Chapter 7: Billy is a Horn

Squirm.

My body changes.

Squirm squirm.

I grow bigger and my forehead tingles.

Squirm squirm squirm squirm.

My body moved like that.

It felt as if something was moving alive inside my body.

The scaly skin bulged out and retracted repeatedly.

Ah, it hurts.

It feels like my body will burst.

I am a lowly creature.

I can no longer walk, watch TV, or use a computer.

I can't be hit by my father or scolded by my mother.

Above all, I couldn't drink cool beer.

I've become a mere snake, wriggling in a rotten tree.

I want to eat ramen, which I rarely ate out of disgust before.

I don't want to eat rats, rotten meat, and catch insects.

The scales on my back bulged out.

Finally, the skin that couldn't withstand the pressure from inside began to tear.

Rip.

What emerged from the split flesh was a white hand.

Another blood-covered hand popped out, and it crawled out from inside, tearing open the belly.

It's clearly a human hand.

Ten fingers wiggled.

Am I human now?

Have I returned to a human body?

Cock-a-doodle-doo–

I heard the alarm I had set.

Yeah, was it all just a dream until now?

... It's a shame.

Cock-a-doodle-doo–

The alarm sound I set is quite refreshing.

It's a vivid sound, as if a real rooster is crowing.

... Huh?

==

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

I opened my eyes.

It was inside a dark knothole.

No, a real rooster is crowing somewhere.

Pale dawn light is pouring in.

If a rooster crows like that, won't it be caught and eaten by other monsters?

It's a lively one. I should find it and eat it sometime.

I had a nightmare.

The me in the dream was so weak, unimaginable with my current mental strength of 20.

I miss mom~ I want to watch TV~

I want to eat ramen, boo-hoo.

Gah!!!

What's wrong with eating rats and fighting insects?

How pathetic, the me in the dream.

Those who can yearn for freedom are real humans.

At least I'm freer now as a snake than in my previous life.

And snakes and insects are more edible than you might think.

... But why is it so cramped?

The knothole where I was sleeping was narrow, but it was manageable.

But not now.

The space was extremely tight.

It seems my body grew larger during evolution.

I felt it clearly when I tried to get out of the knothole.

I can't get out of this.

The hole was just big enough for me to barely fit in.

And now that my body has grown, it's certainly impossible to pass through.

The circumference of my body now seems to have grown at least as big as a pink sausage.

If I'm not careful, this knothole might become my grave.

I couldn't let that happen, so I tried to widen the narrow knothole.

By gnawing at the edges of the hole.

Crunch, crunch!

Oh!

My jaw strength seems to have increased too.

Originally, I would have had to gnaw slowly, but now it's crunching easily.

Let's not widen the entrance too much.

The centipede couple might try to move in.

Even though we're neighbors, we're not that close yet.

After coming out of the knothole, I descended along the bumpy tree grain.

My body became heavier, but my strength improved so much that it wasn't difficult.

By the way, watching a lot of animal-related YouTube videos in my previous life is really helpful now.

Originally, it's very difficult for a legless snake to climb trees.

But if you make a loop like this with your tail, you can climb up and down trees.

I landed on the ground with a thud.

I feel majestic.

So, let's check what has changed after evolving.

──────────────

[White Horn Snake lv1]

[Trait]

[Indomitable], [Perseverance], [Horn]

...

──────────────

Hahaha!

No more pathetic modifiers like 'Little' are attached.

I'm not small.

Honestly, I'm not big, but I can't say I'm that small either.

I expected my level to return to 1.

Wasn't Mother Medusa level 89?

Then how strong was mom?

She went through all these evolution processes to become a Medusa Serpent and then raised her level to 89.

Looking at that, it doesn't seem like level 10 is always the evolution point.

I wonder if Mother Medusa would have evolved into something else if she reached level 100 or higher.

Anyway, I didn't want to become an ugly monster like mom.

I looked at the 'Horn' added to my trait.

What's with the trait being a horn?

Indomitable and Perseverance were the benefits I got from setting my mental strength and potential stats to 20.

It must be something as great as those, but I don't know the detailed usage yet...

I wonder if the horn is as important as those.

It seems like I have a horn on my head.

I can't see it properly without a mirror.

I stroked my head with my tail once.

And I was amazed.

Wow, this is a very large and magnificent horn.

... That's irony.

The horn on my head was more like a protrusion that was embarrassing to even call a horn.

There are actually snakes called horned vipers.

They're sand snakes that live in the desert, and their horns are no different from decorations.

My horn was like that too.

It doesn't seem like I can carry out my grand plan with this.

I wanted to become a crazy state power-level horned snake that could pierce enemies by utilizing it along with Quick Crawling.

For now, since I evolved by meeting special conditions, there must be something different

Let's look at the skills more

──────────────

[Skills]

[Billy's Horn lv1] (new!),

[Venomous Fang lv3], [Quick Crawling lv3], [Breath Holding lv4], [Devouring lv3], [Biting lv4], [Poison Resistance lv3], [Bleeding Resistance lv2], [Pain Resistance lv4], [Heat Resistance lv2], [Survival Instinct lv3]

[Status]

──────────────

There it is!

A new skill had appeared.

The other skills hadn't really increased in level much and had little change, but a skill with a name I couldn't understand at all had appeared.

What could 'Billy's Horn' be?

Who on earth is Billy!

...

I almost lost my mind out of disappointment.

It would have been nice if it was a skill like Horn Missile.

You can't activate skills by shouting their names like in games.

You have to concentrate and do the action, like with Quick Crawling, but how should I activate Billy's Horn?

That's when it happened.

I sensed a presence and turned my head.

There was the wife of the king centipede couple.

