The snake slithered towards the strongest thing in the dungeon. It was surrounded by weaker ones that were either its kin or subordinates. Along the way the snake had to distract and kill another wolf.

[You have consumed potent blood, XP gained!]

[Blood Conversion has grown from Lv3->Lv4]

[Blood Sense has grown from Lv3->Lv4]

Just when it was getting close to the pack the walls opened up into a circular room. The ground was wet and sticky. The snake wouldn't know but it resembles a marsh environment. The snake tried to move through the mud but its speed was unbearably slow.

It could practice moving though the filth but it decided it was better to lure the monsters onto solid ground. Making a Phantom of itself the snake sent it off into the marsh, the Phantom looked almost like a perfect match since the snake itself was blood colored. 

After sensing one of the weaker signals take the bait, the snake curled up next to the wall while making the phantom slither out on the opposite side to where the snake was. As soon as the phantom left the mud a green shape came rushing out at brisk speeds. 

[Hatchling Crocodile Lv4]

Then the snake immediately slithered over and went for the neck. It learned that the neck was the hardest to reach for most beings and blood was drained out the fastest when it bit the neck. As its fangs were about to sink in, an odd noise was heard. 

*tink* 

The snake's fangs were stopped by the crocodile's hardened skin. Shocked, the snake stilled for a moment before trying different areas.

*tink**tink**tink*

None of them would work. The croc noticed its passenger and tried to take a bite but of course its huge head couldn't reach its neck. Just when the snake was about to try and get off from the crocodile’s back the creauted started to roll. The snake was immediately slammed into the ground and dazed. 

The hatchling, now able to get at its passenger immediately bit the snake with its huge mouth taking half of its body into it. The snake felt pain from the bite and tried to struggle but that only made it worse. The croc shook its mouth side to side, up to down, causing the snake terrible pain.

“Hissss!”

Eventually the snake's body couldn't take the strain and half of it was thrown down the tunnel while its tail was swallowed by the croc. Whether it did not see the snake as a threat or it didn't want to stay far from the marsh the Hatchling Crocodile returned to its nest.

The snake was harshly bleeding from where the croc severed it. Barely conscious from the pain, the snake tried to remedy the blood loss. Desperly slow it trickled to a stop as the blood was held in by its blood manipulation.

[Blood Manipulation has grown from Lv4->Lv5]

[Warning! You will need to evolve to level Blood Manipulation past Lv5.]

Evolution. The snake knew that would fix it, but that was impossible. It was currently unable to move, right now it could even be killed by a level 1 Ground Rat. 

Suddenly a thought appeared in its head. Its instincaly affinity with blood mana was trying to tell it something. The snake focused on sensing its blood mana. It followed the pathways it traveled from its heart all over its body. 

While doing this its body entered a sleep-like state. 

The blood mana gathered at the wound, not by its intent but by the natural response of its body. Slowly the amount of blood mana was decreasing around the wound but this wasn't from spillage. It was being used up.

[Blood Sense has grown from Lv4->Lv5]

Finally it could see the area like it was looking with its eyes. The blood mana was being consumed causing its wound to itch. This itch was slowly, very slowly closing the wound. Finding this out, the snake tried to speed up the process. It couldn't hold its blood in forever. Eventually its supply of mana would run out and then it would bleed to death if it did not find a way to stop the bleeding.

The snake tried to shove as much blood mana into the wound as possible but that didn't work. Instead, it gently increases the amount going to the wound. Feeling out the process of its wound closing and the consumption of blood mana getting faster the snake started to increase the amount flowing to the wound. From a slow crawl, the blood mana was consumed faster and faster , until… the wound fully closed. 

[You have created the Sub-Skill Lifeforce Conversion!]

[Lifeforce Conversion is a Sub-Skill of Blood Conversion]

[Lifeforce Conversion: You have felt the effects of lifeforce and learned its ways. Blood mana and lifeforce are two sides of the same coin. In this respect you are able to convert blood mana into lifeforce.]

[Blood Conversion has grown from Lv4->Lv5]

With its wound closed the snake didn't feel like it was about to die so it stopped using Blood Manipulation. Laying down the snake waited for its mana to return and took a mental break. It still couldn't move and being right outside the crocodile nest was a bad place for it, but it didn't have much of a choice. 

None of its skills could increase anymore, and the snake could tell now that its skills were capped. Only if the skill had room to grow could a sub-skill be created. Out of options it could only hope the repeated use of lifeforce would be able to grow its body back before it was discovered.

…

It repeated the cycle of consuming all its mana for lifeforce 3 times. After gaining back half of what the croc ripped off, the snake was able to move around. It immediately found the closest Ground Rat burrow to rest in while it fully healed. 

The snake left the rats alone. They were surprisingly not hostile, they would shake in fear whenever the snake looked at them but otherwise stayed away from the snakes section of the burrow. The snake could easily kill them and despite their fear the rats could do the same if they teamed up. It was curious as to why the snake didn't eat them. The XP would be good and the extra blood mana would help it create more lifeforce. Instead it felt a type of kinship with them. In its healing the snake contemplated this thought.

These beings were like it, they also contained blood mana. While the snake was obsessed with blood and blood mana it only felt the desire to take from those of a similar strength or stronger than it. It had killed Ground Rats before and now with its level being higher the blood tasted different, it felt bad. Wrong to take in that way.  

…

Fully healed, the snake left the burrow in search of prey that wouldn't make it feel so annoyed to kill. One it knew it could hunt without fear of its tactics not working.

…

After hunting the 15th Wolf the snake had finally reached its goal.

[Level up!]

[Strength+1,Agility+2,Endurance+1,Magic+3]

[You have reached Level 5, Evolution is now Available!]

[Level: 5]

[Race: Elemental Snake(Blood) ]

[Skills: [Blood Sense Lv5],[Blood Manipulation Lv5],[Blood Conversion L5] ]

[Sub-Skills: [Blood Phantom Lv5],[Lifeforce Conversion Lv5] ]

[Strength:5]

[Agility:10]

[Endurance:5]

[Magic:15]

[Titles: [One Who Chooses] ]