(Snake´s Perspective)

Slowly gaining my consciousness back, I felt my aching body and hissed in pain. When flicking my tongue the pungent smell of blood waved over me. But the pain across my body overrode the smell. The pain was bearable and not nearly as bad as before, probably due to my pain resistance, but still enough to hurt like hell. 'Hehehe, I´m still alive. I thought I wouldn´t wake up after falling unconscious.' So with tired eyes and an aching body, I raised my body to scan my surrounding, but as always when I wake up a chain of notifications blocked my vision. Putting them away for now I raised my head.

The first thing I saw was a blinding light that assaulted my eyes. Wincing back I covered my eyes with my tail and let my eyes slowly adjust to the bright light. Only after a few seconds was I able to see, that the wolves I killed are still there untouched. Slowly remembering what happened I looked below me and grinned slightly. 'You damn mutt should have stayed where you came from.'

Coming out victorious and surviving another day felt unexpectedly... good. It may have been a close victory, but a win is still a win.

This day a small fire lit up as my desire to live a free life burned stronger than ever. And to achieve that goal, I have to give 110%, because just to survive in this underground hellhole needed 100%.

And with the small determination, I gained a little bit of energy back. Sweeping my sight across I spotted someone leaning against the glowing Malim tree, painting a beautiful picture of a peacefully sleeping monster with a beautiful smile on her face. Sleeping against the glowing tree made her look like she had a holy shine to her.

My eyes widen as I saw the scenery, but my heart ached when I noticed her wound-ridden body.

Seeing Sahra so hurt and weak made me feel uncomfortable.

Moving my hurting body I slowly slithered towards her, but something was different this time because when I raised my body up, I could reach her head even if she was sitting... Normally I would only barely reach her upper belly when she was sitting.

Leaning closer I put my forehead on her nape checking her pulse.

Feeling the warm body's beat I let out a sigh of relief. Now knowing that she is save and only sleeping I checked my own body. Comparing myself to Sahra I could see that I was about 2 meters long, quadrupling my length, from my former half a meter. But despite my length, I stayed relatively slim. Seeing that there were no further changes other than my size I curled around Sahra in a protective manner and laid my head on her lap but still stayed on guard all time.

Sensing that there weren´t any living wolves nearby I guessed that Sahra almost soloed the first wave somehow and there is a break between waves. I still don´t know how many waves there are or how long the time between waves is, but from the system notification, it clearly said, that we have to prepare for the first wave…meaning there are more than one.

*Sigh*

I just wanted a free and slow life… but now an entire floor is literally trying to kill me including the dungeon itself...

Looking at the dozens of system notifications that I received I couldn´t help but grin.

[You killed an adult Nebula Wolf!]

[133 Exp gained!]

[You killed an adult Nebula Wolf!]

[156 Exp gained!]

[You teased death gaining 3 intelligence!]

[You teased death gaining 5 intelligence!]

[You killed an adult Nebula Wolf!]

[130 Exp gained!]

[You killed an adult Nebula Wolf!]

[167 Exp gained!]

[You teased death gaining 5 intelligence!]

[You reached Level 10!]

[Good job on reaching Level 10!]

[Info: Reaching Level 10 is a big deal for monsters as not only do they unlock their monster core, they also can decide which path they want to evolve and specialize in. It could be compared to human´s job class, but monsters can´t change their specialization once chosen. It will also unlock additional mutations that will be available every 10 levels from now on. So choose wisely between the following:

Guardian Serpent: perks; hardened scales, increased muscle, taunt skill.

Spitter Snake: perks; faster movement, able to spray venom, enlarged venom gland.

Menacing Serpent, perks; increased size, crush skill, intimidation skill.

Shadow Snake, perks; conceal skill, unlock dark attribute, decreased detection rate.

Death Serpent, perks; weakened body, mutated eye, death glare skill, unlock death attribute.

Berserker Snake, perks; pain immunity, fire resistance, enhanced strength, lowered intelligence, emotionally unstable, increased in size.

Next specialization selection will be available once reaching level 40!]

...

Seeing the notification I remembered the big blue screen blocking my vision during my fight, leading to the damn wolf injuring me.

Cursing the system a dozen times, I took a few deep breathes and calmed myself.

Reading through the notification I was shocked and impressed at the same time but reading further my jaw dropped.

[System will choose for you as you are unable to choose from the following specializations and choose for the optional path: Menacing Serpent!]

'That son of a system choose for me! It is not bad, but now my change of starring monsters to death vanished! It would have been so cool damn it.'

Letting out another string of curses I grumbled and continued to read the long line of notifications.

[Due to overloading your body with mana you unlocked the siphon core, increasing your mana regeneration by 50%!]

[You are now able to receive and give one name!]

Ahhh, so that is what I gained after stuffing my stomach full of the sweet fruits, but was it worth being hunted down by the whole floor?

Only if I am able to survive this mini-event... at least I am getting much-needed exp.

Oh and I can finally have a name... but I can´t name myself as it seems. Wait I can give names now? Is it something special? Guess I will try it out on Sahra...

Finally, through all the notifications, I looked at my status.

'System show me my status please!'

[Status]

Name: ???

Species: Menacing grey youngling serpent (???)

