In a distant place where only a faint pulse echoed and even breath could not be heard, he awakened—
a new existence inside a cramped, suffocating darkness.
His eyelids… had not opened yet.
Despite that, he could sense everything:
The moisture of the earth.
The rigid contours of the shell encasing him.
The cold, rough scales covering his body.
Where… am I?
Fragments of human consciousness still lingered within him, yet his body… was clearly not human.
If he could still think like a human, then a part of him must still be human.
But his senses screamed the opposite.
Was he unable to breathe?
No—he was breathing, just not the way humans did.
He slowly realized his body stretched long.
That he had a tail.
Just then, a crack sounded outside—wet, soft, fragile.
Followed by a hiss…
No. This must be a dream.
He wanted to believe that.
But the sensations were far too vivid, too real to be a dream.
More noises came from outside the shell.
Wet, soft cracks…
The drag of something shifting…
Another crack…
Then a scream—not a human scream.
Deeper, rougher, wilder.
As the scent of blood filled the air, a metallic taste flickered through his mind.
His body tensed on reflex.
Instinct roared.
Blood?
Warm, fresh, metallic smell seeped into the shell.
And at that moment—
he remembered his own death.
The glare of a screen…
The sound of a vehicle…
A collision…
Then darkness.
Reincarnation?
Did I die…
and get reborn?
He pushed against the shell, and a crack split open.
Light did not enter when the shell broke—
darkness did.
Earth's scent drifted in.
The newborn creature sensed the world through vibrations.
He could not see, but along with vibrations came a divine sense—
an ability to perceive himself from outside.
And so, upon crawling out, he saw his body for the first time:
He slithered.
He was covered in scale-like texture.
His body was long and flexible.
He had… a tail.
No… No… No—
A shadow loomed over him.
Warm, heavy breath.
A hiss.
He didn't need sight to recognize it.
A giant serpent—his mother.
But before her, something else writhed.
A heavy body in its final spasms…
A smaller serpent drenched in blood—likely his father.
This… is my father?
When the mother sank her fangs in one last time, bones snapped.
Silence returned to the cave.
The newborn serpent understood the world within seconds:
This world was savage.
This body belonged to a snake.
And he was—somehow—
a reborn outsider.
I'm a snake… and a male one at that.
If I don't get strong, I'll be eaten someday.
Is this… my fate?
As he debated fleeing, a voice echoed in his mind.
---
[Requirement met. Demon System activating.]
[Name: ??? Species: Hatchling Serpent Level: 0
Stats:
STR: 1
HP: 1
DEX: 1
INT: 9
Skills: (–)]
---
Author note: STR = Strength, HP = Vitality, DEX = Agility, INT = Intelligence.
The hatchling realized another truth:
His mother might be powerful, but he was nothing more than a fragile newborn.
If he stayed, he could easily become her next meal.
If he didn't grow, he would eventually be eaten by a stronger female—just like his father.
This was fate…
So he began slithering away—fleeing with his single agility point.
His vision was strange; he didn't rely on heat perception but some divine external sense.
Yet something was missing.
Don't snakes have innate thermal vision?
The moment that thought crossed his mind:
[Skill acquired: Thermal Eyes]
The panel appeared before him once again.
He tried touching it—
his attempts failed.
So he spoke mentally:
Thermal Eyes.
Instantly his divine sight faded, darkness returned, and heat signatures emerged in blurry silhouettes.
He hissed involuntarily, gaining a crude sense of his surroundings.
So I really became a snake…
His instincts searched for food.
At the mouth of the cave, he detected prey—
a dizzy, wounded rat suffering from Qi poisoning due to the dense energy in the cave left by the mother serpent.
The mortal creature would die within days anyway.
It didn't sense the danger as the hatchling approached.
When he got within range, the young serpent hissed and struck—
And succeeded.
…
He swallowed the rat whole.
He was five times its size, so moving wasn't difficult, though digestion took time.
A strange energy surged during digestion.
Opening his panel, he saw the changes:
[Species evolved to: Hatchling Serpent Demon – Level: 1
STR: 4
HP: 4
DEX: 4
INT: 10
Stat Points: 9
Skills: Thermal Eyes, Poison Fangs]
My species changed… I became a serpent demon.
