...
This time Aurelian chose the giant crab. Its claws were each the size of Grace's forearm.
As soon as Grace opened the inner gate, the crab surged forward. One claw snapped out, striking so quickly it blurred.
Aurelian narrowly twisted away. The claw struck the dirt with a crack, throwing up a burst of dust. A second claw slashed across his path but he was already coiling back, feinting left then lancing right.
He struck at the joint where the claw met the body. His fangs slid between the hard plates, injecting venom. The crab let out a chittering shriek, stumbling sideways. Aurelian struck again and again, each bite precise, wearing down its reserves.
Finally it listed to one side, legs spasming. Aurelian coiled around its central body, crushed down with powerful muscles, and bit once more. The crab went limp.
[Level up! Level 8 EXP: 292/900]
+1 Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution
+1 Free Point
Then he devoured it hoping to gain limb regeneration to fuse into some minor regeneration, but he was again disappointed.
[Skill Gained: Water Breathing (Passive)]
Aurelian felt his body subtly shift gill-like channels forming beneath his scales, though invisible. He inhaled experimentally. If submerged, he could now breathe without fear.
Useful, he thought so, then he turned back to the girls. Grace gave a shaky little laugh of pure relief. Emily exhaled hard. "Alright, so… your snake is basically a bottomless pit. How does he not even look bloated?"
Grace managed a faint grin. "Who knows?"
The next trial came after dusk. Lanterns were lit in the warehouse, shadows dancing along the cages.
This time Aurelian chose the armored pangolin. Its scales shone like overlapping knives.
I want those scales. Proper defense. Not just a snake's thin hide.
The pangolin immediately curled into a tight ball when the cage opened. Its scales locked into a nearly seamless shield.
Aurelian tested it with a tentative strike, his fangs glancing off harmlessly. He pulled back, considering.
Venom can still reach it. It must breathe.
He slithered around, seeking any small gap and finally found it near the creature's hindquarters. With a vicious lunge, he sank his fangs deep, pumping venom.
Minutes passed. The pangolin unwound suddenly, legs jerking. Aurelian struck again, this time at the exposed belly, the creature stilled and he devoured it.
[Talent Gained: Scales]
• Unlocks new special stat: Defense(Physical Defense)
• Physical Defense increased by +3
Aurelian could feel the difference immediately. His outer layer hardened subtly, a faint shimmer of resilience. Even if struck by a blade, he suspected it would not easily part his scales now.He then looked at his Defence stat and saw it was 5 which indicated his defence before was 2.
Beautiful, he thought with cold delight. Not even twice, but more than doubled my defense. Now we build the true foundation.
Four hours later, in the still hours before midnight, Grace returned, this time he slithered directly toward the chameleon's cage. Its colors rippled nervously, green to blue to pale sand. It flattened its body, trying to vanish against a branch.
Grace opened the cages, her hands only shaking a little this time.
The chameleon lunged with shocking speed, trying to catch Aurelian in its jaws. But he was faster by leagues. His body shot left, then twined around the branch, striking from above.
His fangs buried into the back of its head. The chameleon spasmed once, tongue lolling. Aurelian fed quickly.
[Talent Gained: EYES]
• You have 2 eyes.
• You can move each of them independently. This allows scanning for prey or danger simultaneously in different directions.
Aurelian froze for a breath. Then he felt it like a subtle loosening behind his eyes, a control that went beyond normal muscle twitches.
He tested it carefully. One eye focused on Grace's trembling hand, the other on Emily's half-lidded gaze. Then he stopped, blinking both forward again. No need to reveal such oddities yet. Let them think of me as nothing too special.
Still… an extraordinary advantage. I'll never be blindsided again.
Four hours later, Grace and Emily returned, Grace's eyes were ringed with shadows, dark circles etched into her pale skin. Emily followed like a limp ragdoll, half asleep, only stirring when Grace made a wry joke about a ghost with golden hair haunting the halls.
Emily punched her weakly in the shoulder. "Shut up or I'll actually throttle you, you lunatic."
Aurelian watched them both with a strange warmth curling low inside him. So exhausted… all for my sake. How curious that humans can care so recklessly.
He chose the three-eyed tuatara. Some novels and stories from his first life spoke of serpents growing a mystical third eye that could petrify. Perhaps he could gain such, he though so…
The tuatara was sluggish, a creature more suited to long patient watches than violent combat. It barely reacted before Aurelian's fangs found the base of its neck. It shuddered once, then went limp.
[Level Up! Level 9 EXP: 51/1000]
+1 Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution
+1 Free Point
Satisfied with the level up, he devoured it and something surprising happened.
[Your EYES talent evolves]
• You now have 3 eyes.
• Each can focus independently, granting you triple field processing.
Something crawled up from the center of his skull, a tightening, then a painless splitting. A tiny new eye opened on his brow pale white without any pupil but only an abyssal pinhole iris, looking demonic.
Aurelian's breath caught. A third perspective. He immediately closed it, scales shifting to hide the new lid. It vanished so seamlessly that no human would suspect.
Such eye although with no special abilities requires discretion.
