The world is truly weird sometimes, I thought as I watched a literal living turd engulfing and eating an 8-meter long shark. It was incredibly disturbing, and I was quite quick to leave that area and swear myself to never approach giant shit-looking creatures.

It'd been around two days since I ventured into this place. By now, I knew I needed to leave the area, since I needed to get some sleep in, and I really didn't fancy sleeping anywhere near here.

Still, it wasn't all bad. I'd leveled up once, and eaten quite a lot of decent food. It was quite likely I would grow a bit during my sleep.

Hence, I 'happily' left the Killzone and made my way back to the reef. I busied my mind by comparing myself to a returning ww2 veteran, returning to her country scarred and far more brutal, but also much stronger and more experienced.

... Okay, the comparison sucked. Still, any fish or not-fish that dare say so wil get eaten,

Still, as the entire populations of the areas I passed vanished into their hiding places, I felt powerful. I knew I was far, far, impossibly far from being even a fraction of the strength of that mighty being, but it's the small steps that count.

However, as I passed by a familiar area, the old reef king's cave, I felt a familiar aura coming from it.

I say aura, but in reality, it was more of a feeling. It's hard to describe in human terms, but perhaps, saying that I felt a presence would be more accurate.

Anyways, feeling a tad bit curious, I poked my head into the large cave to see what was up. Imagine my suprise when I saw a new morray in there. It was much, much smaller and looked a lot weaker than the previous one, but it was easy to tell that it was the new King of the Reef.

The cursed fake-snake snarled at me, huddled at back of the cave. After eyeing it for a while, I debated what to do with it.

Killing it would probably give me very little in return. In fact, I was almost sure the bonus for killing the Reef King only applied once. Still...

I bit it's head, easily separating it from the rest of it's body. Then, I ate all of it.

As expected, the only message I got was about getting some experience points. Nonetheless, I was happy with it.

It was incredibly satisfying murdering an opponent that had brought me so very close to death so easily. If nothing else, I at least felt better with myself.

I truly was a terrible person... Err, snake. Bullying the weak like this should probably not be so satisfying, and yet, knowing that they would have done the exact same thing had our positions been reversed evaporated any guilt that I could have felt. Not that I could feel it.

I had no real emotions, after all.

Moving on from this little stop, I eventually reached my destination. It was a large, majestic rock with a nice, large flat area very close to the water surface.

It was all too easy slaughtering it's previous owner, a slimy slug-like fish. I wasn't picky enough not to eat it despite it's gross appearance.

I happily settled into my new throne and proceeded to sunbathe for the remaining daylight hours. I allowed my brain to shut down, feeling that I was safe enough to get in some sleep.

By the time I woke up, it was already the middle of the night. Considering I'd fallen asleep around when the sun fell, I'd slept for quite a bit.

As I suspected, my body had grown a bit, now coming close to 9 meters. I was, frankly put, a really big danger noodle.

I dumped my 5 points from my level up into intelligence, memories of that damn bobbit worm popping up. If something like that came up again, I wanted to be able to react in an appropriate timeframe.

[Nameless] Adult Snakeling]

Age - 0 years

Level - 14

Constitution - 30

Strength - 15

Dexterity - 10

Intelligence - 15 (?)

Wisdom - 1

[Special] Poison - 10

Remaining Points - 0

Remaining Veteran Points - 0

Skills - (Bite Lv. 20), (Swim Lv. 15), (Extreme Constriction Lv. 7), (Headbutt lv. 9), (Inhale Lv. 7), (Venom Injection Lv. 20), (Poison Resistance Lv. 11)

Satisfied, I spent the rest of the night wandering around the reef, simply enjoying the sights and the feeling of being the top dog in the area.

Perhaps it was disonorable of me to do so, but I was no samurai. I was a survivor, a monster. I still wasn't sure what I'd do if I met a human, but if I needed to do so in order to save my life, I would, without doubt, mercilessly slaughter as many humans as I need to.

That thought was quite strange for me. I was never a violent person in my previous life, and yet, here I was now, so ready to react with violence. I suppose this new life of mine has truly changed me.

I don't think it's a bad thing, though.

I looked at my level with critical eyes. I would begin to unlock evolution options upon reaching level 15, and that would be a big decision to make.

Still, I'd rather actually reach that point before making decisions. With such thoughts in my head, I stopped wandering aimlessly and returned to the Killzone.

It may be a hellhole, but in there, I could get stronger much faster.