"D-Dungeon!?... system is this true?"
He hurriedly asked back. His heart trembled slightly under this sudden news. A dungeon!... like from the game one?. For players to brush up their level and become stronger!...
"Does that mean the concept of levels and players existed here?"
"No host... "
The system answered back. Destroying his thoughts of utter fantasy. Oh wait... he is one.
"Then... explain to me about this place"
"Ding... the dungeon. Existed for the sole purpose of gaining strength and experience. Usually, dungeons will be used by humanoid creatures to find rare materials and even treasures if lucky. "
The system elucidated in a slow and automated manner as Hiro listened without leaving a single word unattended within his mind.
Listening to that...
"I see... so the structure of it still retained the same concept of what a dungeon is from my world. But instead of levels and such... it focused more on the accumulation of experiences. "
"Then... the chances of me stumbling upon human would be rather high here. "
He murmured to himself within the wooden cocoon as it went on to drop further and further below.
While this was happening.
Hiro then began to implement a new set of plans inside his mind.
Since this place possessed innumerable hidden dangers... he preferred to be prepared with a backup plan if anything went south.
As for why is it dangerous?...
(The chances of meeting humans)...
Shivers!!!...
*Creaks!* *Creaks!* *splashes!*
half a minute later...
The enormous bodily wooden cocoon eventually stopped as some of its lower parts were submerged inside the water below.
Noises of splashes and squeaking wooden movement quivered about... with the wavering blue color on the outside of the peeking hole.
"This?... water... it should be a river or even a lake... let's explore the area a bit first for safety... and then"
"find a hidden place to evolve"
Having said that...
The wooden enclosure unexpectedly unrolled itself as Hiro slithered forward into the water next.
*Creaked!* *Creaked!*
*Splash!*
The familiar touch of the dark blue liquid with the darkness of depth below. Home sweet home...
but wait!...
"Holy!... how deep is this lake!"
He blurted in alarm as he veered his gaze around below. He couldn't see the depth of it!...
The giant wafting ball was still there on the surface as Hiro ventured a bit further from his prior location.
His gaze swiveled left and right... and yet... he barely noticed the earth-sloped wall a couple of hundred meters in front. That should be the land.
And then he slanted his gaze back beyond the floating raft. All he could see afterward would be the endless water without walls or even barriers.
"This is a river?... or a connection to the ocean?.. "
"Hmmm... oh well... might as well explore the water first. "
*swoosh!*
he embarked to swim downward...
his head dived in first with his eyes glowing in the darkness of this depth. It's like a pair of cold emerald eyes wandering around inside this seemingly infinite place.
Hiro possessed the ability to discern everything as clear as the day within the water. But now he couldn't even see the depth of it which means that this place is extremely deep...
His size of over 217 meters long shuttling through here... surely he is a behemoth among behemoth.
1km...
2km...
3km...
4km...
and suddenly...
He stopped...
"What's that?"
He uttered as he gaped intently to the side...
there he saw it...
a blurry shadow with the size of 50 meters or so swimming not too far away from him.
The shape is similar to that of a fish but the fin on top of it appeared to be rather jagged and long.
After a couple more closer inspections...
"A giant fish!... and I had never seen this type of fish before."
The body is blue with a visible white stripe on both sides.
The mouth is half opened with noticeable rows of sharp teeth protruding up and the most alarming feature would be the large horn on its head. Spiraling in the pattern.
The fish doesn't seem to discover Hiro's presence yet as it swam leisurely at its own pace. Vacant of any worries...
"Let's just leave it for now and go back to the surface. I had explored enough for today... "
"After all... I needed to find a hidden place first and then evolve to the next level. Demi ancient realm! I can't wait to become stronger!"
*swoosh!*
Hiro then rapidly swam upward to the surface...
the water swelled all around him as visible waves spiraled around his head like a tornado.
Not even a minute passed and soon enough...
*splashes!*
*Boom!*
An enormous behemoth emerged from the water below as the tranquility from before was disturbed on the surface.
