Kuro looked away from the entrance and towards the sphere he was coiled around, the surface of the gem was highly reflective as Kuro saw his new face. The face of a menacing snake with two appropriately sized backwards facing horned looked back at him, the only thought that ran through his head was "I look cool... but kind of scary" as he looked around the cave.
The cave was almost perfectly spherical, but the few stalactites broke up the near perfect room. Small stalagmites littered the floor along with pebbles and rocks while shards of ore jutted out from the walls of the cave, Each released a small amount of light enough to light up the room but Kuro never noticed as [Serpents Eye] allowed him to see in the dark.
Patches of dark green moss were dotted around the cave, mainly on the ceiling... Small vines grew from the moss overhead and in tandem with the rhythmic dripping of water cave the place a tranquil yet mysterious vibe... he liked the ambiance the cave already gave off.
He slowly uncoiled himself from around his core and with no other things to observe he slowly slithered towards light from the entrance. His eyed burned and he stopped to let his eyes adjust, while waiting he heard birds chirping, the rustling of leaves and the whistling of wind as the cool breeze brushed against the spots of bare skin devoid of scales.
He continued his slither until he passed the mouth of the cave and now moved across soft, lush green grass. He stopped and coiled his body up and raised his neck?... body?... he raised his head as high as possible with his current size and stared out a sea of green leaves and branches. Birds flew soared across the great blue sky and various rodents scurried through the patches of tall grass.
"So this will be the first area I have to conquer... It's nice and green and cozy looking too. I should try keep this natural vibe when I take over" he thought to himself as he lower his head and he locked eyes with a white rabbit that just hopped out of its burrow. The rabbit was frozen in fear as it locked its gaze with a behemoth of a snake, it new better than to run when being watch by an ambush predator and slowly it tried to move backwards. Kuro moved his head to keep his eyes on the small white cotton ball of a rabbit, he tasted the air with his forked tongue "Hmmm... the rabbit's scent is very nice and the smell of fear is high, I like it" he thought to himself as his new snake like instincts began instructing him on what to do.
Several muscle contracted, ready to be released like springs under such force and spring away. He sprung forward and chomped down of the rabbit, killing it instantly, blood ran down the sides of his jaw as he crushed up the rabbit and swallowed it "it's blood was sweet, the skin had a rubbery texture to it and the meat was soft... It was a good first snack" he thought as a screen popped up disturbing his inner monologue.
Rabbit has been slain, 3 Bronze coins gained
Oh something new has appear he thought as he asked his system to explain the use of coins... he already knew they were needed to summon Units and trade with other Demon kings, but he wondered if there were other uses he glossed over or weren't mentioned in the introduction.
Coins are used to summon units, upgrade structures and trade. They are a demon kings second priority and essential to their growth... Coins are split into four types Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Bronze coin Gained after killing a non magic beast. They are used to summon basic units fit for any type of work. Silver coin Gained after killing a magic beast or monster. They are used to create production class units or basic combat units. Gold coin Gained after killing intelligent creatures or beings above lv15. They are used to summon higher class units or upgrade existing units units. Platinum coin Gained after killing high class beings or Heroes. They are used to create Generals, Priest or a Dark Hero.
Kuro looked at the screen and smiled mentally as he found it hard to smile with his new face... he wondered what he summon at the moment and the screen display changed.
Available Units Basic snake Cost [5 Bronze Coins] - A small 3ft snake that has no special attributes [A normal non-venomous snake] Venomous Snake Cost [10 Bronze Coins] - Applies a weak paralyzing toxin when biting [A snake with weak venom] Constrictor Cost [10 Bronze Coins] - 9ft snake built to restraint and crush targets [A bigger snake that constricts foes] Armored Snake Cost [10 Bronze Coins] - 6ft snake with armored plates running down its back [Slow but durable snake] Swift Snake Cost [10 Bronze Coins] - 3 times faster than a normal snake natural but can go 5 times faster than its normal speed when needed [An average snake but very fast] Stealth Snake Cost [15 Bronze Coins] - normal 3ft snake that can change it's scale color to fit blend with the surrounding [normal snake with chameleon camouflage] Ember Snake Cost [20 Bronze Coins] - normal 3ft that can let out five burst of flame per day [Snake that can set things on fire] Lesser Naga Cost [50 Bronze Coins] - An intelligent monster with a humanoid torso and a snake tail for a lower haft and a snakes head, it is smaller that the average Naga. [A big snake with hands and brains... can speak if taught and complete complex task] Current balance: 3 Bronze coins
Kuro was excited that he was almost ready to summon a [Basic Snake] and was about to go hunting for another snack and the coins that follow when a question surfaced and he asked "Do my units require food?"
