Chapter 2: Lake Swan

The shock on Allen's face stayed for a few more seconds, the event that had been happening felt too unreal for him. "W-What?"

His world stopped for a brief moment. Allen rubbed his eyes with his hands as hard as he could. He pinched his arm, his stomach, and his legs. He didn't want to believe it, but it was real. When it was, his mouth formed a smile and a chuckle escaped his lips.

When the Otherworlds' portals opened, there was a large stone slate that had twelve different animals engraved in it. The animals were believed to be the strongest beasts in the new worlds, capable of altering the course of power with their Codes.

This was proven when the first Primordial Beast was hunted, the Primordial Dragon. The one who killed it gained its Code, the ability to morph into a giant dragon the size of a tower. The Hunter was Drake Nelson, the first person to ever evolve from the First World to the Second World where Codes with higher quality were found.

When news broke out, Hunters all over the world searched for the other Primordial Beasts. All eleven from the twelve were hunted in a span of two years, the only missing one was the snake.

Drake Nelson's hunt happened nineteen years ago, and the other ten were seventeen years ago. Him and the other Primordial Beast Bearers were already capable of entering the Fourth World, that made everyone thought that the last Primordial Beast was lost forever. Allen thought so too, until he opened his interface and saw the Code there again.

He looked at his data repeatedly, all of the time he made sure to rub his eyes in case he was seeing things. When the Code was still there, he could only fall down on his butt.

All the thoughts were running in his head when the thought of a Primordial Beast being helpless crossed his mind. Allen sat on the ground and watched the snake's corpse. It looked helpless and weak, something that he didn't expect.

From the rumors of the other beasts, the Primordial Beast Bearers searched far and wide for them. Some said that Drake Nelson went to floating islands up in the Northern Mountains to slay the Primordial Dragon.

The most incredible story was how the Primordial Rooster was defeated. It said that the beast would only come out in between the light and dark of dawn. When that sliver of time passes by, the beast would hide until dawn breaks again.

"Maybe they lied about how they got their Codes?" Allen asked himself. He was ready to go back to the cave and replenish his health when he saw the fourth tab with a blank title in his system. Just when he was about to click it, a notification rang in his mind.

'Opening Code Collector's quests…'

He sat back on the rock and stared at the loading screen. His lips were dry, his body was cold, and the stinging wounds of the wasps felt numb. Allen watched the screen load in anticipation, any pain he was feeling felt like they were nothing.

[ Quests ]

[ A Collector's Start ]

His hands shakily pressed on the first quest, gulping as it opened. He had never encountered something like this before. Quests were given to groups from rich people when they want something from the Otherworlds.

But the system itself giving him quests? That's unprecedented.

[ A Collector's Start ]

Reward: 50 EXP, ???

New Codes obtained: 0/3

For this quest, Allen has to obtain three new Codes. It didn't specify what type of, so he thought it was going to be okay when he gets any kind of Code.

The reward for the quest was worth 5 Basic beasts too. From the six grades of beasts, Basic, Rare, Grand, Sacred, Divine, and Celestial, the Basic gives the lowest EXP and the least quality of items.

Although he felt like this was cheating, Allen thought it was a good change. All his life he was nothing but a failure, stumbling to all sorts of problems and being thrown into situations where he could be nothing but helpless.

"For once, I need to be selfish," Allen thought and clenched his fist. If this was the path fate wanted him to walk on, then he will wall down this road with his head held high.

Thinking it was too dangerous to light a fire, Allen stayed on the cave and hugged himself. He now had extra abilities but it didn't add to his combat skills. The snake gave him the power to collect more Codes, not fight the beasts to gain them.

Allen glanced back at the corpse of the snake. It was still bugging him how he was able to kill it so easily when Sacred grade beasts could annihilate an entire battalion of soldiers. He had seen it in the papers and news when the portals first opened.

Everything was in havoc. The beasts escaped their world and sought destruction to the humans. It was at the same time that the humans discovered Codes and how to use them.

After only a decade, humanity brought back what was theirs and earth was rebuilt into a new world. Power reigns over everything. Money, connections, even family ties. All of them could be severed by power alone.

In this harsh reality, Allen wanted that power to flip the balance of the world. The strong are only getting stronger, the rich are only getting richer, while the poor and weak are left with misery. He wanted to change the world, and if he was going to use the powers of the snake to do it, Allen will.

"Let's see how the weak thrives over the strong." Allen whispered.

He suddenly felt his body sink. His energy was drained for some reason, his eyelids begged to close and his body wanted to rest. Before he could even ask what was happening, a notification rang in his head.

'The Primordial Code has settled on its owner.'

'Body restarting.'

'You will now experience rebirth through the powers of the Primordial Snake.'

–

With his eyes fluttering open, Allen touched his head. There was a deafening sound of ringing in his mind that he couldn't ignore. Sitting up, the ringing had stopped. His head spun, feeling that there's something different.

"What's happening–" before he could even finish, he cut himself off. He opened his mouth, lips trembling as he tried to speak again. "H-Hello?"

Allen covered his mouth with his hands in shock. He could hear his own voice now. Something that had never happened before.

He tried to stand but fell back, once again his eyes widened when he saw that his legs were longer. Everything in him was different. He was taller, his skin was fairer, and his vision was even clearer.

What's more surprising was the voice that comes out of his mouth. It was odd that he could now speak, but the scars on his neck were still present.

Allen tried to stand but failed. He fell back on the floor, his mind still couldn't grasp the new dimensions of his body. Everything felt ethereal and foreign, like he wasn't on his body.

Another thing that bothered him was how tight his clothes were. His shirt was ripped on the shoulders and his pants were ripped on the lower leg, something that was concerning.

If this goes on, his movements would be constricted, making it harder for him to move if ever a beast would come his way.

Allen narrowed his eyes and looked around. How come his unconscious body laid still on the floor yet no beasts were around to maul him alive? For all he knew, nocturnal beasts would kill anything that seemed like it would be meat.

"Was I not delicious looking?" Allen asked himself, still jolting after hearing his own voice.

It didn't taks long before he had gotten used to the feeling of his new body. The snake gave him this for some twist of fate. He will use this new life to reach his own goal and help the people.

But first he needed to help himself. His stomach was rumbling with hunger. It had been a couple of hours since his last meal, and for some reason, he felt hungrier.

Quack. Quack. Quack.

His head snapped to the side after hearing a flock of ducks close by. Allen needed to push his limits by standing up and walking using the aid of a stick he found. His eyes saw the snake again, the smell of the dead creature filling his nose with a strong stench.

With a gulp, the boy took out his shirt that was suffocating him and covered the snake with it. He then took a from the cave and used it as a belt, tying the pouch that contained the snake carcass inside.

His hunger had gotten fiercer. The rumbling of his stomach got louder as he felt the uncontrollable bloodlust coming from his inner thoughts. The ducks. He wanted the ducks.

Allen lowered his body, leaning so close to the ground. His feet twitched before it launched itself to the direction of the lake where the ducks were. The dagger found its way to his hands, he boy holding it tightly and raising it in front of him.

His body was so close to the ground that it reminded him of a snake, slithering to catch its prey. And right now, he was the snake.

The ducks were only about to get into the water when a swift slash on one of the duck's neck ended its life in a flash. A smirk appeared in Allen's lips as he watched the lifeless beast succumb to its wound.

'Lake Swan killed. +10 EXP.'

'Lake Swan Code gained.'