It was dark, so dark that I couldn't see anything; I couldn't even feel my limbs. I wish I could at least feel my body.
Confirmed. Building a body without limbs… Successfully.
In the infinite darkness I could hear a voice, a voice that seemed familiar to me…
"No, wait! I didn't ask for a body without limbs!" I panicked as I recognized that it was the voice from the world of Tensura , which had interpreted that I didn't want limbs. …But my words got no response.
If I am where I am supposed to be, I must be careful what I think from now on.
Not knowing if there would be a time limit, I decided to make the request I wanted.
Tyrant 's abilities , with its abundant vitality and its ability to adapt to adversity to become the apex predator —I wished with all my might that my request would come true. … I waited I don't know how long without a response. When I thought I would not succeed…
Confirmed. Unique Skill "Tyrant"… Successfully acquired.
Yes! I was jubilant at having succeeded. Slowly, my consciousness faded into darkness.
___________________
My consciousness was returning, and with it, I could feel that I had a body again. But something was missing. My vision began to clear little by little, only to reveal a completely different view than what I was used to. My visual perception, once filled with human colors, now resembled that of an infrared camera.
In my daze at the new sight, I turned my attention to my body.
As I thought, really?! Did you have to misinterpret that part of my thoughts?
I rolled my eyes at what I saw: the body I had spent countless hours sculpting through grueling exercises was gone. In its place was the emaciated body of a snake. This was the new body the voice of the world had prepared for me… all because of overthinking.
Well, there's no need to cry over spilled milk. At least I didn't turn into a slime.
—Speaking of slime , what abilities do I have? —I asked myself, beginning to search for an answer within myself.
As if by instinct, information appeared in my mind. This knowledge contained the skills I had acquired.
Although I didn't know all of its capabilities, I instinctively knew how to activate them. After performing several tests, I managed to come to several conclusions, supported by my knowledge of the Tensura Wiki .
Interesting. As part of my intrinsic abilities for being a snake, I gained heat source perception, which is responsible for my peculiar sight. It works passively, and if I train it, I should be able to turn it off. Also, I got the poison bite skill, which grants me a magic organ capable of using my magicules to generate poison, which is secreted from my fangs.
But most importantly, my unique skill, "Tyrant." Apparently, this was made up of three sub-skills.
Self-Regeneration: An ability to heal my wounds at the cost of my magicules , but this only works if my brain is not damaged. Losing consciousness would also prevent self-regeneration.
Adaptive Resistance: Basically, it helps me gain resistance to the types of damage my body suffers. It's another name for the reactive adaptation that other OP characters in anime usually have. Last but not least, the ability that turns the Tyrant into a true predator and not just a masochist.
Transformation: An ability capable of allowing me to take on physical characteristics based on my thoughts. In this world, it's a rather OP ability , if I may say so. With enough data on some species in this world, I could eventually replicate their intrinsic abilities without needing to acquire them. But nothing is perfect: one of its restrictions is that taking on different characteristics comes at a cost of magicules to maintain. The higher the complexity or size, the higher the consumption.
So, to recap: I have Heat Vision that allows me to avoid being caught off guard by sneaky monsters; a Skill that allows me to generate Poison to render my prey vulnerable; Transformation to take on the most suitable form to hunt each type of prey I set my sights on; Adaptive Resilience to gain resistances to the types of damage I expose myself to; and Self-Regeneration to use Adaptive Resilience without fear of dying in the process. I couldn't have gotten off to a better start!
I don't know what my situation is right now. It would be best to stay hidden and look for clues that will help me understand it.
Using my thermal vision, I looked around in all directions. I could see several heat signatures. They looked like the silhouettes of more than a dozen rabbits, but each had a pointed horn on their foreheads, similar to a unicorn's horn.
Those guys should be horned rabbits, one of the weaker monsters in the forests. This tells me that I am in a forest. At the moment, I don't know which one, although even if I did it would be irrelevant. I compared my body to theirs. If I remember correctly, they should be about the height of a large dog, something close to one meter. My body, in comparison, should only be two meters in length at most, something small even among the poisonous snakes on Earth.
