Solomon read the stats in his mind. Apparently he was level two already. But still very weak. And it seemed he could unlock a perk. He concentrated on the perk names and an idea of what they do appeared in his mind.

  Efficiency decreased the amount of energy his body required - leaving more of it to be put into increasing his size. In essence, the first rank of this perk would double the amount he would grow.

  Digestion decreased the time his stomach needed to break down the food by ten percent. Solomon considered it useless now. He could wait. He liked doing nothing, hidden from predators with a belly full of sustenance. Why would he make that blissful time shorter?

  Venom was obvious, choosing it would allow him to poison creatures he’d bite. He felt that the first rank of this wouldn’t be very strong.

  The Vision was interesting. It would allow him to see heat. It would be useful, were he to hunt some animals. But as the only ones he could hunt were insects, which he reckoned don’t emit much heat at all, this was also useless at the moment.

  He willed the perk point to be spent on Efficiency I. That did it. He spent his perk point and should now grow much faster.

  Once the sun warmed up the air outside to a comfortable temperature Solomon left his shelter and started looking for beetle eggs again. But looking under the leaves of the pnts he found no eggs. There were plenty of orange rvae, however. ‘They must have all hatched,’ he thought. ‘That’s for the better. I can eat them just as easily.’

  Solomon climbed the rvae-infested pnt and picked the rvae one by one. Even once they realized they’re in danger they couldn’t do much. Some of them dropped to the ground in an attempt to escape. He ate them too, after getting all of the rvae from the leaves.

  The rvae were even more filling than the eggs and soon the snake was full again. ‘These pnts should be thankful. I saved them from being eaten by these rvae.’ He returned to his hiding pce and rexed for another week.

  After leaving his shelter with an empty stomach again Solomon hoped to find those delicious rvae once more. It turned out easier than expected. As he was passing by one of those pnts that he knew those rvae like, or rather on which beetles liked to y eggs, one brightly coloured, reddish orange and very rge one compared to the ones he had a week ago suddenly fell just in front of him. Large enough that it could be a full meal for the tiny snake.

  The rva started burrowing itself into the ground. Not wasting any time, Solomon opened his jaw wide, preparing to engulf his easy meal. Just before he could, however, all of a sudden the rva got struck by a long, sticky tongue. And just as suddenly, the tongue retracted, taking the rva with it.

  ‘A frog!’ Solomon realized. He jumped backwards in panic, then ran away from the predator. Or, whatever the fast movement of a snake can be called. He did not think it followed him, but to be safe, he did not slow down for a solid minute. ‘I did not notice the frog even though it was so close. Perhaps I should consider investing into a better vision when I get the opportunity.’

  Solomon climbed a pnt in search of food. There he found not one, but two of those reddish-orange rvae. They didn’t move at all, even as he was devouring them. Full again, he returned to his burrow, looking out for any predator on his way back. But he was unlikely to spot them, unless they were yellow or orange, like the eggs and rvae he had been feasting on.

  There, another week passed. More careful now (I wanted to say paranoid, but to be fair he was rather defenseless and even as careful as he was he would be done for if a hungry predator spotted him) he emerged from hiding, looking out for something to eat.

  Climbing these small leafy pnts was becoming his specialty. There was always something to eat on them. He was gd he didn’t have to wander further. The longer he was on the surface, the greater the chance of being eaten.

  On one of the leaves he spotted a rge yellow beetle. He sneaked behind it, slowly crawling towards his meal. He opened his little maw wide - and jumped forward, catching his prey in it.

  He applied as much force as he had into closing his mouth - the beetle fought, trying to get away with all of its force. But this time the snake was stronger. He won, he closed his mouth completely, sealing the fate of the beetle. His throat muscles did the rest of the work, pulling the insect all the way to his stomach.

  Solomon felt satisfied. It was the first time he captured prey that had a chance to escape. The eggs could not move at all, the rvae were too slow and barely aware of him. But a mature beetle was strong and fast. Catching it was a challenge that required both skill and luck.

  Solomon returned to his burrow safely. After a week, he felt a surge of power. He had leveled up.

  Name: Solomon

  Level: 3

  Length: 64.7 mm

  Weight: 157 mg

  Perk points: 1

  Avaible perks:

  Efficiency II

  Digestion I

  Poison immunity

  Venom I

  Vision I