing Kor¡¯s time while teaching her how to read. It was misguided at best, yet she doubted Jigz knew or believed that what they were doing was actually their best shot at finding Tor¡¯s killer. She sent those thoughts across her link to Kor. ¡°Jigz thinks Kor is lying about Snek. Has been telling other gobs that Kor¡¯s mind broke when Tor died.¡± Kor answered without looking up from the herbs. ¡°Some gobs think Jigz is right.¡± What do you think? Snek asked. Kor thought for a moment before responding. ¡°Kor¡¯s mind did break, but not so much like Jigz says.¡± Should we kill him? Snek asked angrily. Kor could feel Snek¡¯s rage through their temporary connection, and her lips turned up in a smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes. ¡°Snek can try to kill Jigz, if Snek wants. Kor can¡¯t. Tor loved Jigz, and¡­¡± The goblin woman paused as she drew in a deep breath, ¡°Kor can¡¯t.¡± They quietly looked at each other for a moment, and Snek sent feelings of comfort and understanding through the link as their connection faded. She thought she understood where Kor was coming from, and had felt the ocean of guilt and sadness seep through their connection when Kor talked about her daughter. The goblin woman patted the little red snake on the head with a finger before reaching to her own face and unfastening the magical nose ring. She held it up before her eyes for a moment, then reached down, setting it on the table in front of Snek with a click. ¡°This is for Snek,¡± She said. To Snek¡¯s credit, she didn¡¯t immediately dart towards the small ring. Instead, she backed up and shook her head. It was too big of a gift. She had seen the power of the ring when Kor had used it to manipulate the dead rat during the painful regurgitation. ¡°Snek taught Kor to read, but Kor has not helped make Snek strong. Ring is small compared to hope Snek has given.¡± A small green hand gently pushed the little snake towards the ring. Snek gave her best shrug, extended her neck outwards, and poked the small ring with her nose. A window popped up in front of her when she made contact.
Ring of Telekinesis While equipped, users can cast telekinesis at will. Can only be used on non-living targets.
¡°Will also help Snek with writing.¡± The goblin woman said as she pulled a small needle from her shirt, holding it pointed towards the ceiling in front of the little snake. ¡°Need to make a small hole for ring.¡± Realizing that Kor wanted her to choose a location for the ring, Snek considered for a brief moment before bringing her tail around and pointing to the septum between her nostrils. Kor nodded, and pierced through the skin quickly before bringing up the ring with her other hand. Snek realized that the ring was way too big, but as Kor held it up to the little snake''s nose, the ring shrunk dramatically in proportion to the snake¡¯s nostrils. It slid into place perfectly. She couldn¡¯t see her new jewelry, but felt it when she flicked her tongue out. A blue screen materialized in front of Snek. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Magic item detected. Would you like to equip into an available slot? Slots occupied 0/3
The snake mentally affirmed, and the notification changed.
Magical item: Ring of Telekinesis, has been equipped. The spell ¡°Telekinesis¡± has been added to your skill list.
Skill Description Uses
Telekinesis Move or manipulate objects and non-living creatures by thought alone. Maximum weight and range are affected by Wisdom Attribute. Current Maximum: 25 lbs, 10 feet. At Will - Equipment Dependant
So my wisdom attribute makes spells stronger. Or at least, this spell. Snek mused as she finished reading through the description. Well, no time like the present. She mentally pulled at the skill, and felt a brief surge of power rush through her. Part of her mind wondered if her eyes had grown milky like Kor¡¯s did when she cast magic. Snek turned to the large book and directed it to float upwards and turn to face her with a mental tug. It¡­ Kind of worked. In response to her prompting, the book launched up off the table and began spinning rapidly - the pages fluttering in a chaotic blur. Kor jumped and stared at the book as it careened upward and crashed into the ceiling with a tremendous thud. They sat there staring at the book as it remained pressed aggressively to the ceiling, multiple pages bent in various directions. Kor burst into a maniacal cackle, her body convulsing with laughter and sending tears flying from her eyes. Kor spoke sporadically between laughs, ¡°Snek. Don¡¯t. Kill. Book!¡± Snek dipped her head in embarrassed amusement. Her first time casting a spell hadn¡¯t gone exactly as she imagined, but it was fine. Learning from that lesson, Snek pulled back on her mental force incrementally until the book began to spin slightly and lower a hair from the ceiling. She held it in place for a moment, getting a feel for her new skill¡¯s balance. Then she pulled ever so slightly, and the book floated down and hovered in front of her. She continued to work on wielding telekinesis with a precise touch, gently flipping through the pages until she saw the familiar diagram drawn into the margins. The runic script scrawling across the diagram was similar to what she remembered from the ring of telekinesis. The words had the same sharp qualities. She figured that they must be the same language. Did that mean that the diagram in the book was a recipe for some sort of spell? Snek wasn¡¯t in a good position to see the lettering on her new septum ring, but as she thought about the strange characters something shifted in her mind. She honed into that feeling and gave it a tug. The runic script, representing the telekinesis spell, floated into her mind¡¯s eye. She couldn¡¯t read the individual letters, but could sense the overall meaning. It was strange, but she assumed that meaning was granted from her acquisition of the spell itself. Turning back to the diagram, she saw that some of the individual runes from her spell were also written on the page, just not in the same combinations. It was a starting place. Hopefully she could acquire more spells or clues that would guide her to understand the language of magic, but she could be patient for now. Kor had long since turned back to sifting through the various herbs on the table, letting Snek experiment with her new power. Snek lowered the book onto the table gently and canceled the spell, turning back to Kor. ¡°Kor is missing blue flower for best poison and antidotes.¡± The goblin woman said, her lips in a line that pointed down slightly. The snake dipped her head curiously to the side as she turned to face Kor, who absently twirled her moustache before sitting up straight and glancing at the snake. ¡°Kor has an idea. Will be dengerous for Snek, but would fix problems.¡± Kor smiled wide, ¡°Get missing flower, make gobs like Snek, and make Jigz look dumb.¡± Kor cast the spell to once again connect their minds, and the two conspirators hatched their plan. The goblin woman was right - this plan would be very dangerous for the little snake, but she felt confident with her new skills and the magical ring Kor had given her. Once they fully fleshed out their plan, Snek wound her way up into Kor¡¯s hair and prepared for transit.