If my size is an indicator of my strength, coupled with the intrinsic abilities I have, my rank as a monster race according to the "Free Guild" ranking system should be (E), similar to an average adult. Although, with my unique ability and human intelligence, my rank as a unique monster should be at least rank (D).
After finishing my thoughts, I decided to look for a discreet hiding spot that would provide me with protection and be away from other monsters. Being careful not to alert any monsters and making use of my infrared vision, I retreated from that place filled with rabbits. I might be able to deal with one of them, but it would be unwise of me to get into a fight with more than ten of them without a plan. To my delight, my infrared vision didn't work like that of the snakes on Earth, which only allowed me to see a meter away. My ability allowed me to see up to ten meters away. It was a magical ability after all, not something scientifically correct. Although somewhat short compared to human eyesight of over five kilometers, it was useful, at least until I acquired a perception skill.
My journey took me about half an hour, I think. Without a watch, it's hard to judge time. After that time, I eventually found a hole in the trunk of a towering tree. The hole was near its top, a good place to hide out of reach of ground predators. Before entering, I made sure to scan the surroundings with my infrared vision in case it was a trap or if the owner might be nearby. After waiting several minutes and seeing no signs, I decided to enter.
When I entered, I could see scattered feathers like a nest. Given the size of the feathers, it must have been a medium-sized bird, larger than woodpeckers, but smaller than eagles.
Now, with a better hiding place, I was able to relax and lose myself in my thoughts.
Damn trucker… son of a bitch… suck cock… fuck you… and your ***** too… I hope you end up in Boku no Pico …!
And I continued to rant for several minutes. It was only when I ran out of insults that I decided to stop.
Ah… no point in complaining anymore. The bastard probably died in the accident too. It wasn't a safe place for the truck to be out of control. It would probably break the retaining walls, go off the road and fall into a ditch. That is if it didn't end up crashing into another poor driver. Well, at least I ended up in a world I know relatively well and it's not as shitty as the world of titans or fucking Warhammer 40k. Those are horrible worlds to live in.
I shudder at the thought of ending up in one of them.
So… it turns out I've always lived in Veldanava's creation. A curious fact, really. I wish I could see the faces of those believers who prayed to those gods and claimed theirs was the true one. Ha, none of you were right. The one who was right was Fuse. Who knows how he got that information.
That aside, I think I need to plan what to do with my new life. If my previous life taught me anything, it was that while I can wing it, I'm better at planning things out meticulously, especially contingency plans for when the original plan falls through, which it does a lot.
Although I would like to start planning, without knowing all the details of the environment I am in it would be foolish to make any plans. I'd rather focus on practicing using my skills.
With that said, I began my long training session, in which I focused on learning how to control my infrared vision. I tried to control the flow of energy that was circulating towards my eyes, energy that I assumed was magicules . I tried to stop it by focusing my concentration on my eyes and willing the flow to stop.
After several attempts, I managed to disable my passive ability. The sight that greeted me once it was deactivated was one of complete darkness. Not because I didn't have vision, but because it was apparently nighttime. Plus, since I was in a lush forest, the light from the moon and stars barely made it through the canopy, just enough to provide a dim illumination to the surroundings. Still, everything was very dark. I could make out the silhouettes of trees and bushes in the distance, but little else. When I turned my gaze back to the nest, I noticed something was missing.
Why can't I see the feathers?
Approaching where I had seen several of them, I could feel them with my soft belly, but my sight could not perceive them. To check, I used my infrared vision again, with which I could see them clearly.
So it's invisible feathers… A medium-sized invisible flying monster. Since it's not in its nest right now, it must be nocturnal… it should be a "One-Eyed Owl", a monster that usually feeds on rodents even weaker than itself. Its greatest feature is its invisibility ability, which is flawed since it doesn't cover one of its eyes.
With my repertoire of skills, he shouldn't pose any threat to me. If I hide and wait for him, it might be easy to kill and devour him. For now, I should practice with Transformation ; this skill should be my biggest trump card at least until I gain more strength.
I spent the rest of the night practicing with Transfiguration . I started with simple things, like changing the color of my body. It wasn't difficult. Similar to a chameleon, I could change the colors of my scales, which were originally jet black, to any pattern I desired. The next thing I tried was altering the texture of my scales, going from a smooth texture to a rougher one. As practice, I tried to mimic the appearance of wood, which would allow me to hide relatively easily in the forest.
