RB Chapter 15 Leah's First Battle!

'Could it really be that I am jealous of her?

Is my yearning for freedom just a lie I tell myself.'

Leah was deep in contemplation as she stood next to Ivy in the elevator.

"Leah! A piece of advice! Whatever you want to attain requires you to become strong first!"

Ivy said when she saw her daughter deep in thought.

"Yes! Mother!"

Leah answered as a glow appeared in her eyes. Her mother's words had given her a path. She had found the way to even take the first step!

The moment the idea appeared, she pressed the number button of the floor her room was located on.

Ivy had been heading to her office located at the top floor and Leah had been tagging along.

"Why are you so excited?"

"I will tell you later!" Leah said mysteriously.

The moment the elevator doors opened, she jumped out and raced towards her room.

'Ah! Teenagers! She is like a little rabbit!' That thought passed through Ivy's mind.

'I am going to start training!' Her fists were clenched and her heart had sped up! She had become fired up!

She waited as the door scanned her biogenetic field.

She was trembling from impatience. The few seconds seemed like minutes to her.

The moment the scan finished, she didn't even wait for the door to fully open before she ducked inside. Her target was the VR(Virtual Reality) pod.

Elec mainly used his to play some online games.

Leah had not used it in a very long time, but now, she had just found a great use for it.

She entered it, and it sealed itself.

It was made in the form of a sleeping capsule. It was green, her favourite color.

Before ten years, it had been her favourite pastime when her mother was busy.

A gas was released and she involuntarily allowed it to be sucked into her body.

In this era, all forms of gas could be blocked from entering the body and if they did, the cells themselves would work to drive the gas out.

Her body naturally relaxed as she entered an unconscious state. Her breaths evened out.

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Leah opened her eyes to her room, it was the same as when she had fallen asleep. She woke up in the same pod.

This was the virtual world. It was an exact replica of Kampala city.

Upon stepping out of the pod, you could really see that she had some changes from her original self.

Her hair was of an unnatural emerald, so were her eyes.

Her dress was no more, instead, a body hugging scaly suit had replaced it.

It reached to the neck and had the same color as her hair and eyes.

It was so tight that it emphasized her curves. The prominence of her bust, the protruding hips and even the hourglass figure. Elec would definitely drool at her current self.

The way the light was reflected off the emerald scales made her even more beautiful.

'Its time!'

She thought as she raced out and towards the elevator.

Her destination wasn't anywhere here inside! It was outside the city.

Here in the virtual world, the city could be exited without any restrictions.

In the real world, getting permission to leave was hard and even if you eventually went out, the process would take a longtime.

Only the clan leaders of the ten clans were able to do as they pleased.

She was currently running in the road northwards. Her green combat suit was covering her feet and its color had darkened.

North, outside the city walls was a forest.

She had just entered it but her suit had lost all its luster and become pure black. She was walking...creeping forward at a very slow pace. Her emerald green eyes were looking around vigilantly.

Her feet were stepping on places were things which could make sound weren't.

Her senses were heightened and even her body temperature was lowered.

She had activated some of her snake genes. Her incisors had elongated, so had her tongue which was now frequently flicking out of her mouth.

Her dark round centers of her pupils had turned into vertical slits...right now, she was in a combat ready mode.

A snapping twig...ruffling leaves...a gust of wind. Everything was being sensed by her. She was trying to detect any unnaturalness in the surrounding natural environment.

'Be alert! Evolved beasts can hide anywhere! Don't let your guard down!' She was encouraging herself while creeping forward slowly.

A few beams of sunlight could be seen descending to the ground here and there...the ones which managed to pass through the holes created by the canopies.

The trees of this era could easily exceed 100m upon reaching adulthood.

She was carefully avoiding the places where light was passing through.

This was her first time but the instincts of the predator in her genes were guiding her subtly.

She had changed from a normal, naive, amateur to a first rate predator.

...then she heard it! Something had snapped! The sound was too low, but in her heightened senses, she had heard it.

Inexperience is still inexperience, she panicked, her heartbeat increased and she looked at where she had placed her right foot thinking that the sound had come from her carelessness.

She didn't trust her senses...or you can say, she chose not to due to her inexperience! A fatal mistake!

The sound had clearly come from the front.

The moment she looked down, it pounced! It had barely made any sound. Its temperature had also been somehow camouflaged from her heat vision.

No one wants to die, every single person strives to cling to life.

The black claw, which could fit her entire head and then some was just a few inches from her head!

Her eyes beneath her lowered head lit up!

'I can't disgrace myself! I can't die to this beast! It will be too humiliating!' Such thoughts instantaneously passed through her mind.

Her neck bones slackened and her head lowered down. It was like it had softened!

The claw missed and the beast passed over her.

She turned around the moment it missed, at the fastest speed possible, she turned around and her neck turned back to normal.

The beast landed at the exact moment her neck had shortened!

She entered a combat ready stance but her heart was in her throat. She even had the thought that the beast could hear it!

'I almost died to an amateurish mistake!'

Rage! She felt humiliated!

With a thought, the tight body suit which had stopped at her neck, lengthened and the scales creeped up her neck. Only her emerald vertical slitted eyes were left.

Even though it covered her entire head except the eyes and mouth, it didn't hinder her senses, on the contrary, it enhanced them!

She adopted a combat ready stance and proceeded to analyse the beast.

It was like a panther but darker and its eyes were white. Dark fur could be seen where the beams of light shined.

It was taller than her even with its posture low and waiting to attack.

It had a black vertical slit in each of its white pupils.

Both her and the panther like beast were evaluating there opponent...searching for any weaknesses to exploit for their benefit. The beasts in this virtual world were as intelligent as the humans.

Leah had calmed down and her tongue was currently flicking in and out of her mouth.

She was carefully scrutinizing every move the beast was making, the tension in its muscles...its breath and lastly its temperature!

She was trying to predict its next attack. Since she knew that she was inexperienced, she chose to let the beast attack first lest she expose her weaknesses if she did it first.

It pranced around her while she rotated around the spot to keep it in her sights.

It lowered its legs in preparation to strike after sometime!

It had run out of patience.

The moment it pounced, it appeared just one meter away from her in an instant!

That distance before that! She hadn't registered it before that one meter!

The fangs growing out of her mouth had a few droplets of green liquid glistening at their tips.

The beast used the same attack as the last one. Pouncing and attacking with its right claw.

The moment it reached just a few inches away from her, she twisted her body around it and wound herself around the leg before slithering to its neck!

The Musota Butwa clan could soften their bodies and they had malleable bones allowing them to contort their bodies like the snakes.

Her torso elongated and her mouth widened to unnatural levels when she unhinged her jaws!

She was going in for the bite! Their method of fighting always involved poisoning their opponents, before slowly exhausting them to speed up the spread of the poison! Without any genetic editing, they didn't really have a finishing move or anything powerful enough for frontal collision.

Her movement didn't have any tangible flaws, but nothing always goes as expected!