Chapter 4

  Emily awakened from her pleasant nap. This one was much more comfortable, probably because she had a new, albeit shoddy, silk blanket.

  First things first, she needed to get to level 1. She wasn’t sure if monsters had the same logic, but the blurb for the game said human players would get 1 skill on odd levels.

  A new skill would diversify her fighting style, plus a level up would give her 2 free attribute points to use. She decided to look for stronger prey so she wouldn't have to farm mobs.

  Slithering out of her cave again, Emily decided to hunt birds. That way, she could test her Silk Shoot, hone her combat skills since all the birds she had seen were strong, and get XP all in 1 go.

  She scanned the ground for any birds perched on the ground. That would make the fight easier,

  and maybe she could sneak-attack it.

  And there, she spotted it. Scanning it with the system, she studied its build.

  Name: N/A | Species: Crimson-fronted Parakeet (F-Rank) [Juvenile] | Level: 1 [25%]

  Strength: 6 | Intelligence: 5  |  Constitution: 8 | Agility: 7 | Luck: 1

  HP: 75/80 | MP: 5/5

  Skills

  Talon Swipe (Level 1) | Aerial Dive (Level 2) | Wind Boost (Level 1)

  Bloodlines

  Crimson-fronted Parakeet (70%)

  Traits

  Hollow Bones | Mimicry

  The parakeet was strong, but if she trapped it, it would be stuck, unable to use any of its skills. The problem with that plan, however, was that the parakeet had already noticed her.

  Narrowing its eyes, it flew up into the sky, appearing to activate Aerial Dive. The bird swooped at her, delivering swift strikes. Luckily, some of the damage was mitigated.

  [Blocking successful! Damage reduced from 65 to 40.]

  It also scratched her once, leaving her at 24/70 health. She had gotten too confident. Gritting her fangs, she used that small window of opportunity when the parakeet was distracted to fire Silk Shoot at it.

  The parakeet was now trapped, and it was time for Emily to get some revenge. First, she attacked it with Tail Flick, reducing its health to 41/80. Then, she Bit it, so its health was now 25/80. The poison activated, slowly draining its health to zero.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  She was victorious! Dragging her wounded body closer to the corpse, she unhinged her jaw and swallowed it whole.

  [For defeating an enemy stronger than you, rewards are doubled!]

  She earned 38% XP, (76% after doubling) and her devouring rewards were coming.

  [Devouring successful! Acquired ? fragments of ‘Mimicry’ trait, 1 Fragment of Wind Boost (?), and 1 free attribute point. Rewards doubled! ‘Mimicry’ trait, 2 Fragments of Wind Boost, (2/4) and 2 free attribute points. ]

  Emily was pretty excited. She had leveled up, which meant she could select a new skill, she had a new trait, and 4 free attribute points! She looked at her new stats.

  Name: Emily | Species: Green Snakelet (F-Rank) | Level: 1/5 [2%/100%]

  [Skill Selection Available]

  Strength: 4 | Intelligence: 11 | Constitution: 5 (2) | Agility: 7 | Luck: 3 (max 10)

  HP: 70/70 | MP: 11/11

  Free Attribute Points: 4

  Skills

  Bite (Level 1) | Tail Flick (Level 1) | Silk Shoot (Level 1)

  Bloodlines

  Green Snake (60%, in growth stage)

  Traits

  Hard Scales | Mild Poison | Strong Tail | Silk Spinner | Mimicry

  Hmm… 4 attribute points… What should she put them in? Well, she would have to make that decision back at the cave. As she slithered back, she rested on her blanket while deciding what her attribute points should be.

  After a couple of minutes of pondering, she decided to put 1 point in Strength, 1 in Intelligence, 1 in Constitution, and 1 in Agility. Now, her health was 80/80, her MP was 12/12, her Agility was 8, and her Strength was 5.

  Plus, her Tail Flick would deal 47 damage, and her Bite would deal 20. Silk Shoot would also be able to last 60 seconds instead of 55 with her increased intelligence. Next, she looked at the Mimicry trait description.

  Mimicry

  As a snake(?) you have an innate talent for mimicry. You can copy the sounds and movements of other species you know about.

  Pretty good. Wait… does that mean I can speak now?!?!? Awesome! She realized pretty quickly, though, that it wasn’t perfect. Her voice sounded extremely scratchy, and her throat hurt from speaking. So, not the best option.

  She turned to the Skill Selection button. In front of her were 3 choices:

  Poison Ball

  This skill lets you create a ball of poison that deals (2 x STR/sec) for 17 seconds to enemies. By spending double the mana, you can also double the effect.

  Cooldown: 3 Minutes | Cost: 5 Mana

  Heat Vision (passive)

  This skill lets you sense heat from your surroundings.

  Silk Wrap

  This skill lets you wrap an enemy in silk. While in the cocoon, they lose (1%HP/5 secs) for 20 seconds.

  Cooldown: 10 Minutes | Cost: 10 Mana

  Emily pondered. All three skills were good, but she could only choose 1. System, she called out, will these skills be there for my next selection?

  [Some of them.] the system replied. [Probably at least 1 of them will be available.]

  She ruled out Heat Vision. While useful, it didn’t pack the same punch as Poison Ball or Silk Wrap. So now, she was stuck between the two.

  In the end, she chose Poison Ball. It was more effective for the present, plus she had an interesting idea on how to combine it and her Silk Spinner trait.

  If she spun some extra-sticky threads in front of her cave and coated them in poison, then anyone who tried to break in would be stuck and losing HP. Meanwhile, she could just slide under it.

  Now, she was full HP, had a new skill, and was significantly stronger than before. The current Emily would be able to defeat her past self with one simple attack.

  Should she try for another fight? New traits and skills sounded good, but she didn’t know how she would compare to the stronger Level 1’s.

  Leveling was essential, however. If she wanted to evolve and get stronger before the other players grew up, and with their cheats, decided to storm the rainforest, she would need to defeat stronger enemies.

  But if she fought all day without any rest, she might collapse from exhaustion. In the end, Emily decided to get some rest and fight the next day.

  Resting on her bed, the wild sounds of the jungle became her new lullaby.