Then I tried more complex things. With Transformation , I was even able to acquire limbs by taking the form of a lizard I had seen along the way. Unfortunately, the consumption of magicules was too high to maintain it. For the time being, it would be impossible for me to return to a human-like form; I had to get used to the crawling life of a snake.
After much testing, I came to the conclusion that my magicule reserves would barely be enough to double my size for less than five minutes. Although I wanted to try larger forms, my danger instinct warned me that attempting this would have serious consequences. Being cautious, I gave up. If there is one thing monsters can rely on, it is their instincts.
My magic reserves may have been low, but thanks to that I could replenish them in a relatively short time, due to the overabundance of magicules in the environment. This even made me speculate that the forest I was in might be the "Jura Forest". However, without further evidence, I couldn't be sure.
To my surprise, after so many hours, I didn't feel the need to sleep. This seemed great to me, as I planned to ambush the owner of this nest when the sun came up.
After waiting for several hours, when the sun was about to rise, I heard fluttering sounds near my location, which caught my attention. With my thermal vision, I could see an owl flying by. Knowing that my moment was near, I quickly used Transformation to make my body take on the color and texture of the tree. Afterwards, I carefully climbed out of the hole in the trunk and waited for it on a branch, completely still and silent.
When it came in front of me, I could see it in more detail. Its appearance was similar to that of any owl; however, a kind of plumage covered one of its eyes, while the other was uncovered. The interesting thing was that the latter, the uncovered one, was the visible one. That was the reason why its invisibility always left one of them exposed. The key to its invisibility lay in its feathers.
Mystery solved… Now, let's wait for an opportunity.
I waited for several minutes. I could afford it, since the transformation I was using didn't consume much more than what it replenished from the environment. Only when I noticed that his heat signature had begun to cool did I know it was time to act. Careful not to make any noise, I slipped back into the hole.
The nest wasn't very big, just enough for him to use. My goal was simple: stop him from escaping and bite him with my poison. Afterwards, it would be a battle of endurance, something easily handled with Self-Regeneration .
One two three.
Like a spring, I propelled myself straight towards his neck. When I was close, I opened my mouth, revealing my sharp fangs. With the momentum of my body, my fangs dug into his neck with ease. I could feel my venom entering his bloodstream.
The pain this caused woke him from his sleep. He quickly began to lash out at me using the claws on his legs and his wings. Thanks to the excitement of the moment, I completely ignored the pain of the wounds he inflicted on me. With Self-Regeneration I didn't have to worry as long as my head wasn't damaged, and with it attached to his neck, it wasn't a problem. The more he moved, the more the poison spread through his system. If the fight dragged on, he would die; but I didn't want to wait any longer.
Using my flexible body, I wrapped it around his neck and began to apply force. Little by little his neck was contracting, preventing him from breathing, until… Crack . His neck broke, and with it, his desperate struggles stopped.
In front of me, One-Eyed Owl's body lay motionless.
As the Japanese would say… itadakimasu.
After imitating the Japanese saying bon appetit, I used Transformation to enlarge my body. I opened my mouth wide and, in one gulp, I swallowed the corpse into my stomach. I could feel the body slowly being broken down by my stomach acid into magicules that I could use.
Unlike a snake on Earth, it only took a couple of minutes for my body to fully digest the corpse. I felt the abundant energy filling my body, making it stronger and expanding my reserve of magicules by a degree.
It feels great. I now understand why mindless monsters instinctively seek to consume other monsters. I could describe this feeling of becoming stronger as similar to consuming a dozen Monsters or Red Bull. It fills you with energy and you just want to keep going and going, without worrying about anything else.
I shook my head vigorously to get out of that state of mind.
Don't get carried away, old man. You know what happens to reckless guys... You're smarter than that.
I told myself not to get lost in the momentary euphoria or do something stupid that I might regret later. After calming down, I began to reflect on my first battle.
From the wounds he managed to inflict on me during the fight, I can conclude that the One-Eyed Owl is at least one rank higher than my current race. Without the aid of Self-Regeneration, he would have died before my poison finished him off. That is, if my poison could even kill him. In the end, I strangled him instead of waiting for the poison.
