As my spore-puppet and I plunged back below the lake’s surface, the scent-taste of blood pressed against me; cloying, even when spread across the vastness of the mana-water. Even from as far away as I was.

And I quickly noticed that most of it was my spore-puppets’ - because my leviathan was losing without my direction. Badly.

While my spore-puppet was fast, willing to ignore pain and injury while tearing its flesh with sharper movements than its body should reasonably handle, those same movements were beginning to be a problem. Spore-roots could only force a body to move so much; at a certain point, it would fail, ruined by the same motions that helped make it more deadly.

And the gaping wounds in its side didn’t help.

The enemy bad-thing pulled away again, spitting out a strip of flesh, and whipped itself around. Its tail smashed into my spore-puppet’s side, the force of the blow sending the wounded leviathan whirling into the nearby wall. A thought-hiss forced it to recover, the spore-roots running through its flesh immediately sending my spore-puppet back into the fight - but, again, the enemy bad-thing proved itself more adept at using its own body. Where my spore-puppet rushed forward as if it were enraged, mouth opened wide and the many tendrils set below its jaw tumbling about with a near-random ferocity, the enemy moved better. It flexed its body and sent itself upwards, over my puppet’s gaping maw, and used its own tendrils to scratch and scrabble at my bad-thing’s eyes in passing.

It succeeded, and the only thing keeping me from hissing with annoyance was that, technically, my spore-puppets didn’t need to see as long as I was nearby to direct them. My spore-puppet’s next action proved that as, ignoring its newfound blindness, it tore a chunk out of the enemy’s flesh when it came in close again. The bad-thing twisted away in surprise, a stream of blood trailing behind it.

Before it could recover from its surprise, my second spore-puppet - and my body alongside it - slammed into it from above. It didn’t take much longer for the enemy leviathan to attempt to flee and, with my own leviathans as damaged as they were, I might have let it. The spore-roots inside it were already beginning to grow, and I would be able to find it again later.

Yet, with my next upgrade close enough that I could catch its scent-taste on my tongue, I chose not to. Even if that meant losing out on a potential follower.

The leviathan needed to die.

A thought-hiss went out to my other spore-puppet, sending it fleeing back the way we had come, body bloody and mangled. Its tail dangled ever-so-slightly, lopsided and clearly broken. Its side was rife with gashes and tears. But, without pain to hold it back, it moved anyway.

Then, with another command to the spore-puppet beneath me, we lurched forward, cutting through the mana-water in a series of undulations. [Clinging Grasp] let me hold on tight for just long enough to reach the fleeing leviathan, its attempts to get away defeated by the spore-roots that continued to grow within its flesh. As my spore-puppet reached out to take a bite from the bad-thing’s tail, I found my way across. The coarse flesh of the bad-thing rubbed against my scales like a scouring stone, all rips and tatters and bumps and ridges.

It only took a few slithers to find an opening - a wound big enough for me to fit, even at my increased size. A wall-crack made of flesh. A giant gash fit for a leviathan.

I dove in headfirst, letting mana surge within my core. The gathered power was drained in an instant, tumbling down familiar channels and towards the nearby sac of death-venom hiding near my fangs. The two liquids met, intertwined, and left as one - a stream of terrible venom ready to be released.

Ready to kill.

I bit down. [Sting] sparked, a brief and tiny light in the darkness of the leviathan’s flesh. Death-venom flowed.

And flowed.

And flowed. Even as the bad-thing continued to be torn apart by my puppet leviathan. Even as my wall-crack of flesh began to crumble around me, torn away bit by bit by their struggles. Even as I was forced to hold on tighter, using [Clinging Grasp] to keep my fangs inside flesh as the bad-thing I fought twisted about.

Then, finally, the thought-light flickered.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Venom XI] Increased.

[Mana Venom XII] Acquired.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

Level up!

1 Trait Point Gained.

Level 60 Reached

Analyzing Potential Reward Choices…

Only One May Be Selected.

