Around an hour went by since I began exploring. It felt like the forest was infinite and also that it was just becoming denser and denser. It was actually becoming rather difficult to navigate through it. Also, as I wandered deeper and deeper into it, less and less did I start believing that I actually was reborn inside of the Amazon Rainforest.

'I suppose one bonus to being a snake right now, is that even with the density of the trees around me, I can still navigate somewhat easily...'

I thought before slithering over a rock. Another thing that was becoming rather obviously annoying, was the fact that everything looked the same. There was such an abundance of the same tone colours, to the point where I wasn't even able to tell where I came from. So many green tones, brown tones, grey tones - it was seriously like an artist had just vomited colour all over a canvas.

But then again... It's not like I was really going anywhere with a goal in the first place. I was kind of just going and seeing where I ended up, so I guess getting ''lost'' was kind of expected and dare I say, even predictable.

Sighing, I turned back around before slithering on top of the rock I had slithered over moments earlier. Looking around more carefully, I tried to spot any signs of something that stood out in-between all the dense trees, bushes, vines and all other greenery and whatnot that was all around me. However, even with a small vantage point - I could not see a thing through the thick tree line all around me. Only really a couple of boulders popped their way out and above some bushes nearby.

'Wait... Big boulders?'

I looked back to where I had spotted them. There were what looked to be around 3 - 4 large boulders, all in one spot, each one a bit bigger than the bushes.

'Perhaps I could go over and climb on top to get a better view?'

I thought. Even with this rock I was on top of right now, those boulders could serve as a much better vantage point, not only because they were higher up, but also because it appeared that the trees around them were a little bit less thick. Sliding off the rock I was on top of right now, I steadily slithered towards the large boulder group, navigating my way through the tall grass rather quickly and easily.

One good thing about a slippery snake body such as the one I have right now was that navigation through areas like this was so easy, it felt criminal. And of course, moving around overall was a bit easier now, as I had pretty much gotten used to moving around without legs. If anything, I'd actually say that I was moving a bit faster as a snake than I was while a human.

It only took a couple of moments before I reached the 4 massive boulders. They were even bigger up close, towering over me kind of like skyscrapers would in a massively populated and modern city such as New York or Tokyo.

'Welp, here goes nothing.'

I thought before slithering onto the largest of the boulders and making my way to the top. Once on top, I looked around. I now had a much, much better view of the area - as well as I could see much further now, since the boulder was taller than most of the bushes around, which meant that the only real thing that was blocking my view were the three branches and vines that hung off of them.

However, even with the higher ground and further seeable distance, I still didn't manage to spot anything that stood out as 'different' in the mass of trees and bushes. It all still looked very samey to me and the treeline just got thicker and thicker the further I tried to look.

'Well.. this is rather disappointing.'

I sighed. Then, I suddenly felt the bolder I was on tremble a bit. I was a bit perplexed, however I ignored it - writing it off as perhaps just a small rubble of the ground or something. But then, the boulder trembled again, causing me to look down at it in confusion. The other boulders were also trembling and shaking...

Is there an earthquake?

No... the trees don't appear to be shaking... Strange. The boulders trembled for a bit longer, before suddenly stopping and not doing so again. I exhaled before coiling up in a gloomy way, sinking into my snake body a bit.

'Great, I'm beginning to lose my mind..'

I thought, before the boulders shook again, only this time a bit more violently. I uncoiled my body quite fast - there was absolutely no way, this was just my imagination anymore. The boulder was 100% moving right now.

Then, like clockwork, the boulders began to move - lifting up from the ground and shaking me on top of it. I quickly leapt off of the 'boulder' - using my own body as a way to propel myself. After landing, I quickly turned to look at the 4 boulders, only to see all 4 of them rise up, revealing what looked to be crabs or something underneath them.

Whatever they were, they looked like bigger versions of hermit crabs. Almost like a hermit crab and a king crab combined and then increased in size... and also replacing the shell with a boulder. They honestly looked really majestic and pretty in the way that they moved and looked. They looked like the kind of animal you would keep as a pet.

The 'crabs' didn't appear to be very hostile, as they just looked at me, before turning around and waddling away, disappearing in the nearby bushes, with only the tops of their boulder-like shells peaking above the bushes that they had entered just moments ago.

'I am going to guess that they were sleeping here and I disturbed them..'

I thought before laughing a bit awkwardly. I did feel a bit bad for disturbing the crab boulder creatures while they were resting, however I did not linger on these feelings for too long, as after a few moments I sighed, before looking around.

'Now what? I couldn't spot anywhere I could head to..'