Assuming I'm rank (E) physically and he's rank (D), the boost his body provided to my magic pool should be equivalent to his. However, I don't feel like my pool has doubled even at that rank. Perhaps my body can't take full advantage of the resources to enhance itself.
After all, I don't have a super-smart AI that helps me manage my skills or answers all my questions.
Maybe I should have asked for an AI for the voice of the world. Although, on second thought, that would make the isekai experience way too boring. It would be similar to when I played Minecraft on a survival server with the boys and we didn't block cheats. At some point, we'd all end up taking stuff out of creative and ruining the survival experience. That always ended with everyone quitting out of boredom.
After a few minutes of waiting, my state of stimulation wore off, and with it, tiredness finally caught up with me. I began to feel the need to sleep. With my shelter free from the threat of its owner attacking me while I slept, I was finally able to relax and rest.
I wrapped my body around my head in defense and let go of my consciousness. Although I can't close my eyes, I slowly entered a sleep-like state.
…
My consciousness returned after who knows how long. The first thing I noticed was that the sunrise I had seen before going to sleep had transformed, once again, into night.
I slept all day. I guess I'm a nocturnal species and, at least until I become a semi-spiritual life form, I'll have to go about my routine at night. This involves certain risks; normally the largest predators are nocturnal.
My gaze turned to the feathers left in the nest. Even after all this time, they still maintained their invisibility effect, which gave me an idea.
If I could replicate that effect on myself, it would help me in my future ambushes. With that in mind, I attempted to make my body invisible. Unfortunately, after many attempts, I was unable to achieve this.
Although I knew how invisibility worked by bending light, my body couldn't achieve such an effect. I was missing something for it to work.
My gaze remained fixed on the feathers.
If I can't do it on my own, it's just a matter of learning from others who have.
I knew I needed the data on how those feathers worked; I had to analyze them. To do that, I had to make use of the information I had read on the Tensura wiki to obtain certain abilities.
Step one: get Mana Perception.
To achieve this, I used the magicules in my body, trying to make them interact with the magicules around me. I used my will to make them transmit to me the information of the light and sound waves that affected them. The process was long and tedious. Hours passed; the night gave way to a new day, then another night and another day.
My magical reserves were continually depleted, forcing me to stop and rest. When they reached less than thirty percent, I would seek out easy prey to replenish myself more quickly: a horned rabbit here, a lizard there, and then return to my practice.
After several days, a voice resonated in my mind…
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Mana Perception"… Successfully acquired.
Confirming that what I was hearing in my head was true, a wave of information flooded through my mind like a raging river. After just a few seconds with the skill active, my head began to hurt intensely. I quickly deactivated the skill, as a strong migraine threatened to drive me crazy.
It seems I succeeded. And as I expected, my current body is not capable of using it properly. A few seconds were enough for my brain to nearly fry. I didn't even have time to understand my surroundings. Furthermore, creating the skill consumed almost all of my magic reserves.
It can be seen that the voice of the world has very precise control over how much energy is needed to acquire skills without harming the user, since if he did not have enough magicules, he would not be able to acquire it. That possibility would have begun to be believed if a couple more days passed without results.
I should refrain from trying to obtain another skill in a short period of time, or it could cause my magic reserves to permanently decrease, which would practically be crippling me in this world.
With that warning in mind, I decided to spend the next few days exploring the forest around me. Up to that point, I had only explored a few dozen meters around my hiding spot.
On my walk – or whatever you call crawling like a snake – I was able to see more of this forest. Thanks to the abundance of trees, I was able to move relatively safely through their branches. Coupled with my camouflage through Transformation, I stayed out of sight of other monsters. While I'm sure some of them spotted me, seeing that I was just a small snake, they didn't even bother to attack me. Cretins. They'll later regret not killing me when I was weak.
From my elevated view, I could observe the great diversity of flora and fauna: common ferns being devoured by a group of horned rabbits, which in turn were hunted by a group of Blade Tigers. These monsters, similar to sabre-toothed tigers, had longer and sharper claws, along with a tail that resembled a sword at its tip.