After a few quick stops around the cavern, Mog and Kor were standing at the edge of a shoddy wooden construction. Snek peered out through the tangled hive of white hair atop Kor¡¯s head, observing the strange creation. Clearly goblin made, the race track looked on the brink of falling apart as the village goblins slapped its side and jumped up and down. Inside the track, rats were sprinting, dodging, and navigating through various deadly obstacles. There were spikes lining portions of the walls, and blades swinging back and forth occasionally impaling the unlucky rodent. Snek watched as a large and particularly muscular rat jumped from an elevated platform and onto a sickly looking rodent, crushing it with its hairy feet before grabbing another rat''s tail. It bit down and wrenched its thick neck to the side, launching the target of its attack sideways and into a wall spike, ending the poor creature¡¯s race prematurely. Each time a rat died, some of the goblins would shake their heads or drop to their knees dramatically, yet the majority continued to rambunctiously cheer. Many goblins were chanting the word ¡®Meaty¡¯ again and again, and it wasn¡¯t long before Snek figured out that was the name of the violently buff rat. Meaty crossed the finish line just as its only remaining competitor frantically climbed through a tube and was bisected by a sharp flat blade waiting on the other side. Meaty paused, stood on his hind legs, and flexed its arms and numerous abdominal muscles towards the crowd. They ate it up, and a wide smirk danced across Meaty¡¯s chiseled jawline. Its gaze briefly swept past Kor¡¯s small group, and Snek saw the gleam of intelligence in the rat''s eyes. Curious, she thought, None of the other rats were intelligent. ¡°Meaty wins again! Always big and strong.¡± An old and devious looking goblin yelled from atop a shabby looking wooden platform. So that¡¯s Jigz, Snek thought. She stared at her enemy and attempted murderer while completely obscured by Kor¡¯s hair. She had expected a previous mate of Kor¡¯s to be¡­ handsome? Strong looking? Impressive in some way? He was not. Jigz was old and frail looking, his small goblin frame hunched over and gripping the railing as he shouted. Gazing across the arena, she could make out a group of older goblins huddled together as they whispered and pointed at the rat arena. And those are the other elders. The Rat Race was exactly as Kor had described before they left the hut. Apparently, this small gambling den was run and rigged by Jigz. He exerted his control over all of the participating rats, choosing who would win and how the others would die. Goblins would bring any rats they happened to find to compete, which were supposedly untamed, for their chance to win big. Unfortunately for them, there were no untamed rats in this cavern. Yet there were never too few rats to compete in the races, as the other goblins either didn¡¯t care or didn¡¯t know that they were being taken advantage of. Once the race finished, Kor beelined for Jigz¡¯s podium with rehearsed panic scrawled across her face. She stomped right up to the base of his makeshift podium, drawing the attention of the other goblins. ¡°Jigz!¡± She yelled, glaring up at him from the ground below the podium. ¡°Give Kor the blue flowers with red spikes.¡± Jigz scoffed and leaned back dramatically before calling down his response, ¡°Just because Kor is boss, Kor can¡¯t steal from Jigz!¡± As he gazed down at her small posse, Snek could see the delight and untempered malice in his eyes. Kor had explained that the specific flower she wanted could be used for a myriad of poisons and antidotes, including the antidote to the poison that was inflicted on Snek last night. Demanding the flower so publicly served two purposes: First to lead Jigz into thinking that his assassination attempt had been at least somewhat successful, and to encourage a large response from Jigz in front of the other goblins. The excited gleam in the old goblin¡¯s eyes indicated that their plan had been successful so far. Silence grew in the cavernous room, only punctuated from the low squeaks the buff rat made while flexing his muscles. Meaty hadn¡¯t noticed that the crowd had stopped admiring him in favor of a disagreement between their leaders. Kor stared at Jigz briefly before thoughtfully scanning the members of her tribe. She snapped her head back to the father of her deceased child and blurted, ¡°Kor will bet on race for flower.¡± Jigz¡¯s smile grew maliciously wide at the opportunity to publicly humiliate Kor, and Snek figured that Jigz wouldn¡¯t have the same reservations Kor had when it came to killing their previous spouse. That might become a problem in the future, she thought, before bringing her attention back to the conversation at hand. ¡°If Kor can bring racer to beat Meaty, Kor can have all of Jigz¡¯s poison flowers!¡± He yelled down. These were the words they were hoping to hear, and Snek tapped the top of Kor¡¯s head in excitement. He ended his proclamation with, ¡°If Kor loses, Jigz gets bren in jar!¡± Kor had also expected this, yet Snek was surprised nonetheless. Why are they all so obsessed with that musty brain? She wondered. Jigz knew how important the brain was to Kor, and was trying to slowly take away everything Kor held affection for. What an asshole, Snek thought as excited fury and adrenaline rose in her little body. She couldn¡¯t wait to make him pay for hurting Kor. ¡°Where is Kor¡¯s rat anyway? Did Kor forget how race works?¡± Jigz taunted and laughed, drawing out some shocked gasps and muffled laughter from the onlooking crowd. Perfect. He can¡¯t go back on his words now without looking weak, Snek thought as Kor reached into her tangled mess of white hair, lifting the snake out and holding it high for everyone to see. ¡°Snek will enter for Kor!¡± Chapter 6: The Rat Race (Part 1) ¡°Snek will enter for Kor!¡± The goblin woman proudly exclaimed as she held the tiny snake aloft in front of her. Shocked silence filled the gathering area, as many goblin eyes darted back and forth from the snake, their boss, and Jigz. He did not seem impressed as he glared down at the snake. As he stared at her, Snek¡¯s head drifted back and forth slowly. Her eyes were unfocused. She startled, snapping to attention before lowering her head to rest on her coiled body. It wasn¡¯t long before her eyes began tracking something that no one else could see. Kor stared straight at Jigz, seemingly not noticing Snek¡¯s strange behavior. Jigz took in every detail, his crusty face twisting from anger into a fiendishly manic grin. ¡°Snek can enter for Boss Kor, if Boss wants!¡± He yelled, projecting his voice to the watching crowd. The goblins cheered at his words. One of the more vacant eyed goblins, who had been about to take a bite out of a large brown blob he was holding, lowered his fist when he heard Jigz¡¯s proclamation. He stepped forward with a goofy grin and held up his fist. ¡°Hopper enter too!¡± He yelled. His voice was filled with an almost childlike glee as he held up a large brown toad for everyone to see. Jigz rolled his eyes. ¡°Pebis! Hopper no enter! Hopper lose and die!¡± ¡°Hopper be dinner then¡­¡± Pebis mumbled in a low voice dripping with self pity. The toad croaked with concern as Pebis¡¯s head dipped down. Is this really happening? Snek thought. She wondered if she was actually hallucinating, and it wasn¡¯t just an act to convince Jigz to let her enter the race. His name is Pebis? She knew that she should be using this unexpected distraction to study the track - especially the section with the small hut built over it, as the view of the track itself was completely obscured from the outside - but she couldn¡¯t pull her eyes away from the strange drama unfolding before her. Jigz had inclined his head and was now facing the ceiling while rubbing his eyes. He let out a loud and frustrated groan. ¡°Ugh Fine! Pebis can enter hopper. If hopper dies, don¡¯t cry to Jigz!¡± Pebis¡¯s face brightened as he walked to the designated drop off spot. He was speaking to the warty creature in a quick and quiet tone while holding it up in front of his face. Snek couldn¡¯t make out what he was saying, as his words had become a blurbled mess of excited nonsense. Oblivious to his surroundings, Pebis let out a surprised grunt as his foot hit a rock and he tumbled forward. He hit the ground with a wet thunk and a pained howl. He sat up while gingerly rubbing his forehead. His eyes held only confusion, and his hand came back covered in a slimy wet muck. It wasn¡¯t blood - not his anyway. ¡°Hopper! No!!¡± Pebis cried, anguish coloring his nasally goblin sobs.
