Billy Is a Horn
Squirm.
My body was changing.
Squirm, squirm.
My body was getting bigger, and my forehead felt itchy.
Squirm squirm squirm squirm.
My whole body writhed.
It felt as if something inside me was alive and moving.
The scale-covered skin bulged outward and sank back repeatedly.
Ah… it hurts.
It feels like my body is going to burst.
I am a tiny creature.
I can no longer walk, watch TV, or use a computer.
I can't get beaten by my father or scolded by my mother.
Most of all, I can't drink a cold beer.
I'm nothing but a Serpent, writhing inside a rotten tree.
Now I want to eat ramen—the food I used to get tired of.
I don't want to eat rats, rotten meat, or bugs.
The scales on my back bulged outward.
Finally, my skin could no longer endure the pressure from within.
It began to tear.
Riiip.
The flesh split open, and what emerged was a white hand.
Another blood-covered hand burst out, crawling from inside my body as it tore through my belly.
It was clearly a human hand.
Ten fingers twitched.
Am I human again?
Did I return to a human body?
Cock-a-doodle-doo.
I heard the sound of an alarm I had set.
So… was everything just a dream?
…That's disappointing.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Well, I must have set that alarm sound myself.
It's impressively loud.
It really sounds like an actual rooster.
…Huh?
**
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
I opened my eyes.
I was inside the dark hollow of the tree knot.
Wait—there's actually a rooster crowing somewhere.
A pale dawn light was pouring in.
If that rooster keeps crowing like that, won't monsters hear it and eat it?
What an energetic guy.
I should find it someday and eat it.
What a nightmare.
In the dream, I was unbelievably weak—something my current Mental Strength of 20 couldn't even imagine.
I miss my mom~ I want to watch TV~
I want ramen, waaah.
Pathetic!
What's so bad about eating rats or fighting bugs?
How pathetic that dream-version of me was.
Those who long for freedom are the real humans.
At the very least, compared to my previous life, I'm much freer now in the body of a Serpent.
And honestly, Serpents and bugs aren't that bad to eat.
…Wait, why is it so cramped?
The knot-hole where I slept had been a little tight, but still livable.
But not anymore.
Now it felt extremely cramped.
It seemed my body had grown during evolution.
The moment I tried to crawl out of the hole, I realized it for sure.
I can't get out.
The hole had been just big enough for me to squeeze through before.
Now that my body had grown, there was no way I could pass through it.
The circumference of my body now felt at least as thick as a jumbo sausage.
If I wasn't careful, this hollow might become my grave.
That couldn't happen.
So I tried to widen the hole.
By biting and tearing at its edges.
Crunch, crunch!
Huh?!
My jaw strength had increased too.
Before, I would've had to gnaw slowly at it.
But now it crunched apart easily.
Still, I shouldn't widen the entrance too much.
The centipede couple next door might try to move in.
Even if they're neighbors, we're not that close yet.
After crawling out of the hole, I slithered down along the rough bark of the tree.
My body had become heavier, but my strength had improved enough that it wasn't difficult.
By the way, all those animal videos I watched in my previous life turned out to be useful.
Normally, Serpents without legs have a very hard time climbing trees.
But if you wrap your tail like a loop and use it like a lasso, you can climb up and down trees.
Thud.
I landed on the ground.
I felt dignified somehow.
Now then—
Let's check what changed after evolving.
[White Horn Serpent Lv.1]
[Traits]
[Indomitable], [Diligence], [Horn]
Hahaha!
No more pathetic modifier like "Little."
I'm not small anymore.
Okay, maybe I'm not that big yet—but I'm definitely not tiny.
The level resetting to 1 was something I expected.
Was Medusa Mom level 89?
If so, just how strong had my mother been?
She must have gone through all these evolution stages to become a Medusa Serpent, and then raised her level all the way to 89.
That suggests evolution doesn't always happen at level 10.
If Medusa Mom reached level 100—or even higher—would she have evolved again?
Anyway, I didn't want to become an ugly monster like my mom.
I looked at the newly added trait: Horn.
What kind of trait is "Horn"?
Indomitable and Diligence were bonuses I gained from setting my Mental Strength and Potential stats to 20.
They clearly had great power behind them, though I still didn't know how to fully use them.
