Blood cowered, shivering slightly. “What… What’s wrong, Snek?”

  She leaned in slowly, forked tongue flicking out quickly as they locked eyes. When she spoke, her mental voice was a cold deadpan as frustration and annoyance pulsed through their connection. “You should have waited for me to select a mutation.”

  Their shared snake body gulped anxiously, and Snek noticed that her mouth was suddenly dry. “I thought you said I made a good choice, did you want the colorful scales instead?”

  “The scales?” The question caught Snek off guard, and her mental presence eased off somewhat.

  “I just figured that we already do a really good job with Stealth, so we didn’t need it. I suppose you could get tattoos like Kor with the mutation. Is that what you wanted? I’m sorry Snek, I should have thought about that. I keep messing up. First its with my name, now its…”

  Blood kept rambling on and apologizing, but grew slightly more confident when it felt Snek’s frustrated begin to cool.

  “I didn’t want the scales. I want the mana core.” Snek sighed.

  Blood tilted its head to the side. “The mana core?”

  They were still watching Meaty, who had left his post guarding the door in favor of wandering around aimlessly. His skill must have lapsed at this point, or been overpowered by the snake’s venom, because he was now lazily meandering through the section while sniffing the ground and air periodically, his bald tail waving back and forth through the tall blades of grass.

  Snek and blood followed behind, unseen and unheard, while observing the strange new effects of their venom.

  “Why would you want the mana core?” Blood asked cautiously. “Isn’t mana the reason you got hurt? Why I had to be alone?”

  “Why do you think that?” She asked, now more confused than anything.

  “Well you were casting the fancy spell a bunch, and then you disappeared. I kinda felt your pain right before the blue window came.”

  “Mana wasn’t the reason I got hurt, Blood. It was the backlash. The mutation says it willl ‘greatly improve Mana Backlash resistance’. Do you know what that means?”

  Blood shook his head, and Snek could feel a growing unease from the hatchling.

  “It means that if you had chosen that, I might have come back sooner and you wouldn’t have had to be alone. Did you overlook that in the description for some reason?” Snek pushed.

  “Well.. I didn’t really read all of it…” Blood replied before feeling a wave of disbelief from the consciousness who had guided their actions for so long. Their head dipped in shame before it continued, “It’s just really boring, okay! I saw ‘Bloodless’ and knew it was the right one!”

  “You didn’t read it?!” Snek stared at Blood’s mental projection in disbelief. What had her system gotten her into this time? Surprisingly, in spite of their ongoing conversation and the uncomfortable position Blood was in right now, Blood was doing a masterful job driving their body. The body language it was interjecting into their disagreement never caused the Stealth skill to deactivate, and their eyes never left their prey.

  Granted, their prey was currently laying on the ground and waving his paws through the grass. His mutilated arm had stopped bleeding somehow, and Snek wondered if it was due to a skill or the large rat’s Constitution attribute.

  Still, she was impressed despite herself.

  She was also very, very relieved. If all of Blood’s abilities were at the same level as its critical thinking, Snek would essentially have had to give up on her goals. That, or find a mutation that allowed her to remove an ability. Regardless, it seemed like an honest, if foolish, mistake, and the constant pulsing of Blood’s naive emotions eventually wore her down.

  “You need to fully read the descriptions, Blood. Every. Single. Word.” She took care to emphasize her last few words before continuing. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Snek.” Blood said, its words a low whisper in her mind. “Sorry…”

  She nodded. “Just don’t choose any more mutations without talking to me first, unless I’m gone again for some reason and our life is in danger. Deal?”

  Blood nodded, an overwhelming flood of relief flowing through their connection.

  Shifting gears, Snek gestured towards Meaty, who was giggling uncontrollably. “Now what should we do about him?”

  The rest of the Rat Race was simple for the little snake, as it was the last real contestant. There was only one remaining section, and it was comically easy due to their Keen Senses skill. The section was a narrow gauntlet of moving weapons and traps. Slits in the floor produced blades while daggers swung back and forth ahead of her.

  At one point, a small cloud of noxious gas puffed through the wall, attempting to cover their lithe form. Their poison resistance, combined with knowing exactly when to dodge or halt, prevented any real danger. The new zone of awareness had allowed her to peer behind the curtain and sense what was happening beneath the floorboard and in the walls.

  The consistently moving obstacles, such as the swinging daggers and various spinning pillars, were all connected by numerous gears and machinery to small spinning wheels. Athletic rats were constantly running on the wheels, generating the energy needed to power the various sections of the course. The traps that only activated in their presence - such as the floor spikes, gas, and pitfalls - were all done so manually by rats hidden from sight in the floor and walls.

  Unfortunately for Jigz, this meant that Snek was able to un-rig his course, and knew exactly where to slither in order to anticlimactically finish the course in first place. The crowd of goblins and had been relatively quiet for awhile now, but erupted into cheers as she crossed the finish line.

