The room smelled faintly of antiseptic and wilted flowers.
A young girl lay upon a hospital bed, her body fragile, pale as porcelain. Machines hummed softly beside her, tubes running into her arms. She was only sixteen, but her body had long since betrayed her. Every breath rattled in her chest, shallow and labored, and each passing second felt like another thread of her existence being cut away.
She had grown used to the ceiling above her—blank, sterile white, her only companion for years. She no longer feared death; it was inevitable. What frightened her most was how pitifully small her life had been. No adventures. No freedom. Just pain, hospitals, and the constant reminder that she was too weak to live like anyone else.
Her lips parted, voice rasping as though speaking was more effort than breathing.
"…If I… could just… start over…"
Her voice cracked, fading into a whisper. She wasn't even speaking to anyone. The nurses had gone, her parents no longer visited as often, unable to bear watching her waste away. No, she spoke only to herself, as she always did.
"I… I wish I could… feel nothing. No pain. No sickness."
Her chest heaved with effort. A tear slipped down her cheek. "I wish I didn't feel cold… or so hot… or hungry all the time when they won't even let me eat… I wish I was… stronger…"
Her words were incoherent, half delirious, but in the silence of that room—something answered.
—Request confirmed. Skill [Pain Nullification] acquired.
—Request confirmed. Skill [Cold Resistance] acquired.
—Request confirmed. Skill [Heat Resistance] acquired.
—Request confirmed. Skill [Hunger Resistance] acquired.
The girl blinked faintly. She thought she was hallucinating. The voice was neither man nor woman, neither kind nor cruel. It simply… was. A presence, echoing directly in her fading consciousness.
"…hah… I'm losing it now…" she whispered weakly, smiling bitterly.
But still, she kept mumbling. It was all she could do, a dying girl's daydream.
"I want to… see things I've never seen before… eat food I've never tasted… walk outside without… without collapsing…"
Her eyes drifted shut, her breath shallow. "If I… could… start over… I'd like to be… free…"
—Confirmed. Unique Skill [Eternal Wisdom] has been granted.
—Conditions met. Reincarnation approved.
—Preparing vessel for transfer.
Her final heartbeat echoed in her ears. The monitors screamed their flatline alarm, but she never heard it.
Her world went black.
---
She awoke in darkness.
Not the sterile, suffocating darkness of her hospital room at night, but a living, breathing void. She felt no pain, no tubes, no bed. Only… a strange heaviness. A coiling weight pressing against stone.
She twitched—and something long and sinuous shifted beneath her. Her body.
"…eh…?" Her thoughts jolted, disoriented. Why can't I move my arms? Where… am I?
Her vision flickered—yet strangely, she could see. Not with eyes, not exactly. Her surroundings lit in outlines, heat and vibration painting the world in shapes. She saw rough stone walls, damp with water. A cave.
And when she looked down at herself… scales glistened faintly in the darkness.
"…no…" she thought faintly. "No… no, this isn't me…"
But the long, slender body that curled and writhed against the stone floor was hers. A serpent's body.
Her heart raced—if she even had a heart like before. She panicked, thrashing. Her body coiled instinctively, tail whipping against the ground. She hissed involuntarily, the sound echoing eerily.
Calm yourself.
The voice again. But different this time. Not the mechanical echo from before—this was gentle, smooth, threaded directly into her mind.
"…Who… who are you…?"
I am [Eternal Wisdom], a skill granted to assist your survival and growth. I exist to provide answers and guidance to your thoughts. You may regard me as a companion, if you wish.
Her breathing—or what felt like breathing—slowed. A… skill? Granted? Reincarnated? It sounded absurd. And yet, her body, her surroundings, the voice in her head—none of it was a dream.
"…I'm… I'm not human anymore, am I?"
Correct. You are now classified as a "Lesser Serpent," a low-ranked monster species. However, due to your granted adaptations, your potential is far greater than an ordinary specimen.
A Lesser Serpent.
She shivered—or tried to. She wasn't sure snakes could shiver.
"…so I… died… and now I'm… a snake…"
Affirmative.
The girl's thoughts scattered, overwhelmed. She wanted to scream, but all that left her mouth was a dry hiss. She wanted to cry, but snakes had no tears. All she could do was curl in on herself, body looping and tightening like a knot.
Alone, frightened, small. Just as she always had been in her old life.
But… not sick. Not in pain. Her body felt strong, flexible, alive.
And deep inside, despite her terror, a tiny ember of something stirred.
A chance.
A second life.
And with her shy, fragile heart trembling in her chest, she whispered inwardly:
"…What… do I do now…?"
Survive, Eternal Wisdom replied. And discover what this new world holds for you.