Takeru jolted awake, lifting his head from the ground, quickly looking at his surroundings. Damnit! How could I fall asleep? There could still be enemies around here...
He activated Thermal Vision and Sense Detail, but no heat signatures or vibrations could be picked up.
He let out a deep sigh. I guess I worried for nothing... Now, let's see what the system has to say this time.
With the tip of his regrown tail, he tapped the black star in front of him.
—————
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION!
Preparing rewards...
Items:
Bone shards: dropped by Rat King ×156
Information Scroll ×1
Swipe left to continue...
—————
Huh?! What am I going to do with bone shards? Why do I always get useless items? Last time the clothes, and now this?! Thankfully, I at least got a scroll, Takeru thought, frustration visible on his face before he swiped.
—————
SYSTEM NOTICE:
Ranks:
King > High King > Tyrant > Overlord > Emperor
There is no stopping this process!
—————
As soon as Takeru read the last sentence, the system, like earlier, turned to dust. But because he had already experienced this, he quickly closed his eyes.
He opened them after a while. Haha! That's right! I won't fall for... your... tricks...
He couldn't finish his thought because his body was feeling hot—extremely so... But it wasn't harsh; it felt like being submerged in hot springs.
Unbeknownst to the panicking Takeru, his body underwent small changes as it began to release a brilliant blue light, resembling his eyes.
His tail grew only a few meters longer, and the girth of his body increased. His eyes became clearer, and his body darker than before, while the black spots were swallowed up by the blue lines slithering across his body, hiding between his scales.
After a few seconds, the blue light dimmed, revealing a beautiful snake with clear scales and piercing blue eyes. He blinked them, wondering what had changed.
Did I evolve?
"I don't feel any different... WHAAAAAT?!!!!!!"
Takeru yelled, his voice echoing in the cave.
"How can I speak? Was it because I evolved?!" His voice cracked, his excitement barely contained.
"But isn't my voice too high-pitched? Almost like a little girl's... And don't snakes in games and stuff, you know, sound like thissssssss?"
A grin formed on his face. "Ssssshould I begin talking like thisssss?" He giggled.
Then suddenly, the bell noise rang in his head once more.
—————
FINAL NOTIFICATION
Granting name...
Successful.
Bringing up Personal Information...
Name: Ryusei Orochi
Age: 1 year
Race: Mythical snake
New Species: Serpent
Rank: King
Gifting Skill...
Legendary: Parallel Processing.
—————
He closed his eyes, expecting the system to turn to dust again, but it only faded, turning transparent until it completely disappeared.
Takeru's mind was racing.
A new name... Wait, what was my old one again? I remember my past life, but not my name... Is it because I got a new one?
And this skill... another Legendary one... Is it also as powerful as Adaptation?
He chuckled. There's no way! Adaptation copies one of my target's skills before changing it.
When I fought Rat King, I was extremely lucky that its copied skill got stronger... But that's not what I should focus on now!
It's finally time to leave this place.
Takeru—no, Ryusei—thought as he stared at the opening above the tree.
But more than that, he was excited he could speak again. Like a child finding a new toy, he kept making noises and started singing with his new voice as he slithered across the lake and back up the old tree to the top of its last branch, reaching out of the cave, the sunlight shining on it.
He stopped singing and turned around, looking back at the cave he was born in.
The cave that holds my past, where I learned I got reincarnated, where I fought and almost died... But there are also good memories, and now I'm leaving that cave.
It's a bittersweet feeling... Goodbye, my home. Even if it was only for a short while, I had fun... or did I?
Well, there's one thing I should say before I leave.
He cleared his throat.
"Screw you! You rat bastards!!!" he yelled, his voice echoing down below before he chuckled with a smirk on his face.
Now, it's time to go!
He slithered up the branch, his eyes full of determination as his heart pounded with excitement.
He reached the end of it, his body starting to glisten in the sun, before he slithered out of the cave.
First, he looked up at the beautiful blue and cloudless sky, taking a deep breath as a gentle breeze brushed past his face.
He was on a cliff, with nothing but rocks in front of him. But when he turned to look around, he saw a beautiful blue.
His eyes widened.
"The sea!"
He flicked his tongue outside his mouth.
"This salty taste... Yes! Definitely the sea! But it's this clear? I've never seen an ocean like this on Earth."
He stared at the water stretching across what seemed to be an endless horizon, the water becoming bluer the farther it went out.
He looked down from atop the cliff he was standing on, only to see spiked rocks pointing up toward him.
He shook his head.
"Nooope! This is definitely a death trap! Let's turn around before I fall."
He turned around and went toward the opposite side of the sea, before reaching the end of it.
Again, he was awestruck.
A forest greener than grass, with medium-sized trees all carrying fruits. He could also feel animals—or monsters, in this case—running around below him.
He looked down and saw that, for some reason, there were stairs leading down into the forest, but he waited before going down.
As a sudden chill ran through his body, he immediately activated Thermal Vision.
He deactivated it before coming out, thinking it wouldn't work with the sun casting its heat, but he had to try.
It worked—because it was a skill—but he didn't focus on that and scanned the area until he saw a orange outline resembling a giant bird, sitting in a tree. It moved closer until it landed on a branch where it became visible even without Thermal Vision.
A big bird resembling an eagle—with a white-feathered head and a dark blue body and wings. Its piercing green eyes stared at Ryusei.
An eagle? No! An eagle doesn't have feather-like horns... A monster!
Is it an enemy? No... Its color through Thermal Vision is orange, meaning it could also be harmless.
Ryusei thought, his eyes glued to the eagle sitting in the tree, observing his every movement.
The eagle opened its beak, letting out a chirp that sounded less menacing than it looked.
"Huh?!"
Ryusei looked at the eagle, confusion written all over his face, his fear gone.
The eagle spread its wings, briefly covering its beak, then lowered them and opened its beak again.
"Hey! Why are you coming out of Rat King's territory?" the eagle said, looking down at Ryusei.
A talking eagle... Hmmmm... Wait! Huh?! A talking eagle?!