I thought, exhaling slightly in disappointment, before coiling my body back up and sinking into it in a gloomy manner. I had decided to rest for a bit - since I had been just wandering around for quite a while now. Or is it slithering again? Doesn't really matter. Terminology is useless when you're a snake in a wide world.

While I rested, I began to rethink my initial assumption on me being reincarnated in the same world. I know I've been jokingly saying that I was reborn as a snake inside the amazon rainforest or something - but those crabs just now... They did not look like any kind of crabs that I personally knew off. If anything - they looked a lot like a species that you would find in a fantasy story or a fairytale.

With this in mind, could there be a possibility that I was reborn in a fantasy world and not the same one that I had been living in my whole life? Or was it a dumb thing to assume that? Well... who knows - Unless you count those crabs, nothing else screams 'fantasy' in this world that much.

Eventually, I sighed before uncoiling my body and taking a look around.

'I suppose I can just continue going the same way as I have so far..'

I thought.

'Which is nowhere specific..'

I exhaled, before beginning to slither away again, resuming my exploration. The bright side was that with this whole dense forest all around me, it was very unlikely that any snake predators would spot me - especially since my green colour made me blend in so well. That meant that any hawks, eagles or vultures - if those were around - would be able to grab a hold of me and make me their dinner.

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As I continued to slither through the forest, I kept looking around, trying to see anything that potentially stood out. The thing I needed most right now, was a way to go - while I could continue to wander the forest aimlessly forever, part of me was sort of dying for an actual location I could head to and see or uncover some interesting things. Literally anything that wasn't the freaking green trees around me.

Then, suddenly the bushes to my left rustled, as something inside of them seemingly was moving all over the place, making noise. Slowly turning my head to the left side, I spotted the bushes that the rustling was coming from. Oh great - right as I was talking about not encountering any predators from the sky, here comes one from the ground predators.

Shedding a sweat, I slowly began to approach the rustling bushes - even with how much of a bad idea it probably was. I was probably slithering towards my own death - but hey, what can I say? My curiosity was getting the better of me in this situation.

However, I didn't manage to get all that close to the bushes, as a small round blob jumped out of the bushes, startling me a bit as I slithered back in fear and stared at it. After a moment or two of examining the blob, I couldn't help but scratch my head with my tail.

'The hell is that...?'

I thought.

A small, round and blue blob with no face, seemingly no organs and absolutely no structure... Wait - weren't these some kind of creatures from almost every fantasy game and story?

What were they called again...? Slimes? - I believe that small blob creatures were called slimes in most games and stories that fell in the fantasy genre. Although... if it was one of those creatures, then I have to say, this one seemed quite different from the ones I knew. The slimes I had learned about were small creatures, usually built up from liquid while also switching between having a face and not having one - really depended on what the artist of said story wished for the design to be.

This one? While it was small, round and looked like a blob - it didn't seem to be made up from any type of liquid. If anything, it seemed almost... solid. Like something made of mucus or even some very.... nasty stuff that would surely get anyone to vomit.

The blob looked at me - or atleast, I think it looked at me. It turned towards me before beginning to slowly push itself towards me.

'Should I be scared and run away..?'

I thought. I wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation - it seemed quite harmless, so I wasn't very scared of it, but I also felt a bit nervous, seeing it slowly approach me. What if it was made of acid? What if it was very dangerous? Dammit - I don't exactly have the best memory when it comes to how creatures from fantasy work!

As the blob moved towards me, a sudden thought came to my mind - could I try maybe biting it? Would that even work? I was really tempted to try and eat it for some reason... Maybe because I haven't eaten shit since I broke out of that egg. Who would have thought that being reborn as an animal that has to worry about survival from birth would be so challenging.

After contemplating for a few moments, I sighed.

'Sorry little guy, but I am curious.'

I thought, before coiling up and using my body to propel myself at the 'slime'. I wasn't exactly sure what the hell I was doing, but I just thought to wing it and see what happens. While mid-air, I opened my mouth wide open, before sinking my snake fangs into the blobs body as I reached it. Strangely - it was solid looking, but on the inside it was completely filled with liquid.

The liquid didn't do anything at first, but then I felt a burning sensation, as the liquid suddenly began to burn me. It was acid after all-

I tried to push myself off of the blob creature, however my fangs got stuck in its body. After a few moments of struggling, the blob suddenly exploded - sending me flying into some nearby bushes as the liquid inside its body splattered all around the forest, burning through it. Yup, definitely made of acid...

Poking my head out of the bushes, I looked at where the blob had been located just moments earlier, however it was completely gone and the grass, tree trunks, bushes and leaves all around that area that were touched by the liquid in its body were all melted. There were also chunks of the creature's body laying here and there, looking a lot like chunks of mud or something.

