On an evening after the rain, the damp air carried a faint fragrance of earth, while the croaks of frogs drifted over from time to time.
A rustling suddenly came from the grass nearby. Not long afterward, a giant rat cautiously poked its little head out of a burrow.
It carefully surveyed its surroundings for a while. Only after finding no danger did it gingerly crawl out of the burrow and slowly search for food.
It took a step, then paused, its beady eyes darting about as it sniffed the air with its little nose. It seemed ready to flee back into the grass at the slightest disturbance.
"Whoosh!"
A sound tore through the air.
Then a gigantic snake head clamped its jaws around the rat's body.
The rat was lifted into the air, and a thick, long body, like the bars of a cage, began coiling around it, squeezing away what little room it had left to move.
Only then did the rat belatedly realize it had been bitten. It panicked and let out a shriek, its little legs kicking frantically.
But was that any use? No!
The next moment, tremendous force bore in from all sides. The little rat that had been shrieking and kicking just a moment before gave one last twitch of its limbs, then fell silent.
A wisp of crimson blood began to seep from the corner of its mouth.
Only after everything was done did the culprit reveal himself: a giant snake, measuring three meters in length.
Beneath its small, delicate head lay a broad, flattened neck, as majestic and beautiful as a cloak draped over its shoulders. Fine scales covered its long, powerful body, their metallic sheen gleaming even in the dusk.
From afar, it looked like a majestic, domineering king.
Without a doubt, with a body this enormous and an appearance this imposing, it was worthy of being called the king of venomous snakes—the King Cobra.
Normally, the king of venomous snakes, the King Cobra, fed mainly on other snakes.
Unless it was starving, it rarely hunted prey like rats. A morsel that small simply wasn't worth the effort.
But this King Cobra was a little unusual.
Because he wasn't a snake—or, to be precise, he hadn't been a snake before.
His name was Bai Chuan. Ten days ago, he'd been an overworked office drone living on a blue planet, spending every day working himself to the bone and putting in overtime.
That night, he'd been working late as usual when everything suddenly went black, and he lost consciousness.
When he woke again, he discovered he'd become a snake—a King Cobra that had only recently reached adulthood.
Of course, when a person died, it was like a lamp going out. Bai Chuan didn't feel like dwelling on his past life now. He'd been an orphan, after all, with nothing much to miss.
The chance to live again was already more than enough to make him happy.
Half an hour later, Bai Chuan, having swallowed the little rat, crawled back into his tree hollow.
Feeling the familiar sense of safety, Bai Chuan finally relaxed completely and took a good look at what he'd gained that day.
As he stared at his own body with his snake eyes, an imperceptible glimmer flashed by.
At once, a dim panel unfolded before him.
'Name: Bai Chuan' 'Species: King Cobra' 'Lifespan: 8 years' 'Points: 0 (99.8%)'
He'd discovered this ability when he first came to this world. As long as he focused his gaze on his body, a simple panel would appear before his eyes.
Unfortunately, he'd been in this world for ten days and still hadn't figured out what the panel did.
The only thing that offered him a little comfort was the number in parentheses beside his points, which was gradually increasing with time.
After observing, thinking, and drawing conclusions for the past several days, he'd realized that the rate at which his points increased was connected to what he ate.
Normally, snakes ate their fill once, then went a week or even several weeks without eating again.
But he was a little different.
He could feel that whenever he was full, if he didn't deliberately force his body under control, streams of warmth would inexplicably flow through his stomach and then disappear.
It was as if they were gathering somewhere.
Whenever that happened, the rate at which his points increased on the panel would speed up. But if he forcibly controlled his body and went several weeks without eating, slowly digesting his food like an ordinary snake, the numbers on the panel would crawl along at a snail's pace.
It was as though he had an extra switch inside him, one ordinary snakes didn't have—a switch for fast digestion.
So far, this switch seemed to do more harm than good. Even so, it gave him something to look forward to, since the ability was closely tied to his panel.
And although the panel didn't seem useful yet, it was still a cheat-like ability. If he wanted to use it, he had to fill up his points.
Of course, he could give up. But could he really accept that?
Give up on every possibility and quietly live out an ordinary snake's life? Then wait to die of old age eight years later?
Or maybe he wouldn't even make it to eight. What if he ran into some accident along the way and died?
After all, even King Cobras had natural enemies. Crocodiles, Komodo dragons, tigers, and enormous birds of prey could all kill him.
Even if his killer didn't necessarily survive, what would it matter if he was dead?
What a joke. He'd worked so hard to live again—how could he possibly be content to give it all up?
That was exactly why he'd spent nearly every day of the past ten days hunting to fill his belly.
Fortunately, Heaven rewarded perseverance. Today, he'd finally managed to get the numbers almost to their limit.
As time passed, the numbers on the panel began to climb...
99.8%...99.9%...100%...
As the numbers changed, the point count on the panel in Bai Chuan's eyes jumped along with them.
'0–1!'
The next moment, a faint glimmer flashed. A mysterious pattern of light appeared across the previously dull panel, and the entire thing lit up.
It was like an old machine finally powering on, or a phone screen switching from dark to bright.
"Huh? That's it?"
Bai Chuan stared blankly at the panel for a while. When nothing major seemed to happen, he thought in confusion.
At a moment like this, shouldn't this thing be like those system novels, suddenly summoning some kind of system spirit to explain how it worked?
Or shouldn't a flood of information pour into his mind?
That was it? Just a panel?
That couldn't be right. Unwilling to give up, Bai Chuan scanned his surroundings, then turned his gaze back to his serpentine body.
Then the change came...
'Scanning... scanning... 10%... 15%...'
Seeing this, Bai Chuan's mind jolted.
It changed! It really changed!
Of course something was going to happen!
I knew it!!
Before long, the data progress in Bai Chuan's eyes filled up completely, and a brand-new panel appeared.
'Name: Bai Chuan.'
'Species: King Cobra.'
'Lifespan: 8 years.'
'Points: 1.'
'Abilities: Final Growth LV2 (Details), Snake Venom LV2, Energy Saving Storage LV1, Strength LV1, Flexible LV1, Scales LV1, Swimming LV1...'
'Ability Structure Library: Wild Hare (Details), Rat (Details).'
'Editable...'
"Are these the abilities I have right now?"
Bai Chuan stared at the information on the panel, murmuring to himself. His snake's forked tongue hissed incessantly, showing just how unsettled he felt.
Curious, he took a look at the details of his abilities.
Before you continue