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

I sent out a thought-hiss to my spore-puppet, and my wall-crack of flesh fell still. Then, with great anticipation, I looked towards my rewards. Even if I was already nearly certain of which one I would choose, I was still curious. [Size] had let me gather a few more Traits during this life; it would be good to know if they were connected to any useful rewards.

The first was [Ascended Sense], something that I hadn’t expected, though seeing it made sense. The thought-light had only revealed the title that it was connected to after I chose my previous level rewards.

Serpent’s Scent: You have always been an ambush predator and, in many ways, still are. Wipe away the Ascended scent that clings to you, hiding your presence from other possessors of [Ascended Sense]. (Provided by: Snake, [Ascended Sense])

It was…interesting, though I wasn’t sure if I would ever end up picking it. With [Chains Of The Creator], any Ascended that Tiamat controlled would likely be able to find me anyway - and with [The Endless Cycle], I didn’t have all that much to fear from most Ascended in the first place. The Great Core’s power would be enough.

I moved on to the next.

Infrasight: Your visual sense grows yet again, allowing you to visually detect the heat given off by your prey. (Provided by: Snake, [Ambusher’s Vision])

Yet again, it was useful, but not necessarily something that I needed. [Ambusher’s Vision] already made it much easier to see in the darkness of the World Dungeon, and I couldn’t imagine picking [Infrasight] over the more useful choices.

I moved on again.

Shocking Venom: Your venom sparks with power, causing inflicted body parts to grow increasingly numb and weakened. (Provided by: Snake, [Sting], [Paralyzing Venom])

I couldn’t be sure how effective the ability was; it could be minor, or it could be absolutely debilitating. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an easy ability to test either. It would be hard to tell how much of the weakening effect came from [Shocking Venom] and how much came from [Paralyzing Venom].

The next was better, formed from a combination of [Streamlined Scales] and [Clinging Grasp].

Sliding Grasp: Your scales are a thing of contradiction, sleek and smooth enough to cut through water, yet still able to temporarily cling to any surface. You learn to push this further contradiction in another direction, allowing for brief moments during which your smooth scales refuse to cling to any surface at all. (Provided by: Snake, [Clinging Grasp], [Streamlined Scales])

Already, I could see ways that [Sliding Grasp] could be useful. It could let me slither downwards quickly, ignoring the grasp of the stone below me and simply sliding rapidly across the floor. It could let me slip through the clutches of bad-things, defying the strongest of grips. It could let me be pushed away from forceful blows, avoiding the occasional injury.

I could see its usefulness - but, unfortunately, it wasn’t something that I would pick yet. Maybe in the future, but not for the moment.

The next option was another combination, this time using [Enhanced Lungs], [Venomous], and [Paralyzing Venom].

Venomshot: Your lungs have grown powerful, allowing you to spit needles of venom, inflicting their effects from a distance. (Provided by: Snake, [Enhanced Lungs], [Venomous], [Paralyzing Venom])

Again, it was useful. But not worth taking over other options that I already had.

I made my choice, continuing with the resolve that I had made from the start of this life. Size, again and again, so that I could see how far it could take me.

The thought-light flickered.

Reward Chosen: Size III.

[Size III] Acquired.

My flesh itched terribly, feeling as if it had begun to warp and stretch. Thicken. Widen. Grow.

And it was, more than ever before, each choice of [Size] more effective than the last.

My wall-crack of flesh closed in around me as I outgrew its narrow confines, leaving me just a brief moment to regret my decision to start the transformation inside the leviathan’s corpse - and to be thankful that I hadn’t done it inside a wall-crack of stone.

The wall-crack burst, and then I was free.

I flexed my giant mass of scale-flesh, exulting in the sensation of strength that came alongside it. My tail whipped to the side, and the mana-water roiled around it, beaten back by the strength of my scale-flesh.

I stifled an excited hiss, and allowed my spore-puppet to carry me back to the lake’s surface. I couldn’t help but notice how much of my length there was now, stretching a slight slither more than three not-Needles across. My width had increased too, and the two combined to make me certain that - if I ran into my Coreless before this life ended - they would no longer be able to carry me around.

I was far different from the tiny snake of before. Still, larger or not, I hadn’t lost my need for air.

My lungs were really starting to burn.