“Ouch!” Nero said as he bit his tongue once more, his friend snickered at his misfortune. “It’s easy for you, you don’t have any teeth, and you’ve lived with it your whole life.”

“That just means I don’t bite it. I don’t understand how you can mess it up.” Jorry said.

“It’s because I forget about it and once I remember to try and use it like you do, I end up overthinking it and closing my mouth.”

After the completion of the hidden quest on top of getting a variety of skills, Assimilation had completed its job increasing Nero’s sense of taste, leveling up in the process. That had allowed Nero to choose another trait to assimilate. Sticking with the theme he had decided to absorb Jorry’s tongue. Now he had a forked retractible snake tongue to help taste the air around him.

Ideally, it would allow him to get more information from his sense of taste. While not nearly as overwhelming as the taste buds were, he was still sorting out what he detected in the air. It would be a long time before Nero had the experience to correctly sort out the variety of particles in the air.

That wasn’t the main problem, however, distracting though it was. The main problem was that humans were just not used to using a serpent’s tongue efficiently. Nero often forgot about it for a while, where a snake would use it unconsciously, and would consciously dart it out into the air. Eventually, through long practice, it would reach the point of the subconscious movement, but that would only happen with constant reminders. It did not help that his new tongue was rather thin and long, meaning that he often bit it.

Still, it would prove useful in the long run. Nero would no longer be dependent on his eyes if he were blind or if the area was dark. Not only that but it almost wholly halted the possibility of an ambush if he could detect what was near using the air.

“So, did you get any skills from your evolution?” Nero asked his companion, changing the subject.

“Just one. ‘Devour.’ I get a five percent boost for an hour after I eat an animal or monster. It can only go up to twenty percent at max, and it had to have been killed by me within ten minutes before consumption.” Jorry replied from his position on the human’s shoulder.

They were both in the courtyard at Ground Sheer. The expedition would be leaving once the sun rose. Nero had arrived early. Instead, he had never left after last night’s practice and had spent the evening talking to the snake. He had slept the day before and carried all his belongings with him in his bag, so there was no reason to leave. Kaesar had asked for permission from Ken and gotten the go-ahead to remain. Apart from that, he had done some training on the dummies while Jorry watched and had looked up anything about their destination online.

“Can you even eat four rats or the like in an hour? I thought it would take longer to digest than that. Stat boosts would be useless if you are too bloated to move.”

“I think there is a difference between using the skill and eating regularly. I will have to try it out later.”

“All right, so useful against small animals in numbers but not too good with things you can’t eat quickly. Still, so long as are given time to prepare it can become beneficial. When it levels up, it can either increase the bonus, how many bonuses can be stacked or how long it lasts. We’ll have to test later.”

“I just want a rematch with those damn mice. One day I’m gonna swallow them whole, rat and all.”

“Wait till we get stronger before we do that, they kicked our buts last time both because it was a surprise attack, they were more mobile than we are used to and because they are probably at a higher level than us. Give it a few weeks when we are stronger, and then we will try and find them.”

From the short amount of time they had been able to talk to each other Nero had gotten the impression that Jorry was a petty little snake. He was somewhat relaxed and lazy most of the time but could hold a grudge. Killing the bird who used to hunt only seemed to give him a taste of revenge and he wanted more.

Kaesar had been somewhat ambivalent about his death at the hands, or paws rather, of those mice and hadn’t desired revenge. He had killed hundreds of rats by now, dying in return wasn’t such a big surprise. But since Jorry felt that way, Nero had just shrugged his shoulders and decided to go along with him. There was nothing wrong with getting back as people in his book, even if he did not feel the need to do so often.

“Besides,” he said to the serpent, “I’m pretty sure we will run into them again. I have a few ideas that I’m curious about that we can investigate when we get back.”

“What are you thinking?” Jorry asked.

“Nothing concrete, just a few snippets of knowledge coming together that is painting an interesting picture. As I said, we will need to investigate when we get back from the expedition.”

The sky was starting to lighten up, and the instructors had told the trainees to be there by dawn so they could set out. Already a few had wandered into the grounds. They were carrying packs of various sizes and were already forming small groups of friends to talk while they waited for the rest of the party and the instructors.

