Waking up for the second time was, more or less, just as unpleasant as the first time. I stretched quite a bit, trying to get rid of the dull ache of my muscles.

Thankfully, unlike last time, my dreams were pretty pleasant. Still, it's most likely a very bad idea to keep dropping down in comas after eating. Hopefully, my body doesn't pull this shit on me anymore.

At this point, although I was still very much uncomfortable with my new body, I could pilot it efficiently. Judging, by comparison, I would say that most eggs around here were around the size of quail eggs. Now, my body was around the length of a small garden snake, not more than 30 or 40 centimeters.

Nonetheless, it was still leagues ahead of what I'd started out with. I felt stronger too, which was pretty nice.

During my sleep, almost 80% of the remaining eggs had hatched, judging by the various empty remains. In fact, there was an egg hatching this very moment.

I quickly swam over to the egg, curious. After a brief struggle, the egg broke and a very small snake popped out. It quickly tried to swim away, but I wasn't having any of it.

I caught it in my jaws, easily piercing through its newborn scales. The small thing didn't make any noise, but it tried to struggle out of my grip, even trying to bite me.

I wasn't feeling particularly playful, so I ate it whole. Alive.

It felt funny having a living being squirming it's way down my throat and into whatever counted as my stomach. Nonetheless, to the me of today, this was naught but a snack.

Newborn Snakeling killed. Exp granted.

Skill (Inhale Lv. 1) gained.

Ignoring the damned messages, I made my way over to some of the remaining eggs. At this point, it was pointless to waste time wrapping myself around them, so instead, I smashed my head against them, breaking them after a couple of hits.

Quickly eating up the snake-fetuses, I quickly got to work eating every last snake remaining around here. The exp they granted was so meager that, even after 8 of them were devoured, I still hadn't leveled up.

Nonetheless, I was nice and full now and even received a couple of new and kinky notifications.

Skill (Headbutt Lv. 1) gained.

Skill (Headbutt Lv. 1) now Lv. 3

Skill (Bite Lv. 2) now Lv. 4

Satisfied for now, I decided that the remaining eggs could wait for me, and instead took the opportunity to explore the cave I was in.

It wasn't particularly big, but it still took me over 30 minutes to explore everything. Other than the area filled with eggs, everything else was more or less untouched. I even found the exit to the outside world, and I will admit, if I could have, I would have gasped.

The sight before me was simply put: Magnificent

Schools of small fish swam in great hordes, corals lined the bottom in beautiful patterns. Bigger fish prowled around, occasionally snatching up whatever crustacean or fish came within their range.

I could see the waves rolling at the top of the water, and I could even faintly make out an endless expanse if I strained my eyes.

And, I will also admit that my first thoughts, upon seeing one of my own kin, a small sea snake not much smaller than me be devoured by a large, spiked fish in a single gulp, was 'holy shit, I don't want to leave my cave'

And so, like the coward I am, I immediately fled back into my cave, new determination at bullying all those weaker than me and fleeing anything too big for me to handle renewed.

I quickly got to work dismembering any and all eggs that still hadn't hatched. By the end of it, I'd slaughtered at least two dozen eggs and even a couple newborns.

[Nameless] Has reached Lv. 3. 3 Status Points granted.

[Nameless] Has reached Lv. 4. 3 Status Points granted.

Skill (Bite Lv. 4) now Lv. 6

Skill (Headbutt Lv. 3) now Lv. 5

Skill (Inhale Lv. 1) now Lv. 2

Skill (Swim Lv. 1) Now Lv. 2

I held off of investing the points for as long as I could, as I didn't want to risk going into a coma yet again. By the end of it, my belly felt as though it would burst from the amount of yolk and newborn babies I'd devoured.

By now, several hours had passed, and more or less all of the eggs had hatched or been devoured by me. I'd been lucky to catch a number of newborns trying to leave the cave, but at least 95% made it out safely.

Still, I was satisfied. I could feel the cold grip of the coma trying to grasp me with its cold hands again, but I held it off. For now.

The reason for this was because of a message that popped up.

[Nameless] Has reached growth necessary to evolve into [Adolescent]

Do you wish to proceed? Y / N

I was somewhat... Okay, no, I was very, very disappointed I couldn't evolve into something already, but I suppose it couldn't have been more than a day or two since I'd come to this world. I shouldn't be too greedy.

I mentally left the window hovering and instead focused back on my status. I paused there, trying to think of what to invest in.

I definitely wanted to invest more in both strength and constitution, but I also was quite curious as to what investing in intelligence would do.

Hence, I sucked it up and ignored the part of me crying for me to put everything into stats that would yield immediate results, and instead chose, or at least tried to choose, to think about the long game.

[Nameless] [Newborn Snakeling]

Age - 0 years

Level - 4

Constitution - 5

Strength - 6

Dexterity - 3

Intelligence - 3 (?)

Wisdom - 1

[Special] Poison - 4

Skills - (Bite Lv. 6), (Swim Lv. 2), (Constriction Lv. 1), (Headbutt lv. 5), (Inhale Lv. 2)

Dumping two points into intelligence would hopefully help me react a bit quicker to any threats if they came by. I didn't plan on purposely putting myself in danger, but I knew enough about marine life to know that even if something ignores danger, it would be the one seeking you out.

I allowed myself to fall into the grasp of a coma, but not before securing myself in a nice, hidden spot. The pleasant feeling of having invested points lulled my sleep, making it much easier.

Just before falling into oblivion, I clicked the Y button for evolution. The moment I did, everything blacked out. It wasn't like before, where I was gradually dragged down into sleep, but rather, it was a complete and instant shut-down.

Not very pleasant, I say. I was lucky I had a hidden cave all to myself, as I cannot even imagine the danger other beasts go through during evolution, or even forced growth.

Ugh, what an unfair world.