  While the snake waited for Kor to come and collect them, it felt a slight popping sound and allowed the notification to hover before their eyes.

  Back up to four points. Mana Core here we come. Also… Experience? That’s new. Snek thought to herself, homing in on the word in the hope of an explanation. A new window popped up.

  Snek's eyes lingered on the large red 'Redacted' in the system message. Nothing like that had ever happened before, and as she watched, the text faded in an out before disappearing all together. An edited version of the notification replaced the current one, and it was missing the entire last sentence. A nagging worry filled Snek’s mind, and she quickly scanned and closed the four remaining level up notifications. Does someone else have access to my system?

  Blood didn’t appear to notice; the hatchling was more focused on the crowd of awestruck goblins. A lot of eyes were watching the little snake, and didn’t stop as Kor lifted them onto her shoulder. After a short walk, flanked by the numerous and curiously jubilant goblins, she returned to Jigz.

  “Well?” The goblin woman demanded, her tone holding a sharp edge.

  “Snek cheat.” Jigz said, clearly unhappy with the results of the race.

  “How?” Kor asked.

  Snek’s use of telekinesis must have not been as obvious as she thought. Most of the onlooking goblins stared at Jigz in confusion and started whispering to each other. Jigz took in the whispers, and the general atmosphere of the room, before turning to glare back at Snek and Kor.

  She could see it in his eyes. He knew. Jigz had been able to somewhat figure out her advantage, but exposing her would also incriminate himself. If the others knew he was having controlled rats directly rig the races… Well, they wouldn’t be happy. There also weren’t any rules discussed ahead of time, so he didn’t really have a leg to stand on.

  Just like Meaty, Snek thought.

  Blood looked at her curiously as it picked up on her amusement.

  Jigz cleared his throat, and projected his voice loudly to the gathered crowd. “Snek won. Jigz give Snek and boss Kor the prize.” He snapped, and a tidal wave of rats erupted from the walls, skittering across the floor towards a large hut in the corner. As they disappeared inside, the crusty goblin turned to Mog, who was standing next to Kor and watching the mischief of rats.

  “Why is stupid-dumb useless Mog here?” He hissed, then spit on the ground in front of the husky goblin. Mog didn’t react much, but lowered his head slightly towards the floor.

  Kor didn’t rise to the bait, standing proudly and staring at the goblin who had once been her mate. Before the tension could build to an unbearable level, the rats began to appear once again.

  Various herbs, flowers, powders, and miscellaneous vegetation seemed to float across the floor of the cavern atop the swarm of rats. Snek realized that she recognized some of the greenery from her frantic rush out of the forest. As they neared, presumably to drop their payload, Kor’s voice rang out once again.

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  “Rats can bring to Kor’s hut.” She said calmly.

  Jigz seethed, his face flushing from the standard green to a light shade of brown. Snek could hear the sound of his teeth grinding as he nodded slowly, and the rats once again moved as a single entity towards the tunnel at the edge of the cavernous room.

  “Snek, look at that.” Blood said in their mind, gesturing to the side and back towards the Rat Race.

  A small group of rats were slinking through the grass towards the snoozing, yet somehow still alive, form of Meaty. When they drew closer, one produced a small biscuit and plopped it into the large rat's open and drooling mouth.

  Maybe he won’t die today, Snek thought.

  She had convinced Blood that they should spare him. Meaty had been more than impressive in the race, had persisted through numerous wounds, and only gave in after a long struggle against her venom. Also, from what she understood of the goblins’ culture, the rat would owe her a debt for sparing him. They needed more than one friend here, even if their friend was powerful.

  Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t difficult to convince Blood. It apparently trusted her implicitly, and had already agreed before she even began to explain why.

  As they watched, the pulsing dark veins settled down on the large rat’s skin and began to retract. Slowly, the smaller rats picked up Meaty and began slowly carrying him towards a previously hidden hatch in the floor of the course. They moved slowly and deliberately, successfully avoiding drawing any attention to themselves. Besides Snek’s and Blood’s, of course.

  “Where are the blue flowers?” Kor asked, her voice cutting through the little snake’s observations.

  Jigz sneered. “Guess Jigz is all out of blue flower. Must have used for something. Kor will have go get more. One of rats show where.”

  There was something off about how the old and bitter goblin said that last sentence. Kor’s body straightened and her bearing shifted, as Snek felt her presence grow stronger.

  The onlooking goblins took a step back, their eyes widening at the display.

  “Jigz will give Snek something worth blue flowers, or be punished for breaking rules.” Kor had gone full goblin-boss mode, and Snek watched as the years seemed to fall off the old woman, a regal bearing taking their place.

  “So cool,” Blood whispered.

