When the cocoon broke apart, the storeroom looked exactly the same as before. The defensive formation had remained intact for half a year quite seamlessly. As it split apart, the cocoon stopped looking like a huge flower bud and more like a monster punching a hole through a sheet of green metal. A front heavy creature slithered out of the newly formed hole about a foot wide. The disconcerting part was how long it took for it to finish slithering out, the body of the creature coiled on the ground into a man sized mound. As eye catching as the size of the thing was, the coloring was absolutely mundane, being a sandy brown color with black and tan speckling on its scales.

Eventually, the over forty foot long creature had exited the ‘cocoon’ and had completely coiled up on the ground. The huge snake undulated in a strange pattern without moving anywhere at all, like it was testing its muscles. Then from within the pile the head of it rose up into the air and opened its unusually large eyes. Surprisingly, the cobra didn’t have vertical slit pupils. Instead they were more like rounded diamond shapes or a row of three overlapping circles. The center circle slowly bobbed up and down, and the whole pupil had a thin red outline. A moment later the cobra expanded its ribs, flattening its body out and raising its hood. It immediately tripled in width and then started changing colors. Its whole body shifted to green, then blue, then violet. Then it started to vary the pattern with different camouflage schemes. Stripes, spots, speckling, the scales slowly shifted while the head lifted high into the air and watched the changes as they happened.

The three foot wide hood suddenly turned a blinding white, not just changing color but even seeming to be emitting light. Each individual scale on the hood, and there were thousands of them, took a different color and then started to change. It looked like somebody was performing a calibration test on their brand new computer monitor as bright colors swirled and shifted, the cobra’s hood had become a dazzling lightshow.

Of course, the giant cobra was Sage’s new body and he was just testing its new capabilities. He wasn’t pleased to have completely lost his arms, but from an optimization standpoint the less complicated he made his physical form the more Body Power he had to distribute to other areas. As a snake, there were far fewer individual types of bones to deal with, besides the head and tail, it was mainly a lot of ribs. It was a similar case with muscles and joints. Without having to worry about complicated hip, shoulder, knee, ankle and many other types of joints and muscle structures he could maximize the strength of the other parts. On the downside it was far from the most powerful body type, at least in his opinion. He’d even considered the most highly efficient insect bodies, but it wasn’t as compatible with Hypnotic Eyes, Chameleon Skin, and especially Regeneration. An exoskeleton essentially combined the function of flesh and bone. While very efficient, insects didn’t heal well. Many injuries could only be healed by undergoing another molt and growing a new outer shell.

While he’d lost his arms and legs, Sage had gained a new toy in the color changing hood. The high density of tiny scales along with rapid color changing meant his cobra hood was equivalent to a high resolution LED screen. He didn’t have a large mirror, nor would he take the time to do a count, so he didn’t know the actual resolution, but he still started experimenting. He tried out a few patterns that hypnotists, or fake ones at least, might use on earth. Circular vortexes, swirling colors, black and white whirlpools, all the classics. What was most interesting was that his cobra hood was three feet wide, over six feet tall, and he had a set of nictitating eyelids that could also change color to hide his eyes without blocking vision too much. Acting carefully, he could use his hood to create the illusion of a full size human, at least a two dimensional one.

This new body of his was built around the Hypnotic Eyes, which also led to him losing the vertical slit pupils that most snakes had. Instead he used the same style as the toad he’d received them from. The pupil shape seemed to improve the hypnotic power, so he accepted the penalty of worse night vision. Along with the power of Pheromones, and a color changing hood, his hypnotic ability was far greater than before. In the past, those 3 ranks lower than him could be hypnotised directly allowing him to control their actions. He could implant hypnotic suggestions into those 2 ranks lower, creating a subtle influence to act the way he wished in specific situations, just like a hypnotist convincing someone to quit smoking or not to eat so much in order to lose weight. Those 1 rank lower than him could only be mesmerised if they stared directly into his eyes, stopping them in their tracks and locking them in a daze as long as eye-contact wasn’t broken.

With his new body, now Sage gauged that his hypnotic abilities has increased by a whole degree of magnitude. Now he would be able to mesmerise those at the same rank, implant suggestions at one rank lower, and hypnotically control those two ranks lower. Also, that didn’t include the effects of poison. Guan Zhenyan told him if they used a special poison he could likely jump that ability up another rank again. At that point he’d be able to plant suggestions in even those of his same rank and mesmerise people in the 6th rank! Even if he couldn’t fight them directly, at that point he’d just have to poison and then lock eyes with them. After that he could have an insect climb into their ear and burrow into their brain, or use another minion with an insidious method to finish the job.

Only the most powerful could jump ranks to defeat enemies. In the future with just a bit of poison he would be able to kill them almost effortlessly. Of course, this was only a conjecture. The stronger the cultivator, the stronger the poison required to affect them.

While he was messing around, Guan Zhenyan took some time to clear his schedule and then appeared outside the formation surrounding the giant cobra. He puffed on his pipe and took a few minutes to examine the snake from the outside. Then he nodded his head, “A little crude, but this will work.”

You were watching me and giving tips the whole time… jerk.

“Hah, no need to get testy. Also, no. I’m not listening to your thoughts. That little flower in your Core is a link, but now it only allows me to check your condition, location, and also for communication. Surprise. Even if you wish to run, I’ll know anywhere you go.”

That was when the defensive formation finally vanished. Guan Zhenyan was just too lazy to chase after him immediately, so he’d warned him about the futility of it before opening the door. Sage felt like he’d just been told the yard was fenced before the leash was unclipped from his collar.

It’s actually more like I’ve got a chip implanted. Damn! Now this bastard has me thinking like I’m a pet!

“It looks like you’ve recovered from your injuries. I’ve decided you can have a couple days to recuperate and settle in, then it’s time to get to work. You’ve got quite a bill to pay off already. Six months powering a defensive formation, transportation by Flying Ship, your purchase price from the Shou Empire, and that’s not even mentioning the consultation fee for all my advice.”

“Thank you for all your care,” Sage tried to speak respectfully, especially since he was completely under his control now. At the same time he also had some questions he needed answered, “You mention expense, but it seems I’m already your slave. What do I care about the cost? Is this just your method to make me feel indebted to you so I accept it?”

Guan Zhenyan blew smoke into the cobra face, “Bah. Is that all you take me for? A jumped up slaver? Ridiculous. I operate on merit! Fiscal responsibility! As soon as you pay your debt you’ll be free to go where you wish and do what you want. If you work hard enough you can pay for more of my guidance. If you ‘donate’ a large enough sum you can even earn the status of the great Guan Zhenyan’s disciple.”

Wait a second… his disciples are a paid membership club? Do you get issued a card?