Her new internal alarm clock woke her up as the sun started to rise. She could hear a few birds singing in the early morning. Back when she was still living in her apartment she used to hate it. Both getting up early in the morning and the annoying and headache-inducing feathered friends. Now however she welcomed the sun, basking in its glory and warmth.

The calls of birds no longer induced her anger, but rather her hunger.

She coiled around a particularly large and dark stone as she waited for the sun's rays to heat her up and wash away the lethargy she felt in her muscles. She arched her back and rolled her joints as she stretched. If anyone had passed by to witness her strange movements they might've thought there was a spasming snake. She had thought that having large breasts were painful, but nothing compared to the backaches she had as a snake constantly slithering and wiggling around. Worse still, she had no hands to rub them, nor anybody to give her a message.

Jade had soaked in the sun for a good hour before starting her hunt. Today she was after bigger prey. She didn't see an experience bar last time she checked, but that didn't mean it didn't exist. For all she knew, it might also have been a requirement for evolving. That seemed typical in these types of situations in novels, right? Eat, kill, eat some more, do some stupidly dangerous stuff, BOOM instant ticket to badassery and OPness.

Her new bonus to stealth served her well, as while searching for tracks of her target she had slipped right pass a number of creatures from birds to rodents, and even a few horned rabbits. She hadn't tried any of those yet. Making a mental note of where she found them and to come back for a taste, she continued on her way through the forest.

She spotted signs of her soon to be breakfast. It was a small pale blue frog with yellow spots. It was sitting near the edge of a tiny pond. Its tongue darted out every not and then catching some bugs. The little critter secreted a nerve toxin from its skin. Thankfully she learned that only the older ones were deadly, denoted by how dark their blue was and the density of its yellow spots. This one was still young and it's poison only caused numbness or stiffness from what she had observed.

She hoped by hunting enough of these and eating them she could level up her abilities relating to poison creation and resistance. Maybe she'll be able to learn how to make their variant of poison instead of the pain-inducing one she already had.

She slowly crept behind it while being careful to maintain vigilance in case more of them were lurking around or something worst. 

She was within striking distance from it, but she waited. She didn't want to waste time looking for another one if she messed this up. There was a certain time when these things were most vulnerable. 

She waited and watched silently as it continued you lazily flick out its tongue. She knew her chance had come when a particularly large bug had flown near. A dragonfly. It hovered above the water and came close to them. Suddenly the frog jumped up while darting its tongue out and grabbed the insect. It retrieved its prize with a satisfying crunch, but its joy was short-lived as right before its feet touched the ground Jade had stuck. It didn't expect to become someone else's meal right as it was eating. It was helpless as there was no way for it to move or change it's direction while in the air. 

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She kept a tight grip on it and pumped it full of her poison. It wouldn't kill it, but case it immense pain and fatigue. It was evidently effective as the creature wildly bucked and kicked its feet in the air. She shook it around a bit as if she was a dog playing with a chew toy. The weakened and disorientated frog let out a series of weak groans before it finally croaked. She could've swallowed it hole and suffocated it, as it lacked claws or anything to threaten her with, but she preferred to eat dead things. Not only to reduce unnecessary cruelty, but the idea and feeling of it kicking still made her ill at ease. It also made her belly feel weird.

She coiled around it with her midsection and carefully returned to her hideout. stopping occasionally to loop around herself and make sure she was safe. Being a snake was very inconvenient as small rodents and birds were the most numerous animals in the forest, and while she does occasionally hunt them, she was equally likely to become the prey. Even a mouse could easily take down a snake. Plenty of times when snake owners left their pet snake with a live mouse if it doesn't eat it right away or makes a mistake then the mouse could badly hurt or even kill the snake.

She didn't have arms or legs anymore, and her body was long making it easy for her to get flanked or taken from behind. Even her main method of attack, her head and fangs, could become a fatal weakness when facing something larger such as a fox or a dog, they could easily tear her head off, or fit it inside their mouth and crush her. There was just too many downsides to her new form. Thankfully with her access to the system and defense stat she'd be able to accurately analyze and overcome her weaknesses.

She took twice as long for the return trip, but she eventually returned safely with her prize. She licked it and could barely stop herself from recoiling in disgust.

'So bitter!'

She was curious about how it would taste especially since this was the first poisonous creature she had tried to eat. She was hoping it would add a nice kick to things, maybe something spicy or sour, but this tasted like shit! Not only did it vaguely taste like mud and swamp water, but there was also a gross slimy texture.

Absolutely horrid.

It was with a heavy heart full of disappointment that she ate her breakfast. She spent a few hours of the early morning hunting down a few more, although she didn't eat them and merely left them in her home's storage while occasionally licking some poison off them. She had dug out another few rooms next to her sleeping chambers to store stuff. One for plant material, one for food, and another to train. It was too risky to exhaust herself outside her home or wander carelessly.

She couldn't very well focus on her workout if there was a risk that a random bird would swoop in and carry her away to their nest. So she had spent a lot of time on making a large space. It had earned her Burrowing skill 5 levels. Her snout had changed ever so slightly in shape that made it easier to dig through and carry dirt and her scales pushed them aside with ease. 

It took weeks, but she made an obstacle course that took up 25 square feet. Not bad for a snake barely over a foot long. She worked on it every other day as part of her work out routine. Pushing aside dirt, carrying gravel and rocks and tossing them outside, it was hard work. Still, she did it without missing a single day.

Cardio and weightlifting where important after all.