Before long, Snek was lined up with her competitors at the starting line of the Rat Race. Meaty, the enormous and muscular roid-rat, was on her left. He was standing above her, looking down at her and watching her every move as she sat coiled on the floor. His hot breath periodically rushed down onto her, its stench almost causing her to break character multiple times. To her right was a smaller and completely bald rat. Its skin was covered in wrinkly flaps. It didn¡¯t gaze at Snek with an unbroken stare like Meaty did. Instead, it would look down the line of contestants periodically, its eyes lingering on the little snake a moment or two longer than the others. They made eye contact, and it smiled at her. A rotten looking fang protruded from its mouth. To the right of the bald rat, was an exceedingly normal rat. Every part of its rodent body looked exactly as you would imagine a rat. It had no defining qualities. Nothing to set it apart in a swarm. Its basic frame made it look unusual to the point of being suspicious. This rat stared straight ahead, hardly moving. Next in line was the only rat with brown fur. Snek had overheard the goblin who had entered it, and apparently she had found and caught this rat outside the cavern. It was currently squeaking in a low and panicked tone. Its eyes were darting all around the track, looking for some sort of escape. Occasionally, it would stare at Meaty for a brief moment before cowering and shrinking in on itself. Considering the present situation, Snek figured its reaction was the most reasonable of the bunch. Snek was doing her best to keep an eye on her adversaries and scope out the competition, but was wary of altering her behavior too much. She wanted to sell the idea that she was still suffering under the hallucinogenic poison she had been recently dosed with, hoping it would give her just enough of an advantage to turn the odds in her favor and claim an early lead in what appeared to be a hopeless situation. She ran through the immediate actions she would take once the race started again in her mind. The beginning of the race was going to be one of the most dangerous moments of the entire contest, and she needed every advantage she could get. The first section of the obstacle course was a long and narrow hallway. She didn¡¯t see any traps, and Snek guessed it was designed this way to allow for unpopular competitors to be quickly killed off before getting into the meat of the race. Unpopular competitors like her. ¡°Race about to start, Gobs!¡± Jigz yelled. The nattering chatter of betting, yelling, and general raucousness died down as many yellow eyes turned to look at the contestants. Snek idly wondered if anyone had bet on her to win. If her acting had been successful, it wasn¡¯t likely. ¡°Go!¡± Jigz screamed at the top of his lungs. Meaty and the bald rat immediately turned toward her, flanking her on each side. The basic rat took off down the first part of the track, completely ignoring the situation unfolding to his left. The brown rat shrunk into the wall behind it, staring at Meaty and shaking lightly as it cowered. Meaty lunged at Snek while the bald rat stood ready to intercept any and all of the little snake¡¯s movements. What it didn¡¯t anticipate, however, was her snapping her body into a lightning fast dash through the roid-rat¡¯s legs. With a quick snap of her jaws, she bit down into Meaty¡¯s haunch and released as much venom as time would allow. It wasn¡¯t much, as she didn¡¯t want to hang around for too long, and quickly disengaged and darted after the rat who had taken an early lead. Meaty stumbled forward, the bald rat narrowly dodging the large foot that slammed down an inch from its head. Its pink fleshy wrinkles jiggled as it darted after Snek, deciding not to wait for its overly large companion. Snek risked a glance at Meaty, who was standing still and breathing heavily. He looked dazed. Perfect, Snek thought triumphantly. The brown rat took the opportunity to start fleeing away from Meaty, briskly running down the long hallway, following in step with the bald rat. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. As Snek watched, Meaty clasped his hands together. He grasped one of his fingers in a fist and snapped it backwards. He let out a deep roar as his eyes grew more focused, the features on his snout twisting into a mask of rage and pain. His head whipped around and they briefly made eye contact before he sped after his competition. And he was fast. Did he break his finger to end the hallucination effects? Did he use some kind of skill? Snek thought worriedly as she slithered on. It wasn¡¯t going to be long before he caught up to the other rats and Snek. She needed a new plan. Snek had almost made it to the end of the section and the wall at the end of the hallway was quickly approaching. The bald rat had mostly caught up to her as well and was nipping at the end of her tail as she slithered. She had lost sight of the basic looking rat - it must have already made it through the doorway to the next section of the course. Her plan was falling apart much quicker than she anticipated. It had been a big risk, but Snek had convinced Kor that she could handle the rat race. She didn¡¯t want to be the reason that her friend lost her favorite brain in a jar, even if she still didn¡¯t understand why Kor loved it so much. Snek pulled herself to a quick stop right in front of the wall. The bald rat didn¡¯t attack, instead positioning itself in between her and the doorway to the next section. It wanted to pin her down until Meaty - that roided out bastard - caught up and dealt with her. The enormous rat in question was barreling toward her. Snek noticed that the gleam of intelligence she had previously noticed in his eyes was strangely missing. No, that''s not right. It¡¯s like it''s been suppressed. The poor brown rat was frantically trying to stay ahead of him, but as she watched, the big lug stomped down and squished the terrified rat into the ground without even slowing down. It didn¡¯t get back up. Snek didn¡¯t have much time now, but she did have an idea. She coiled herself and waited, completely ignoring the bald rat. When it had realized Snek wasn¡¯t going to immediately try to get past and through the door, it was content to wait and observe. Meaty drew closer and closer. Snek reached out with her telekinesis magic, probing the wall directly behind her for a weak spot. She realized the whole wall was a weak spot. It was made from half rotten wood and hobbled together by goblins. She readied herself and her ability, holding her magic steady for the perfect moment. The bald rat was visibly getting nervous as Meaty closed in on them without slowing down, each footstep sending slight tremors through the floor. It had seen him trample the brown rat. It jumped backwards and out of the way as Meaty finished closing the distance between them. At the last second, just as she was about to be trampled, she gave her snake brain the go ahead. It dove to the side. At the same time, she pushed with all of her telekinetic power against the wall behind her. Meaty didn¡¯t slow down, and clipped the end of her tail with a grazing blow that sent her spinning toward the door to the next section. With a loud bang, Meaty hit the wall. It immediately crumpled before the force of the large rat¡¯s momentum and the weight of her spell with a loud splintering crack. The large rat disappeared through the new hole in the wall as dust and debris filled the small passage. Snek used the opportunity to activate her stealth skill and quickly disappeared