I must say, it feels quite good to be the one with power instead of just being a follower. Making any and all pretenders to my throne scramble by just baring my fangs at them make me feel... powerful? I don't know exactly how I feel, if I even have feelings anymore, but I love it.

Which only gives me even more reason to hurry up and go murder some poor innocent fishies. I'd feel bad, but I neither can do so nor would I do so even if I could.

Still, as I laid there under the setting sun, basking in the last moments of its warm embrace, I really, really wished I didn't need to. Still, I knew that if I wanted to keep on being able to live, I needed to do so.

Hence, I reluctantly abandoned my little throne and swam away for deeper and more lively waters. On my way there, I casually snatched up a relatively small (for this world) crab, just to see how it tasted like.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't that good.

Upon reaching deeper water, quite far from all my previous hunting spots, I slithered around the ocean floor, trying to sniff out any worthwhile prey.

I eventually found such prey in the form of a very large flounder. Killing it was a bit though since it was almost impossible to wrap myself around it, but I eventually managed to subdue it after a long struggle.

Sand Snatcher Killed. Bonus exp Granted.

[Nameless] Has reached Lv. 9. 3 Status Points grants.

I was surprised when I saw the level-up notification, but it was far from unwelcome. The large fish I'd been hunting recently must have been worth quite a bit of exp. I didn't bother investing the points, instead keeping them for the next time I fell into a growth coma.

After quickly swallowing the flounder, I decided to keep up my hunting. Although my meals usually only take a couple of hours to dissolve, I felt that wasting such time would be, well, a waste of time. Hence, despite the flounder slowing me down, I kept up my hunt.

I was rewarded for my efforts when I found and swiftly killed yet another flounder. I ate that one too, and only then did I retreat from my hunting grounds to go back to safer waters. After all, I wasn't the only predator around, and I'd caught a glimpse of what could only be a shark of at least 10 meters during my hunt. I wasn't eager to test myself against such monsters.

My life fell into a sort of pattern after that. Whenever I was full, I would sunbathe or simply stay near my rock, fending off any and all beasts and monsters that tried to steal it away from me. Whenever I was hungry, I'd head over to whatever area caught my fancy and catch myself some meals.

My growing speed had also slowed down by quite a bit compared to before. It was still insane, but by the time I hit level 10, I'd only grown to be 3 meters, and I felt that there was still quite a distance before I would fall into another coma.

Speaking about level 10, I received a pleasant surprise upon reading the notification.

[Nameless] Has reached Lv. 10. 5 Status Points granted, one Veteran Skill awarded.

The two extra points were very nice, but what really interested me was the 'veteran' skill. Thankfully, the system chose to humor my curiosity.

Upon reaching level 20 for certain skills, the Veteran Skill may be applied to maxed out common skills to form a new and improved skill.

That really got my curiosity. I immediately checked out my status.

[Nameless] [Adolescent Snakeling]

Age - 0 years

Level - 10 (max)

Constitution - 12

Strength - 9

Dexterity - 5

Intelligence - 5 (?)

Wisdom - 1

[Special] Poison - 6

Remaining Points - 8

Remaining Veteran Points - 1

Skills - (Bite Lv. 19), (Swim Lv. 8), (Constriction Lv. 17), (Headbutt lv. 6), (Inhale Lv. 6), (Venom Injection Lv. 12), (Poison Resistance Lv. 3)

My mood immediately plummeted upon seeing the max sign next to my level. I anxiously tried to coax the system into giving me some sort of explanation.

Eventually, I managed to do so, and to my great relief, it explained.

Until becoming an adult, creatures must remain at or under level 10. Upon reaching adult status, beings may then proceed to further level up. Further evolution levels depend on species.

I was extremely thankful for the information, and I resolved to try and become an adult as soon as possible. If I was correct, I only needed to fall into another coma to become an adult.

Deciding that it would be in my best interest to become as strong as possible right now to rush to adulthood, I invested the points I originally intended to keep.

[Nameless] [Adolescent Snakeling]

Age - 0 years

Level - 10 (max)

Constitution - 13

Strength - 12

Dexterity - 7

Intelligence - 5 (?)

Wisdom - 1

[Special] Poison - 8

Remaining Points - 0

Remaining Veteran Points - 1

Skills - (Bite Lv. 19), (Swim Lv. 8), (Constriction Lv. 17), (Headbutt lv. 6), (Inhale Lv. 6), (Venom Injection Lv. 12), (Poison Resistance Lv. 3)

Immediately upon doing so, I felt the usual pleasant tingles run through my body, but I wasn't in the mood to enjoy them.

I immediately set off for the most dangerous hunting ground, which was the area where the open ocean met the coral reef I lived in.

From what I'd gathered so far, I lived in a reef in the open ocean. There was no land nearby, and the ocean surrounded us on all sides. Nonetheless, I suspected that most of the ocean's top dogs left reefs like this one alone in order to give a chance to the younger generations to develop more safely.

It was only a theory, of course, but I had a strong suspicion I was right. After all, I hadn't yet seen any more of those 'mighty beings' pass through, and I was thankful for being born here.

Anyways, I was quick to head over to the area I lovingly dubbed the 'Killzone'. I had a good reason for giving it such a name, too, since last time I was near this area, I could see the bigger, stronger, faster and much more brutal fish from the open ocean constantly feast upon their weaker and generally stupider counterparts of the reef.

I'd even seen what an adult of my species would look like, although I wasn't sure if it was my same species or just another sea snake. Nonetheless, it was a fairly large snake, at least twice my length at around 5 or 6 meters and with forest green scales.

I'd also seen what the insides of an adult of my species look like when a swordfish on steroids cut it apart like it was tofu using it's sword-nose. Last I remember, swordfishes were not so fast, and neither were their swords made of what I swear looked like steel.

I'd quickly fled from there, but now, I didn't need exp. I only needed food, and I'd discovered that the higher the level of the monster I ate, the more 'valuable' the meat was. Meaning, it filled me more and was worth more than weaker monsters.

Hence, for the next few days, I spent most of my time hiding like a coward, fleeing any time one of the terrifying monsters from the open oceans passed by. I swear I almost shit myself when a large crab the size of a car began to speedily waddle its way to way me. I don't think I ever swam faster than I did that moment.

Nonetheless, by the fourth day of my desperate struggle to procure as much food as I could by stealing scraps and getting in the occasional kill on weakened targets, I finally reached the coma threshold.

When I came back to my throne, I felt as though I'd just come back from hell. However, I'd benefitted a lot from my expedition, as I was now 4 meters in length and much, much stronger than any of the common reef fish. The false claimants to my throne were killed with great prejudice and happily eaten before I allowed the coma to take me once I was in a safe enough spot.

I was quite eager to see what adult me would be like.