"Watch out!" Nero shouted to Jorry, as the snake slithered to the side to avoid the pouncing fox.

The pair were now well away from Sarra but still not close to Maqi yet. IT was late afternoon, and the weather had cleared up a bit. The air was still chilly, and the ground was still damp from the snowfall, but the sun occasionally poked from behind the clouds to provide some warmth as it continued its path through the sky.

The pair weren't really making good time in their treck away from the keep and, at this rate, it would be late morning before they made it to their destination. Nero was fine with that though, as it gave the two companions the opportunity for some grinding. They had stuck relatively close to the road but had wandered off into the fields to find a few enemies. The area was filled with mostly a few bird type monsters and foxes that preyed on them. Due to investigating the area online, Nero knew that most of the foxes should be between level 15 and 25.

Taking advantage of the enemy's miss, Jorry launched himself like a spring to try and land of the fox's head. He missed but managed to land on the mammal's back. The snake was shaken off before he managed to wrap himself around his vulpine foe, but Jorry activated his spell quick enough to draw blood from his opponent before he fell off. The fox 'Yip'd in pain, jumping back from Jorry.

Nero quietly watched, not helping in the slightest besides the occasional word of encouragement. This fox was smaller than most, and he was using it as a test whether Jorry would be able to take on a fox by himself. The vulpines were faster than the wolves Kaesar had faced before, despite about the same level. They sacrificed toughness for this speed and nimbleness, but against Jorry, whose main damage came when he got a grip on his opponent, it was a very useful sacrifice.

Jorry already had bloody grooves on his back from a blow early in the fight when the fox had pinned the snake to the ground. Nero would have intervened then, but the snake managed to get a bite on the paw keeping it pinned to the ground. Since then neither side had managed to land a decisive blow. Jorry was smarter and more nimble but couldn't get a hold on the fox who was faster.

After ten minutes of stalemate, Nero finally intervened. The fox, whose entire focus was on Jorry, was unprepared when Nero dug his claws into the sides of the beast. With a harsh tug, Nero yanked his nails from the fox's hide and grabbed it by the throat. A quick pull followed by a snapping sound indicated he had broken the poor animal's neck.

"Hah... Thanks," Jorry gasped in tiredness. Nero wondered whether it was really gasping, which shouldn't be possible for snakes, or if it was his brain trying to make sense of the serpent equivalent. "How did I do?" Jorry asked hopefully.

"You did fine," Nero assured. "Though you weren't able to kill it by yourself, you managed to stall it long enough. In the first place, snakes aren't supposed to have head to head fights. You are better with ambushes and one-hit-kills with poison. Still, if the worst comes to worst, you should be able to hold on until I arrive."

"That's good," Jorry sighed in relief.

"Are you hungry?" Nero asked, his stomach rumbling at the thought of food. Jorry nodded his head in agreement. The pair hadn't had anything to eat since before they set out this morning and it was now early evening. They would be walking through the night, or at least Nero would be, so stopping for a meal would do them some good. "Let's find some wood, and I'll cook our friend here."

While dragging the dead fox, the pair found a small crop of trees that provided enough dead wood and stone to make a small fire pit. With the use, a flint and steel Nero got a little flame going, which he fanned and fed until it reached a large enough volume. While the blaze grew and warmed up, he set about disassembling the fox. After removing the fur, he placed it beside the fire to dry, he buried the innards that Jorry didn't want to eat in a hole off to the side so I wouldn't rot in the open air and attract wild animals.

Nero then made a rough spit and set about his first try at survival cooking. He had read a bit about it online and tried to follow the instructions he remembered. Kaesar let the flames die down a bit to not burn the meat and attempted to spin the body so that one part wouldn't be exposed to the heat for too long. In the end, he managed to cook it well enough, though a significant portion of the animal was blacked due to keeping it over the heat for too long. Without any garnishes or spices, apart from some salt, it was a pretty plain meal but not worst tasting thing he had ever eaten.

It was pretty filling though, so Nero only managed to eat two of the legs, and Jorry ate another one on top of the liver. Left with so much meat, Nero stripped what he could from the bones, salted it and wrapped it in the hide before putting it into his bag for later eating. Relaxing against a tree, Nero allowed his mind to drift as he waited for the fire to die as he digested his meal.

"Are you planning on recruiting a fox?" Jorry asked. Apparently, once an animal or monster was recruited into the Nest, they immediately got an understanding of the skill and the benefits it could bring. Jorry understood that he got a stat boost based on the level of the Nest. Usually, the shy snake would be opposed to being exposed to others, but if it meant growing stronger, then he was willing to get over his discomfort.

"I thought I would," Nero answered.

"You don't anymore?"

"I don't know," Nero shrugged ambivalently. "They have more than a few traits that would be useful to assimilate. Their fur, claws, paws, whiskers, eyesight, hearing, even their tail could be helpful for maintaining balance."

"So why haven't you tried yet?"

"It didn't seem right?" Nero half asked, not exactly sure how to put his thoughts into words.

To tell the truth, if he were able to create another character with a different Nature he would have done so already. His skills and Nature pushed him to develop himself with the aid of others, assimilating their traits to make himself stronger. In the long run, Nero could see this sort of Nature being stable, he would have a variety of features that could be useful in a range of situations. It was a Nature that grew stronger the more traits he assimilated, the more 'beastly' he became.

But it was the social aspect that made Nero wish he could change it. He could be charming when needed, make small talk and converse with others without any significant problems, but at heart, he was an introvert. Nero knew himself well enough to notice his misanthropy, he didn't like dealing with people. Jorry's recruitment had been almost accidental, Nero had intended to make use of the snake as a tool to help with exterminating various pests to make money. The snake had been practically a pet afterward, something to feed and take care of but not a sapient being.

