Volume one: Coldblood

'Do not seek vengeance for my fall,' a voice said in his head, as Shan's mind wide awoke.

He felt nauseated swelling in his mind as the voice continued, 'Do not proclaim my fall as your driving force, Shan. Vengeance is hollow. As long as you live your life to the fullest, it will be the greatest achievement of your masters' life.'

The voice ended as Shan's mind jerked into recognition—what that voice meant. Those were the last words of his master, before his banishment in the abyssal prison. Even nearing his death, his master asked him to give up on vengeance.

His mind cleared as he recalled everything. Wasn't he dead? Well, his consciousness thought otherwise, and he felt very much alive, however, darkness reigned in his vision. There was some weird fuzzy feeling on his body as well.

Something was very much wrong. It wasn't just that he was alive. There was something else, too.

[Congratulations on hatching!]

[Congratulations on being the 9th person to claim the Legacy of Mythshaper.]

[Eliminating emergency system protocol.]

[Welcome to the Shattered Twilight.]

Weird. What are these? He remembered seeing similar transparent text before his death, something related to the Ancestral Beast Temple Inheritance. Then he died?! How was he even alive in the first place? Wait, hatching?

Shan had a grim premonition about this. No, don't tell me.

Bars of sunlight showered through some cracks as Shan tried to lurch his arms. 'I have no arms,' he yelled, or he thought he did, but no voice came out of his mouth. Moreover, he felt his body convulsing uncomfortably in the small space.

'No, no, no,' he tried to shout, but no words came. 'What's happened to me?' The space he was in kept on shaking as he lurched uneasily.

[The system has reverse implemented |Project Ouroboros| to trigger the soul-rebirth host's dying soul.]

The tiny space cracked as bright sunlight assaulted his eyes at once, and Shan finally found out what had transpired.

'I'm a snake!' he screamed. Again, no words came out. Shan couldn't make a head or tail of his current situation. No, it wasn't that he couldn't, it was just that his mind couldn't register it. These twinkling transparent texts weren't making it any easier, either.

[Correction: Host is not a normal snake. You've been granted the destiny of the snake of Infinity.]

'Still, a snake. It doesn't matter if it's a mythical beast or something else.' Yes, it seemed to have immense potential, but a freaking snake, nonetheless.

If it was a dragon, then that would be a different case, but most other reptiles are vastly limited in their brain.

'Wait, I don't feel particularly stupid,' he thought, 'perhaps I retained my intelligence in the rebirth.'

Moreover, any beasts, including dragons, were just mere resources to humans or other intelligent beings. If humans find a stray mythical beast, they would likely want to tame it, but if that's unachievable, there are various ways to reap a fortune from a mythical beast.

Yes, as a Snake of Infinity, he will have hardly any difficulty gaining strength, with his first spark being Hunger, but it would very much limit his path. Well, there were various ways to mend that, still . . .

'Wait, why am I whining?' he thought, 'I should celebrate that I am alive.' However, his expression sank. He might be alive, but not his master, his only family. He couldn't do anything about it.

[Correction, Host had died, the system had triggered a soul Rebirth.]

The notification brought him back to reality as he sighed, which came out as hissing.

'Right, thank you for that,' Shan thought. Still, he would be a million times more grateful if he was a human. This system seemed to have some level of intelligence, as it replied reading his thoughts, but then again, it didn't reply to his thanks.

[Preparing status window . . .]

What now?

__________________

Name: Shan

Rank: Copper (0.0)

Spark: Hunger.

Title: Inheritor of Ancestral Dragon Temple. Bearer of the Golden Eyes.

Forms: Snake*.

Attributes:

Spiritual Strength: 14

Mental Strength: 8

Physical Strength: 11

Recovery: 10

Free attribute Points: 0

Evolution Points: 0

Abilities:

- Golden Eyes (Mystic)

- Myth Transformation (Unique, Inherited System Ability): Copper 0.0

- Bond (Unique, Inherited System Ability): Copper 0.0

System features available: Mapping, Inventory, Lingual Mastery, Looting.

__________________

Shan sucked in a deep breath from his little snake nostrils and mouth. He had never come across something like this. Well, he had read that before the Shattering, civilization had reached its peak with technologies that were so high that any artificers of this age could not fantom. Was this weird thingy in his head something of the shattering?

That brought him back to his current circumstances. This system enumerated everything about him. Fortunately, all the terms were familiar to him, so there was no problem understanding it. Still, it felt weird and strange. It was as if something was inside him and he couldn't do anything about it. Sighing, he checked his ranks. Even his strength of the Gold Rank regressed to Copper rank.