“Fine, so where are we going anyway? You never told me.”

“You were there with me when they told us, do you not remember?”

“I was probably asleep, I don’t really care that much about what most humans say.” The snake waived its tail negligently.

“We are going to a placed called the Derailed Mine to hunt some ratmen. From what I’ve gathered it is one of the bigger mines of the area and produces a lot of copper for the keep. It is not too far away so we should only be gone for a day or two at most.”

“Ratmen? So basically, human rats? Or rat humans?”

“Basically. There are one of the possible evolutions of rats, and they evolve around level twelve. They aren’t that smart compared to other sapient races, but they are bulky and usually show up in large numbers. You won't be able to eat them as they are shorter than average humans at four or five feet but they are still large.”

“So, Devour and Bind won't work on them then? That’s not good, I won't be able to fight properly then.” Jorry said in worry.

“If you were a year older, then you would be long enough for bind to work on them but for now you are too small. We’ll think of other ways for you to help. I’m probably not gonna be fighting too much either since I’m still low leveled and new to the training program.”

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“I’m not small!” The snake hissed at his friend. “I’m just young. One day I’m going to be huge! Bigger than the city.”

“I’m sure you will,” Nero said placatingly. “If you keep fighting and growing you should be able to keep evolving. You remember that poem I told you when we first met?” Jorry nodded. “Jorumangadr, who I named you after was called the world serpent because he was so large that he encircled the entire world. That’s where the whole ‘Though I may devour the five continents and swallow the three seas’ comes from. He would be large enough to swallow a mountain whole.”

“A mountain? What’s a mountain?” Because of the difference in species, it was easy to forget how young Jorry really was. The snake had only been a few weeks old before meeting Nero. His ability to talk so well could be because of the different growth rates.

“You know that hill that the city is on? Imagine that but much larger. So big that it can reach the clouds.”

“Whoa, that’s big. And Jorumangadr could eat that whole?”

“So the legends say.” Nero shrugged in response, not willing to get into a discussion on mythology with the young serpent right now.

“I don’t think I want to be that big,” Jorry said hesitantly. “I don’t think mountains would taste good.” Nero chuckled a little at the small serpent. “Still, Jorumangadr wasn’t perfect was he? He didn’t have hands or feet, and he couldn’t fly. Someday I’m gonna be able to fly. Then I won't be helpless against the sky and other birds. I’m gonna be the best! And then I’ll be better than that stupid world serpent. I’ll take his name and title.”

“Sounds like you want to be a dragon then,” Kaesar replied in amusement to the young serpent’s declaration.

“A dragon? What’s that?”

“Where I come from, dragons are the most famous and influential creatures. Every society has them in one form or another. They are called winged serpents sometimes because they are like a snake that can fly. Some have wings, and others fly because they are powerful. Jorumangadr can loosely be considered a dragon because it is such a powerful and famous serpent.”

“Then I’ll become a dragon then. I’ll evolve and evolve until I become the best.”

“If that is what you want, so long as you keep trying then there should be nothing stopping you.” At the end of the day Gods’ Nature was a game. It had levels and infinite potential for growth. Jorry wasn’t limited by birth or species. He could become anything he wanted to be unlike in the real world. Besides, it would be funny if a small gardener snake he found turned into the most powerful of creatures.

“And if I become a dragon, then you can become one too.”

“That would take a long time, but it should be possible.”

Jorry was probably talking about the assimilation skill. Nero did not really think he wanted to go through the process to turn into a full-fledged dragon, for a few reasons. The first is that the sheer number of times he would have to use the skill on the various parts of his body to get that far. It would take decades of dedicated assimilation. Another reason was that as far a Kaesar knew, the skill was permanent. If he turned into a dragon, then there would be no turning back into a human unless he learned a magic spell to do so or assimilated back towards humanity.

Besides, Nero was pretty sure that it took more than just the form of a dragon to make an actual dragon. While they were present in almost every culture, and thus loosely defined, most would agree that dragons were more forces of nature than real animals. At the end of the day, it just wouldn’t be worth the effort to get a body that would be less suited to him than the one he had for his whole life.

