The sun was hazy in the lead-gray sky, and all was silent and windless. Today, the mountains were a deep blue-green, and the snow was not pure white but faintly tinged with blue. Not a fleck of snow clung to the trees, and dark green pines stood scattered in thick clusters.
Unfortunately, Black Snake could not see any of it. He could only curl up deep inside his cave and cultivate.
After spending most of the winter on it, he had finally determined the exact places on his body where his forelimbs should grow.
For several nights in a row, he went out to examine bones.
Whether they were animal bones on the slopes or human bones in the wilderness, he had to get close and study them carefully. There was never any shortage of such remains in the mountains, anyway.
Perhaps Black Snake's greatest strength was that when he did not understand something, he learned.
Even if his imitations were stiff and clumsy, he could always work out the rough edges slowly afterward.
Only Black Snake would roam the remote wilderness in the dead of night without sleep or rest, searching for bones. And he really did discover a few crucial things.
If I want to grow real limbs...
First, he needed a foundation that could firmly support them. It was nowhere near as simple as merely growing something that looked right.
Research like this was extremely taxing on the mind, leaving him dazed and muddleheaded for days on end.
He decided to crawl out of the cave for a drink. Moving across the fluffy snow was quite laborious, and sometimes he slid downhill. Even when he passed several fresh sets of rabbit tracks, he had no interest in hunting.
He took a detour to the middle stretch of