Day ~13~

Having taken a few good pokes the day before while hunting rabbits, Rea decided it would be wise to upgrade her armor. Most of the rags she'd been given as a hatchling were in disrepair by now and, even as a twelve year old child, her slight modesty as an adult woman, in mind only, was beginning to be compromised. Not wanting to be a constant streaker meant that her next order of business was set. Rea decided to just stitch together some clothing out of rabbit pelts, and worry about making better armor after she'd gone through her first rank up. To be completely honest, her tightly packed scales were very effective as natural armor against the glancing blows she had taken. Rea thought back once more to the other children that had been defeated by the horned rabbits and sighed.

After making some new, comfy, form fitting, and fluffy equipment Rea was ready to continue leveling up. It was at that point that Rea also realized she had been gaining levels from actions other than combat. After the rabbit hunting two days ago she had been level 51, now her level was 83. Assuming the levels had come from reading and training the lizardlings... bathing, yes it had to be the hot spring. Rea totally wasn't looking for an excuse to soak in the hot springs again, this was for the sake of leveling up. After making a silent resolution to soak in the springs for a few hours later, Rea was off.

Just as she began to look for signs of more rabbits Rea noticed some unusual markings on nearby trees that corresponded to tracks she was seeing on the ground. Taking this as an opportunity to find some stronger prey Rea switched targets. What a let down... after nearly an hour of fumbling through overgrowth and low hanging tree limbs, Rea had finally caught a glimpse of her prey, level 2 [Flying Squirrel]. This next part is a bit embarrassing so we're not gonna go into how it all went when Rea tried to close in on the flying fu... I mean flying squirrels for melee combat. Once again moving into position, for the twent... for the second time, Rea readied her weapon. Raising one arm as a guide and mustering all of her strength in the other she threw the spear. With brutal effectiveness it cut through the air in a near perfect line and *thunk* missed...

...

...

Ability [Moderate Stealth] learned.

Ability [Swift Javelin] learned.

Doing a fist pump while retrieving her weapon Rea moved on to track down another, possibly the same squirrel... it would not survive this day. For the forty-se... for the fifth time Rea got into position after tracking her prey down. Both hunter, and prey seemed incredibly fatigued for some reason... instinctively activating her new ability Rea launched an attack. Her eyes widened in shock, so did the squirrel's, as a spear cut through the sky at nearly twice its usual speed and hit him dead in tail. Waltzing up to the annoying little... cute little critter, Rea used [Choke] with brutal effectiveness to finish this rivalry once and for all.

Ability [Tenacity] learned.

Ability [Sadism] learned.

Sighing inwardly at her own immaturity, both as a hunter and a person, Rea took part in the peeling and devouring of her lovely prize.

Rea has obtained a Damaged Fluffy Tail!

Rea has obtained a Small Squirrel Pelt!

Rea made a mental note that it was high time to get some cooking skills. With the sun setting Rea called it a day and decided to head for home, the cave had gotten pretty far. Because she wanted to be home before sunset Rea was taking shortcuts and plowing through all sorts of overgrowth. After one particularly dense set of branches...

*KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!*

Rea was now running full speed and wrestling a dangerous looking black snake. The vicious predator had wrapped itself around her left arm as she barreled on through overgrowth. Having latched on so tightly she was barely keeping it from biting her by using [Choke]. Still screaming like the little girl she happened to be at the moment, Rea ran headfirst into a tree, full frickin' speed. The now identified, level 24 [Tree Moccasin], had been luckily dazed by the blow. As it fell loose she threw the beast down, however at that moment another fell from the tree above...

*chomp* *OWWWWW!!!!*

Using a few malicious blows full of righteous fury Rea crushed the offender with her mighty fists!

Ability [Pummel] learned.

Before the first snake could regain its senses Rea, tired of playing around, [Impale]d it. She had taken a pretty bad bite, and now Rea could feel the venom beginning to paralyze her leg while draining her life force. As she continued to drag her sorry tail back home Rea used up all six of her [Medicine] Minor Healing Potion. As one of two sentries that watch over the cave entrance spotted her, Rea fell limp. The sentry immediately went to her aid and carried her back towards the chieftain's chamber, he ignored Rea's delirious comment about being his father or something. The last thing she could remember before losing consciousness that day was deciding to forget what she could hear Steve doing in her hot spring with another lizzy... Seriously I bathe in there...

Day ~14~

Rea spent the entire day in bed being force fed copious amounts of funny tasting liquids, and recovering from the venom.

Day ~15~

Shortly after waking up and calming a worried Steve down Rea found herself, once again, in the hot spring. Having decided to never duck her head under this water again, she simply lounged about. After a few minutes of inspecting her wounds she'd realized that a new ability, [Toxin Resistance], had been formed. Very pleased with herself, Rea decided to get on with business and made her way out of the hot spring. She wasn't sure if the water here could ever make her feel clean again.

When she asked Steve the simplest way one would go about starting a fire he just opened a small satchel on his waist and handed her two [Flint stone]. Knowing what they were from her previous life Rea didn't require further explanation. Still, the fact that Steve wasn't about to explain the details to her was a little upsetting... Steve spent the next five minutes putting out the fire she'd lit up under his tail. As Rea departed to the forest once more she slightly regretted lighting her bed on fire.