through the door and around the bend to the next section. She might have been able to finish the large rat off if she had followed him - Snek knew he wasn¡¯t dead as she didn¡¯t feel any kill energy enter her system core - but she still had the basic rat to deal with. The bald rat crept toward the wall and peered through the hole, before realizing that the little snake wasn¡¯t anywhere to be seen. It scampered through the doorway and into the next section. Snek darted around the bend and into the next section of the obstacle course, coming to a halt at its edge. The ceiling of the course had shifted from a knotted tangle of wire to a dark wooden ceiling. This was the section of the course that was underneath the strange little hut. She had been excited and nervous about this part of the course, but the knowledge of what it contained obscured itself from her yet again. The section was bathed in complete and total darkness. Her adrenaline made the brief moment it took her eyes to adjust feel like forever as she dove head first into darkness. Then she could see. She was a snake, after all. A disappointed snake. The ¡®trap room¡¯ was just another enclosed hallway that led up an incline to what appeared to be an elevated drop. Was the trap after the drop? Some kind of spike pit? Snek supposed she couldn¡¯t expect anything too clever from the goblins. It¡¯s not like it was Kor who made the track, and she wasn¡¯t impressed with the general level intelligence she had from the other goblins. Snek also did not see any sign of the basic rat. She wondered if it had already finished this section or if it was lying in wait for her somewhere. She continued to move through the darkness and up the incline, looking for clues as to what was really going on in this section of the obstacle course. Yet why have the small goblin shack directly above a spike pit? She strained her senses and heard footsteps above her in the hut. They were slow and light, attempting to avoid detection. I¡¯m missing something. Her snake brain must have agreed, because she lurched to a stop. She focused with rapt attention at the ceiling above her. Directly above the the drop, in the bottom of the hut, she could just make out- A sharp pain pierced her noodle-like torso. Her head whipped around, mouth open and jaws wide to see¡­ a bald and wrinkly rat ass furiously scrambling away and out of her striking range. She glanced down at herself and saw a puncture wound, slowly brimming with red blood. It bit her. Its nasty fang had made it through her scales. A screen materialized in front of her face, and she glared through it at the bald rat. She didn¡¯t need to read it to know what it said. She had felt her Adaptive Resistance skill activate briefly before scoffing at the paltry attempt. In the corner of her mind she hoped that poison had been applied to that nasty bald rat¡¯s half rotten tooth, but knew that wasn¡¯t the case. Luckily, whatever disease the rodent carried wasn¡¯t strong enough to bypass her new skill. She turned to look at the ceiling and immediately heard the bald rat start moving towards her. He doesn¡¯t want me to look there, she realized with a start. It all clicked into place, and Snek understood what the trap was. She reached out with her telekinesis to confirm. A roar thundered through the room. Meaty must have recovered. She needed to move. Darting forward, down the tunnel and up its sharp incline. The bald rat immediately reengaged and sprinted after her. As she approached the drop, she slowed slightly to let the bald rat catch up until he was right on her tail. At the same time, she reached forward with her telekinesis and grasped the small wire circle at the very edge of the drop. She didn¡¯t move it, didn¡¯t twitch it, just held it in a loose mental grasp. As her body passed over the nearly invisible cord, she felt a force attempt to pull it tight. She flared the power of her spell, and forced it to remain in place. The goblin above hadn¡¯t anticipated the tiny red snake to weigh slightly over 25 lbs, and the wire held in place. At the lack of motion from the cord, the bald rat frantically began backpedalling, but its momentum was too great to stop so quickly. Just as the fleshy and slightly folded skin of its torso passed over the small, nearly invisible wire, Snek released her telekinetic grip. It immediately snapped taut around the rat, biting deep into its skin and disappearing from sight. A red line formed around the circumference of the rat. Its rib cage must have given enough resistance to stop the wire¡¯s inward progression, as the rat was yanked upwards towards the small holes in the ceiling that the snake had just barely noticed before being ambushed. The bald rat''s ribs didn¡¯t hold the wire at bay long, however, and couldn¡¯t stop it from being pulled up and through the hole. Two separate, and quite bloody, chunks of bald rat splattered to the floor in a gory mess. Snek didn¡¯t stick around to watch them fall. She was already long gone and through the small hole in the wall that led to the next section of the rat race, a warm rush of kill energy illuminating her path. Chapter 7: The Rat Race (part 2) Snek slithered through the small doorway at the end of the trap room, making her way into the next section of the Rat Race. She tossed the figurative keys to her body over to Snake Brain, and opened up her notifications. She had the obligatory notification informing her that she had slain the ¡°Average Bald Rat Trickster¡±. Killing it had given her enough kill energy to push her to the next level, and she briefly considered where to designate her new attribute point. Thinking back to being ambushed by the bald rat, and the subsequent bite wound, she considered putting the point into Constitution. Moving it up to fourteen would give her a nice little boost to her durability. Then again, if she had more wisdom, she could have noticed her enemy creeping up on her in the first place and avoided the injury all together. As her body continued to move under the guidance of Snake Brain, she mentally assigned and then retracted the point multiple times before eventually finalized it. She had, once again, put the point into strength. It was now at six. She could feel the slight trail of blood she was leaving on the floor, the realization brought a modicum of guilt and shame. I¡¯m too impulsive, she thought, chastising herself. Yet how could she ever be considered strong with a Strength attribute of five? At least now it was at an even number, and she would notice a slight improvement. She also needed to increase her Strength for the evolution she was considering. Sighing mentally, Snek observed the next section of the obstacle course. Her first thought was that it looked like a miniature version of Kor¡¯s hut. Broken glass, pieces of broken weaponry, and small chunks of rusted metal were heaped into numerous piles and spread wall to wall. Passively, she noticed that the majority of the refuse was stained with various degrees of aged and dried blood. Snek wondered how many rats had died here, and hoped she wouldn¡¯t catch any serious diseases as she picked her way through the piles of debris. Spaced periodically throughout and above the narrow stretch of wall to wall sharps, she made out the glint of barely visible razor wire and lengths of barbed wire. She could easily go under them, but any creature taller than her would have an unfortunate surprise if they weren¡¯t paying attention to their surroundings. She made her way around a large pile of broken glass, and saw the expeditious rat that had made it to