Evolution, drawing ever closer to the Dragon

The next moment, a miraculous scene unfolded.

Along a smooth serpentine body, the bizarre, protruding lump on the front half—with the formation and growth of a pair of sharp claws—miraculously melted away.

His serpentine torso no longer bulged awkwardly; his body once again became sleek, though now the section where the claws had grown was noticeably thicker.

Countless muscles, as fine and tough as steel wires, intertwined, granting this pair of claws immense strength.

From a distance, the overall silhouette of the serpent now carried a strange sense of beauty.

Atop a head that radiated danger, a pair of sharp eyes stared coldly ahead. Beneath the head was a neck draped like a wide cloak, and further down, a pair of robust claws that seemed to support the upper half of the body.

If you added the two small bumps on the serpent's head, At first glance, it already bore a faint hint of a dragon's aura.

The only pity was that only one pair of claws existed at the front; the rear half still lay prostrate on the ground, a snake's body.

Bai Chuan checked the compatibility: 78%.

This compatibility was already very high—after all, as long as compatibility exceeded 50%, negative effects basically wouldn't occur.

He then looked at his panel abilities. The Agility Lv1, which had just dropped earlier, had already returned to Lv2.

Clearly, he had succeeded.

Since that was the case, then—

Merge!

With the disappearance of a total of 4 points, Bai Chuan once again fell into slumber.

The familiar viscous substance secreted again, and in even greater quantities than before, slowly and completely covering the five-meter-long Great Serpent, forming something like a giant egg.

The gears of time turned once more, and this time, it was especially long.

Half a month later, in the underground cave.

"Crack~"

Accompanied by the sound of breaking, a ferocious claw reached out from within the eggshell-like object.

Its shape: three claws in front, one in back, with long, sharp talons like daggers at the tips.

Above the claws was a forearm covered in hard, dense scales and a layer of keratin.

Following the claw's emergence came a majestic, enormous serpent.

"So this is what it feels like to have hands (claws) again? It's wonderful."

Bai Chuan stretched out a claw, brought it close to his eyes, and examined it carefully, constantly opening and closing the sharp claws, savoring this strange sensation.

Now, he felt he could easily grab prey, and with just a light tug, tear its flesh open.

Truly terrifying.

He seemed to have grown much stronger.

If the current him faced that pack of wolves from before, he felt he wouldn't need to flee at all.

With just a single burst of speed, catching the prey off guard, then thrusting out his claws, grabbing and tearing at the wolf's throat, he could kill them with ease.

And his hard, thick scales and snake skin could easily block the wolves' claws. Even if a wolf's fangs accidentally pierced through, he could twist around, bite down, inject venom, and wait for it to lose its resistance.

Even if he wiped out the wolf pack and ended up covered in countless wounds, he could recover completely in a single night.

That was how strong he was now—not only strong, but willing to trade wounds for wounds, as long as he wasn't instantly killed and rendered unable to fight back.

As long as he had even a shred of resistance left, he could bite back and drag them down to the Yellow Springs together.

And was there any animal that could instantly kill him?

No, there wasn't!

Even tigers, brown bears—these kings of beasts—couldn't make him lose all resistance in an instant.

Not to mention, snakes were famously tenacious. His unique nerves allowed him, even if his head was cut off, to take advantage of a moment's carelessness and bite back.

He was growing stronger and stronger.

Now, he could be said to have completed the most primitive accumulation of capital. From here on, his speed of growth would only get faster, like a snowball rolling downhill.

But that was for later. For now, there was one more thing he needed to verify.

Of course, before verifying, he felt he should go out and have a good meal first.

Bai Chuan glanced at his panel: his lifespan had already decreased by half a month.

So he knew this evolution had taken half a month. Earlier, he had been too absorbed in savoring the feeling of having hands (claws) upon waking, and with the lesson from last time, he hadn't noticed the hunger.

But now...

Two hours later, full and satisfied, Bai Chuan returned to his cave once more.

He had to admit, with flexible claws, his entire serpentine life had become much easier. Now, for ordinary prey, he didn't even need to use his mouth to bite.

He could also eat larger prey now, since he could rely on his own sharp claws to tear the meat into smaller pieces.

From this perspective, his eating speed seemed to have increased quite a bit, and it was also much safer.

At the same time, because the prey had become smaller and broken apart, he noticed that his point growth rate had also increased slightly.

As for the reason?

Bai Chuan thought about it briefly and understood.

The food becoming smaller, combined with tearing open the outer skin, meant it would be easier to digest in the stomach.

And point growth ultimately came from absorbing the energy of the food—thinking about it this way, if the food became easier to digest, wouldn't that naturally speed up the rate?

Was this a hidden benefit from a chain of reactions?

Bai Chuan chuckled.

But it was time to test it out.

With that thought, Bai Chuan lowered his head and looked at his tail. He would use this spot to test how sharp his claws were and how well his regeneration worked.

His ferocious claws slowly reached over, the sharp tips resting on the Scales.

As Bai Chuan gradually applied force, the Scales on his tail slowly dented inward, beginning to show some deformation.

One-tenth strength... two-tenths... five-tenths...

It wasn't until Bai Chuan used six-tenths of his strength that his Scales and snake skin finally broke open with a "pop."

At the same time, a sharp pain shot through him, but Bai Chuan ignored it and continued his assessment.

Don't underestimate the fact that he only used six-tenths of his strength—keep in mind this was with the very tips of his claws, the sharpest part.

In an ordinary fight, how could he just stand still and let someone stab straight in with sharp claws? Normally, he would use slashes and swipes.

After testing the maximum defense against piercing attacks, Bai Chuan pulled out his claws.

He spread his claws flat again and placed them on his tail—this time, he was testing defense against slashing and swiping.

First, he swiped quickly with one-tenth strength.

A sound like metal striking metal rang out across the Scales, and not a single scratch was left behind.

Then two-tenths... three-tenths... five-tenths...

It wasn't until eight-tenths of his strength that a sharp pain hit him, and his tail split open like torn cloth, bright red blood slowly seeping out.

"I see. Maximum defense against my own seven-tenths strength—at seven-tenths, obvious scratches appeared, most of the Scales were already cracking, but the lower snake skin wasn't broken. At eight-tenths, it was completely torn open."

Bai Chuan summarized.