In the previous chapter, we learned that our protagonist, for some reason, after being hit by a truck like any stray dog in a third world country, was reincarnated in a fantasy world, where death is just around the corner.
Can our protagonist survive a week without being devoured by random monster #3? Can he find out where he is and where he should go? Can he find a cute Nekomimi to rub her ears to ecstasy?
Stay and find out.
Right now
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Year ??? .AC
-???-
On the bank of a river, inside a nest of rocks, our protagonist, a snake, was reflecting on his current situation.
"Affirming my previous conclusion, I was lucky not to end up in the Marvel and DC multiverse . Let's move on to the next thing I should be worried about. "
"Why the hell am I a snake?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in snake language. Yes, snake language. Obviously, a snake can't communicate in human language without vocal cords.
After rambling about whether snakes can understand what I'm saying, I got back on track.
"If I remember correctly, my request to the 'Voice of the World' was to have the ability to become a True Dragon. So, if I continue to evolve and gain opportunities, I should theoretically become a True Dragon."
"From my black scales with blue details, I could speculate that I have something to do with Veldora, something like Charybdis , beings born from his magic," I thought as I continued to look at my body.
"However, Charybdis is a fucking Spiritual Dragon capable of flying, shooting laser beams from its eyes and generating subordinates, a walking catastrophe for humans."
"While I am... this," I rolled my eyes.
"Well, let's put aside the fact that I didn't win the lottery as to who I was reincarnated as, but at least it's better to be a snake than a slime . Those guys are at the bottom of the food chain."
"Not everyone is a Ramiro," I laughed at my pun.
"So, I'm something of a descendant of Veldora's magics, which isn't a surprise with how crazy that guy is, destroying everything in his path, releasing magicules like they were water..." I thought about what I would do with all those magicules.
"Shit! Focus on what's important."
"Well, as I was saying, given my connection with Veldora, I should share his attributes, which are wind, water, and space. So these should be my key to becoming stronger. By having a greater affinity for them, my progress would be faster."
"Being born from magicules, I'm considered a monster. So I don't necessarily need to eat, drink, sleep, or even breathe; I just need the magicules necessary to sustain myself and evolve, which is a huge relief. I wouldn't want to be like humans, those guys have a fucked up evolution path," I nodded at this thought.
"Now what should I do?" I thought to myself.
"I think I'll follow that survival guide I saw on a TV show."
"Rule 1: Air, check if you can breathe," I proceeded to inhale and exhale air normally. "Done, I can breathe, although I don't know if I really need to in order to survive. Let's think about it, if I need to, for the moment."
"Rule 2: Shelter, seek shelter to be safe from the weather or possible threats," I turned my head to look around and check my surroundings.
"It seems to be a pile of randomly stacked rocks, it may have been another monster's lair. It seems to be empty, I don't smell anything, it's probably been uninhabited for a while," I thought as I continued to sniff my surroundings.
"That should do for now."
"Rule 3: Water, a human can only live 3 days without water."
"Although I am no longer human, it may not apply to me. I should look for a water source after leaving here."
"Rule 4: Food, a human can only live 3 weeks without food."
"The same as water, except that in my case, I think I will need to consider it as a top priority, given that dams, in addition to being my source of energy, are what sustain my existence and promote my evolution."
"I should get out of here and see what's outside."
" Roarrrrrrr !"
I heard a thunderous roar as I glided out of my lair. There I saw it, flying high above me in the sky, was an immense Black and Blue Dragon, an imposing presence that covered everything. A being at the top from the beginning.
Just by being there, it forced everyone to succumb. With a single beat of its wings, cyclones were created behind it, uprooting trees and throwing them everywhere.
" Vel … Veld … Veldora," I said as I shivered and choked in fear as I saw the embodiment of chaos and destruction fly so close to me.
After what I thought were hours, but were only a couple of seconds of maximum tension, I saw him fly off into the distance.
"Thank Veldanava! I was just passing through," was the only thought on my mind after that scare. I stared at the sky for a few minutes, praying that it wouldn't turn around. Only after I saw and heard nothing did I relax.
"I haven't even been in this world for 5 minutes and I was almost killed like an ant, crushed without even deserving that the person who crushed it know of its existence!" I trembled with pure frustration.
"No, I will not allow myself to die as a mere ant!" Something inside me ignited at the cry of my will, something unknown that gave me confidence not to back down in the face of the adversities I would experience. I looked in the direction Veldora had gone.
"I swear with all my being that I will reach your level or even surpass you, and when that happens, I swear that I will beat you so much that when I finish you off because of the scare you gave me, not even your sisters will be able to recognize you!" I shouted with all my heart to the distant sky.