this section unphased. The overly ordinary rodent was a few feet ahead of her, gingerly crawling over the broken top half of a bottle. Grease shone from the surface of the glass, yet the rat atop it was unaffected by the slimy texture. As she studied the rat, she felt her Stealth skill activate and noticed a marked improvement on Snake Brain¡¯s navigation through the hazardous material. Apparently finding the best footing for keeping quiet overlapped nicely with not getting impaled. How did that rat make it through the last section without triggering any traps? Snek wondered as she gained on the frustrating rodent. At least it was exposed now, and it wouldn¡¯t be long before she sank her fangs into its body. Maybe then the perfect little rat would have at least one distinguishing characteristic. Inexplicably, the rat began gaining speed. Did it detect her? As the basic rat turned around a corner, it glanced warily in her direction. It saw her! Something is off about this rat, Snek mused. Her Snake Brain agreed, her instincts churning into a jangled mass of discomfort. Focusing completely on the picture perfect rat, an explanation of what was happening began to take shape in her mind. The way it navigated through the sharp piles of trash was slightly wrong: a foot placed unnecessarily far away from a gleaning blade. A razor''s edge embedded in the wall piercing its fur, leaving behind no trace of contact. There wasn¡¯t a hair out of place, let alone any wound to speak of. When the rat stepped on an overlooked sliver of wood poking up from the floor, it phased right through its paw without inciting a reaction, confirming her suspicions. It¡¯s an illusion. A slight popping sound accompanied by a release of ambient pressure informed the little snake of a system notification, but she pushed it away for now. It wasn¡¯t the time. She continued tracking the illusory rat, and now that she knew what she was looking for, she noticed numerous similar instances that confirmed her suspicions. One of the goblins observing the race was cheating with a fake rat! She had to give the goblin credit - it was a genius, if fragile, idea. Now she just needed to clue in the rest of the goblins to what was happening. Speaking of the goblins, her audience was getting more and more rowdy. She wondered if they too had noticed the illusion, but ruled it out as unlikely at best. They wouldn¡¯t notice it unless she showed them. Perhaps she could cause a large portion of wall to fall onto the illusory rat to clue them in. Taking that action would alert her onlookers to her spellcasting, however, and she would rather keep it as a secret trump card if possible. She could also feel a mental pressure building in her mind. It was a persistent headache, and she innately understood its cause. Her ring of telekinesis had a hidden cost. While it said that she could cast it at will, actually doing so was strenuous. She could feel her Adaptive Resistance at work, and attributed the sensation to her ¡®mental delirium¡¯ resistance. Her skill was slowly draining away the uncomfortable pressure, but Snek knew that each successive cast pushed her closer and closer to an unknown edge. Kor hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about this, so she likely didn¡¯t have to deal with the same limit. Snek wondered if it was caused by not being a true spellcaster or if she hadn¡¯t finished acclimating to the magical item. Either way, she decided to limit her use of the telekinesis spell for the time being. If she overused it and ended up putting herself into some kind of stupor, she was as good as dead. The crowd continued to roar in the background of her racing thoughts, and she slowed her pursuit of the illusory rat. Coming to a stop, she gazed up through the netted wire ceiling at the observing crowd. Almost all of them were looking behind her, their eyes locked on a previous section of The Rat Race. She searched the crowd for Kor, hoping to somehow signal the situation with the illusory rat. They hadn¡¯t come up with a code, but with the other goblins distracted, it was the perfect time to try some- A significant boom cut her thoughts short. The ground shook in a chorus of clinking glass and rattling bits of metal. Another boom sent a fresh wave of sound through the room, and she turned towards the intruding sound. The goblins grew eerily quiet and the ambient rattling came to a rest. Snek stared at the wall a few feet back, near the broken bottle the illusory rat had been walking on, when her Snake Brain screamed of danger and she turned to flee. The loudest boom yet echoed through the chamber as wood chips ripped through the air. Most embedded themselves in the opposite wall, but a few shot into the piles of metal and glass and caused bits of shrapnel to explode outwards and briefly obscure her view. The barbed wire strung from wall to wall swung chaotically, frantically trying to dislodge from the wall mountings. I shouldn¡¯t have taught him how to do that, Snek thought as Meaty stepped through the new hole in the wall. He strutted into her section of the course, walking on his hind legs and flexing his biceps for the onlooking crowd. She looked closer at the large rat. The leg she had sunk her fangs into was covered in webbed black veins, the skin between having shifted to a dull grey color. The venom had traversed slightly as well, peeking through the thinner hair of his inner thigh. It was doing its work, yet still wasn¡¯t enough to overcome whatever skill the rat was using to stay on his feet. He had also picked up another injury. The skin of Meaty¡¯s right hand was multiple shades darker than the rest of his body. Looking more closely, she determined that one of the wire nooses from the previous trap room was cinched around his muscular forearm like a tourniquet - cutting off the circulation and glinting in the light as the cord dragged across the floor behind him. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Did he pull the noose away from the hut goblins? Snek wondered in astonishment. What would his Strength attribute need to be to accomplish that? The rat¡¯s face twisted into a mockingly arrogant smile as he turned to face her. His pupils were dilated so completely that his eyes looked like black pits. Snek found herself questioning if Meaty really was a rat, or some other kind of monster wearing his skin. He lurched forward in Snek¡¯s direction, continuing to walk bipedally and paying little mind to the array of sharp materials on the ground before him. Stomping forward, his feet crushed bits of glass and bent the points of any metal shards that made contact with his skin. He did not take any new wounds. Snake Brain continued with its task of evasion, and Snek readied herself to use telekinesis. Panic flowed through their bond as Meaty lifted the broken bottle into the air and flung it towards the little snake. She flung her body to the side, avoiding the bottle but accruing multiple shallow lacerations from the trapped surroundings. The bottle shattered, and Snek pushed through the mental fatigue to lift the largest piece of broken glass, adjusting it to lay angled on the ground in the footpath of the large rat. She held it in place, ready to reinforce its stability if needed. Unheeding of the slight movement, Meaty stomped down onto the greasy shard of glass with his injured leg. His foot slipped to the side, causing the leg to buckle and sending him careening into the wall. The large rat¡¯s shoulder and upper pectoral muscle drug across a wickedly sharp blade protruding from the wall of the enclosure. Thinking