Then Nero had gotten the Beast Tongue skill.

Kaeser didn't know whether Jorry had been self-aware before meeting Nero as Medea had mentioned it required either an absurd amount of natural talent for an animal to have enough Spirit to be sapient naturally. Most 'smart' animals developed enough spirit to communicate in their own language only after being exposed consistently exposed to other sapient beings. Before they reached that level, they were pretty much bundles of instinct with just the desire to live, grow, eat and breed. Jorry had been pretty average, intelligence-wise before Nero started talking to him, not having the common sense to leave the park to avoid the falcon.

But once Kaesar got the Beast Tongue skill, he was able to communicate with Jorry as would with a human, though a young one. The feelings of awkwardness that usually came from human interaction had not been present due to their familiarity but whenever Nero communicated with other animals the discomfort returned. He was determined to overcome his reluctance to grow, but he hadn't found an animal yet who was interesting enough to motivate him to do so. Beast Tongue simulated a high enough spirit to allow him to communicate with animals, but only when Nero talked to them directly. Otherwise, they remained bundles of instinct that tried to kill him.

At this point, Nero was contemplating merely kidnapping a 'dumb' animal to follow him around until it spent enough time around him to achieve sapience without the need for Beast Tongue.

"I just thought I would run into a bunch of exciting monsters, you know? Something more than mere animals who can't think for themselves. Like whatever followed us last week and dropped the wolves on us. Odds are it was some sort of mutated wolf or something, and it could plan in advance. I would rather have somebody interesting than boring if we're going to be spending a lot of time together." Nero remembered a few of the Sullen he had been attacked by on the picnic had been smart enough to talk, at least enough to voice their desire to kill him. But so far, out of the twenty or so foxes and assorted animals, the pair had hunted today, no one seemed to be even close to self-realization. They just attacked him as soon as he got near.

"I guess," Jorry said, not really understanding Nero's thoughts. To the snake, all that mattered was what abilities this new companion would bring to the table and if it would help grow the Nest, increasing the stat boost he would receive. "But if you do find somebody... interesting, even if it were another snake, you wouldn't? I mean, I could still..." Jorry started hesitantly and trailed off.

Nero looked to his companion, who was looking anywhere but at the human, and took note of his nervousness. It was times like this that reminded him how young Jorry was. He was only a few months old, less than ten if they converted into snake-years, and he was prone to all the insecurities that children faced, unsure as they were with their place in the world. Augustus had encountered those thoughts as a child as well, afraid he was being replaced by his sisters, and they had faced it in turn, wondering whether Augustus preferred one over the other.

"I'm not going to replace you," Nero encouraged softly. "Even if we recruit a whole host of other snakes, I think your the only one who'll become a world serpent and I don't want to miss you turning into a dragon. So you aren't getting rid of me that easily."

"Of course," Jorry said with rising pride. "I wasn't worried."

"Of course," Nero agreed readily.

"I wasn't," Jorry repeated, sensing he wasn't being taken seriously. "Your help will make things easier, but even without it, I will become the best dragon ever. Just watch!"

"I believe you," Nero agreed once again. Jorry stared at him intently, trying to be sure he wasn't being made fun of. Satisfied, the snake finished swallowing his meal and slithered over to Nero. The serpent then wrapped itself around his arm inside the warmth of the jacket.

"Wake me up if you need help."

"I think we're done for the day," Nero said, rising to his feet and kicking a bit of dirt to smother what was left of the fire. "We have a lot of ground to cover, and I won't finish assimilating the sense of touch for another day or so. There is no real rush." Where before it had taken a month or weeks, it now only took a week and a half for assimilating a trait to be complete, likely due to the increase in skill level.

"Sure, whatever you say," Jorry said sleepily, the cold air of the day having made him groggier than usual.

Unfortunately, the snake wouldn't get the rest he desired due to the most unexpected of noises.

"Do you hear that?" Nero asked.

"Hm?" Was all Jorry replied as he was already half asleep.

"It sounds like, singing?" Nero half asked in confusion. "Bad singing."

"Cause there are a bunch of singers out in the wild at night." Though tired, the snake couldn't miss an opportunity to try out sarcasm once more.

"That's why I'm confused!" Nero said exasperatedly, maybe teaching Jorry sarcasm wasn't the best idea. "Can you taste anything?"

"Blood, fox, ash, snow, nothing else."

"Really? I'll try and follow it," Nero was aware of many folktales and myths about following mysterious singing into the night, but his curiosity had been peaked. So, like a good protagonist of a horror film, Kaesar wandered off into the darkening evening to find an unknown sound. Thankfully, Nero wasn't in a horror movie, so he didn't meet a grisly end. Instead, he was just confused.

"La la la la la la la la, gonna eat, gonna eat, gonna eat a rabbIT~ I'm gonna eat it 'cause I killed IT~ a rabbit is delicious, it crunchy, and juicy, and tasTY~ la la la la la la la la la~." The singing was off key, the lyrics made no sense and, combined with the image, Nero just knew he was in for a headache. Somehow, don't ask Nero how a fox had wrapped a dead and bloody rabbit in its large and bushy tail and was carrying it while singing, and somehow, skipping. Despite walking on four legs. Nero wasn't even sure that was possible.

"AAHH!" The fox suddenly screamed in fright, catching sight of Nero. It jumped back, dropping the rabbit carcass in the process, and crouched low. "Grrrr, growl, hiss, angry face!" It might have been more intimidating if the creature wasn't saying the words and actually performed the actions instead. "You can't have mah bushy tail!"

There was that headache after all. Maybe Nero should have been more careful with what he wished for.

*****

"I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other."

-Napoleon Bonaparte