That morning, Silva did something different from his usual routine of watching the sunrise. He was sharpening his machete and a dozen freshly sharpened knives were arranged neatly on the ground. Frisbee had been flying around cutting the webs surrounding the area into smaller pieces. The webs were immediately stored in Silva's inventory.
Falcon woke up to find Silva dressed in a pair of torn swimming trunks doing stretches on the shore of the crab lake. He approached him and asked where he was headed to. "I'm heading back to Avaleria. I have some unfinished business there. I'll be back in a couple of weeks to a month. The safe zone should reach the portal by the time I get back."
"One more thing, there's a portal to Lost Earth to the West. The spider came from there. Make sure to keep an eye on it so that we don't get overrun by monsters. Stay alive kid, I'll bring you a souvenir." After Silva said that, he dove into the lake and turned into a fishman. He made a beeline toward the portal, Frisbee cutting apart any crabs that tried to stop him.
'Wow, these crabs reproduce quickly. I thought their numbers would decrease with the spider eating them but it didn't. Good thing they're weak. Perfect mobs to grind.' Silva thought to himself as he broke through the wall of crabs that surrounded the portal. He went into the purple portal and felt the familiar feeling of spatial turbulence.
Silva gasped in shock as he was released into freezing cold water. The water passing through his gills was devoid of oxygen making him feel suffocated. Sensing his surroundings with his domain, Silva stored away a huge chunk of the ice covering the top of the lake. He shot to the surface like a torpedo and stood on the frozen lake surface.
Silva turned his head toward the mage who had also noticed him. The mage immediately cast a shield as he still remembered the strange attack Silva had used before. The shield spell was cast almost instantly and the summoning spell was being prepared. Silva looked at the mage and smirked.
His domain had expanded due to his late night hunt. Now, the mage was well within his domain which also meant he was within range of Frisbee. The donut shaped blade appeared between the mage's legs and flew up. It split him in half, right down the middle. The summoning spell failed and the shield disappeared.
Silva felt a surge of energy strengthen him and he took a deep breath to enjoy the sensation. He then made his way to the lake shore and stored away the mage corpse. 'I only have one month to get stronger than most people back on earth. I could go look for a mythic weapon but I don't have the power to obtain or wield one. I can't use mana so magic is out of the question. I can't talk to people since we don't understand each other.'
'Indiscriminate killing would help me get strong quickly but it'll draw attention. If I remember correctly, there are people called spellblades who go around hunting those who caused trouble back in the game. I'll have to be subtle in my approach. Wait! I just remembered something. The twin chain scale armor is in Avaleria and it doesn't have a level restriction.'
'It was on the peak of the Jivorus Mountain in the Malisev continent. If I can find out which continent I'm on I'll be able to find something useful. But I don't understand the language here. How do I solve this language barrier?' Silva thought about his current problem as he walked in the forest. He didn't have a fixed direction so he just blindly searched for the village the mage came from.
'I don't have a choice. I need to find a mage in order for communication to be possible. And it specifically has to be a psychic mage for it to work. It would be more preferable if they are young since it's easier to threaten them. Looks like I'll need to gain a lot of attention in order to attract a psychic mage.' Silva thought to himself as he moved around in the forest.
It took a couple of hours but he eventually found a trail with shoe prints. Silva followed the trail and ended up at a small village with a fence made of logs. Silva couldn't see the inside but his domain reached two houses closest to him. He could sense the people within. One house was empty the other had a woman doing chores inside while two children ran around.
'They're so weak. I get that there are mostly mantis in this area but I've seen traces of stronger beasts. How did this village survive? I assume the mage was their protector but that means that they're vulnerable when he's away.' Silva circled the village while scanning the inside with his domain. He even saw a small farm growing wheat.
'There's no use delaying it. I'll attack a few of the people outside and let them gather inside the village. I should make it look terrifying in order to make sure that no one thinks to leave.' With that, Silva decided to force his humanoid adaptation to activate. He went back to the forest and looked for a as many poisonous snakes as he could find.
It was almost dusk by the time Silva was satisfied with the number of dead serpents he had. He returned to the edge of the forest and watched as the tired farmers finished their tasks. Silva sat on a branch and started to quickly consume the snakes raw. He ate everything, from the scales to the guts and bones. Silva wanted to puke but he held it in. Everything about what he was doing felt wrong but he persisted.
'Let's hope the adaptation kicks in before the poison does. ' Silva thought to himself as he grabbed another snake and swallowed it's head whole. He was almost done eating the snake when he felt his body convulse uncontrollably. Silva fell from the tree and blacked out for a few seconds before he awoke.
Looking at his hand, Silva smiled coldly. His hands were covered in brown scales with a pattern that greatly resembled the forest floor. Silva checked his body thoroughly and noticed two changes he didn't expect. First was that his legs were replaced by a huge serpentine tail. He hadn't noticed immediately due to how natural it felt. The second was that his hair was indistinguishable from a thick tuft of grass.
"Unique form unlocked:Forest Serpent
Form duration:24 hours
Unique form ability: none
Congratulations! You've unlocked a hidden feature of your ability 'Humanoid Adaptation' you can now access unique forms.
Using the same unique form twenty times will allow you to use voluntary adaptation.
Voluntary adaptation allows you to instantly transform into a unique form voluntarily."
Silva was not expecting his actions to warrant a system message. What he did now was something he learned accidentally from the game. He learned that consuming a raw creature while thinking of adaptation will allow you to transform into a humanoid version of the creature temporarily. In the game, the amount you needed to consume just to get the ability was unpredictable. You could transform from a single bite or from eating twice your body weight.
'This makes things easier. I can terrorize the villagers as a monster. I'll have to leave a few alive so that they can lead me to the next village. Now, let's test this unique form.' After thinking that, Silva shot towards the wheat farm. One farmer heard loud rustling behind him and thought it was a mantis. The sickle he had been using for weeding was swung behind him toward the noise.
The farmer felt his sickle hit home. He was about to look at his handiwork when he heard a deep hiss that bordered on being a growl. The crouching farmer turn around and saw a golden pair of eyes with thin slits staring back. He screamed in terror as the monster attacked.
The other farmers looked in the direction of the scream and saw a monster with a human torso and a serpentine tail ripping off someone's head. Fear gripped their hearts when those golden eyes turned to face them. The farmers ran toward the village entrance screaming for help. The fear and adrenaline made the farmers fast but Silva was faster.
Four guards armed with swords charged out to help the farmers but froze when they saw Silva crush the skull of one of the caught farmers. A few farmers made it to the village and the wooden gates were closed behind them. The farmers sighed with relief until one of them, a woman, started screaming for the gate to be opened.
As though answering her, the screams of a child echoed from outside. The villagers who had gathered peeked through the gaps in the wood. They saw the monster holding a child upside down by the leg. The monster glanced at the villagers then swung the child at the ground like a mace. The child died instantly and the monster dragged the body away while holding the now broken leg.