The next moment, a miraculous scene unfolded.
The strange, abrupt lump of flesh on the front half of his sleek snake body miraculously melted away as a pair of sharp claws grew into being.
His body no longer bulged awkwardly; it had become sleek once more. The part where the claws had grown was simply much thicker now.
Countless muscles, fine as steel wire and just as tough, twisted together, providing powerful support for his claws.
From a distance, his body now had a peculiar beauty to it.
His head looked dangerous at a glance, with a pair of sharp eyes gazing coldly ahead. Beneath it was a neck that looked as though it wore a broad cloak, and below that, a pair of sturdy, sharp claws that seemed to hold up his upper body.
And then there were the two little bumps atop his head.
At a glance, he already had a hint of dragon about him.
The only thing he found a little disappointing was that he had just one pair of claws in front; behind them, his body still slithered along the ground.
Bai Chuan checked the compatibility: 78%.
That was already a very high compatibility. After all, as long as compatibility exceeded 50%, there generally wouldn't be any negative effects.
Then Bai Chuan checked his Panel abilities. Agility Lv1, which had just dropped a moment ago, had already returned to Lv2.
Clearly, he had succeeded.
In that case—
Fuse!
As all four points vanished,
Bai Chuan fell asleep once more.
The familiar viscous substance was secreted again, in even greater quantities than before. It slowly covered the entire Great Serpent, which was over five meters long, forming something like a giant egg.
The gears of time turned once more, and this time, the wait was especially long.
Half a month later, in the underground cavern.
"Crack~"
Accompanied by the sound of breaking, a fearsome claw emerged from inside the egg-like shell.
Three claws pointed forward and one backward, with a long, sharp talon at the tip of each, keen as a dagger.
Above the claw was a small forearm covered in hard, fine scales and a layer of keratin.
With the appearance of the claw came a mighty, enormous serpent.
"So this is what it feels like to have hands—or claws—again? It's wonderful."
Bai Chuan stretched out his claw and brought it close to his eyes, examining it carefully. He repeatedly opened and closed those sharp claws, savoring the marvelous sensation.
Now he felt he could easily grab prey, then tear it open with the slightest pull, leaving it ripped and bleeding.
It was truly terrifying.
He seemed to have grown quite a bit stronger again.
If he had to face that pack of wolves now, he felt there would be no need to run.
He would only need to explode into action in an instant, catch his prey off guard as he closed in, then thrust out his claws and seize a wolf by the throat. One yank, and he could kill it with ease.
Meanwhile, his hard, thick scales and snake skin could easily block the wolves' claws. Even if he were accidentally pierced by their sharp teeth, he could twist around, bite them, inject his venom, and wait for them to lose the ability to fight back.
Even if he wiped out the pack and ended up covered in countless wounds, he could still recover completely in a single night.
That was how strong he was now. And not only was he strong, he dared to trade wounds for wounds. As long as they couldn't kill him in one blow and leave him unable to fight back—
As long as they left him even a sliver of strength to resist, he could bite back and drag them down to the underworld with him.
But were there animals that could kill him in an instant?
No. There weren't!
Even kings like tigers and brown bears couldn't make him lose all ability to fight back in an instant.
Besides, snakes were famous for their tenacious vitality. His unique nerves could let him bite back if someone let their guard down, even after his head had been chopped off.
He was growing ever stronger.
He could now say that he had completed the most primitive accumulation of capital. From here on, he would only grow stronger faster and faster, like a snowball rolling downhill.
But that was for later. There was one more thing he needed to verify.
Of course, before testing it, he thought he should go out and have a good meal first.
Bai Chuan glanced at the lifespan on his Panel, which had already advanced by half a month.
That told him this evolution had taken half a month. Earlier, he had just woken up and been so absorbed in experiencing the feeling of having hands—or claws—again, and he'd also learned his lesson from last time, so he hadn't noticed his hunger.
But now...
Two hours later, Bai Chuan returned to his cave, full once more.
He had to admit, with flexible claws, life as a snake was much easier. Now he didn't need to bite most ordinary prey.
He could also eat larger prey, since he could use his claws to tear the meat into small pieces.
From that perspective, it seemed his eating speed had increased quite a bit, and it was safer too.
At the same time, because he was breaking his prey into smaller pieces, he noticed that his points were accumulating a little faster as well.
Why?
Bai Chuan thought about it briefly and understood.
Making the food smaller and tearing open its skin meant it was easier to digest in his stomach.
And his points increased because he absorbed energy from food. Thinking about it that way, easier-to-digest food naturally meant a faster rate of absorption, didn't it?
Was this an unseen benefit caused by a chain reaction?
Bai Chuan smiled.
But it was time to put it to the test.
As he thought this, Bai Chuan lowered his head and looked at his tail. He would use it to test how sharp his claws were and how well his Regeneration worked.
His fearsome claw reached out slowly. Its sharp tip came to rest on one of his scales.
As Bai Chuan slowly applied pressure, the scales on his tail gradually caved in and began to deform.
One part force... two... five...
Only when Bai Chuan had applied six parts force did his scales and snake skin finally split with a "pop."
A stab of pain shot through him, but Bai Chuan ignored it and continued his assessment.
He shouldn't underestimate the fact that he had only used six parts force. After all, this was with the sharpest point of his claw.
In a normal fight, how could he possibly stand still and let someone drive a claw straight into him? Usually, they would grab or slash.
After testing the limits of his defense against piercing attacks, Bai Chuan pulled out his claw.
He spread his claws again and laid them against his tail. This time, he was testing his defense against grabbing and slashing.
First, he slashed quickly with one part force.
A sound like metal striking metal rang out against his scales, but not even a scratch remained.
Then two parts force... three... five...
Only when he reached eight parts force did a sharp pain surge through him, and his tail split open like torn cloth. Bright red blood began to seep out slowly.
"So that's how it is. I can withstand up to seven parts of my own strength. At seven parts, there are already obvious scratches, and most of the scales have begun to crack, but the layer of snake skin beneath them hasn't split. At eight parts, it's completely cut open."
Bai Chuan concluded.
Before you continue