After hunting down the group of horned rabbits and feasting on their bodies, the Blade Tigers were themselves hunted by a Sword Grizzly. This monstrous bear, standing over six meters tall, had its back and shoulders covered in sharp spikes. However, before it could enjoy its trophies, even this imposing creature ended up being hunted by a Thunder Tiger.
The Thunder Tiger was a white tiger that stood over two meters tall. It might not have been as imposing as the Sword Grizzly, but the blue currents of electricity running through its body were no joke. The Sword Grizzly found out for himself when it was struck by lightning. Not only was its fur burned, but its body was paralyzed. Taking advantage of that moment, the Thunder Tiger finished it off by slicing its neck with its sharp claws.
Ah, the nature of the strongest in all its splendor. No matter how strong you are; there will always be a sky above the sky.
I nodded several times at the sight. Many people might not enjoy such a… wild environment. But for me, it was comforting. An environment without intrigue, without responsibilities like paying rent, without having to hide certain aspects of myself to fit into "society." Without pleasing an annoying boss to get the well-deserved promotion he denied me for years.
Here the only thing that mattered was who was stronger.
As I continued to watch the Thunder Tiger devour its prey, my thoughts began to wander.
I'll miss my man cave, as well as the guys. Those guys were great. Some of them may have been a little nerdy or too outgoing for their own good, but we could all be completely honest with each other. If something was bothering us, we'd say it to each other's faces without hypocrisy. If we had conflicts, we'd settle our differences with a fist fight. The winner was right. Now that was friends. If I make it to the top of this world, maybe I'll visit them.
Agreed! Let this be one of my future goals. I must brag to their faces that I had my isekai adventure and they didn't.
With this new goal added to my list, my determination to become stronger was once again reinforced. After that, I continued exploring the forest. I spent the next week exploring in a westerly direction. Along the way, I encountered new monsters, mainly insect monsters: bees, wasps, moths, beetles, ants, etc. They were all much larger than their versions in my old world. Apparently, this part of the forest was dominated by them, as I encountered very few individuals of other races.
Along the way, I hunted several of the weaker solitary insects, such as beetles and caterpillars. It's not that I didn't want to find better prey, but most of the monsters in this region were much stronger than me, and they had the advantage in numbers, as was the case with the wasps, ants, and bees. Trying to kill one of them would lead to a quick death.
After traveling for so long without finding the edge of the forest, I realized that it was a huge place. Tired of the oppressive environment dominated by insects, I decided to return to the territory where I was born. This return trip took me another week. When I finally returned to my old hiding place, I was finally able to relax.
Thunder Tiger, Army Wasp, Sword Grizzly, Giant Ant… and most importantly: Tempest Serpent. The former could appear in any forest with abundant environmental magicules , but a Tempest Serpent … they can only be born in one place in the world. It is confirmed: I am in the "Jura Forest", the territory of the Storm Dragon, Veldora.
It was correct. During my journey, I had seen a Tempest Serpent from a distance . Its existence confirmed the forest I was in.
I shrugged my hypothetical shoulders indifferently. After all, I had already speculated as much. My body may be weak, but I have a unique ability, something incredibly rare in a newborn monster due to the high energy costs required. Only a place with immense amounts of magicules could give birth to unique monsters. That place would, necessarily, be a site filled with high-level monsters or under the influence of an immensely powerful monster. What better place than the home of the True Dragon who can't control its power and constantly releases its aura all around?
Ok, I know where I am, more or less. This forest is huge; it would take me months to get out of it, something I am not willing to do. Starting in this place is not bad at all. At least there is an abundant supply of magicules here that promote the development of monsters. This makes it the best hunting ground I could ask for.
consider indispensable. After weeks of wandering, I could feel that the consequences of having acquired Mana Perception had disappeared. It was similar to getting tired very quickly after doing a light exercise; only, in my case, it happened when using my skills. I could feel that my magicules were no longer in a chaotic state. Furthermore, my magic reserves had increased thanks to my continuous monster hunts. I was confident that I would not face such a regrettable situation again.
With the previously acquired Mana Perception skill , obtaining the next skill would be relatively simple. Activating Mana Perception after more than ten days of not using it, the wave of information once again overwhelmed my mind. But this time I had a countermeasure: I used Transformation to enlarge my body. It wasn't just an increase in size, but in all of my physical capabilities, including my brain.
