The last mile to the hardware store passed in near silence.

The easy conversations that we'd been having before seemed to have completely dried up in favor of avoiding eye contact and awkward shuffling. Well, not entirely, Matilda still seemed more than happy to talk with me, but she'd keep trying to rope the other women in and they'd either ignore her, give one or two word answers, or rude dismissals. If I was reading the wild twitching of her antennas correctly, she was becoming rather frustrated with their antics.

Thankfully before she could explode or one of the other women could have the mental breakdown they seemed to be on the edge of, we reached the store. Good ol' Lowes Depot, best home improvement store I've ever worked at. Now even better thanks to the easily opened side gate into the gardening section with the doors into the store they never bothered to lock. Well, I considered it easy to open, it had proved much trickier as a human to get the gate open. Now all it took was Matilda fluttering over the twenty foot tall gate, pulling the floor pin free, me reaching my tail through the resulting crack between the two gates, and ripping the cheap padlock free of the chain holding the two gates closed. Easy Peasy!

The outdoor gardening section had certainly seen better days, nearly everything in the pots looked to be long dead, with the exception of a lone sapling here or there that had managed to hang on, usually by bursting its pot and finding a crack down into the soil. I guided my three followers through the section to the sliding glass doors and pushed them open only to discover something awful. The smooth polished floors were still smooth and glossy! I couldn't slither about on such smooth stone, I'd have next to no traction and be a sitting duck! Somehow, I know this to be your fault Omega and this is simply one more entry in my ever growing book of grudges I hold against you.

"Well, looks like I'm not going to be able to follow you inside ladies, think you'll be able to gather everything yourself?"

"Sure." Rumi grunted as she walked inside, her hooves skittering on the smooth floor for a second before she managed to get herself under control and carefully trotted deeper into the store.

"Kyli?" I turned to look at the gecko girl, her head drooping and eyes slightly unfocused.

She jerked as if slapped, seeming to just now realize where she was and stammered out a quick, "Oh, sorry sorry sorry!" she scampered into the store quickly seeming to have no issue with the floor.

A soft fluttering and a weight on the back of my head announced the last of the party, I tilted my head to try and meet her gaze the best I could. "You not going in Matilda?"

"I will in just a minute young man," she said in a very motherly tone, "But first I just want to remind you that you are in no way a monster for what you did today. You did a good thing killing those beasts and your reaction at the end is hardly uncommon, take it from a soldier's wife."

I gave the little moth woman a warm smile, "Thanks for the vote of confidence Matilda, but no need to worry about me. I've known what I am for the last two decades and long ago made peace with it. It's the others I'm worried about."

She tutted, shaking her head, "City girls, probably never had to put down a vicious or sick animal before. I'll talk to them." With that she hopped off my head and fluttered into the store after the other girls.

Now alone and with nothing to do for the first time since the Event began I began to feel a nervous energy building in me. There were more things that I needed to be doing! I shouldn't be just lingering like this! If I stopped, I'd start to think! If I started to really think about everything I begin to worry, to let the ever hungry darkness spread, and more than likely start to convince myself that there was no hope! I just needed something to distract myself with or keep busy while the girls gathered the laundry list of supplies I'd discussed with them on the way over.

Oh! Right! I had that skill token thing sitting in my 'inventory', I bet figuring that out would keep me occupied for a couple minutes. Now, how to go about using my skill token? I nearly jumped out of my skin as the second I thought the words an earworm of a tune played in my head heralding a new popup

–You have received a Selective Skill Token: C–

–Would you like to redeem your Token?–

If I'd had eyelids I'd have blinked in surprise. Really? Just think 'use skill token' and -!?

A bubbling sensation overtook me, not the pins and needles of a new skill or mutation getting added but the horrid bubbling runniness sensation that had had presaged me losing my human form for that of an overblown serpent. I released a panicked hiss of a yelp, coiling up on myself in an instinctive need for defense as my eyes wildly danced about for any potential aid or means of stopping the sensation! I'm not about to be unmade again! I can still move! It's different this time! I assured myself even as I puffed myself up to try to look bigger and unleashed a directionless hiss of warning.

