The thought-light appeared as it always did, presenting the rewards that the Great Core offered in return for my faith - not that I needed any in return for ensuring the Great Core’s will was done, but it was nice. Helpful. As much as it pained me to admit, I needed those rewards. Who I was - what I was - wasn’t enough by itself. It never had been.

It was just as the thought-light had told me from the very start, with the very description that had shaped my being.

Description: A tiny snake with great potential.

I had potential - but I still needed to reach it. And with each passing moment, each bad-thing defeated for the glory of the Great Core, I slithered closer to it. In just a short time, I had moved far beyond what I had once been; no more was I the tiny snake hiding within the wall-cracks, afraid to bear the notice of the bad-things that raged outside.

No, I had changed - and I was still changing yet.

The newest of the Great Core’s rewards made that abundantly clear. Not only was I receiving the choice to select two rewards that could greatly increase my personal power, but I had also received another one that I was sure was the will of the Great Core manifest - the newest checkpoint provided by [The Endless Cycle] itself.

The timing of my newest use of [The Endless Cycle] was convenient. If I was more ignorant, I might have called it luck. I refused to call it that; it was far from luck.

It was a silent Blessing from the Great Core, a way to ensure that I could spread its light as effectively as possible. A chance to ensure that I chose the best possible rewards that it offered.

And I would make sure to do so.

With how far the enemy and I had fallen, it was unlikely that I would be able to return to the Great Core’s Coreless any time soon - and, more than that, I knew that I probably shouldn’t. Not for a little while, at least. While traveling with the Great Core’s followers had been both necessary and helpful, given how their assistance had allowed me to devour two Lesser Cores and an Ascended that I might otherwise have been too weak to defeat, I was stronger now. More importantly, I had the safety of an extremely flexible point of rebirth, one that would allow me to easily alter my decisions in order to succeed.

It would be riskier, without the Coreless around to take wounds in my place, but there were advantages to being alone. Without any others by my side, I would be able to receive more experience in reward for each bad-thing that I killed, spurring me on towards the next series of rewards. More importantly, for once I wasn’t worried about the possibility of needlessly dying, taking my rebirth for granted. I wouldn’t intentionally lose, as the thought of being defeated by bad-things still disgusted and appalled me, but I wasn’t afraid of it either.

With the might of the Great Core behind me, blessing me with the ability to be reborn and alter my chosen rewards to best defeat my enemies, I would eventually succeed.

It was just a matter of time.

With that wonderful thought, I turned my attention back towards the thought-light again.

Revealing Possible Rewards Unlocked Through Species: Snake And Its Interactions…

Size: Your body mass increases greatly, with all of the increase in strength and health that comes with a greater size. (Provided by: Snake)

Hardened Scales: Your scales harden, strengthening far beyond their natural measure, becoming an armor that protects you in your every moment. (Provided by: Snake, [Piercing Resistance])

Enhanced Venom Capacity: Your venom production increases greatly, both innate and acquired. (Provided by: Snake, [Venomous], [Paralyzing Venom])

Illusory Camouflage: Your scales are not what they seem, automatically pulling from your light reservoirs and shifting to match any surrounding colors. (Provided by: Snake, [Illusion Spark])

Warm-Blooded: You have been Touched By Fire, and that has marked you as something new. You break free from the restrictions and perils of your cold-blooded nature, receiving great resistance to heat. (Provided by: Snake, [Touched By Fire])

Vibration Sense: You have become attuned to the vibrations of the world, allowing you to detect sound with far greater precision. (Provided by: Snake, [Sound Shaping])

Sticky Scales: Your scales become unnaturally adhesive, able to bind wounds closed with increased speed, reducing rate of blood loss. (Provided by: Snake, [Clinging Grasp])

Blood Serpent: Your blood is potent, but it can become more so. Drinking the blood of others will temporarily increase the potency of your own. (Provided by: Snake, [Poisonous Blood], [Anticoagulant])

Deadly Constrictor: Your scales sharpen, growing small spines to help rend the flesh of enemies trapped within your coils. (Provided by: Snake, [Constriction])

Sporesnake: Your spores are naturally attuned to enhance your own body. Self-puppeteering provides additional increases to strength. (Provided by: Snake, [Spore Puppeteer])

Normally, I might have ignored the first section of rewards almost entirely; as appealing as some of them might have been, the following sections had always seemed more powerful. This time, with the knowledge that I had two choices available and the potential to alter any poor decisions I made, I gave them a closer look - except for the one tainted by [Chains Of The Creator], choosing to wipe its very existence from my mind just as I had last time.

Unfortunately, that didn’t make some of them any more appealing than they had been before. Once upon a time, for example, the increase in venom production provided by [Enhanced Venom Capacity] might have been something I sorely wanted; that was no longer true. My two venoms, slow-venom and death-venom both, were no longer my sole path to victory. Though it pained me to admit it, they were weak - and though I could improve them through the use of Trait Points, I knew that there were stronger Traits that could be enhanced instead. The existence of some of my other Traits such as [Spore Puppeteer] was more than enough to prove that. There was always the possibility that I was wrong and passing up on an extremely powerful reward, but…

Most of them just weren’t that powerful. [Hardened Scales] wasn’t necessary with the ore-flesh draped over most of my length. [Illusory Camouflage] didn’t provide anything that I couldn’t do myself with enough effort. [Warm-Blooded] was only useful in specific situations and didn’t necessarily make me any stronger, while [Vibration Sense] had a similar issue. The faster healing of [Sticky Scales] wasn’t necessary when I had multiple other ways to heal myself. [Blood Serpent] would force me to intentionally take wounds in order to poison my enemies with enhanced blood.

Even the two newest options weren’t as powerful as I might have hoped. [Deadly Constrictor] could be dangerous if the spines were sharp enough, but I was too small for them to inflict deep wounds. Meanwhile, [Sporesnake] suffered from a similar issue; even if it increased my strength, I was too small for it to really matter.

Choosing [Size] could solve both of those issues, among others, and part of me was extremely tempted by it. Another part of me doubted that it would make that much of a difference. It was the most basic option that the thought-light presented, one of the very few that I could have received without collecting powerful Traits from defeated bad-things. The only requirement was being a snake.

It could easily be weaker than I hoped.

Then again, it could be stronger too. There was no real way to know for sure without choosing it - and if I was going to do so, wouldn’t now be the best time? Unlike my previous rewards, this one could easily be undone.

Still, I decided to push the decision to the side for a little while. There was no sense in worrying about it yet. There were still many more options to choose between; I had only seen the first of the possible rewards, and the ones that appeared next were all but certain to be significantly stronger.

I let the thought-light wash over me with an exultant hiss. The next options were just as powerful as I had expected.

Revealing Possible Rewards Unlocked Through Species: Ouroboros And Its Interactions…