Meanwhile, flying in the sky
"Now which kingdom should I destroy? It can't be near the east or Sister Velgrynd might hit me. It can't be a very large one either or Sister Velzard might kill me," Veldora contemplated, as he flew over a human village.
Veldora just lowered his head and fired a breath at the ground, destroying the human village below.
" All Right , another village splendidly destroyed by me, Veldora, the Storm Dragon!" Veldora nodded as he continued flying towards his next destination.
Back with our protagonist
*BOOOOMMM*
I heard a thunderous explosion from the direction Veldora had gone. I wiped the non-existent sweat from my forehead with my non-existent hand.
"I think I'll take my time with that promise I made," I nodded repeatedly as I walked back to my den to process what had just happened. Inside the temporary den I curled up into a ball with my head down, as I wandered in thought.
"Sometimes I think it's better to be an ant, at least everyone passes you by."
'I don't know who the unfortunate ones were that Veldora saw them,' I sigh at their bad luck, while rejoicing that it wasn't me.
'But this scare is not without its benefits, finding Veldora flying and destroying in a forest allows me to partially know what point in the timeline I am currently in.'
'It's not the canon period, because by the time he returned to Hihikomuri , he rarely went out without Rimuru's supervision, spending his time reading manga and novels.'
'It's not the 300 years it was sealed either, obviously because it's not sealed in a cave right now.'
'I can only assume that I'm at least 300 years away from Rimuru's arrival in this world. I have time before things get out of hand, I should be grateful for that.'
'But that also poses dangers, one of them being the big guy who just passed by,' I sighed depressedly.
'Damn it, if you're afraid to live, you might as well not be born,' I regained my fighting spirit as I crept back out of my lair.
'What was I doing?... Water, looking for a water source,' I looked around as I crept forward, where I felt dampness.
'It feels weird to slide around instead of using your legs to move. It's like that time my ex tied my hands and legs so I would writhe towards her to get my reward ;), that added a little spice to the relationship.It's a shame she later left me for a more submissive guy, but hey, I wasn't going to let myself be on the receiving end for a plastic toy, I have my limits.'
While I was reminiscing about my good times with my former dominatrix, I apparently came to a not-so-wide river. I walked over to see my reflection.
' Mmm , not so bad,' I thought, as I looked at myself.
'It seems my pupil is a slit. If Earth's knowledge applies at all here, it should be the poisonous type,' I opened my mouth to see my pair of fangs, while trying to exert force on my mouth, only to feel something like an instinct guiding me to move an energy towards my fangs.
I could see my fangs turn a toxic green color and I could feel my mouth getting tighter as I closed my mouth.
'This should be an ability of the race I was reincarnated into, I think they were called intrinsic abilities of races,' I stopped supplying energy to my fangs, they slowly lost their shine until they returned to normal. 'It should be poisonous bite.'
'That felt like I had done a short run in terms of exhaustion. I guess what I used to activate the skill should be my magics. I have to be careful with how many times I use them in a short period of time, I could put myself in danger if I face a surprise threat and my tank is half empty,' I shifted my body to get used to the feeling.
'What could be the rest of my skills?...'
'Let's start by trying what I remember when I was dying.'
'Thermal vision,' I tried to focus my eyes with all my might, until, just like before, something guided me to move my magicules in a specific way towards my eyes. Then my vision changed, going from normal color vision, to what I remember being seen through an infrared camera.
Mostly, the surroundings are seen in scales of blue and purple, while there are red and yellow areas, which I assume are living things. Luckily for me, I don't see any large signatures near me.
'It seems that my limit with this vision is 10 meters, but that may be due to my unfamiliarity with this skill or my low strength,' I stopped supplying magicules and my vision returned to how it was before.
'This time, I didn't feel any fatigue. So, support skills consume less than attack skills, which is normal since attack skills must break through the inherent defense of the target's own magic to inflict damage. Let's move on to the next thing.'
'Come to think of it, snakes aren't supposed to have good eyesight like humans. How come my current vision is the same or even better than the old one?' I thought for a while. 'Something like that wasn't mentioned in the voice of the world, it could be due to…'
'My unique ability!'
'So, in addition to having the ability to adapt, my unique skill should have sub-skills, including heightened senses. If I recall correctly, I also gained several resistances, which later merged with the skill.
That means Adaptable has the ability to help me gain resistances and even other types of skills.'
'The question is, how to use it? My skill doesn't come with a convenient AI that can answer me or help me handle the rest of the skills. I'm talking about you, Ramiro!'
'Forget it, I'll figure it out in time,' I shrugged my non-existent shoulders.