With my increased processing capacity, I was able to understand the information I was receiving. A new world opened up before me: everything within a radius of hundreds of meters was within my new perception at three hundred and sixty degrees.
Even with my countermeasure, I could feel a serious headache brewing in the background. It was that pain that brought me out of my dream state.
Focus… you're running out of magicules .
Feeling my magical reserves rapidly draining, I began the next step: wishing with all my will. A wish to the voice of the world. I wished to acquire the skill Thought Acceleration . And in response to my wish…
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Thought Acceleration"… Successfully acquired.
After hearing the notification in my mind, I quickly deactivated my abilities, returning by my normally small size.
With this skill, that makes two. I'd say my magic reserves are at thirty percent, much better than last time, when I got to ten percent and barely survived. I'll take a break for a few hours and try them out on my next hunt.
…
A few hours later, with my magic reserves full, I embarked on a new hunt. Using Mana Perception and Thought Acceleration , it wasn't difficult to find a target. Within a few minutes, in front of me, at a distance of more than twenty meters, a group of eight Leech Lizards were heading in my direction, chasing a Horned Bear.
The Leech Lizards looked similar to the velociraptors from Jurassic Park , but their scales resembled human skin. They were fast and worked very well in groups. Poor Horned Bear knew what was in store for him if he stopped running for his life and started a fight with them.
Making a prediction about the path they would take based on their movements, I camouflaged myself around a tree I was sure they would pass by. I could see the Bear passing by me, followed a few seconds later by the group of Leech Lizards. I waited patiently for them to pass.
Just as the last and furthest of the group was within a few inches of me, I used Thought Acceleration . Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion. With pinpoint precision, I bit down with my fangs on the back of his neck, injecting him with as much venom as I could. I then pulled back my bite and quickly returned to my camouflaged state. Out of caution, I shifted to a higher position in the tree. The entire process took less than a second.
My bite seemed to only throw him off balance for a moment, but he continued the chase without any problems, not even bothered by the jabs on his neck. A smile spread across my serpentine face. As they continued the chase, I followed from behind, in no hurry.
Despite the Horned Bear's best efforts, he was unable to shake off his pursuers. Annoyed and cornered, he showed his craziest side by charging at them. The battle was intense. The Bear used his bulky body, claws, and horn to hurt several Lizards, but they did not make it easy for him. Using hit-and-run tactics — kiting — they quickly managed to inflict wounds all over his body.
However, my attention was not on the bear, but on the lizard that I had bitten.
I could see how, little by little, its movements became slower. Even the Bear noticed it, making it its priority target. Despite the efforts of the rest of the group to distract the Bear, it completely ignored them, seeking to quickly finish off the poisoned Lizard.
Ignoring the bites of the other Lizards, the Bear struck him with a powerful claw, launching him off the battlefield. The blow was such that his flight only stopped when he hit a tree. Due to the damage from the blow, added to my poison, the Lizard was unable to get up. With one less, the Bear resumed his fight against the others.
Stealthily, I approached the Lizard's body and confirmed its motionless state, a clear indication of its death. Without wasting time, and before the battle ended, I enlarged my body to the maximum to devour it. Due to its size, this was especially difficult, but I managed it by arranging it in a suitable position for swallowing.
After swallowing it all, I quickly slipped away from the scene. I didn't want to face the winner with a full stomach.
After several minutes of traveling, I returned to my hiding place. By this time, I had already finished digesting the Leech Lizard. As a result, my body grew a bit, from the original two meters to the current three meters. With my new size, I had less space in the hiding place.
It seems that consuming that Lizard brought about quite a few changes in me. I feel like I have reached the limit that this body can bear. It is similar to having reached adulthood, where the body cannot grow any further. This means that I am about to evolve.
I should find or create a larger and safer hiding place, since the evolution involves sleeping for a long time, which would leave me vulnerable to other monsters. And if I take the Tempest Serpent as a role model, my body will surely grow quite a bit with the evolution.
Seeing that it was still a long way off before dawn, I decided to begin building my hideout. As I was already quite accustomed to this tree, I decided to make a burrow beneath its roots, in which I would store several prey items, enough to trigger my evolution. It would only be a matter of blocking the entrance before consuming them.
