[You have slain a lvl 2 Horned bunny!]

You have gained a level!

Kai looked over what was left of the bunny. The shadow spear had hit it with incredible force, killing the creature instantly and pinning the corpse to the ground. Kai felt a pang of guilt as he surveyed the damage. He had killed the bunny for food but couldn't help but feel he had gone a little overboard. But how could he have predicted that his first spell would be such a menace to bunnies?

With a sigh, he slithered towards the remains and willed his spear to dissolve. While he had gone overboard with his spell he couldn't deny that he felt excitement, after all, who had never dreamed about magic, hurling fireballs at dragons or splitting mountains with a wave of the sword? It was a beautiful dream, but only a dream that would never come true to yesterday's Kai. But now with this energy, this mana he could feel that in some faraway future, it may be possible.

His amount of mana was the only thing holding him back from hurtling spears left and right. While he felt that he could manage another similar spell just fine he wasn't so sure about having enough mana to fuel the third one. It would be for the best to keep another charge just in case. After all, he is just a small snake and having the capability to one-shot most animals on the planet may come in handy during any unforeseen scuffle.

"I delayed enough, it's time to finally get over with it," Kai muttered to himself and with a sigh, he started to nibble a corpse.

After a while he realized, he made no real progress, he could still feel hunger gnawing at his stomach and the remains of the bunny were still very much whole, well as whole as something that used to be impaled can get. Even his maw started to hurt after numerous tries to take a bite.

As he wracked his brain and tried to grasp what he was doing wrong, he recalled that one Tv show he had seen back when he was a small kid. Weren't snakes supposed to eat their prey whole? Kai opened his maw as wide as possible, unhinged the lower jaw, and swallowed his victim.

"That was disgusting". While the taste was tolerable, the sensation of swallowing bloodied fur was horrible, Kai concluded that he would probably rarely enjoy eating in his snake body.

He sensed that after his meal he got a bit heavier and moving around with all that additional weight would be quite annoying. He suddenly started to feel growing pressure from within himself.

"What is happening?". The sensation was a little uncomfortable but he didn't feel any pain and he had a good feeling about it so he decided to just wait and see what happens.

The pressure grew and grew until suddenly-

[Biomass +1]

"Biomass huh? Now, what even is this? That reminds me, after the hunt, I received a bunch of other system notifications." Kai wanted to check them out but he decided that he should first move away from the clearing, he could still smell blood and you never know what may be lured by it.

Kai slithered through the dense underbrush, his scales brushing against the leaves and twigs, looking for a place where he could avoid potential danger and check his progress. Finally, he found a cluster of tree roots that provided just the cover he needed. He wriggled his way between them, curling up into a tight ball. It was dark and cramped, but it was also safe. He was still a little too close to the clearing but his shelter is well hidden so there shouldn't be any problems.

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After a little more wiggling he got himself comfortable and took a look at what he had missed.

You have reached level 1!

Stats have been distributed!

Due to reaching the required milestone you have been granted access to racial upgrades!

You have learned the skill: [SHADOW SPEAR: TIER 7]!

"Leveling gives me stats points? Ssstatus."

Agility: 19

Strength: 3

Perception: 16

Toughness: 2

Intelligence: 10

Mana sense: 17

Mana potency: 21

Unassigned free points: 1

"Two in agility, one in perception, one in intelligence, two in mana sense and two in mana potency. So the system gives me eight stats points and one, additional point per level? I don't know if it's good or it is bad. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the system tried to screw me over. And while I can feel some changes, they are not significant but they are not negligible either." Kai muttered to himself and assigned his free point to toughness. He felt a little more at ease with higher toughness.

Kai checked his racial upgrades but for now, he has only one racial skill Toxic Bite and he was quite far from even the cheapest upgrades. Interestingly he has even the ability to buy more racial skills, though they are all quite pricey and there is no way that he can afford them without slaying hordes of rabbits.

As Kai lay there, contemplating his situation he heard a distant rumbling. He lifted his head and strained to listen. At first, he couldn't tell what it was, but then he realized that it was the sound of something big moving through the forest.

His heart racing, Kai waited in silence as the rumbling grew louder and louder until it stopped in the vicinity of the clearing at which he slayed the rabbit. He poked his head out of his hole and looked toward the place where the sound had stopped. What he saw made his blood run cold. A hulking figure was standing in the clearing, sniffing around and probably looking for the source of the smell.

[Ursabane lvl: ??]

Standing upright, on its hind legs was a twisted version of a bear. Its massive body was covered in fur, which looked like it was made of steel. Its claws were long and glistening in the dark of the forest. On its head, there was pair of curved backward horns, and below them was pair of glowing orange eyes that seemed glowing with power. Eyes that seemed to look straight at him through all the leaves and roots that were in the way.

"What?!" Kai quickly spun around and disappeared into his hole. He held his breath and tried to make himself as small and inconspicuous as possible. The monster still looked right at him, its eyes scanning the roots. But then, to Kai's relief, it turned away and continued on its way. It seemed uninterested in the small snake hiding under the tree. Thundering steps grew fainter and fainter until they completely disappeared.

Kai carefully slithered out of his hiding place looking around for any sign of potential danger, when he saw that he is safe and the bear is nowhere in sight he let out a sigh of relief.

"What that monstrosity even was, I couldn't even see its level, was it too high? It seems to be most likely. Ursabane, huh? I have a feeling that it if it had any interest in me I would be dead. With that demonic bunny, I could still believe it was some form of mutation but that thing... There is no way something like this has been born on this planet naturally, the system probably brought it here from another planet."

Looking around Kai noticed that the shadows were getting longer and it was getting darker by the minute. "I think the smart thing to do would be to stay in my hideout for a night. I don't think I can safely move after the dark. I will have to get much stronger if things like these are roaming around."

Kai entered his hole and feeling tired from a day of hunting, exploring and running, Kai curled up in a tight coil and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift off as he relaxed his muscles and slowed his breathing.

"But Ursabane? Sounds cool, nothing like Garter Snake..."