My senses have definitely become more sensitive after evolving.

Hello.

The newlywed wife seemed to be preparing breakfast, holding something like a frog with her legs.

She's waving her antennae warily, as if somewhat surprised.

Ah, my body has grown a bit. And I've got a horn too.

Even if centipedes don't have good eyesight, she must be uncertain.

I wagged my tail and bowed my head in greeting, just like when we first met.

Then the kind-hearted newlywed also waved her antennae, mimicking me.

She dropped the frog she was holding with a thud.

And she's slowly backing away.

It seems she wants to give it to me.

At that moment, I was incredibly touched.

Is this a return gift for the housewarming rice cake?

In my previous studio apartment, I didn't greet my neighbor even once in two years.

Centipedes are better than humans!

I couldn't ignore her goodwill, so I gratefully ate the frog.

It smelled of centipede, but the thought alone is heartwarming.

I swallowed the moist frog in one gulp.

「Your Poison Resistance skill proficiency has increased slightly.」

My stomach started to ache a little, so it must have been a poisonous frog.

But I had no intention of doubting the newlywed's goodwill.

You can tell just by looking at her now. Isn't she dripping yellow saliva from her mouth?

Frogs were precious food.

Giving and taking is the way of neighborly affection.

I should share my prey later too.

Looking at the centipede newlywed, I suddenly became curious.

Which one of us is stronger, me or the centipede?

──────────────

[Redtis King Centipede lv7]

[Trait]

[Gentleness]

[Skills]

[Venomous Fang lv9], [Stealth lv3], [Quick Crawling lv2], [Carapace lv3], [Tearing lv5]

[Status]

[Hungry], [Newlywed]

──────────────

Female king centipedes are larger.

The same was true for monsters. Not just in size, but she seemed stronger than her husband.

However, she doesn't seem to have much resistance... I definitely have more types of skills.

The reason I can think of is probably thanks to my potential.

Still, the Redtis King Centipede has skills that I don't have.

Stealth, Carapace, Tearing.

All three seem to have good utility. Especially Carapace, I'm quite envious of it.

Centipedes have hard exoskeletons.

With that, they wouldn't have to worry about having their blood sucked by creatures like Mosquito Rats.

At that moment, I wished I had a skill like Carapace.

For some reason, my horn feels hot and tingly.

Ugh.

「Do you want to borrow 'Carapace'?」

Huh? Yes!

And as my horn heated up, strength drained from my body.

「You have borrowed Carapace lv3. You temporarily gain Carapace lv1.」

Billy's Horn.

It seems to be a skill that can literally borrow skills.

It wasn't for nothing that the Horn trait appeared alongside Indomitable and Perseverance.

It's that amazing.

In an instant, my scales hardened.

It felt like I was wearing scale armor.

When I tapped my body with my tail, it made a clanking sound.

They said Carapace, and it definitely feels different.

It's become hard.

I've become hard!

It's a good thing I can't speak.

If I had shouted that in front of the neighbor's newlywed, I would have been dragged away by the police immediately.

Having gained a new skill, I danced with joy.

The centipede watched me blankly.

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A skill that can borrow others' skills.

Its utility will be limitless.

But surely it can't be used freely without restrictions.

Trial and error is needed to understand the limitations and possibilities of the skill.

Growl.

And there's nothing better than hunting to figure that out.

Goodbye.

I left to go hunting.

==

You shouldn't compare the natural environment here with Earth.

It's not easy to encounter wild animals in Korean mountains.

At most, you might occasionally see a raccoon dog, wild boar, or water deer, right?

But it's different here.

Especially this basin was no different from an ecological zoo.

There was a variety of animals from small and weak ones to large and strong monsters.

I was worried if a weak and small snake like me could survive without starving to death, but that was fortunately not the case.

Insects like crickets are crispy and good, and Mosquito Rats lurk around without any fear.

I could survive, but the problem was leveling up.

No matter how many crickets and Mosquito Rats I ate, my level didn't increase.

In other words, it meant I had to hunt monsters that were somewhat on my level.

This is where the difficulty level suddenly rises.

First, I need to choose an opponent that I can handle.

No matter how much I train my Quick Crawling, I'm slower than a sprinting Mosquito Rat.

Once I start a fight, I must finish it.

After wandering around diligently, I finally encountered a worthy opponent to risk my life for.

It was also a horned monster.

Sharp protruding front teeth.

Soft fur.

Two adorably long ears.

That dangerous animal gnawing on grass.

──────────────

[Horn Rabbit lv3]

[Trait]

[Cowardice]

[Skills]

[Leap lv5], [Digging lv3]

[Status]

[On Guard]

──────────────

It was a rabbit.

Despite having horns, this guy doesn't have the Horn trait or skills like Billy's Horn that I have.

It's easy to mistake it for an insignificant rookie, but you can tell how amazing it is just by looking at its trait and status.

It's incredibly fast.

If I get even a little close, it will quickly run away and hide in the ground.

That's why I've been hiding in the bushes for over an hour already.

Waiting for it to get somewhat closer.

Munch munch.

And the moment it turns its back to me and starts eating grass.

The chance has come.

「You have borrowed Leap lv5.」

「You have temporarily gained Leap lv1.」

It's common sense that snakes can jump!

As I leaped up, the rabbit startled and jumped up.

But it was already too late.

I bit its butt.

The shocked rabbit dropped black bean-like droppings and ran away.

Someone watching might think I missed it, but.

"Squeak."

The rabbit that was digging the ground collapsed with a thud.

I may not look like it, but I'm a venomous snake.

The hunt was successful.

「Billy's Horn lv1 has become Billy's Horn lv2.」

Yes!