'This is suicidal.'

However, the system didn't seem to be that unreasonable as there was no penalty this time around, meaning he could ignore the quest if he wanted, though the reward interested him a lot. Analyse, most likely, another cool ability. These kinds of abilities were pretty common, however, there were various distinctions among them. It's pretty hard to distance gold from sand.

With all the other super useful system features, Shan was sure this was nothing to be scoffed off, either. Unfortunately, this quest was quite suicidal, even though it's only an exploration quest. 'Don't die' is literally a requirement.

A single encounter with the silver rankers could result in his doom. Shan had already died once, and so far he was sure he didn't like that feeling.

'Let's complete the advancement first,' he told himself, creeping away from the hedge.

Now he was extra careful in his tracks. There were silver rankers in this wilderness; any wrong move could result in losing his sorry life. Fortunately, his little snake body could hide pretty well.

Shan wandered around for about an hour and met a few low-level beasts. Looting them earned him a few dozen more evolution points, however, he would need a lot more if he wanted to progress to the next rank. He needed to invest some time in his skills before that.

Abruptly, his stomach growled again. It was only a couple of hours since he ate, yet the bottomless pit growled as if it was starving for months. Hissing, Shan moved away, attempting to find a better spot. Even though he was super careful in his battles, still, some of the filthy blood stained his silver body. Though a lot had been wiped away through his crawling, Shin still felt sick in the unhygienic ways. It would probably have no arduous effect, but his human mind was not ready to accept that.

As Shan crawled, he encountered another disturbance. This time, the threat level was orange. Creeping through the dry leaves and grass, Shan found it was not human this time around, but two creatures fighting between themselves.

A huge black-scaled Python, and the other thing appeared to be an insect. A metre long fire breathing Beetle. The snake was at Iron rank, and low grades, not to mention they wounded each other well—this could be the ideal situation Shan was not looking for. However, his eyes drifted off towards the reason for their conflict. It was a tree, a tree full of peach-pink spirit fruits.

'Can the python digest the spirit fruit?' Shan wondered. Well, it probably can with its Iron body, however, it would take a lot of time. Shan didn't linger on those thoughts and crawled right towards the spirit tree, while the snake and Fire breathing beetles fought for their life.

Without even giving consideration to the two creatures fighting for the prize, Shan twisted and turned around the spirit tree to climb up and claim the prize for himself.

Time progressed as Shan swallowed his third spirit fruit, spectating the battle between the python and the fire-breathing black beetle.

The python certainly held an advantage in strength and rank, however, the beetle could fly. With just that simple fact, it could compete against the five metres long black scaled python.

Whenever the python jerked its head to attack, the beetle flapped its wings to dodge. The beetle held advances in range attacks as well, however, its fire couldn't burn the black-scaled python that easily. Its scales were almost as tough as iron.

Shan was bored watching the same exchange again and again. Even though these two creatures reached Iron rank, they were pretty dumb. Other than the fact that they still hadn't had the clue that someone else was reaping their prize, they were at it for who knew how long.

Hissing in frustration, Shan decided to end their stalemate. He condensed a spirit projectile, though this time more potent. That was not all. He infused it with a good amount of poison. As his weapon was ready, the white snake peered at his two targets. The reptile would have better poison resistance than the beetle, so he chose the beetle as his target.

There was no kinship in Shan. He was just annoyed and wanted to finish it quick. The opportunity came quicker than he hoped for, as in Beetle's hindsight, Shan the projectile struck its back. The beetle didn't have the slightest idea what hit, and it didn't matter how much it struggled to flap its wing, it could not fly again. The spirit projectile struck in its wing, rendering all its flapping useless.

The beetle shrieked in its approaching doom, finally using its legs to dodge from the python's attack, while also looking for what struck it first. However, it didn't have any luxury against the relentless assault of the python. At this rate, it would be the python's win easily, so to spice things up, Shan shot another spirit projectile in the right eye of the python.

Shan's shot hit right at the bullseye, or Snake's eye, as one would say here. The python had an iron body, reinforced by its black scales, only its eyes were the weak spots, and Shan struck right there. However, it was far from killing the Python. The projectile blinded it as it hissed in agony, gazing at the spirit tree with its remaining eye.

The black scaled python ignored its original target—the fire breathing black beetle, which was already half-dead, with the poison infecting its system—to move towards the hidden enemy. Shan was too lazy to hide, so the python found him easily, hissing in curses at the little white scaled snake.

'What are you looking at? Never seen a fine lookin' snake?' Shan hissed back nonchalantly.

The python hissed in madness as it came out as wind rattling. Finding its prize claimed by a tiny snake, not to mention one of its eyes, was blinded. It could not stop its anger anymore. It rose to jerk its head against the trunk of the tree violently.

'Easy, easy, pal.' Shan lunged from the tree before the snake could destroy it. 'I ain't goin' nowhere.'

The huge python hissed, lurching its head towards Shan.

'You want a fight, pal?' Shan questioned, even though the python couldn't understand it. 'Fine, I'll give it to you.'

Shan coiled, coating his full body with a spiritual energy coating, eyes glued to the enormous python coming at him. The horrifying mouth of the snake shoved at him, attempting to swallow him whole. Shan remained on the spot, eyes focused on his target. Just at that moment, the python was about to swallow him whole. His coiled body lurched at it and shoved into its mouth.

However, before the python could celebrate, the small white snake created chaos inside its cavity. It jerked against the above wall of its mouth, penetrating from inside. The little white snake didn't back out. The outer scales of the black scaled python's body were as hard as iron. That's why he needed to destroy it from inside.

As Shan created chaos inside the huge maw of the python, it jerked its head against the earth repeatedly. Shan was right, snakes are profoundly dumb. This one in particular was more so.

It was as if the python was craving its own death. The python struggled for a minute more, while Shan destroyed it from inside out to finely drilled himself out of its brain, though it was questionable if it had any brain, provided with how stupidly it acted.

[You have killed a Black scaled Python (Iron - 1.0).]

Shan jerked his head violently coming out into the light, partly to fling away the filth from his body, and partly because he was feeling dizzy after all the twist and turn he took inside the cavity. The stunt took away almost two-thirds of his spiritual energy. He never would have thought it would be this taxing, even though the python was terribly dumb.

Getting his head to the right place, Shan touched the dead reptile and used Loot. The huge body of the snake was reduced to smoke as it vanished into thin air. It did take a couple more seconds longer, but the result was the same.

[Beast core (Iron) has been added to your Inventory.]

[Purified python meat has been added to your inventory.]

[Black scaled Python's scales have been added to your inventory.]

[You have gained 747 evolution points.]

'747, that's a lot,' Shan thought. Well, considering the effort it took, it's a no-brainer. However, this time there were some extra items, too. The scales of black python which might be useful in alchemy. Well, Shan knew a thing or two about alchemy, but had no clue on how to use them.

Next, Shan collected the few remaining spirit peaches from the uprooted tree. They were not anything super beneficial to him, but they could be used to fulfil his boundless hunger at times. Shan was about to approach the beetle when a notification came.

[You have played a hand in killing a Giant Black Beetle (Copper- 0.7).]

'Played a hand?' Shan mused. 'Alright.'

He then looted the giant insect corpse, which didn't satisfy him as much as the python's. He only got 147 evolution points from it. Well, the snake was stronger and huge. 'I guess what they say is wrong. Size does matter.'

Shan's business here was done, but he lingered there, eyeing towards the high ridge before him. It was about a couple of miles high, and there was likely a river on the other side. Shan deduced from the noises he was getting.