that this might finally be the end of the physically enhanced monstrosity, Snek urged her Snake Brain to slow down. Meaty hesitated briefly, before snarling and dropping down to move on all fours. He turned slightly to get back on the narrow path, exposing the potentially wounded shoulder. Snek only saw bare skin. The exposed blade had sheared off the large rat¡¯s fur, but had not been able to breach the dark and wrinkled flesh. Disgusting, she commented, darting behind a large pile of sharp trash, attempting to activate her stealth skill. The tell tale build of power that led to a skill activation began, but before it could finish, her vision exploded into random shrapnel. Meaty¡¯s face and shoulders stood where the pile once was. Luckily for her, Snek Brain hadn¡¯t hesitated to take stock of the situation, and was already darting away towards the exit and the next section of the course. What followed was a desperate and bloody chase. At the elevated pace, her Snake Brain couldn¡¯t avoid the numerous sharp edges of glass and metal. Small lacerations appeared all along the snake¡¯s lithe form, and the ground below her grew slick with blood as she barely kept ahead of the large rat. The accumulation of numerous small cuts and corresponding pain was building into an overhanging cloud of erratic distraction that hung over her mind. Her thoughts slowed to a sluggish pace, and were focused on the overwhelming pain of her injuries. Snek was certain she would be dead if she didn¡¯t have her Snake Brain. The bundle of instincts she had isolated in her mind seemed unaffected by the pain that was bogging her down, continuing through the refuse with the single minded and ever determined goal of escape. Without it, she would have long since fallen to the pain and been killed by the monstrous rat hunting her. The pain had become an ocean, and she was drowning in it. Unsure of how much time was passing, Snek tried to force her way through the tides, and was helped by a light popping sound. Her system sent her a lifeline as she struggled, and a rush of soothing cold began at her system''s core and pushed through her body. She pushed the multiple notifications away, completely focused on peeling back the layers of pain that had been suffocating her freedom of thought. Her awareness slowly grew to encompass her surroundings, and she stepped out of the haze of pain and back onto the battlefield. The pain was still there, but it was much more manageable. She was still moving through the piles of broken glass and metal, and Meaty was gaining on her. The goblin crowd held their breath in hitched silence, assuming that the excitement was about to come to an end. Searching her surroundings for something to help, the little snake¡¯s eyes landed on a low hanging length of barbed wire that stretched from wall to wall a foot ahead of her. She activated her telekinesis skill, and felt the corresponding mental pressure reach new heights. She pushed through the pressure with an iron force of will, dragging shards of broken glass, bits of daggers and other weaponry, rusty chunks of metal, and even some bloody tufts of flesh and bone together into a pile ahead of her. She doubled down on her spell, crushing and compressing the miscellaneous items together until they were reforged into a small and gory platform. Snek instructed her Snake Brain to slow down as she crossed the newly created platform, feeding it with as much potential magic energy as possible. Meaty, who clearly never skipped leg day, bent his powerful legs to pounce on his prey. He leapt through the air, closing in on Snek¡¯s position. Just before he landed atop her, she released the stored energy she had been pouring into the created platform, sending it up to collide with the enormous rat. The platform batted him up into the air, and he cartwheeled briefly before colliding with the barbed wire. The cord attached to his wounded wrist whipped through the air, but didn¡¯t get caught in anything as she had hoped. His body briefly folded around the wire and Snek noticed several barbs pierce through his exposed skin. Blood ran down the impaled barbs, but his skill stopped them from pushing in very far. Still, all damage was good damage. As he started to fall back down to the floor, his good hand wrapped around the barbed wire. He hung from his good hand briefly, before using it to pull his entire body upwards until his chin was above the hanging wire. The crowd cheered at the display of strength. A one handed pull-up? In the middle of all of this? Snek couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly discouraged. Meaty pulled up his wounded hand to grasp the barbed wire, pushing himself up while fully extending his arms, holding the wire against his waist. He held his form rigid in that position briefly to the adulation of the crowd, before snapping his body down and ripping the barbed wire from its wall sockets. He landed on the floor with a thud, before standing on his hind legs and brandishing his new whip in his good hand. He brought forth the barbed wire, causing it to whistle menacingly, arcing through the air directly above Snek. She could somehow feel the minute adjustments of air pressure caused by the whip, and frantically used her telekinesis to adjust its course slightly. The wire slammed down directly next to her, sending small chunks of metal exploding outward, while shattering the small chunks of glass. Surprisingly, none of the shrapnel collided with her body, and she kept moving past the cloud of glittering dust that rose into the air. Meaty wrenched his whip out of the ground, his strength enough to pull the barbs free from where they had embedded into the wooden floor. He cracked the whip again and again, crashing down and threatening to gore the little snake. Each time the wire drew near, she used her spell to push it slightly aside and out of the way. Snake Brain did its best to help, diving back and forth while angling their body to minimize the need of her spell. It was not sustainable. Even with Snake Brain¡¯s help, the mental pressure caused from her spell¡¯s usage was threatening to push past her limit. As soon as she would breach the large rat¡¯s range, he would bound forward and begin the process again. She looked back briefly, as the large rat wound up to release his whip yet again, and the small reflection of light on his wounded hand caught her eye. The cord from the previous section of the Rat Race was still connected to his wrist and trailing behind him. Snek focused, pushing through the obscene amount of mental pressure, and grasped the end of the cord with her telekinesis. She quickly wound it around bits of metal, and through the slivers of wood in the floor created by Meaty¡¯s violent assault. She tied it to anything and everything she could in a desperate plea to give herself some breathing room. Snake Brain realized what she was trying to do, and, to her great surprise, lent her some of its untapped mental energy. Working together in a desperate gambit, they completed their task in a fraction of a second. When Meaty attempted to bring his whip forward, his body lurched to a stop and was yanked backwards - his wounded hand stuck in place. The large rat lost his balance and tumbled to the floor. Snek paused to collect herself, admiring her work as Meaty scrambled to his feet and began attempting to wrench his wounded arm free. She had tied the wire to many different objects and the wall, yet as he heaved she heard it groan briefly. Still, it held fast for now. Meaty stood in a wide legged stance, his wounded leg