Fear and excitement mingled.
All stats tripled—except intelligence.
He immediately dumped all points into agility.
Speed was everything.
…
After hunting all day, he checked his system again:
[Level: 3
STR: 6
HP: 9
DEX: 15
INT: 11
Points: 18
Skills unchanged]
His HP increased with every creature he swallowed.
Is it because my body grows by consuming things?
the little demon wondered.
Without overthinking, he put points into strength and agility.
HP rose on its own anyway.
Soon hunger pushed him toward stronger prey.
He sensed powerful creatures instinctively.
He found one—a boar demon, five times stronger than him.
He stalked it silently, thanks to his boosted agility.
When it finally slept, he struck—
poison spreading rapidly.
The boar thrashed, flung him off, but collapsed after a minute.
He began swallowing—hind legs first—
his jaw expanding with unnatural flexibility.
[Skill acquired: Boneless Jaw]
After devouring it, he slept contently.
…
With sunrise came excitement—
it was time to check the system:
[Species: Wild Demon Beast
Race: Common
Title: (–)
Level: 10
STR: 33
HP: 31
DEX: 45
INT: 25
Points: 35
Skills: Thermal Eyes, Poison Fangs, Boneless Jaw]
He was thrilled.
He had officially become a Wild Demon Beast.
Race and title sections had unlocked.
He didn't know how to earn titles yet, but he didn't overthink it.
As usual, he distributed stats randomly—
mostly into strength and agility.
Intelligence rose by itself every two levels.
HP rose with each creature devoured.
…
Days passed, more hunts, more growth.
[Level: 12
STR: 57
HP: 33
DEX: 70
INT: 26
Points: 18]
His strength was monstrous; swinging his tail cracked a tree at its roots.
Reaching 60 points in a stat gave him a fleeting surge of power before fading.
Maybe he should balance his stats?
But no—speed and power mattered most.
He at least pushed INT to 30, then returned to strength and agility.
…
Eventually, he grew bored of hunting normal beasts and decided to explore.
He found a dirt road with fresh hoof marks.
Following them, he soon encountered a caravan escorted by several guards.
With Thermal Eyes, he sensed hidden figures stalking them.
If things went as expected, he wouldn't need to hunt today—
food would come to him.
…
It happened quickly—
men in black ambushed the caravan.
A guard shouted, "How dare you block the young lady's path!? Who do you think you are!?"
The leader snarled,
"Hmph… Your Baek family angered the wrong person. Death is all you've earned!"
The serpent was surprised he could understand them.
He ignored the chatter and waited for the fight to end.
…
The last survivor, soaked in blood, staggered toward the carriage.
He opened the door and grabbed a woman by the hair—
but two screams rang out.
They weren't for him.
They were for the serpent.
He bit the man instantly—
his venom now far more potent due to his higher intelligence.
The man collapsed moments later.
Instead of eating him immediately, the serpent turned toward the two girls.
He swung his tail—
not to kill, but to fling them out of the carriage so they wouldn't interfere.
Then he dragged the corpses inside and feasted for days.
…
After finishing them all, he checked his system:
[Level: 13
STR: 67
HP: 65
DEX: 83
INT: 32
Points: 9]
HP had skyrocketed after devouring so many bodies.
His scales hardened, and even the unscaled parts of his body felt extremely durable.
He realized the truth:
Every time he devoured flesh, he produced life essence, rapidly maturing his body.
He was born 30 cm long and 5.5 cm thick—
now he was around 1.5 meters long and 13 cm thick.
Not fully grown—
but no longer a hatchling.
…
He returned to his usual routine—
hunt by day, sleep by night.
But ordinary beasts no longer raised his level.
He needed to hunt wild demon beasts now.
And so, the serpent set off…
---
To be continued..
Author Note's: Hello everyone, I wrote the first part of this serie to make an announcement. I've reached military service age, and this service will last exactly six months. I don't know if I'll continue writing after my military service. But I still have plans for the rest of the series, and I've made sure to write them all down.