You have used Selective Skill Token: C

At level 4 there are 8⁶ Abilities in the |Hatchling| subspecies pool.

View the Full List.

View |Gigaboa| Appropriate Abilities.

View Active Abilities.

View Passive Abilities.

|Search|

I flinched as the newest popup appeared, gazing at it uncomprehendingly for a second. Then I got mad. FUCK YOUR NOSE WITH YOUR SHIT STAINED LEG OMEGA YOU ABSOLUTE CUNT! I lashed out at the box, biting at it and letting off another particularly angry hiss as I fumed internally. Who in the absolute God loving FUCK went and made a loading bar for opening a menu mirror the sensation of the ruination of your life!? Seriously!? What was the fucking point of doing that to people you'd just traumatized!? What kind of sick mother fucker was Omega to pull shit like this!?

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Getting to the level of furious where I was literally struggling to see I yowled angrily and whipped my head around like a sling with the all consuming need to hit something. Slamming my head, at speed, into one of the channel steel supports of the outdoor shelving, rang my head like a bell, leaving a hefty dent in it. Quite literally I'm fairly sure. I discovered that a coiled snake was still fully capable of staggering drunkenly while waiting for the world to come back into focus. I had the start of a throbbing bump already developing on my noggin as I painfully took solace in the fact I was at least calm enough to think mostly rationally again.

"Joe? Are you alright?" Matilda poked her head out of the door, "I heard hissing and what sounded like a car hitting a street light."

"Yeah," I groaned, gently poking my dented scales and feeling the bruising underneath, "Just got to thinking about things and worked myself into a tizzy before doing something stupid. Thanks for checking Matilda."

"Are you sure you're okay?" She insisted, "I'm more than willing to listen if you need an ear."

"Maybe later Matilda, you just help the others for now, we've still got a lot to take care of today." I shooed her off and she reluctantly left.

I turned my attention to the waiting menu before me, doing some quick head math. Eight cubed is five hundred twelve, so that times eight is... four thousand plus ninety six, multiply that by eight and we're already in the twenty mid four thousands with two more exponentials to go. So I didn't have the weeks I'd need to scroll through the available options and ensure I selected the absolute best choice meaning I'd have to make the best of what I could find in the next hour, though next few minutes would likely be best as I'd like to play with what I picked seeing as I had the time.

–Search: Arms–

-Processing Search...-

I got a long list of results with that. Powerful Blows (Arms), Stretchy Arms, Massive Arms, and things of the sort, all of them crossed out due to the fact I didn't have any arms! A quick check of 'Legs' revealed more of the same, an absolutely towering list of abilities that all required legs. Figures, the one time I actually got some level of choice in what was about to happen to me and I can't even get what I really want! Well, let's at least see what the 'appropriate' options are for me then. I doubt I'll take any of the options listed, but it might give me a good idea of what other snakes are going to be packing.

–All abilities are displayed at Grade F–

Gigaboa Appropriate Abilities:

Vampiric Fangs (Passive): Drain a minor amount of health from the enemy with every bite. Upgradeable.

Toxic (Passive): You body is suffused with poison, causing all who attack you to be coated in it. Stacks up to 5 times. Upgradable.

Paralytic Bite: You inject a paralytic either through saliva or venom, causing the enemy to suffer difficulty moving. Stacks up to 5 times. Upgradeable

Venomous Spit: You can spit your poison at great distance and accuracy. Stacks up to 5 times. Upgradeable.

Anti-agalgestic Bite: You inject an anti-agalegestic through saliva or venom, causing the enemy to suffer an inflated pain response. Stacks up to 5 times. Upgradable.