Well, I don't know what just happened, but those creatures don't seem to be much of a threat... Unless you count the acid for a body they have. I quickly leapt out of the bushes before moving closer to where the creature had 'died' and examined the area around. With a creature like that now encountered, there was 0 chance that I was in the same world anymore.

No... this most definitely was not my world that I knew...

That meant that not only had I been reincarnated as a snake - but I also have been reborn in a completely different world - a fantasy one at that. With this 'revelation' in mind, I sighed heavily. Great - just freaking great. I thought this whole situation couldn't get any worse and it did. Being reincarnated is one thing - but being reincarnated in a DIFFERENT WORLD is something else. That meant anything I knew about the world already was thrown out the window now.

I clicked my snake tongue for a bit, before suddenly coming to a realisation. That blob creature leapt out of these bushes.... could it be that it...

Perhaps it came from somewhere more interesting?

The thought of this intrigued me, as I immediately slithered into the bushes - moving through them in a straight line. Eventually I made it out of the thicket of bushes and ended up in a more open area of the forest, with less bushes, trees and other greenery blocking my way. I mean... it wasn't anything more interesting, but it certainly was somewhere easier to navigate.

As I hung around in the open area, another blob began to approach me - only this one was different. Unlike the previous blob or 'slime' this one was more... muddy looking. It had a rocky like texture to it, with pebbles sticking out of its muddy brown body. Was this a different 'slime' variant or something, kinda like different wolf breeds?

The rocky blob immediately began to move towards me, showing clear signs of hostility. I panicked and propelled myself towards it in desperation and slight panic, before sinking my fangs into its body just like I had done to the previous one. This time it took a little more biting power to get the fangs fully into the blob as its body was way more sturdy, but I managed to pierce through it and sink my fangs deep into its body.

Its body wasn't full of acid or something like the last one and unlike the last one that exploded on me, this one shook a bit, before suddenly turning into yellow sparkles, causing me to fall down onto the ground. Picking up my head, I shook it before looking all around in confusion. The hell just happened?

Where did that blob go? Why did it turn into yellow sparkles? What the hell-

Experience threshold has been reached.

You have risen to level 2.

.....Oookay - Now I am losing my mind.

That was a voice... in my head. Yup - I am going insane - and it has only been around an hour or so since I started wandering around. I shook my head lightly, before looking around, for anyone that perhaps could have said that - but alas, it was just something in my head.

Choosing to ignore this for now, I shook my head - writing the voice off as just the by-product of me slowly losing my mind from wandering around alone all this time.

Afterwards, I managed to spot an opening in the treeline, which seemingly led to what seemed to be the edge of a cliff. Did I finally find something different? I quickly slithered up to the treeline, before slithering closer to the alleged edge, before looking down at it. It was indeed an edge of a small cliff, which, like a slope, led down to some kind of ruins or stone structure, dead in the centre of what looked like a giant crater. It looked like a meteor impact site - it was ridiculous.

Yeah, no way this isn't some fantasy world.

'Well... I wanted to find something more interesting..'

I thought to myself. I did wish for something more interesting to appear in front of me all this time and now, something different and more interesting than a dense forest has suddenly popped up in front of me. May as well explore it.

After a moment of hesitation, I leapt off of the edge of the cliff, and began to slide down the slope into the crater. Once in it, I quickly began to slither towards the ruins in the centre. Once I made it to the ruin-like structure, I peeked inside its entrance. There was a large staircase, which led down deep, deep underground.

Before heading inside, I examined the outside of the ruins. They were made of stone which was covered in vines and had two statues out front, on both sides of the entrance. The statues looked like... a dragon? I suppose? It had a strange catlike figure with wings and a snake-like face, so I couldn't exactly tell what they were meant to be.

The ruins also looked quite old - which I assumed to be a sign that they had been sitting here, untouched by humans for quite a long time. Perhaps decades, centuries - maybe even a millenia. I slithered up to the ruins entrance and once again peaked down the staircase of the ruins, looking down at the deep abyss at the bottom. It was PITCH black all the way down there.... I was already beginning to rethink the idea of exploring these ruins.

'This is definitely a bad idea...'

I thought before sighing. My curiosity will one day be the death of me, I swear...

After a bit of hesitation, I exhaled and began to slither down the staircase, disappearing into the darkness that accompanied the staircase all the way down in a spiral manner. What was at the bottom of this staircase was anyones best guess - I just hope that it wasn't anything that would end me on sight or even worse, some ancient curse or something...

Anything can happen! Especially in a world you don't know…