"Ssssss~?" a curious and crisp hiss came from Mama-Snake, a much more refined and pleasant hiss compared to the inexperienced and crackling sounds from the Boy.
A deep warm breath washed over the Boy, but that failed to prompt movement as he was frozen with indecision. To the Boy, many long strands of pulsating deep red and yellow light made up the length of the 6 meter long beast. This light was mana, and if the Boy remembered anything from its previous life, it would know this is abnormal. After all, was mana not described to be some shade of blue? The Boy, however, had no memories nor reason to know of this bit of information though.
The eggs beneath him were dull, as the creatures inside were not close to developing mana circuits in their bodies for the Boy to sense, but that was only if they were even lucky enough to develop them since magical beast are not exactly common. Still, the Boy could 'see' their small forms in their retarded barriers since mana was naturally released in waves from both the Boy and Mama, which then bounced off objects while also piercing through them. So, while he could sense mana bounce off the rounded edges of the barriers, he could also sense the creatures inside and the organs inside the creatures as it passes through them.
The Boy did notice that when he 'looked' at himself, his mana appeared to be a mix of sickly purple with a few black wisps scattered about his flow of mana.
If the white bundle of indecision knew this was unusual, it would think, 'Perhaps these varying colors are the traits of great snakes?'
Instead, it was wondering if it should run from Mama or ask it for food, because right now it really needs how to satiate this intense hunger that seems to be clawing at its currently not-so lengthy innards at moment. Mama, however, seemed to notice his pleading eyes as she displayed her fierce fangs while lowering her head to his level. causing the Boy to slowly slither back before he realized what she was doing.
'Shhhhck,' a sound similar to that of a piece of paper being ripped sounded out as she tore open one of the retarded barriers below his tiny scales.
This particular species of snakes is very intelligent and can only reproduce if they develop mana circuits in their bodies. While neither blindness nor deafness is a common trait, as long as a snake has mana circuits it will be given a feast of as many of its less-fortunate siblings as it desires.
At the sound of the tearing egg, a flood of snakes with varying scale patterns poured into the dimly-lit cavern from crevices in its walls, but they all were making sure to maintain a relatively spacy distance away from Mama as a sign of respect.
To ensure the survival of its kind, the inert snakes either serve as warriors or as food to the more fortunate snakes that develop mana circuits.
To ensure the survival of its kind, they've hidden below the surface in a dungeon for many years.
To ensure the survival of its kind, they will emerge once more, but now united as a family.
"Eat up, young one," Mama gently commanded him.
"You have much to learn."
...
The Boy, no matter how tiny his brain was, realized that a feast had been prepared for him. Without a moment of hesitation, he began to greedily slurp at and engorge himself on the contents of the retarded barriers. If he were to have been human, perhaps he would be disgusted and appalled at the thought of eating his kin. He, however, felt it was only natural that he had tricked the snakes to feed him.
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"My my~ look at how hungry you are my sweet little boy..." mama-snake chided pleasantly.
Despite his inability to hear, the Boy could sense the intent behind her words and actions like there was a small voice in the back of his mind narrating the events around him. If she had meant to harm him, he would have already made a miserable attempt to flee. Now, however, the Boy himself couldn't spare the time to care about anything other than the feast laid out before him. One-by-one the plethora of eggs laid out below him were drained of their contents and the scraps were stuffed into the albino snake's long body as mama-snake could only look on in surprise at the sight of over a hundred of her inert spawn being devoured by a single white-bundle.
'By the Gods...' mama-snake said, rather overwhelmed with the sight.
Even the snakes in attendance felt their scales quiver at the sight, not from the fact that their kin were being eaten in front of them but simply due to the Boy's sheer feat of continuing to eat despite the seemingly life threatening bulge easily seen extending out from his gut.
"Yes... I know what I will call you, young one..."
And then the Boy paused.
*Ding!*
[You have performed a feat of evolution! As a magical beast derived from the monster species known as Deceiving Serpent you have devoured not only 136 of your own kin but the substances nurturing and protecting them while completely convinced that you had tricked everyone into feeding you. You have received a title : {Gluttonous Trickster}]
[Your name has been registered as...]
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"[Dolus Adder]!"
Title : {Gluttonous Trickster} {Pitiful Creature}
Level : 1 (0/10)
Monster Rank : P (Pest)
Unused Experience : 136
Species : Albino Deceiving Serpent (Magic-Beast)
Status : Blind , Deaf
STR/VIT : 2
AGI/DEX : 2
INT/WIS : 2
DOMINANCE : 0
Skills / Mutations :
This skill grants the user an active ability
Active :
CD : None
Req : Restricts perception to 10m.
This mutation is the physical center of mana within the body of any magical beast. The uniqueness of each magical beast's mana core makes them wildly unpredictable, often being forcefully taken from magical beasts until they reform. As a magical beast, the way you practice magic and allocate your experience points directly affects the growth of your core.
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The way in which a monster progress through life was different than that of the progress of enlightened creatures recognized by the gods. Monsters have never had any access to the system as that was determined to be too dangerous by both the system and the gods. Monsters become stronger easily if given the right conditions, the addition of the system would drastically tip the scale of power. Monsters with a system use 'experience points' to directly control their evolution and skill development. Another difference is a monster's rank, a direct correlation to the threat level assigned to a monster when an adventurer may request information about a monster.
S - Superior; a target that demands the cooperation of both the military forces of a country and the adventurers as well as prominent figures in the guild. This target is recognized as a threat to the world as their strengths stretch from the ability to tear a part a country to the ability to wipe all intelligent beings off the face of the planet.
A - Advanced; a target that may require the presence of experienced adventurers to be subjugated. This target is recognized as a threat for cities and a disaster for small towns and villages. For example, a young drake can spew out volatile attacks imbued with the mana-type they are naturally inclined towards since birth. A fire drake would raze villages and destroy ecosystems while an ice drake may cause unnatural cold weather patterns and freeze villages, making areas influenced by its presence unfit for most life.
B - Beginner; a target able to be handled by inexperienced adventurers. This target is recognized as a threat for small towns and villages. For example, a pack of the monster-variant of intelligent dire wolves requires careful preparation of a newbie group of adventurers as they tend to have sub-human levels of intelligence and high agility.
C - Common; a target able to be handled by a group of everyday people. For example, a monster-variant of a brown bear can be handled by a decently sized group of 1-5 untrained adults, the size of the group depending on their physical strength and available weapons.
P - Pest; a target able to be handled by an everyday person. For example, a monster-variant of a sewer rat that are found in cities can usually be dealt with by a simple stomp of the foot from a child.
Ranks aren't only used as a threat ranking system since they have a very real effect on the monster's themselves and their hierarchy. A lower ranked monster may feel an intense flurry of emotions when in the presence of a higher ranked monster, fear and intense paranoia being a common experience. Some monsters are submissive to higher ranked monsters while others may see higher ranked monsters as a chance to grow. This is seen in enlightened creatures through the influence of 'aura,' or power of the soul, but the monster equivalent is a stat called Dominance. Dominance increases with monster-rank and level as well as various other factors, for example environment.
A fire-focused creature may exert heightened Dominance in environments filled with the element of fire and lessened Dominance in environments made up of the element of water. Of course, the Boy had no way of truly knowing this information in such detail, but he instinctively understood that he was quite weak after 'reading' his status. No, perhaps even weak wasn't a fitting enough word to describe the pathetic white bundle's miserable fighting capabilities.