Latch: You pounce upon the enemy, clinging to them tightly. While Latched your physical defense is increased, and the enemy suffers damage over time. Variable Stamina Drain.

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I made another effort to snatch the screen, this time to try and fling into the trash can aisle where it belonged. I am not using poison you cur! What was with this system and trying to turn me into things I'm not? Alright, so, not going to be selecting from THAT list, so general skills it is then. So what do I need most right now? Well, beyond limbs of course but we already know that's not an option.

Between my two mutagens my defense is already high enough that anything short of a powerhouse type, like Rumi, is just not going to affect me. Passive skills could certainly be useful, but they don't really fit my style. I always tended to gravitate more towards a rushdown style when fighting or gaming, though as a snake I suppose I'm more of a grappling build. What tends to be the weakness of those types of characters and builds? Range and speed. Picking up a ranged ability would be generally useful for sure, but if I'm faster and more mobile then range is less needed. I'll definitely need to look into a ranged option later, as there is no way there's not some way to expand that list considering how quickly it fills up, but being better able to maneuver and catch targets is far more important. Modern military doctrines show that, speed is king.

–All abilities are displayed at F Grade–

Active Abilities:

Offense:

Ranged Abilities.

Melee Abilities.

Area of Effect Abilities.

Summoning Abilities.

Control Abilities.

Defensive Abilities.

Utility Abilities.

|Search|

There wasn't a tab for mobility skills? They must be in a subsect of utility abilities I suppose. Do I really want to dig through a list of potentially tempting skills to try and find the handful of mobility based skills? Not really no, maybe I'll just search for them individually. Hmm, so what sort of 'mobility' skill can I think of? Flight, duh, but that likely requires wings. Super speed, possible but if I already suffer traction issues on a smooth floor that's just asking for trouble. Jumping, that would need l- Suddenly memories of my childhood going over to a friend's house to play Konkey Donk with him jumped into my mind. Specifically memories of one of the funnier animal companions, Spring the Snake, who moved by bouncing around like a pogo stick. No, it would never let me get away with that, would it?

|Search Results: Jump|

Leap: Jump great distances and use your resulting momentum as a weapon. Upgradeable.

|Search|

A big goofy snakey smile stretched across my face as I looked at the skill. Oh it was undoubtedly a bad choice, bordering on retarded, but damn if it didn't sound like fun. It would absolutely serve as a surprise if I used it on people, if it worked anywhere near as well as I hoped it would. Who would expect a snake to just jump at them after all?

|Leap *C*: Jump great distances and use your resulting momentum as a powerful weapon. Moderate Stamina Drain.|

Time to see how big a mistake I just made.

I used the skill and promptly fired myself like a spring twenty feet straight up in the air where I impacted the sheet metal roof over the section I was in and nearly got tangled in the rafters. I swore like a sailor as I left a massive dent in the structure above before plummeting back down to the ground with a sound like someone rolling a full metal trash can down a flight of stairs. I hit the ground hard, hard enough to where I think I heard the concrete beneath me break. Fun fact, apparently hitting the ground like a sack of bricks gives you a really good view of things with tremorsense.

-You suffered 8 impact damage!-

-You suffered 12 impact damage!-

-Tremorsense has Leveled up!-

-Gained 3xp!-

-Ferrous Mutagen has leveled up!-

-Gained 3xp!-

"Ow," I groaned with an annoyed tone of voice as I rolled off my back and back onto my belly. I looked about for my hat and found it perched on a shelf, a bit rumpled from being squished into the ceiling but otherwise okay. Said ceiling now had a massive dent in it, to the point I could see sunny skies in places where the sheets of metal no longer quite lined up.

Well that was embarrassing. At least it had led to a few good discoveries, including a great way to power up my tremorsense. Speaking of which, that impact had done a lot more than tell me exactly where everyone in the store was, it had also revealed a collection of three eclectic creatures standing just outside the gate we'd used to enter the store. Welp, better deal with this before they come to us.