“sssSSssssSsss”

(“zzzzZzzzzZzzz… dig.. Zzzzzzzz”)

Hm what? Oh, it’s sunset already? I woke up feeling a slight tingling of someone being on the edges of my mind range. Was it that brother of mine that watched my… pyrotechnical show last time? Wanted to be ENTERTAINED by my misery again? Hmm no, there doesn’t seem to be anyone here... Well whatever,

“Another night, another opportunity to forget what happened yesterday!”

I’ve become a complete night owl. Or a night snake. At the beginning this lifestyle was a product of necessity… but with all of my light-independent senses, and one-and-a-half-life-long propensity for all nighters (studying! Like I told my parents when they got me the PC I spent all night.. Studying on!). And so, even though the sun was about to set, I felt great. (“I am the night..nananana na snakeman!”). Well, great, notwithstanding all the negative statuses from yesterday's.. experiments.

“So, what is on the agenda today?”

(“Trying not to make our condition any worse?”)

(“Trying to improve ourselves?”)

(“Resuming practice and improvement of drunken snout!”)

(“Zzzzz…..”)

Exactly! A nap! A non masochist wouldn’t take a nap, would they? They would do something painful. That proves I’m a completely normal Snake. SSSHHH! Normal. Snake.

And how fortunate for me! I’m already in my favorite sleeping spot! Goodnight.

(“SNaKELInG.. TAsTY… Zzzz...”)

Are they, really? I mean I haven’t ever eaten them in my previous life, and doing it now would seem wrong…

(“zzz… I can feel the slithering… zzzz.…” )

Wait those are not my thoughts, they are too Hm? Here? My siblings are not here… 

(“Zzz… Screaming… I like…. Nomnom… Zzzz”)

*** 

Somewhere in the kingdom of Kergerel, a mother was sitting with her daughter, reading a picture book they rented together from a library.

“And now next letter, “S””

“Mommy, mommy, what’s this?”

“This is a jungle snake! A scary venomous animal! Run away when you see it or hear it!”

“Hear it? What does it sound like? And it’s scary? But it’s so pretty!”

“Oh my dear… look at those teeth! Snakes love little girls like you.. They hide in the grass, and when they see an uncovered belly… or uncovered feetsies.. they ssslither closer.. And SSSLITHER.. AND SSSSSSSSSS BITE!” (tickling movements on someones unprepared belly)

“ *giggle giggle* haha stop tickling me, *giggle giggle*

“SssssSssssSSSSS”

“No daddy! Protect me! *giggle*”
“What’s that! A foul snake! I shall save you princess! Run away, you beast! Slither away as if your life depended on it!”

***

“SSSSSSSSSSSSS” - says swiftly slithering snake, running away as if their life depended on it.

Damn. My breath. Oooof. Those thoughts… they were coming from underground?! Even the ground we slither on is not safe from enemies? (“That explains why so many of our siblings preferred to sleep above ground”)

Damn. Now that mother is often away from the nest.. This place no longer seems as safe as it was. Or has it always been this way and I was just complacent? Speaking of, I haven’t seen her since the accident, 2 days ago? It has only been two days?! Perception of time becomes completely wonky when you are facing life and death situations all the time. (“We are like in a middle of one right now?!”) 

I went around the nest, trying my best to not get too close to the last two remaining brothers. Judging by when their shedding became noticeable, and their current condition, one of them will most likely leave tomorrow or the day after. The next one will go within 2-4 days. And yet, for me, it’s still 10 days away. I wonder why. Am I the snake equivalent of a premature baby?

