More Abilities? A Downpour Arrives

The stream babbled softly, branches and leaves swaying in a gentle dance.

Bai Chuan returned once more to his familiar nest. Thankfully, even after several days of absence, his tree hollow hadn't been taken over by any other small animals.

Probably because his scent hadn't fully faded yet.

This disappointed him a little—otherwise, he could've had an extra meal.

And only then did he have the chance to open his panel.

Name: Bai Chuan. Race: King Cobra. Lifespan: 8 years. Points: 81.6%. Abilities: Final Growth LV2 (Details), Snake Venom LV2, Energy Saving Storage LV1, Danger Perception LV1, Strength LV1, Flexible LV1, Scales LV1, Swimming LV1... Ability Structure Library: Rat, Sharp-Snouted Viper, Rat Snake, Frog, Goshawk. Editable...

"Only 81.6%?" Bai Chuan was first surprised, then quickly realized: "Right, there were still two days left when I started shedding."

"So, once I digest what's in my stomach, it'll be close to ninety. That means just one day left. I can hardly wait."

After muttering to himself, Bai Chuan coiled up and began to rest. The shedding over the past few days had left him without proper sleep for a long time.

Of course, before sleeping, he didn't forget to activate Crazy Digestion.

"Time to start the enhancement!"

A day later, having finally accumulated enough points, Bai Chuan eagerly opened his panel and went straight to the Ability Structure Library.

Without a doubt, an ability like Digestion LV1 would only have high compatibility if placed in the stomach.

As the model soared up, the ability settled into place.

Bai Chuan once again fell into a deep slumber, and a strange, opaque viscous secretion covered his body once more.

If anyone could see through that opaque layer, they would surely notice that inside, the flow of time on that snake was off!

It was as if everything was frantically evolving toward some direction.

Time passed slowly again.

One day... two days... three days...

Five days later.

"Hungry! Hungry!"

"So hungry!!"

When Bai Chuan woke again, his first sensation was a burning, searing hunger—as if every cell in his body was screaming at him: Hungry!

It was hard to imagine that a snake, having just eaten its fill not long ago, could become this ravenous in just a few days.

But Bai Chuan couldn't care about that now. Waking up, he didn't even take the time to feel the changes in himself. He crawled out of the tree hollow, not even noticing that his speed had increased significantly.

Half an hour later, by the stream.

After swallowing a Water Snake and feeling the burning in his stomach subside, Bai Chuan shook his head slightly in satisfaction. Only then did he realize that his speed seemed to have increased quite a bit.

Earlier, he'd been too hungry to notice, but now that he was full and his mind had cleared, he could tell his speed and physical strength had grown noticeably.

The increase in physical strength could be chalked up to shedding—his body had grown larger.

But the speed increase? That couldn't just be because of shedding, could it?

Normally, the larger the body, the slower the speed.

He opened his panel again and looked at the abilities line.

Abilities: Final Growth LV2 (Details), Snake Venom LV2, Energy Saving Storage LV1, Danger Perception LV1, Strength LV1, Flexible LV1, Scales LV1, Swimming LV1, Digestion LV1, Agility LV1...

Bai Chuan immediately noticed he had gained two abilities.

Hadn't he only enhanced one ability? Normally, he should have only gained "Digestion LV1." But now, there was an extra Agility LV1 as a bonus.

Strange, strange. Bai Chuan couldn't figure it out and realized he still understood far too little about the panel.

Still, gaining an extra ability was a good thing.

As for things he couldn't figure out, Bai Chuan always set them aside for now.

After all, as long as he lived long enough, there would come a day when he understood. Thinking too much was less useful than figuring out how to survive longer.

In the middle of the night, Bai Chuan was woken by a loud "crash."

Raising his snake head and poking it out of the tree hollow, he saw that the sky outside had already turned a pale white, pouring down like a waterfall.

The sounds of other animals had long since faded from his ears—even the most common frog calls were nowhere to be heard now.

The air was thick with moisture; Bai Chuan even saw a few droplets of water condensing on his own scales.

"This midnight rain must have robbed countless nocturnal creatures of their meals," Bai Chuan sighed softly as he gazed out from the tree hollow, a trace of relief mingling with his words.

He was glad that after his last shed, nostalgia had led him back to this big tree's hollow.

Otherwise, in this weather, if he were in a ground-level burrow, it would probably have been washed away by now.

After a few more glances, he took the chance to replenish his moisture with the falling rain, then drifted back to sleep to the sound of the downpour.

The next day, when Bai Chuan slowly woke, he found the rain still falling.

And the volume was just as heavy, essentially no different from what he'd seen the night before.

Looking out of the hollow, he saw a great deal of water pooled below; the ground that had been there yesterday was nowhere to be seen.

This stirred a bad feeling in his heart.

Was this rain never going to stop? Was this the arrival of the rainy season?

That was hardly good news, especially since he'd just activated crazy digestion yesterday.

Well, his points had already risen by 15%, a 5% increase in growth rate compared to before—half again as fast.

But was that what mattered right now?

What mattered most was that his stomach was nearly empty.

If this rain didn't let up, finding food in the next few days would be extremely difficult.

At the very least, larger prey would be hard to swallow—after all, he was a land snake. Though he could swim, he couldn't dive or eat underwater.

He figured he'd have to bite down on small animals, like frogs, and bring them back to his nest to eat.

"Sigh, if this rain doesn't stop, a lot of lives are going to be lost," Bai Chuan lamented.

He might be in a tough spot, but comparatively speaking, his situation was already good.

If truly pushed to the brink, he could enter a dormant state, reducing all life activities and surviving the rainy season without eating or drinking.

But what about other creatures?

If this truly turned into an unending rainy season, many animals would be forced to huddle in their nests, afraid to venture out.

And some unlucky ones—if their nests were poorly built and collapsed—would face true despair.

Why, you ask?

Not all creatures are amphibious, after all.

The rain would sap the heat from their bodies, soaking their dry fur.

They were already starving from lack of food; if they also got caught in a downpour, losing massive amounts of body heat and becoming drenched, then hunger, weakness, hypothermia, plummeting immunity, and rampant bacterial invasion would await them.

Soon, death would follow.