Surges of waves dispersed around in rhythm as Hiro slowly made his way to the land.
From his perspective...
the land was crammed with large trees and sandy beaches on this side. He also saw some small animals similar to that of a deer and boar.
The size of these trees was not too sloppy in terms of height. An average of 30-40 Meters tall is extremely helpful for him to slide around in assurance.
"This place is great!... the size is totally on point for my size!"
Hiro sighed in relief as he ultimately arrived on the shore.
Slithering forward with his body entirely lowered to the ground. The earth was shoved apart as his body crushed through to make a path.
His weight damped in the ground... leaving behind a giant trail connected from his tail.
And somehow... the moment he landed there. The birds surrounding the area instantly flocked away in fear...
the surrounding earth trembled under his slithering movement as some of the trees were pushed apart and fell over.
2 hours later...
After a continuous journey through the forest. He finally stumbled himself next to a waterfall!.
"Woahhh!!!!... "
"So beautiful!"
As he gazed towards the falling water with his emerald eyes. Though there's only one problem...
The size of it barely reached 70 meters tall as Hiro protruded his head up to inspect it from his eye level. The water below formed a large lake roughly 200 meters wide and 80-120 meters deep...
"Well, this should do it... I can just curl my body around inside and there's a lot of space with the streaming water downward for my lower body. "
Hiro nodded in satisfaction.
He wanted to turn this place into his temporary evolving shelter. Nobody should be able to come here and disturb him...
I mean.
Even if someone did... they won't notice Hiro's presence since he is deep underwater.
-
Hiro then crammed himself inside the lake below the waterfall as he curled his body around to spare as much space as he could.
If before from above the water would look a bit clearer and not too dark... but now it looked extremely gray as if the bottom of it is endlessly deep.
"System... open my panel"
"Ding"
Name: Hiro
Species: Corroded mutated serpent.
size: 200m in length 7m in width.
Points: 37 066 000
Skills:
1. Mutated earthy skin: Grant the host with a harder skin
(Passive).
2. Common sprint: Grant host the ability to increase max speed by 15% (Passive) (Maximum)
3. Corroded flaming skin (It means what it means): an extremely fatal corroded poison skin that allows the host to paralyze and burn the enemy when in contact.
(Additional poison fangs)(Additional corroded effect)
(Can be accumulated)(passive)
4. Damage resistance: reduce damage taken by 15% (Permanent passive) (Maximum)
5. Tail slam: increase the attack of the tail type attacks by 15% permanently (Passive) (Maximum)
6. Flaming corroded tail slash. (Passive)(Can be altered with the corroded energy)
7. Aura of fear. Burst the aura of fear towards the surrounding by 10km radius rendering any weaker creature to feel utterly weak. (Passive)
(Corroding effect... slightly damaged enemy mind)
8. Hyper regeneration. Giving the host the ability to heal any injuries at an extreme speed. (Passive)
9. Body growth. Every day host body will grow by one meter in length and width accordingly. This also increases the host's body passive skill effect by each day. (Passive) (Maximum)
10. Medium control. Allowing the host to talk through the medium. (Passive)
Evolution points needed for the next evolution: 10000000.
"More than enough for my next evolution... I think. "
Hiro pondered for a moment...
His points now were all of the accumulation from the crystalline soil from before.
Spending over 10 million won't hurt him anymore since he is a rich man now.
"System... initiate the evolving function"
He ordered but then...
"Orders received... host please choose one of the two options to evolve next"
But then a large blue panel materialized before his very eyes with the system voice clarifying it.
"What's this?... options for evolving?"
Hiro asked...
"Yes, host... from this point on. Each evolution will be given two or more options for a lineage path. Please choose wisely"
The system explained...
1. Corroded Serpent stage 2.
(Retaining the same species but with a stronger development on the next stage)
2. Deviant World Serpent.
(Would still retain some of the corroded nature but host overall essence will be thoroughly changed into a new species.)
Looking over the two options...
"I choose-"
To be continued