Absent-mindedly, I found myself searching for signs of mothers activity. Why? Well, there was the obvious matter of my personal safety. And the fact that I felt I did something bad to her, when she tried to help. And.. I was just worried. Yeah, I cared about her, in a personal (“A snakenal!”) way. It wasn’t the same way I felt about my human mother, whom I hold dear even now, too little time has passed for that but still! (“Subconscious effects of experiencing breastfeeding?”) (“Thank god, that would be super embarrassing with my mental age”)(“BE SILENT CERTAIN SKILLS VOICE”)

Still, knowing that she cares for me, in her snake way, the protection she gave me and my siblings, the pure emotions that I have no choice but to receive through my mind… and the instincts of this body are enough to make her someone I hold dear, and that I will be sad to leave. Isekai life mood I guess? (“Is that really it?”)(“...”)

I flicked my tongue while slithering around the perimeter, looking for signs of big-snake activity… and I found them. A mark on the damp ground, of something heavy moving through. A slight increase in temperature compared to surroundings. It must have happened when I was asleep. (“Is it me, or is someones heart beating a bit happier now”)(“Well, certainly, it’s nice to know I’m still slightly safe”)(“Mommas boy”)

With this mystery solved, and now fully awake.. I decided to fill this day doing something productive after all. Magic is out, mind related stuff definitely out… Time to go back to more barbari.. Ancient methods of helping our chances of survival - Martial arts practice! (“With these wounds?”) (“Those aren’t wounds.. Those are but scratches!”)

I looked at my no longer pristine body… and the wounds were healed? What? How? (“Fantasy stuff?”) 

Hmm.. Yeah there most likely are some kind of regeneration skills affecting me. Or maybe this is just how this world operates. Well it’s also true that I’m small. I forget about it, as it’s my perspective, but if proportions of cells are preserved, it shouldn’t be that surprising that a wound this size heals much much faster than a proportionally sized one would on a human (“You are thinking a lot about your previous life tonight”)

Damn you, yes! I might be a little homesick. A little. I do my best to survive here.. And I avoid thinking about things I know I can’t have… but sometimes it might be good to indulge in a bit of self pitying.

And so, I went out of the cage of roots. Looked at the sky.. And lake.. And grass… and for a moment just let the feelings of nostalgia, self pity, and memories wash over me.

….

“Ssss. Ssss. Sssss”

(“Harder! The path towards physical supremacy is through effort! I know you are not doing those crunches and tail raises hard enough!  We are staying here until you can fill a cup with your sweat!”)(“But snakes don’t sweat?”)(“EXCUSES! HARDER!”)

(“Yes! Yes! It’s good when you do it harder!”)

.. It seems I found a new source of motivation for pushing my limits when exercising. Yep, a bit of snake calisthenics is a perfect way to get rid of lingering worries of your mind. Have you ever met a gym bro? Have they looked like people who had many things on their mind? See! A perfect way to get rid of unwanted thoughts!

And now some jumps! “Sss. Sssss. Ssssss” I wonder if there is such a thing as breathing technique over here… well, even if they don’t have some advanced magical properties, proper exhaling should help increase my strength… or does it?

I mean I can test it.. Fortunately, I was next to a rocky lakeside. It wasn’t hard to find a few similarly sized rocks (pebbles to human sized beings), that seemed grabable with a tail. And so I tried lifting each breathing in different ways. And it did seem to help. Then I tried slithering around until I ran out of breath.. And this one was harder to find an optimal way, but it also seemed to help...

I stopped my jog, and caught my breath. Damn, cardio was always hard… Scope!

Yeah. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. I suspect the fish equivalent was merged with the swimming related skills that are useless to me. Shouldn’t expect anything from this any time soon. 

And while I was laying down, coiled up and exhausted… I noticed something I should have noticed earlier. The parts of my skin that got healed up? Yeah, from the mana experiments yesterday? They are glowing. They are glowing to my mana sight… And I’m pretty sure they are not supposed to.

Reisinling

I would just like to say, I’m personally a big fan of gyms, and myself attended it 3 x a week… before they closed them due to corona. DAMN IT. And now I’m too BIG fan of gyms.

I think I think next chapter from MCs PoV will have a few day skips to his next meal and next fight. And while we are talking of next chapters - two or three more today. As you can see I tried writing over 1000 words again, and I will see about continuing it this way.