“All right! Everybody gather up!” Ken yelled to the assembled trainees as he walked into the courtyard with Dode and Rob on his heels. Nero rose from his position to join the rest. “Anybody who is coming should be here by now so we’ll be setting out. We’ll be taking some wagons that you all can ride to the mine, although if anybody has their own horses, they can ride those instead. Follow me, and I’ll give you more information when we are on the road.”

The leader set a rather brisk pace as he led the procession our of ground sheer and towards the gate of the city in the west.

“You know, I’ve never left the city.” Said Jorry to Nero as the walked in the back of the line near Rob.

“Me neither.” Answered Kaesar. “Both Sarra Keep or the city I was born in.”

“Really? But you know so much.”

“Where I come from we can get information from all over the world in an instant. We can see mountains and oceans and planets without leaving our house. Most people travel at some point for vacation or something but my dad, before he died, wasn’t the type to leave the house unless there was something he wanted. After that, I was busy taking care of my sisters, so there was no real opportunity to travel.”

“Sisters?” Jorry said, testing the unfamiliar word.

“Generally it means females with the same parents, they are called brothers if they are male. Mine are a little different. They were adopted like I was. After their birth parents died me and my dad took them in and raised them.”

“So your father wasn’t your real father? The one that hatched you?”

“Pretty much. I heard my dad took me in as a favor for a friend. Never really cared too much about it. You see, to me birth and blood are irrelevant when it comes to family. Families are those you love and those who love you. My sisters and I do not like each other less because we do not share the same bloodline. Once you learn more about the world and different ways of life you realize that family can mean a whole bunch of different things.”

Jorry was an interesting mix of maturity and naivety. Probably due to his instincts as an animal, he understood hunting, killing and reproduction already but he was also ignorant of the world at large. Emotions, or at least the terms and feelings they referred to were almost entirely foreign. Human terms sometimes excapted him, and he saw things from the perspective a snake. If nothing else it would make for some exciting conversations.

“I guess we can see the world together then. I do not plan on staying in the city forever, once I am done with the training hall, and I meet a few people, we can head out. Maybe south, I hear there is a nice forest a few weeks away that is perfect for lower levels like us.” Said Nero to his companion.

“Cool. I want to see a mountain, and the sea and a desert and a big cave and-” The snake were interrupted by Ken.

“Alright, here we are. Everybody gets into a carriage, no more than eight per ride.” The group had reached the wall, and left the city proper and was standing near a building that had a few horses stabled in it. There were three carriages nearby with a driver each.

The trainees filled into their rides quickly, Kaesar rode in one with six others and Dode. It seemed like nobody had their own horses. Nero figured that made sense, horses were the privilege of the wealthy after all. The cost buying one and keeping it fed and housed was probably more than most could afford. Unless of course, it was a horse based society, then everybody would probably have a few and would learn to ride as soon as they could walk.

Once everybody was seated, and the carriages had started to move Ken stood up on the leading wagon, maintaining his balance despite the jostling.

“Alright got some information for you all. As you know, we are heading to the Derailed mine to clear out some ratmen. They are newly evolved and shouldn’t be over level seventeen at most. I know that seems high to you, but so long as you work together and be careful, you should be able to take them down. Do not get cocky! Ratmen can swarm if you let them. If you die, we will pick up your item and give it back to your next training session, but that is about it. You are going to be on your own for the majority of the expedition.

The intel we have says there are about a hundred and fifty or so of the vermin in the mine, that is about eight to ten each. I recommend working in teams to take them down, chose those you are comfortable with and stick together. Once you kill one, bring it back to the entrance to us. Apart from that, you will learn by yourself. We have a long trip ahead of us so you can take a nap if you want.”

With that, the head of Ground Sheer sat back down on his wagon.

“Then I am going to sleep, wake me when we get there.” Said, Jorry, as he laid down on Nero’s shoulder.

Nero could only smile wryly at his companion before opening his menu to do some reading. There was no way he would be able to sleep on the bumpy carriage ride.

****

“‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

-J.R.R Tolkien