A deep satisfaction settled over Luo Zhen as he surveyed his attribute board. It was a thing of beauty.
His eyes scanned the clearing, landing on the perfect target: an ancient, colossal tree. Its trunk was as thick as a water cistern, pulsing with a raw, vibrant life that you could almost feel in the air. A low, sinister chuckle rumbled in his throat. He opened his jaws and let loose.
Whoosh!
A bolt of pure black energy erupted from his maw, streaking through the air like a lightning strike and slamming into the tree with concussive force.
Sizzle!
The impact was bizarre. Instead of splintering, the solid wood began to hiss and dissolve like sugar in boiling water. Before Luo Zhen could even blink, a gaping, dark hole had melted straight through the massive trunk.
"Damn, this Poison Arrow is no joke," he thought, a thrill of surprise and delight shooting through him. That tree was tough as iron, yet his venom had turned it to pulp.
He craned his neck, spotting a large boulder nearby. Round two.
He opened his mouth, and another black arrow shot forth.
The boulder, a whole lot tougher than the tree, offered no more resistance than wet clay. It hissed, smoked, and in the space of two quick breaths, completely melted into a bubbling black puddle on the forest floor.
Energized, Luo Zhen looked for another target, but when he tried to summon the power, nothing happened.
"Ah, so there's a cooldown," he mused. "Can't just spam it. Still, it's a hell of an ace in the hole. With a weapon this powerful, I can handle almost anything that comes my way. I'm not just on the defensive anymore; I can go on the hunt."
Flicking his forked tongue in excitement, he slithered off into the woods.
It was time to level up.
An hour later, Luo Zhen was in a different part of the forest, and the initial thrill had given way to a nagging frustration.
You have slain the Demonic Beast, Raging Bull. +8 EXP.
You have slain the Demonic Beast, Black-Backed Demonic Wolf. +1 EXP.
The notifications flashed in his mind, but the numbers were disappointing. He quickly realized the problem: the stronger he got, the less experience he gained from killing weaker beasts. He remembered when a single Black-Backed Wolf was worth a solid 5 points. Now, after his breakthrough to Level Six, it was barely worth 1.
"So the system's grinding me," he thought, the logic clicking into place. "It's pushing me out of the kiddy pool and into the deep end. I can't get much stronger by picking on the small fry anymore."
He considered this for a moment. "Then again, it makes sense. You don't become a legend by hunting rabbits."
And that was exactly his goal. Luo Zhen wasn't just aiming to survive; he was going to become a Great Demon. To do that, he'd have to start taking on the real monsters.
With a flick of his tongue, he set a new course for the heart of the Mist Marsh.
Until now, he'd stuck to the outskirts. He'd had no choice—he was too weak, too vulnerable to risk the treacherous depths. But now, things were different. He was a Level Six demon with a devastating ranged attack and reinforced armor. He had offense, he had defense. It was time to venture in.
Still, he wasn't a fool. The marsh was dangerous, and he proceeded with extreme caution, his eyes darting between the path ahead and the map in his mind.
As he rounded a large hill, a loud crash echoed from somewhere nearby.
"Who's there?!"
He instantly coiled into a defensive stance, his gaze locked on the source of the sound. He checked his mental map. Strange. It's showing nothing that can threaten me within a thousand meters.
The map was dotted with points of light, but they all glowed with a benign white hue. Since his last level-up, the system had upgraded the map's functionality: white dots were weaker than him, no threat. Only red dots signified danger.
"If there's nothing dangerous for a thousand meters, what made that noise?" he wondered. "Am I just being paranoid?"
He shook his serpentine head, trying to relax.
Just then, the bushes rustled, and a man stepped out into the clearing, a longsword gripped in his hand.
A human.
A jolt of pure, primal fear shot through him. The tension he'd just shaken off came flooding back, tenfold.
If there was one thing Luo Zhen was truly afraid of, it was human martial artists. In this world, humans were the apex predators. They weren't just intelligent; they could cultivate their own power, rivaling the strongest beasts.
His first instinct screamed at him: Run.
And he did. He turned and bolted. But after a few meters, he skidded to a halt. An idea cut through the panic.
Wait a minute. The system map. It said nothing within a thousand meters could threaten me. This guy is right here, so that has to include him!
He slowly turned back, his eyes narrowing as he sized up the martial artist. A stat block materialized in his mind's eye:
Name: Li Miao
Race: Human
Strength: Level-Four Martial Artist
Only Level Four? Luo Zhen let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Jeez, he scared the hell out of me for nothing. Li Miao was no match for him; no wonder the map wasn't flashing any warnings. He'd just been jumping at shadows.
Deciding the man wasn't worth his time, Luo Zhen turned to leave.
He was a few feet away when he heard a sharp whistle of air behind him, followed by a hard thwack against his scales. He whipped his head around. A rock, the size of a fist, lay on his back.
The initial shock quickly curdled into a cold, seething rage.
He looked up to see the martial artist, Li Miao, scooping up another rock and winding up to throw it. This time, Luo Zhen was ready. With a fluid twist, he dodged the projectile easily. The rock sailed past, but the insult lingered. He hadn't provoked this man, yet he'd been attacked twice. He was lucky his scales were so thick; a weaker beast might have been seriously injured.
Hiss… Luo Zhen flicked his tongue, his eyes now locked on the human with icy menace.
"Huh?" the man, Li Miao, said with a frown. "You're a tough little bugger, aren't you?" He strode forward, his longsword held loosely at his side. As he got closer, Luo Zhen saw what was hanging from his belt: the leathery hide of a crocodile, the pelt of a demonic bear, a deer's severed head, and other gruesome trophies.