After checking her level Rea realized that if she spent the day hunting something like tree moccasins she may just hit 100. That was all it took to motivate the recently recovered lizardling. Bouncing to and fro, with a hop and a skip, Rea was bounding into the forest towards the same direction she'd nearly died. Within the hour it was apparent that the less agile tree moccasins were no match for her [Swift Javelin]. One particular snake managed to catch a glimpse of her big horny stick as it came in his direction, the unfortunate decision to attack resulted in the shaft going right down his throat. Needless to say Rea tried, and failed, not to laugh while she pulled out, so to speak.

Rea has obtained Small Venom Sac x 7!

Rea has obtained Small Fang x14!

Rea has obtained Small Black Snakeskin x 7!

Now that she had made it to her goal of level 100, Rea was a bit uncertain as to how one does a [Rank Up]. After nearly half an hour of shouting out random phrases and striking some embarrassing transformation poses...

Ability [Jester] learned.

Cursing under her breathe, the sullen lizardling finished off her roasting snake meat and returned home for the night.

You have exceeded the minimum required level.

Special requirements [Toxin Resistance], [Demigod of Beauty's Divine Blessing], [Human Language], [Human Text] cleared, [Rank Up] to [Ophidian:Rare Variant] now possible.

Special requirements [Sadism], [Aquatic], [Choke], [Human Language] cleared, [Rank Up] to [Lizardman:Rare Variant] now possible.

Will you [Rank Up]?YesNo

Yes

[Ophidian: Rare Variant][Lizardman: Rare Variant]

Well I doubt [Sadism] and [Choke] will turn me into something nice... that blessing on the other hand. Ophidian.

Ability [Venom] learned.

Ability [Poison] learned.

Ability [Fangs] learned.

Ability [Restorative Anti-toxins] learned.

Ability [Alluring Natural Beauty] learned.

Ability [Double Jointed] learned.

Ability [Thermoregulation] learned.

Ability [Water Affinity] learned.

Ability [Job Access] learned.

Day ~16~

Steve was... perplexed, he was positive that Rea had been sleeping next to him as usual last night. However, at this moment, a half naked young human-like woman was looking up at him. "Rea?"

"What?" she answered.

"Rank up?"

Rea slapped a fist into her open palm, "Oh!" Quickly dashing over to the hot springs clear water she beheld her own reflection... "Wow...I'd do her..."

Ability [Narcissism] learned.

After sighing at the ability Rea went about inspecting her new body. Just over five feet tall, a rather lithe frame, flawless complexion and faded silky black hair. She took a moment to ponder how odd it was waking up with six inches of wavy hair. Rea was very happy to have hair again, but losing her tail was quite a blow. She'd lost nearly all of her scales and the ones that did remain, starting from the lower end of her hairline, went all the way down to the base of her spine. They had transformed from lizard scales into slightly cool and slick to the touch snake scales, these were a glossy black color, not much darker than her hair. The loss of her lizard skin had revealed a pleasant off-white, not pale, human skin. Rea was happy as she was sure her new skin would tan well. She found her eyes, aquamarine with a slightly reversed slant, very appealing. The sharp features she'd always admired in other women had suddenly become her own. A small petite nose, narrow jaw line, rounded average size ears, and slim eyebrows.

Ignoring the [Narcissism Rank Up] Rea made a conclusion that the only things different between her and normal humans at this point, physically speaking, were the scales and fangs... both she could hide. Rea was pretty happy that her teeth had returned to normal, those sharp razor like teeth had felt a bit odd to have. Glad to be in the body of a roughly twenty year old woman now, instead of a teen reptile, Rea decided to take a dip in the spring. As she undressed Rea realized that her clothing really wasn't cutting it anymore... More importantly her supple bust wasn't large enough to get in the way of combat maneuvers, she really had to stop and stare for a moment when she realized that even the peaks of these modest mountains were her favorite type. Thinking of her main objective in this world Rea carefully slid her hands down along her waist, she was very pleased to find her lower body wide and slender in all the right places. While wondering if the evolution had taken into account her own personal tastes Rea received another [Narcissism Rank Up]. Shivers went down her spine when she thought that perhaps the reason for her charming new appearance was to seduce and devour human prey... After thinking that she'd certainly devour many people, just not that way, Rea finally slid into the hot spring.

"I'll have to make myself new clothing Steve, could I have some privacy today?" she shot the lizardman a pair of puppy dog eyes.

Steve gave her a serious gaze, "This isn't good Rea, you need more than clothing."

Taking note of his serious tone she quickly replied, "What's wrong Steve?"

"You've become an ophidian Rea, it's rare but it happens. You must leave us soon, ophidians and lizardmen do not get along," he explained.

Rea cocked her head sideways, "Why not?"

"You've gained the ability to use poisons and venom naturally, possibly an even stronger affinity for water... most of all you look like food." Steve absently rubbed his noggin as Rea gaped at that last bit. "Hang around here too long and you're liable to end up dinner."

"You'd eat me!?" Rea retreated into the water a bit.

"I wouldn't hurt you, but if someone else did I wouldn't pass up the chance to eat ophidian. You're damn delicious Rea... and something about you is off, you look more human than ophidian. I've never seen that before."

"...Thanks Steve." Rea looked down at her new form again. Did I just rank up into a delicacy? "Any more words of wisdom?"

Steve stood up and began to equip his gear, "The blood of ophidians is often referred to as an elixir, be careful who you trust, if anyone. Life won't be easy Rea, out of responsibility as your father I'll go get some supplies prepared for your journey. Start getting ready, you leave tonight... before the others smell you."

Son of a bitch!

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