Since a snake lacks the ability to dig, I used Transformation to take on a form similar to a quadrupedal lizard. With my claws, I began the work of digging. Thanks to my larger magic reserves, I was able to maintain my Transformation for a longer period, around a couple of hours.
When my magicules ran out, I decided to rest for a while and then go hunting. I limited myself to hunting only horned rabbits, knowing that these would not trigger my evolution.
The forest was teeming with these little creatures. It seemed that even the goblins fell short compared to them in terms of birth rate. I only needed to eat a few to return to my optimal state, after which I would return to my digs.
I spent the whole night following this routine. Eventually, I managed to complete the job, along with eliminating a large proportion of the horned rabbits in the area.
I was in an underground space measuring ten square metres in area and one metre high. I was lucky: the tree roots served as supports, preventing the structure from collapsing under its own weight.
I think this size is enough. I doubt it will grow beyond ten meters, and that's saying a lot - I thought as I looked at the result of a night of hard work.
Gathering a mound of leaves that I had left near the entrance of my burrow, I proceeded to hide it. As a final touch, I used a good amount of soil to seal it from the inside. As for ventilation, I left a small opening in another direction to allow air in. With the sun's rays on the horizon marking a new day, I began my well-deserved rest. The next time I woke up, I would prepare for the evolution.
…
A new night presented itself before a sleepy me. After resting during the day, it was time to put my evolution plan into action. I opened the entrance to my burrow, which I had sealed, and headed to a territory where I had discovered a few Giant Bears. It only took me a dozen minutes to reach the place. Although I didn't find any where I had seen them last time, thanks to Mana Perception and its range of more than three hundred meters, I was able to track their footprints, which led me to a cave where I felt the presence of one of them.
Time… how do I do it? If monsters needed to drink water, I could poison their source, but that's not the case. I could poison a prey prepared for it, but my poison has already proven to be not very potent against monsters stronger than me. Even by injecting it directly into their bodies, I don't expect much of an effect from consuming it through prey.
I weighed my options several times. They all presented problems: ending up in a direct fight, running away and waiting for another monster to kill him, or trying to snatch the corpse from the third party involved. Finally, I settled on a practical idea, even though it was not to my liking.
…Anything to become stronger. Traumas are temporary; great strength is forever —I told myself to gather courage.
Stealthily, I entered the silent cave. From what I had learned, most Bear monsters were diurnal. Sure, they were sometimes active at night, but they preferred to use it to rest. I could see him in my perception: he was lying on the floor of the cave, sleeping peacefully. Slowly, I approached, taking special care to control my malicious intent, something the monsters were especially sensitive to. To do so, I avoided harboring thoughts of harming him.
Gently, I slid down her side and around her body until I was positioned in front of her butt.
…Now or never, before I regret it.
With a firm resolve, I entered his anus. To make the job easier, I had reduced my size. Quickly, I slid deeper into his bowels. For his part, the bear woke up the moment I entered. He roared in fury and surprise at a sensation he had never experienced. Though bewildered, his instincts screamed at him that he was in danger. He tried to use his claws to pull me out, but to his chagrin, I was already fully inside. He could only stand helplessly at my forced entry.
Why the hell do monsters need anus? Aren't we supposed to break down everything we eat?
Little by little, I continued my journey. In the process, I created spikes on my scales with which I tore apart everything in my path. The bear could only roar in agony, unable to stop me. In my path, I found its organs, which I devoured. My actions drove the bear into a state of madness, in which, using its claws, it ripped open its abdomen in a desperate attempt to kill me and die together. Unfortunately for it, I had already reached its lungs and heart, which I destroyed upon seeing them. Like the trunk of a felled tree, its body collapsed lifelessly.
I left his body through his mouth, doing the reverse path of eating. It's not a good memory; I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I was completely covered in his blood and had to make a great effort to clean myself.
After being cleaned, I observed the lifeless corpse of the bear .
Sorry, kid, but you were too strong. I couldn't kill you under normal conditions, so I had to resort to these tactics. They may have been low even by my standards, but from your condition, it can be seen that they were effective. Rest in peace, Bear that I killed from his ass. Hahahaha.