So, he's a professional demonic beast hunter, Luo Zhen realized. It made sense. Just like regular hunters killed animals for their fur and horns, martial artists hunted demonic beasts for their much more valuable parts.
Hiss… He continued to watch Li Miao approach, his body coiled and ready.
The man stopped about fifteen feet away, looking Luo Zhen up and down. A greedy smile spread across his face.
"Well, now, look at you. All shiny and black. You're a rare one," Li Miao mused aloud. "Your hide would make a fine pair of gloves, maybe even a small satchel. And I bet your snake gall would fetch a pretty penny. Those are always in demand."
He leveled his sword. "Alright, little snake. Stand still and let me take your head."
With a shout, he lunged. He was fast for a normal human, kicking up a small gust of wind as he closed the distance.
But to Luo Zhen, the man was moving in slow motion.
With a casual flick of his tail, he darted to the side, easily evading the sword's thrust. A few seconds later, the two had swapped places, the fifteen-foot gap between them restored.
"Whoa, you're quick!" Li Miao exclaimed, but his surprise quickly morphed into excitement. He was a Level-Four martial artist, far stronger and faster than an average person, and he had put his all into that attack. The fact that this black snake had dodged it so effortlessly meant one thing.
This was a powerful demonic beast. And powerful beasts meant bigger rewards.
"Looks like I hit the jackpot today," Li Miao said, then reached into his robes and whipped out a large, heavy net. "Let's see how you handle my Yellow Rope Net!"
He cast it with the practiced motion of a fisherman. The net unfurled in the air, its spread far too wide to dodge. A moment later, Luo Zhen was entangled.
Trapped, Luo Zhen coldly scanned his prison. The mesh of the net was tight; his body, though powerful, was too thick to squeeze through quickly.
Across the clearing, Li Miao was already making his next move. He rolled up a sleeve, revealing a small, intricate crossbow strapped to his forearm—a sleeve arrow.
"Heh, almost forgot," Li Miao chuckled to himself. "Unusual-looking snakes are usually venomous. Good thing I came prepared." He raised his arm, his finger moving toward the trigger.
Just as he was about to fire, Luo Zhen struck.
He reared back and opened his mouth wide. A black arrow of pure venom shot out.
Whoosh!
The projectile tore through the thick ropes of the net as if they were cobwebs, its momentum unchecked. Before Li Miao could even register what was happening, it slammed directly into his chest.
"Arghh!"
A horrific scream tore from his throat. A hole the size of a teacup had been punched through his torso, and a black, corrosive energy was spreading rapidly across his skin. He stood frozen for a second, his eyes wide with shock and pain, before falling backward onto the ground, stiff as a board.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
You have slain the human martial artist, Li Miao! +9 EXP.
Nine points? The system notification surprised him. Li Miao was two levels weaker than him. Based on his recent hunts, a Level-Four demonic beast would have only given him five or six points.
Is it because he was human? He wondered. He'd started to figure out the system's logic. Stronger beasts gave more experience; that was obvious. But it seemed that more advanced or rare species—creatures with purer bloodlines—also gave a bigger payout.
"It makes sense, I guess," he concluded. Humans are the top of the food chain. A humanoid monster is naturally worth more than a regular beast."
He shook his head. No time for that now.
He spat a stream of venom onto the net above him, melting a large hole. He slithered free and approached Li Miao's corpse. The man's body was already blackened and starting to decay, the venom working with terrifying speed. Luo Zhen looked down at him, his reptilian eyes cold and devoid of emotion.
This was the first human he had ever killed.
He expected to feel something—revulsion, guilt, maybe a tremor of remorse. He felt nothing. Li Miao had provoked him, attacked him without cause. The man deserved it.
He'd only let the fight play out to see what a human martial artist was capable of. And he'd learned a valuable lesson: you could never be careless with them. They were intelligent, they could cultivate power, and they used tools. Li Miao was no match for him in a straight fight, but the net and the sleeve arrow had nearly evened the odds. If Luo Zhen hadn't possessed his own trump card, the Poison Arrow, the outcome could have been very different.
A shiver of fear ran through him. He'd been too arrogant, too willing to sit back and observe.
"Next time I face a human, no matter how weak they seem, I strike first," he vowed to himself. "They're too clever and have too many tricks. As the saying goes: even when a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength."
He turned and began to slither away.
After a few yards, he stopped. He looked back at Li Miao's body.
I can devour things to evolve, he thought. If I ate him… would I evolve into a human?
The idea surfaced, slick and tempting. But a wave of nausea, purely psychological, washed it away.
Nope. That's a line I can't cross.
He was a snake on the outside, but inside, his mind was still human. Hunting and eating demonic beasts was one thing—that was the law of the jungle. But cannibalism? No.
My human mind, my human soul—that's the one thing that separates me from the beasts I hunt, he thought. I'm not about to devour it.
With a final sigh, he turned his back on the corpse and disappeared into the trees.
About two hours later, a rustling sound came from the edge of the clearing. The bushes parted, and a group of martial artists emerged. There were at least twenty of them, led by a pair of men built like brick houses. Both carried massive steel longswords and radiated an aura of pure menace. They were so alike in build and features that they could only be brothers.
One of them stopped short, his eyes fixing on the dark shape lying on the ground.
"Someone's dead," he grunted.
The other leader nodded grimly. "Let's go see."