'Now my priority should be to get prey to replenish my spent magicules and begin my evolutionary journey. At least I have several resistances that could help me in combat or survive if I lose.'
I slipped off the riverbank, into the trees, while using my thermal vision to search for small prey so I could test my skills without risking death in the attempt.
I may have adapted to my current situation, but it doesn't mean I'm a hot-blooded muscle brain, who is prone to dying from overconfidence.
As I walked deeper into the bushes, I could see 5 meters away under the shade of a tree, what appeared to be a rabbit with a horn on its head resting.
'It seems I was lucky, I found a weak monster as my first prey. I just have to approach it very carefully so as not to make any noise, so that it doesn't wake up and I can pounce on it with the poisonous bite. Then it's just a matter of wrapping it around my body and restricting its movement.'
'In, bite, squeeze and out. Easy,' the corners of my mouth formed a smile. Unnoticed, one of the horned rabbit's ears moved subtly.
Just 2 meters away from the rabbit I stopped, coiling my body like a spring to accumulate the maximum amount of force.
I aimed my head at its neck, finally activating the poisonous bite skill and with all my might I shot at the rabbit.
'I'm coming for you, bitch,' I continued, focusing on my prey's neck as it flew through the air.
When I was just 30 cm away from the rabbit, something happened that I hadn't anticipated.
The rabbit snapped its bloodshot eyes open and looked me in the eye, with what I assume was a sarcastic grin on its face.
It turned its body and pointed its sharp horn in my direction, while propelling itself with its powerful hind legs, in an attempt to impale me in the air.
With all my might I tried to move my head out of position at the last moment before impact. The horned rabbit managed to stab its sharp horn into my side.
Luckily for me, although I didn't feel much pain due to my resistance to it, it didn't take away the fear of almost losing my life just because of a careless mistake.
We both fell heavily to the ground, while I tried to compose myself and pull the horn out. The rabbit clung to me with all its strength, twisting its horn into my wound, increasing its size.
As we continued our tug of war on the ground, I was feeling weaker and weaker. 'I have to finish this, or I'll be the loser,' I awkwardly aimed my head at his neck and with all my might I bit down with my poison bite skill.
The rabbit seemed to realize the threat my bite represented, it tried to dodge, but this time I was counting on it. I used the rest of my body to restrain its limbs, while I injected my venom into it.
I could only watch as I clung to its neck in panic. It thrashed around trying to get free, but it was my turn to stop it from letting go.
We continued to struggle on the ground, before long the rabbit stopped moving, succumbing to my venom.
'Finally, this bastard almost killed me,' I proceeded to loosen my grip on his body and pull the horn out of my side.
I could see a 4cm diameter hole made by his horn, but something wonderful happened before my eyes.
The wound that was bleeding profusely just now began to close at an alarming speed.
'Great, it seems I have some sort of regeneration. I don't know if it's capable of regaining lost limbs, though I don't have any limbs anymore, but you guys get the point,' I continued watching the wound close up completely, but with that my weak condition became weaker.
'It seems that regeneration is at the cost of a lot of magic, something I currently lack,' I see the corpse of the rabbit beside me, completely calm.
'You'll be the one who refills my tank,' I smiled sinisterly.
'Now how do I get this back to my den? Only a fool would eat his kill in the open, that's inviting a surprise attack on you' as I approach my next meal.
* Hoooooooowwwww *
'Shit, right now!' I got furious because I could hear a pack of wolves approaching my position.
With regret I watched my prized first catch, wedded with so much effort, only to walk away and climb a nearby tree to hide among the leaves and watch the uninvited guests.
Looking down, I saw what looked like 15 giant wolves compared to the ones on land. 'They should be direwolves, individually D-rank, but together they are a B-rank threat,' I watched as one of the direwolves walked up to the horned rabbit, sniffed it, and picked it up.
Approaching the back of the pack, he handed it to a direwolf nearly twice the size of the rest.
'I guess he's the alpha of the pack,' I watched as the alpha swallowed my prey in one gulp and walked off with his pack into the distance, that only lit a fire of vengeance in my eyes.
'I can't handle Veldora anytime soon, if I can't handle you anytime soon I'm a fucking earthworm.'
'I added a name to my list of future kills in my mind, I'll call it DeathNote because anyone on the list will die sooner or later,' I thought with a sinister glint in my eyes.
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Will our protagonist be able to avenge this humiliation against the direwolves? Will he be able to hunt down prey to eat without someone else stealing it? Will he decide to change the name of his DeathNote to something less otaku-like? Find out in the next chapter.
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Author's Notes: What bad luck our protagonist had at the roulette wheel, I personally wanted him to win and be able to enjoy his first victory, but since I set the rules, I can't break them.