Another cycle passed. Grace returned yet again, dark circles now bordering on grotesque. Emily stumbled along behind her like an empty puppet. They scarcely spoke.
Aurelian's heart throbbed strangely. Fools. Loyal, reckless fools.
He chose the panther. This creature was the swiftest of all, its muscles coiled springs of deadly might.
The moment the cage opened, it exploded toward him, claws outstretched, fangs gleaming. Its roar shook dust from the rafters.
This time it took some effort due to this guy being a natural predator with potential of reaching Transcendant just like Aurelian's white snake species, but after opening three eyes, unseen from the front, but granting him perfect triangulation. He slithered just under the swipe, coiled up, then shot backward as the panther twisted. It pounced again but this time he let it nearly reach him, then darted sideways and sank his fangs into its exposed ribcage.
Venom poured in. The panther thrashed, claws gouging the dirt, but it was already weakening. Aurelian struck twice more, then watched as its legs collapsed.
[Skill Gained: Quick Reflexes (Passive)]
• Grants peak reflexes below rank1.
Aurelian clicked his jaw softly. "Not bad"
He coiled back toward Grace. She picked him up with trembling hands, eyes wide. Emily whispered hoarsely, "This snake of yours is the most obscene anomaly I've ever seen, Grace. If he ever decides to turn on us, we're doomed."
Grace only smiled faintly, kissed Aurelian's head. "Then we'll trust he never does."
Morning crept up again. The girls returned one last time, looking like death given soft feet and hollow smiles.
Only the great eagle remained.
The eagle launched itself immediately, wings spreading, talons flashing like hooked knives. But the cage limited its true freedom it could only lift some metres before the bars forced it down.
Aurelian's three eyes tracked every twitch. As the eagle dove for his head, he slid beneath its shadow, coiled up and launched, catching it at the breast. His fangs tore deep.
The eagle let out a shriek that rattled the warehouse, then fell, twitching,this was also predator with potential reaching Rank1, but he killed it easily
[Level Up! Level 10 Advancement Possible]
+1 Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution
+2 Free Points
His body tingled, but unlike before, his length didn't increase and just stayed at 90cm. His status panel blinked.
[Talent EYES upgraded]
• You now have 3 eyes with 4× Vision clarity.
• Each can focus independently, granting you triple field processing.
• They can detect minute movements even over long distances. (increases with Perception)
He opened his eyes. The world sharpened dramatically, each mote of dust a dancing crystal. Across the warehouse, he could count the stitches in Emily's cuff.
Extraordinary, i finally got rid of terrible snake eyes, now i can finally see the colours i could as a human, it's even better now.
He coiled back up Grace's arm, pressing close. She sagged in relief, holding him to her chest like a precious gem. Emily just sat on a crate, head dropped forward, muttering, "Never again… never again…"
Grace's smile was tired but luminous. "Rest, Haze. You've earned it a thousand times over."
Aurelian closed his eyes but not out of fatigue. Merely to fool them into sleeping. So, he could finally investigate the Devour talent of his.
Minutes later, alone at last, Aurelian opened his system fully.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Status Panel]
Name: Aurelian Sors
Species: White Snake
[Level: 10] (Advancement Possible)
Free Points: 4
Normal Attributes:
[Strength: 12] [Agility: 13] [Endurance: 13] [Constitution: 14]
Special Attributes:
[Spirit: 10] [Perception: 10] [Charm: 9] [Defense: 5]
Talents:
[Devour] [Group Chat] [Scales] [White] [Eyes] [Poison]
Active Skills:
[Venomous Bite Lv3] [Lunge Lv3] [Tail Whip Lv3]
Passive Skills:
[Underwater Breathing] [Quick Reflexes] [Tail Regeneration] [Iron Mind]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Then came the transformation he had been waiting for. The old Devour description was gone, replaced by something different.
[Devour]
• You can now extract only those talents or skills that can fuse with your existing Abilities to enhance their potential and strength.
• Healing and recovery upon consuming prey still active.
• Similar talents or skills may fuse into stronger forms.
• You can select one main path and three branch paths (of same Fundamental Law) to combine them to form your own Path. This will transform your very existence, molding all future powers along this design. Any pre-existing talents or skills outside your chosen four paths will vanish. You will then walk a perfected, untainted path without conflicting lesser laws. This ensures your future ascension will be flawless, without any structural flaws. But this comes at a price, your EXP needs for each new level will be 5× higher than ordinary Paths.
Aurelian stared at this text for a long while, his eyes half-lidded, scales faintly rippling.
A perfect path. No hybrid abomination with conflicting traits. I can forge a purer being than anything this world has ever known, so this is what has become of devour, to forge a new path by combining laws.
He closed his panels, shut his eyes, and let out a slow, cold hiss of delight.
And all of this… began because of fragile elf with soft heart kept me close. How very… fortunate for her. If I rise, they may yet stand beside me. But what is this Fundamental law? Is it the origin of all the laws, no.. if it was then there won't be any conflict so it is some kind of higher law that govern the Universe such as Creation, Destruction, Space, Time? Then i need to think which to choose carefully.