'Well, at least I am still alive,' he thought. It would take him about five years or so to cultivate to gold rank again, and only then will he be able to throw away this snakeskin. Well, there were some potions or pills that could help, but acquiring that would be a pain in the ass.

But first, he needed to figure out this system thingy. Well, it didn't appear that difficult. As he checked out, the more information he got about everything.

First came the titles.

[Inheritor of Ancestral Dragon Temple: You are one of the inheritors of the Ancestral Beast Temple.]

[Bearer of Golden Eyes: You bear the eyes of the ancient.]

Shan felt like laughing, though he could not do that with his snake form. Astral Mountain—his old fraction—fell so low to get all the inheritances and riches from the ruins, yet here he was with the biggest piece of the pie.

Sometimes fate plays such a wicked and tragic game, he mused. His master lost everything in that ruin, the Astral Mountain schemed, violated so many rules, and him—Shan had fallen from a respectable gold ranker to a mere labourer—a slave if he took the liberty.

Now that he thought about it, Ancestral Dragon Temple was really a big thing before the cataclysm. It was actually one of the four ancestral level factions. Though it had perished, and he's only one of the inheritors, it was still something rankers would kill for. The Ancestral Dragon Temple was the real thing. They literally owned worlds. Worlds—as in plural.

However, something like that reached its peak and fell.

Shan shook his snakehead and continued on with the system.

[Abilities:

- Golden Eyes (Mystic):

It's a mystical ability that enhances sight, as well as all the other sensory abilities. Golden eyes could see through illusions, hallucinations, and scripts, and also resist mental corrosion.

- Myth Transformation (Unique, Inherited Legacy Ability): Copper 0.0

This ability will let you transform to other forms integrated into your soul, body and mind, and also, have their unique abilities. In each advancement of rank, you can integrate a new form.

Current form available: Snake of Infinity.

- Bonding (Unique, Inherited Legacy Ability): Copper 0.0

This is a beast taming ability. You can use the unique abilities of any life form you bonded with, and in exchange, you can also augment their growth.

Form (s):

Snake of Infinity (Hatchling):

- Hunger (Unique, Inherited Spark):

This is an inherited Spark of Ouroboros, which can consume and digest anything and all things under heaven. Currently limited, the host can only digest anything at the copper level.

- Poison Affinity (Inherited Bloodline ability):

Poison is not the greatest feature of Ouroboros, but this ability will give immunity and resistance to many types of poisons.]

‘Hmm. Seems like some interesting abilities. Myth Transformation: Can it transform me into anything mythical? Well, I am a mythical snake now. Only a metre long white snake, it doesn't look even a bit daunting. How about Leviathan? That would be interesting?’

[Affirmation.]

[However, the host first has to slay a Leviathan first to integrate it.]

Shan still wasn't used to the system's answer in this way, however, he would welcome it anyway. He knew scarcely little about the things he inherited. Any answer from it would give him some hint of its origin.

Still, a Leviathan. Shan only thought about it sarcastically, however, it seemed possible to this system. Then his eyes widened. 'Hey, what's easier, slaying a Leviathan or taking its form?'

Shan waited for some moment, but there was no answer.

Shan clicked his tongue, which came out as a hissing. Here he was only a metre long white snake, dreaming of transforming into a Leviathan. Even the system thingy was embarrassed to answer.

'Wait, does that mean if I integrate a human, I can take a human form?' A question appeared in his head. Technically, that was true, after all, since the system could actually reverse implement his bloodline to turn him into a snake, taking a human form was easy. But he needed to see through it more to find how to do it. Well, humans are not myths after all.

He had been human his entire life, being something else didn't fit well with his mind.

However, this time the system also provided no answer.

Shan was about to check out more about the system, but his stomach growled abruptly with his newfound appetite. He sighed, or at least tried. His new snake body was only a metre long, but he could feel his stomach was no less than a bottomless pit.

[Quest: Eat until you're full.

You found yourself in an unfamiliar, mysterious land, after hatching. As a newborn snake, your first duty is to secure food first.

Condition of Clearance: Eat until you're full. Extra: Collect food for the next couple of days.

Time Limit: 6 hours.

Rewards: Satisfaction

Penalty: None.]

'Looks like I have to hurry a little,' he thought. Shan had no problem only getting satisfaction, stuffing food into his mouth.

Sighing, which was no better than hissing, he started to move, but alas! There was a problem there.

He didn't have freaking legs. Even though his new body has an instinct of its own, his mind made the thing difficult to carry. His mind was still registering him as a human. Sighing inwardly, he resigned everything to his instinct and slowly, Shan took the first step to his new journey—or crawling, as one would say.