  “If Boss says so…” Jigz said while rolling his eyes. “Snek can have…”

  “Snek will choose for herself.” Kor said, once again interrupting Jigz before holding the little snake out in front of her. The goblin woman’s eyes glowed a milky white, the glow of her tattoos slightly illuminating the immediate surroundings.

  As Kor’s mind reached out and connected to the little snake’s, Blood jumped on the opportunity to introduce itself.

  “Wow, Kor! You’re so cool! You just shut down the mean man like it was nothing! My name is Blood by the way, and I’m new. The message came up after we took care of the fake rat, and I…”

  Kor visibly startled at the unexpected presence in Snek’s mind, but her surprised expression quickly changed to an amused smirk when she scanned her friend’s exasperated emotions. The goblin woman didn’t respond to Blood, as she would need to do so verbally, but gave the hatchling a slight nod in response.

  Snek informed her friend of what she would like as a reward, and Kor once again addressed the crowd of waiting goblins.

  “Snek has decided on her prize - she will have Meaty, the large rat who competed against her,” the goblin woman proclaimed.

  The small task force of rats, who were stealthily beginning to lower the large rat through the hatch paused, as the crowd of onlooking gobins turned their collective heads to stare down at the mutilated rat.

  The silence held for a brief moment, before Jigz barked out a laugh and gave a wicked smile that didn’t quite reach his wrinkled eyes. “Why Snek want Meaty? Will die soon.”

  “Then should not be a problem,” Kor said, her reply immediate and smooth.

  “Fine. But no other rat show where find flower. Meaty can show if lives.” As Jigz turned to leave, a new swarm of rats hustled into motion, swooping up the mutilated rat to begin carrying it off towards Kor’s hut.

  It didn’t sit well with Snek, and Kor obviously felt the same way. “Bring rat here," she interjected, and the swarm quickly changed paths to plop Meaty down on the ground before them. Kor tapped Mog on the shoulder, and pointed down towards the rat.

  Mog bent down to pick up the large rat, exposing a large crack to the crowd of goblins. A scattered chorus of surprised yelps echoed through the crowd as the image was burned into their minds. They scattered, and it wasn’t long before Kor, Snek, Mog, and Meaty were alone next to the vacated Rat Race.

  Mog had since picked up Meaty, and was holding him in his arms like a beloved child. Snek observed that while the venom had continued to recede, the large rat still appeared to be suffering from the hallucinatory effects. She hoped that was the case, anyway, as she watched Meaty reach up with his remaining front paw to bat at one of Mog’s greasy and exposed nipple hairs.

  Mog laughed and began giving the rat belly scratches as the strange group made their way through the tunnels and back towards Kor’s hut. Kor started up a mental conversation with Blood, but Snek didn’t feel like contributing. Instead, she turned to her status.

  Having recently scolded herself, and Blood to a degree, for acting impulsively - she decided to lead by example. Snek put two of her points into Constitution and confirmed her selection.

  The system immediately thwarted the little snake’s attempt at self-improvement.

  Evolve the vessel… Snek was aware that she had been able to evolve for some time now. The attributes she had earned from her Feats of Power and level ups were more than enough. Still… something didn’t add up to the little snake.

  She quickly put her attribute points into Strength, raising it to ten. The warm energy that accompanied attribute increases rushed from her system’s core to reinforce and expand the various muscles throughout her body. The energy swirled as a large portion was pulled into her jaw, increasing her bite force.

  Blood noticed the new strength as well, happily chomping their shared mouth open and closed in time with the words it thought to Kor. The goblin woman found the imitation amusing and her laughter filled the small tunnel.

  Snek stewed. She had hoped that something would change. Her attributes, especially Intelligence and Charisma, were much higher than the requirements listed. The issue was that her evolution options were… uninspired. At best they represented minor beneficial changes that could potentially be acquired through future mutations. The worst case scenario was that she would lose something valuable in the process. If she became a constrictor or flying snake, would she lose her venom?

  The thought of evolving into a more powerful creature should be exciting, not bland or stress inducing. It should be a major advantage that would push her further down the path of power than any single mutation ever could. Yet it looked like all she would be able to gain was more size, and she had to focus on that over the mana core because of the attribute cap. The whole situation irked her.

  As Snek complained, her system took notice.

  Growing larger would still be a major boon, and Snek decided that she should try to be more grateful to her system. Her combat toolkit would significantly increase with more size, and the form would pave the way for future Feats of Power and attribute points. She acknowledged that she was making a decision between two good options that many others could only dream of, and was petulantly complaining that they weren’t good enough.

  She no longer feared losing her excess attributes when she evolved. The Ecdysis System had consistently made her stronger with its various upgrades, and if selecting a slightly larger form erased her sapience… Well, that couldn’t really be considered beneficial. She needed to trust her system, and the mana core would have to wait.

  Snek focused on the conversation Blood and Kor were having, waiting for the stream of questions to come to an end. When it finally paused to take a mental breath, Snek said her piece.

  “It’s time to evolve.”