After a feigned show of respect, I started laughing at the funny side of the situation.
It may have been disgusting, but who can boast of having taken down a stronger enemy by entering their ass? LOL. It'll be a fun story to tell.
Now came the hard part: what to do with the body. Although I had considered taking it back to my hiding place, on closer inspection I realized it wouldn't fit through the entrance I had built. I would have to break the corpse into parts for transport and storage.
I assumed my lizard form, this time with longer and sharper claws. With them, I turned the carcass into a pile of pieces of meat after much effort. I carried each one from the cave to my hiding place, similar to how a mother crocodile would move her babies, but with the added bonus of doing it discreetly so that no one would steal my food.
The process of going there and back took me several hours. Because I had finished off too many weak prey nearby, the rest had fled to more distant places, which also kept the hunting grounds of other monsters away. This combination of factors allowed me to complete my work without having to fight.
Inside my burrow, with the entrance blocked, I was ready to devour the feast before me: a mound of Giant Bear meat chunks. Hopefully, this would be enough to further my evolution and acquire one of the indispensable skills, which I knew of no way to obtain except by wishing for it during the evolution process.
Fingers crossed. If I don't get it now, I'll have to wait until my next evolution, which could take a long time and affect my power escalation… Let's go for it! —I thought as I began to devour all the meat.
As I finished eating, a feeling of drowsiness began to creep over me. It was time to sleep.
I want the analytical assessment skill, I want the analytical assessment skill, I want… —I repeated in my mind over and over again, until drowsiness took over and I fell asleep.
…
Confirmed. Extra Skill "Analytical Evaluation" … Successfully acquired.
…
Once again, my consciousness returned, and with it, the new changes in my body after the evolution. My body, which previously measured three meters, now reached eight meters in length, with a thickness close to twenty centimeters. My scales were now thicker and harder. I spent a couple of minutes appreciating my new body.
Not bad. Since I don't know the name of my species… how about I give it one? Mmm… since I'm a completely black snake and I like "Edgy Lord" things… Mmm! Got it! Shadow Snake. Sounds awesome and cool — I nodded, satisfied with the name I had come up with.
This didn't count as a formal appointment, so it didn't pose any danger. Just naming an individual would trigger the "appointment." With my physical inspection complete, it was time to check the most important thing.
Did I acquire the analytical evaluation skill?…Yes, I got it! —I was thrilled to find that I had the skill I wanted.
It was time to analyze those feathers that he had carefully saved. The reason for this was that he had not found a One-Eyed Owl again.
I turned my attention to the feathers in a corner of the burrow. Invisible to the common eye, these feathers constituted a relatively inferior means of concealment in this world due to the existence of multiple skills. For example, the perception of heat sources easily countered them. However, they were still a key piece in understanding how monsters' skills worked, at least intrinsic skills.
I touched the feathers with my soft belly and activated Analytical Appraisal along with Thought Acceleration . With both, I was able to analyze their structure and composition. Although the information seemed overwhelming, thanks to Thought Acceleration , I endured the burden.
So that was the reason I couldn't replicate invisibility: I was missing the magic circuits responsible for its operation. Sooner or later I would have come to that conclusion, though without the understanding I gained with Analytical Evaluation , it would have taken me a lot of trial and error to get a possible result, and probably of lower quality than the One-Eyed Owl's.
It was now clear why I considered the three acquired skills as "indispensable." Especially when combined with my unique ability, they allowed me to do this…
Using Transformation , my body became invisible and disappeared from my mana perception.
This was because, for now, the ability could only pick up visible light and sound. Even so, it was still detectable by other means, such as noise, presence, heat, or traces left behind. However, this confirmed my theory: as long as I could analyze the monsters I encountered, I would be able to acquire their intrinsic abilities or any that the voice of the world had recorded on their material bodies, as well as their appearances.
An ability quite similar to Rimuru's Mimicry.
Since I was imitating the effects of a skill through my unique skill, and I had no intention of acquiring the invisibility skill, the voice of the world did not grant it to me.
Without worrying about continually losing magicules when acquiring skills, this meant that...
"It's time for the big hunt!" I said, a sinister smile appearing on my face.