Level: 9 --> 10

[Stats:]

Strength: 25 --> 43

Agility: 32 --> 40

Intelligence: 43 --> 62

Mentality: 38 --> 46

Hp: 80/120

MP: 50/50

Title:

1. Limit Breaker (Increases stat gain from evolutions)

2. Teasing death (What will not kill you will make you smarter)

Curse:

1. Gluttony (You will stay hungry and thirsty even if you eat and drink.) [Time: 3d 18h 23min 11sec]

[Skills: Venom Fang lv4, Launch Attack lv 3, Slither lv 3, Swimming lv 1, Pain Resistance lv3, Crush lv1, Intimidation lv1]

[Racial Skill: Grey Out lv1]

[Evolution Path:]

[Grey Scales]

[Venomous Fangs]

[Colorful Movement Sensing Eyes]

[Danger Smelling Tongue]

[Vibration Sensing Ears]

Holy shit, my stats went through the roof! It nearly doubled, even my skills leveled up. Oh, Pain Resistance leveled up two times! Yes!

And thanks to teasing death so often my intelligence stats are now my highest stat, making remembering and learning things easier.

*sniff* *sniff*

I came a long way since I´ve been born, I am so proud of myself.

Shedding a silent tear I smiled at my stats. Noticing that my species change I couldn´t help but smile a little as I am no longer a hatchling. I didn´t get the difference between snake and serpent but there probably isn´t one so I just shrugged it off. But then I saw the curse that I received for being a glutton. Seeing the timer I noticed that I was unconscious for around 5 hours. 'Well, I deserved that one I guess…the next 4 days will be a pain in my tail.'

Having finally a little bit of time to sort my thoughts again, I noticed that my way of thinking changed. Meaning that I´m faster frightened and even my behavior is now more childish than normal... well, I´m literally a few days-old snake with an undeveloped brain, despite having high intelligence stats.

'Wait do I have to go through puberty again!? Oh no, please don´t!' Just thinking about going through puberty with a hormone-controlled body pained me.

Letting out another tired sigh, I accepted my fate and used the change to rest my tired mind.

*flick* *flick*

'Wait a minute…'

*flick* *flick*

Smelling the familiar green smell next to me I looked at the source and saw the big, well now medium, purple crystal. Remembering the taste of 'sweet release' from the first time I ate one of the purple crystals, my mouth began to water. Thinking back, I recalled a system notification saying that I won't get the bonus due to my lack of a monster core, but now that I have one...

Turning towards Sahra who was in a deep sleep, I slithered towards it with opened jaws. Dripping with saliva I greedily swallowed it in one fell swoop. The familiar taste of 'sweet release' once again overloaded my senses as I wiggled in ecstasy.

And as I have predicted, I got a system notification.

*Ding!*

[You have eaten a monster crystal with a suitable affinity!]

[Poison whip lv1, poison resistance lv1, poison affinity lv1 unlocked!]

[Max mana capacity increased by 2!]

Grinning like a foul, I couldn´t help but thank the gods for this luck. I just wanted to secure a tasty meal from the Nagirus rats, but instead, I unlocked my poison affinity, got three skills, and a slight increase in mana capacity.

Using the time, I tested my new skill. At first, I wanted to cast the spell by saying it in my mind, but nothing happened. Out of anger I waged my tail and slapped it to the ground just to create leave an imprint on the floor. Looking closer I could see that the spot was now slightly purple with purple fumes coming out. Taking a quick peek at my stats I could see that this skill costs 10 mana! Meaning I could only cast it 5 times before running out of mana.

I slapped my tail on my face as I realized my own dumbness, 'How could I have overseen this with my high intelligence stat? ...Wait did I just slammed my poison-coated tail in my face...' Panicking I quickly put my tail down and waited for a reaction.

...

Feeling no pain or discomfort I sighed 'Phew, I am immune to my own poison...'

Now trying to figure out how my intimidation skill works; I did numerous things. Finally managing to do it after a few minutes of trying, by imbuing my hiss with mana, sending out a cone-shaped transparent red wave. Estimating the range, I would say that it has a range of more or less 5 meters and costing 30 mana peruse. That is more than double of my whole mana!

The last thing I did was to use my new Crush skill on one of the dead corps, which I regretted shortly after. I had to roll around the grass for 5 minutes to finally remove all the blood and gore from me, and to my surprise, this used mana... well it was a lot cheaper, only costing 5 mana.

Using up all my mana I felt sluggish and tired and concluded my test. Slithering back towards Sahra I laid my head back on her thighs.

After an hour or so I could feel Sahra move weakly while letting out pained moans.

Slowly regaining her senses she felt something on her lap and looked down. I could see that the black dots on her face widen in shock before cupping my head in her hands and bopping my head with hers. Pulling me into a hug, I could feel her soft hands running through my scales in a gentle manner. I let out a small, satisfied hiss. Moments like this reminded me of how good simple body contact could feel. After a few seconds what felt like minutes, she let me go. Looking in her pitch-black eyes with a smile I thanked her, 'Thank you for everything Sahra.'

Sahra suddenly froze up before a beautiful smile blossomed on her face, showing a blissful and delighted face despite the pain on her body. Not knowing why her mood just improved I tilted my head.

Ignoring my questioning look she pulled me closer and began to rub her cheeks on mine. I was shocked, no, not because of what she is doing, but because of the notification, I received.

[Singing Stone (sand) accepted the name 'Sahra' giving her the title, 'Thy who was named']

'So you will get a title after being named... I wonder what effect it gave Sahra.'

Finishing showering me with affection she looked at me once again, inspecting my new appearance carefully, she gave me an approving nod. But then she did something that almost made my eyes pop out of my sockets.

'How the...'