braced on the ground and facing Snek. She knew the cord wouldn¡¯t hold for long, but couldn¡¯t resist the burning temptation to punish the large rat. She lunged forward, closing the distance to his wounded leg in the fraction of a second. Snek hadn¡¯t been sure that she would be able to break through the rat¡¯s skill-enhanced skin, but that didn¡¯t stop her from pushing her fangs into the preexisting wound to deposit an additional payload of venom. Meaty writhed in pain, collapsing to the floor and letting out a strangled whine. He swept down his uninjured hand in a frantic attempt to grab the little snake¡¯s head, but she was already gone, darting away down the narrow path the large rat had created with his barbed wire whip. She wondered if she could have finished him off as she fled, but she still had the problem of the illusory rat to deal with. Snek also hoped that the cord would restrain Meaty long enough that her venom would finish the job for her, but Snake Brain knew she would see him again before the race was through. Chapter 8: The Rat Race (Part 3) With a last look back at her biggest catch, who was still rolling on the floor with his arm cinched tight, Snek exited this section of the Rat Race and moved on to the next. She slithered through the tunnel, and was greeted by a wall of sound as she came out the other end. Loud metal clanks were interspersed with hisses of released steam. Underneath the clamor, the low and persistent whirring of machinery droned continuously. Taking a moment to adjust to her new surroundings, Snek scanned the room. The walls of the section were wooden, but were surprisingly cut from freshly downed trees. They weren¡¯t interspersed with rotted out chunks or riddled with cracks. The goblins apparently kept this section of the Rat Race in pristine condition, and she could see why. Lines of numerous gears of various sizes periodically climbed the wall and connected to a large overarching mechanism. The floor of the section consisted of spinning gears and delicately carved wooden spacers. The gears were all connected by small protruding teeth, and spun slowly in opposing directions. Most of the larger gears appeared to be modified to add numerous holes that led down into a noisy dark pit. Snek slithered over to the edge of the first gear and waited for one of the slowly approaching holes. When it spun towards her in a lazy arc, she lifted her head over the hole and peered down through it and into the darkness. She briefly made out a chaotic mess of metal and wiring, but was interrupted as her Snake Brain pushed a pulse of dread through their mental connection. She felt a rush of wind brush past her jaw as she yanked her head back and away from the hole. A large metal spike, sharpened down to a fine point, briefly remained where her head had just been, before quickly retracting down and through the hole in the gear. An onlooker would have missed it if they blinked, the spike having come and gone in the fraction of a second. Snek looked across the rotating floor in front of her for a place to peer down into the pit below, but there wasn¡¯t a single space not occupied. Maybe some of these goblins are smarter than I give them credit for, she thought, slithering delicately onto the large gear in front of her while making sure to avoid the holes and subsequent spikes. Acting on a hunch, she lowered her body onto the gear as the room slowly turned around her and closed her eyes. She focused intently on the surrounding sounds and smells: the steady rumbling of the gear below her, the warm breeze that wafted up through the holes, and the greasy smell of oil. She tuned in to the low hum of the connected machinery, and an image started forming in her mind. The way the various sounds echoed through the enclosed chamber and slightly shook the large gear painted the picture of a pillar leading down from the center of the gear. It connected to the excited whirring of smaller gears, which reached out and connected to various latches and even more gears that ran up the wall. Just as the image was solidifying and filling in the blank parts with vivid detail, the all too familiar pop of a system notification startled her out of the semi-entranced state she had put herself into. Snek jerked up in surprise, the end of her tail swishing over one of the holes and narrowly avoiding being impaled by a spike. Ugh. Fine! I¡¯ll check my damn notifications! She mentally yelled, taking deep breaths to slow her racing heart and fraying nerves. Of course her system had to pop in and interrupt her right when she was figuring out a new skill. Acknowledging that she was only upset because she had been startled, Snek begrudgingly pulled up her notifications as Snake Brain began carving a path across the rotating gears.
Congratulations, you have accomplished a Feat of Power! I-C-U!
Description: Discern an illusion or other falsehood created through magical means.
Reward: +2 Wisdom +1 Evolution Point The Skill: Keen Senses
A new skill! That certainly explained a few things about the last section of the course. She thought, pulling up the description for Keen Senses.
Keen Senses Uncommon Effective Wisdom attribute is doubled when passively perceiving your surroundings or attempting to see through illusions or mind affecting magic.
She realized that this skill was the reason she had been able to sense the barbed wire Meaty had been using as a whip while hunting her down. It didn¡¯t explain the brief bubble of awareness that she had just experienced before being rudely interrupted, but that curiosity was sure to answer itself soon.
Status Condition Detected: Mana Backlash
Effect: Mental discomfort and pain with escalating consequences upon continued accrual. Disperses over time at a speed relative to the Wisdom attribute.
Vague yet still helpful. Now she had a name for the uncomfortable pressure that built in her mind each time she used her telekinesis spell. Interestingly enough, it didn¡¯t explain what would happen if the mana backlash passed the mental she had detected. Hopefully she wouldn¡¯t have to find out. Next.
The skill Adaptive Resistance has grown to include Bleed Resistance - Minor. ¡­ The skill Adaptive Resistance has grown to include Pain Resistance - Minor. ¡­ The skill Adaptive Resistance has grown to include Mana Backlash Resistance - Minor.
Snek had conflicted feelings at being rewarded directly with upgrades for the suffering she went through, but still couldn¡¯t help but feel excited. Each resistance that was added to her skill made her stronger, and the whole reason she was participating in the Rat Race was so that Kor could gain the materials necessary to microdose her with poison in the hopes of upgrading her poison resistance and the potency of her venom. Her frustration towards her system began to lessen and be replaced with a bouncy anticipation of the message to come. She tempered her expectations, and reminded herself that the distraction caused by the system notification had nearly gotten her killed. As the thought left her mind, a new and smaller window appeared in front of the current notification. It read, ¡°Would you like to suppress system notifications in moments that require heavy focus?¡± It would have been nice to know that was an option sooner, she thought, sassing her system and affirming. She pulled up the notification she had been waiting for.
Your skill: Keen Senses - Uncommon has been upgraded to Keen Senses - Rare. Additional benefit: Grants a zone of complete awareness equivalent in feet to your points above ten in the Wisdom attribute. Current: 2 ft.