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Units do require food... it's recommended that player only spawn few units or small units that don't eat much
"ok then, I'll grab a snack for myself and my soon to be spawned units" he thought as he slithered into the forest and began his hunt.
Rabbit has been slain, 3 Bronze coins gained
Rabbit has been slain, 3 Bronze coins gained
Deer has been slain,12 Bronze coins gained
Just like that large amount of animal have perish and by the end all that was a few corpses and a full snake. Kuro had a happy yet concerned look on his face... he thought he went overboard with hunting but when he realized that it took 8 adult deer 17 rabbits to satiate his hunger. He didn't want to exhaust the supply of food in his forest so he had to spare his energy and eat only what is required for himself, he looked to the carcasses of 5 deer and 7 rabbits laying next to him and one by one dropped them of by his cave.
Current balance: 231 Bronze coins
"I wasn't expecting to get this much on the first hunt, but I did hunt a lot because of my large apatite so this does make sense" he said while glancing at the small pile of corpses. "I could spawn 4 lesser Naga's or a bunch of the other types... but it did say I should have few or small units in the early game" he thought about his options until he came up with an answer.
"I'll spawn 3 Lesser Naga's, 4 Ember Snakes and 4 Basic Snakes" he watched as his balance dropped to 1 Bronze coin and 11 lights of varying sizes shot out of the core and landing a distance between 3-5 meters away from the core. Each light then formed into one of the selected units.
The basic snake was cute, it was 3 feet in length and hand black beady eyes, they had scale colors in blue, green and yellow shades. The Ember serpents were either red or orange in color with 2 or 1 tiny forward facing horns and a small mane of sharp scales jutting out starting from the base of their head. The Lesser Naga's where amazing to look at, their upper halves were 4ft in height while their lower halves were 4 meters in length, 3 fingered hands and a snakes head... the only thing he could think was that they were adorable.
The newly summoned units were idle resting were they spawned or roaming around while he inspected their appearances, he called the units over and had them eat the food he brought and luckily they ate their fill and a little less that half remained "I expected them to eat a lot more, but then again if they spawned in completely hungry they would have probably eaten all of it" he said to himself "I guess the units spawn it with enough hunger to work".
He looked at his units and tried to come up with a task "hmmm... Basic snakes, go hunt some small rodents. Ember Snakes go practice your fire breath on the back wall to raise your proficiency with it and raise the amount you can use per day and lastly, Lesser Naga's you will assist me in cleaning the floor of the cave" he said in a commanding voice, just like that they all began their task with the Naga's picking up stones then tossing them to one side of the cave.
The basic snakes left and the Ember snakes began shooting fire at the back wall. Although he's only summoned 11 units so far he feels a sense of accomplishment as he decided to assist the Lesser Naga's be using his tail to push most of the rock to the walls.
6 hours later
The ground of the cave is clean for the most part, he went hunting for himself and the units again, the basic snakes brought back 23 mice over the span of the 6 hours, the ember snakes had long since ran out of fire for the day and he was feeling sleepy. He fed his units and coiled around his core, some part of him always wanted to be close to his core so sleeping on it felt good, he wasn't the only one who felt this way as his units had taken to sleeping close to him or leaning leaning on his sides.
He took one last look around the cave and gave the snakes the command to watch over the cave in shifts. He told himself that tomorrow he would really get down to business and delve deeper into the lit-rpg side of this world. He shut his eyes and the world went blank and sleep consumed him, soon the cave was filled with the hisses of sleeping snakes.
End of Chapter