I¡¯m on a roll! Snek thought with more than a hint of pride. She had tried to earn new skills for days with no progress, and now the notifications were absolutely flooding in. Perhaps she gained skills at an increased rate relative to her current challenge? Regardless, Snek closed her notifications and turned her senses inward. She focused on her Ecdysis System, and noticed something peculiar. It was holding onto an exceedingly large amount of energy, whatever it was building was obviously nearing completion. Was it a new skill? No, that can¡¯t be right. It¡¯s too much energy. She tried to puzzle it out for a few seconds, but decided that there was really no way to know and she would have to just be patient. Still, now that she knew what to look for, perhaps it was possible to actively monitor skill growth. It would be nice to have a bit more control over the whole process. Focusing on her newly upgraded skill, she felt the bubble of awareness expand outwards in every direction. While she couldn¡¯t see everything happening with her eyes, it was as if all of her senses came together to paint a vivid and moving picture of her surroundings. She was able to fully make out the mechanisms below the platform of spinning gears. She could now more easily visualize the spikes below, and noticed that the spikes were spinning in time with the gear. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Running a quick mental appraisal of herself, Snek noted that using this ability did not increase any type of mental strain. No mana backlash, no exhaustion, nothing. She could keep this bubble of awareness active at all times if she wanted - which she did. It also wasn¡¯t distracting, and she acclimatized to all of the new information almost instantaneously. I can¡¯t wait to tell Kor about this, she mused, This is so cool. Yet even with all of this new information readily available, Snek still couldn¡¯t fully understand how this complex bit of machinery actually worked. How did it know when to send up the spike? Was there a way to deactivate the whole system? Would she even want to do that if she could? Snek decided that none of the answers to those questions actually mattered at the moment. All she had to do was avoid the holes in the floor - which was exceedingly easy for her Snek Brain, who had made it halfway across the floor by this point, and was turning a corner that led to final stretch of the section. The holes were spaced throughout the gears in a way that would cause serious problems for pudgy rat bodies, but Snek¡¯s lithe frame easily and quickly navigated past them. Moving with the rotation of the gear also gave her the feeling that she was moving faster than normal, which she was a big fan of. She could just imagine the frustrated look on Jigz¡¯s face as he watched her breeze through this section of the course. Feeling her instincts flare, she focused her attention as she turned the corner. Ahead of her, weaving gingerly back and forth across the spinning gears, was the illusory rat. Whichever goblin had cast the spell was really selling it, because the rat was hardly making any progress. She wondered if they could see through the rats eyes, but doubted it. There were too many small mistakes for them to have a close up view of its surroundings. Snek wanted to dart towards it and sink her fangs into its illusionary haunches, but she knew that plan wouldn''t work. She needed to take the caster by surprise, because they might be able to modify its appearance at will to react to her. Exposing the rat as a fraud to the watching goblins was essential if she wanted to win the race. Biding her time, she had her Snake Brain continue navigating across the last stretch of gears. She passed the illusory rat after a few seconds, keeping her distance but staying within the range of her bubble of awareness. Directly contrasting with what her eyes were seeing, her new zone of awareness, there was no rat awkwardly shuffling to the side and side-eyeing her. Snek made eye contact, the rat''s beady eyes following her as she gracefully slid past it. She stuck her forked tongue out at it - not entirely sure why she was doing it, but finding it amusing nonetheless. The goblin crowd was laughing at the brief exchange, but died down as she hopped off the last gear and onto the ending platform. Slowly turning around, she coiled her body and readied herself to enact her quickly thought up plan. She had gotten an idea as she gazed into that beady little eye, and just might be able to make it work. Snek acknowledged that it was a high-risk plan, but thought she could pull it off if she used her new bubble of awareness in conjunction with the telekinesis spell. The most dangerous part would be her active status condition. She could feel the mana backlash. While it was slowly draining with the aid of her new resistance, the course wasn¡¯t nearly long enough for it to be a meaningful amount. Until she upgraded her resistance or raised her wisdom stat, losing the status effect would be the work of hours or days. Still, she would need the spell if her plan was going to work. She waited, watching the illusory rat through the piercing gaze of her slitted pupils. It hesitated briefly, but continued moving towards her and the exit to the section. When it finally made it to the last large gear, Snek attempted to activate telekinesis. It was beyond difficult. The pressure from the mana backlash acted like a magical contraceptive, blocking her spell from activating. It felt like she was trying to catch an angry cloud with nothing but her fangs and a wish. With sheer mental obstinance she pushed through the pressure, shunning the imposed limit in the process. The spell activated. Reaching through her zone of awareness, Snek grasped one of the rotating spikes below the gear. With some quick guesstimations, she minutely adjusted her angle towards the rat and snapped forward at the rat while forcefully holding the spike down with her telekinesis. She had positioned herself so that her body was placed directly in between the rat and the exit to the section, blocking its path forward. To the watching goblins, it would appear like she misjudged her strike, her face in a collision course with the ground in front of the rats feet. The rat immediately reacted by jumping over her, moving through the air towards the platform. Snek was pretty sure that the rat shouldn¡¯t be able to jump as high as it did, but it didn¡¯t matter. She moved the middle of her body, exposing a hole in the gear just as the illusory rat passed over it. At the same time, she wrenched with her telekinesis spell forcing the spike upwards and through the illusory rat¡¯s midsection. The rat¡¯s body was seemingly unaffected by being violently impaled, the spike phasing through its hindquarters as it landed gently on the opposing platform. A collective gasp swept through the crowd of spectating goblins. Snek relinquished the spell and a massive swell of pain slammed into her mind. She smiled mentally as the darkness closed in.
As Snek¡¯s consciousness retreated further into her mind, Snake Brain was left staring at the fake rat. It didn¡¯t understand what had just happened, but had felt the echo of a strong pulse of pain through the link it shared with the guiding intelligence. It had also felt the smug satisfaction that had come along with the pain, so it figured that they had accomplished their goal. It was confused when the dead fake rat had suddenly vanished, and the angry chorus of goblins made Snake Brain want to slither away and hide. It didn¡¯t know what had happened to the guiding intelligence, and wanted it to come back. Snake Brain had never truly been alone before. It had been in complete control before the big change, and the guiding intelligence had felt shame at the actions it took while leading. It felt in the back corner of its mind while slithering over to the wall, and saw that it wasn¡¯t completely alone. The other part of its mind was there, if asleep. But it wasn¡¯t the time for sleep. She needed to come back and tell Snake Brain what to do. A sharp and burning pain erupted in their shared mind as the energy stored within the Ecdysis System finally completed its objective. Snake Brain rested its head on its coil, waiting for the blinding pain to pass. All of its fear rushed away, replaced by excitement. It remembered this. When the pain stopped, a blue screen popped into existence directly in front of Snake Brain.
Congratulations! You have successfully awakened as a fully formed consciousness, and have thus been integrated into the Ecdysis System.
Tiny Venomous Snake Level 6
Attribute: Score:
Strength 6
Dexterity 16
Constitution 13
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8
Unassigned attribute points: 0
Unspent evolution points : 2
Ability Grade Description
Ecdysis System Mythic Using accumulated power harvested from your actions, the Ecdysis System will assist you in shedding your weaknesses through a variety of methods. Sub-Abilities: Evolutionary Map
Skill Grade Description
Literacy Common The ability to read and write, along with an enhancement to comprehension.
Venemous Uncommon Your body has the ability to create and weaponize a mid grade venom. Venom has a hallucinatory effect. Venom is more effective against foes with lower constitution.
Stealth Common Gives a minor bonus to any attempts of avoiding detection.
Adaptive Resistance Rare Gain a passive resistance to negative status conditions. Resistance grows the more you are exposed to each negative effect, and can be upgraded through continued exposure. Minor Resistances: Poison, Mental Delirium, Pain, Mana Backlash, Bleed
Keen Senses Rare Effective Wisdom attribute is doubled when passively perceiving your surroundings or attempting to see through illusions or mind affecting magic. Grants a zone of complete awareness equivalent in feet to your points above ten in the Wisdom attribute. Current: 2 ft.
Mutation Description
Enhanced Venom Glands Upgrade the skill ''Venomous'' by one step. Venom will also have hallucinogenic qualities.