Was Horn equally important?
It did feel like I had grown a horn on my head.
Too bad there's no mirror to check properly.
I reached up and felt my head with my tail.
Then I sighed.
Wow… what a big and magnificent horn.
…That was sarcasm.
The horn on my head was more like a tiny bump than an actual horn.
There are Serpents called horned Serpents in real life.
They're desert sand Serpents, and their horns are basically decorative.
Mine was the same.
This won't help with my grand plan.
I wanted to become some insane, government-level weapon Serpent that uses Fast Crawling and charges forward, impaling enemies with my horn.
Still, since I evolved through a special condition, there must be something different.
Let's check the skills.
[Skills]
[Borrowed Horn Lv.1] (New!)
[Poison Fang Lv.3], [Fast Crawling Lv.3], [Breath Holding Lv.4],
[Predation Lv.3], [Bite Lv.4], [Poison Resistance Lv.3],
[Bleeding Resistance Lv.2], [Pain Resistance Lv.4],
[Heat Resistance Lv.2], [Survival Instinct Lv.3]
There it is!
A new skill had appeared.
The other skills hadn't changed much—just small level increases.
But there was a completely mysterious skill.
"Borrowed Horn."
What the hell does that mean?
And who the heck is Billy?!
…
I almost lost my mind from disappointment.
I was hoping for something like a Horn Missile skill.
Unlike in games, shouting a skill's name doesn't activate it.
Just like Fast Crawling, you have to focus on the action itself.
But how exactly do you activate Borrowed Horn?
That was when it happened.
I sensed a presence and turned my head.
One of the centipede couple—the wife—was there.
My senses had clearly become sharper after evolving.
Hello.
The newlywed wife seemed to be preparing breakfast.
She was holding something like a frog with her legs.
She flicked her antennae nervously, as if slightly alarmed.
Ah… my body has gotten bigger.
And I have a horn now.
Even if centipedes don't have great eyesight, she must be unsure.
Just like when we first met, I wagged my tail and lowered my head in greeting.
The kind lady copied my gesture, flicking her antennae in response.
Then she dropped the frog she was holding.
And slowly began to back away.
She seemed to be giving it to me.
At that moment, I was surprisingly touched.
Was this a return gift for the moving-in present?
Back when I lived in my old studio apartment, I never even greeted the neighbor next door for two whole years.
Centipedes are better than people!
I couldn't ignore such kindness, so I gratefully ate the frog.
It smelled a little like centipede, but the thought alone warmed my heart.
I gulped down the moist frog in one bite.
[Poison Resistance proficiency increases slightly.] *
Judging by the mild stomachache, it must have been a poison frog.
But I had no intention of doubting the young centipede wife's kindness.
Just look at her right now—she's practically drooling yellow saliva from her mouth.
Frogs were valuable food.
Sharing food back and forth—that's the essence of neighborly relations.
I should share my prey with them later too.
Looking at the centipede wife, I suddenly became curious.
Who's stronger—me or the centipede?
[Red Teeth King Centipede Lv.7]
[Traits]
[Gentle]
[Skills]
[Poison Fang Lv.9], [Stealth Lv.3], [Fast Crawling Lv.2], [Carapace Lv.3], [Rend Lv.5]
[Status]
[Hungry], [Newlywed]
Female king centipedes were larger.
The same seemed true for monsters. She wasn't just bigger—she seemed stronger than her husband.
Still… she didn't seem to have many resistances.
On the other hand, I definitely had more skills.
That was probably thanks to my Potential.
But the Red Teeth King Centipede had some skills I didn't have:
Stealth, Carapace, Rend.
All of them looked useful.
Especially Carapace—I was extremely jealous of that one.
Centipedes had hard exoskeletons.
With something like that, you wouldn't get your blood sucked by Mosquito Rats.
The moment I wished I had the Carapace skill too—
For some reason, my horn began to burn hot.
Ugh.
"Would you like to borrow 'Carapace'?" *
Huh?
Yes!
My horn heated up, and suddenly all the strength drained from my body.
"You have borrowed Carapace Lv.3." *"You temporarily gain Carapace Lv.1." *
Borrowed Horn.
It seemed to be exactly what it sounded like—a skill that allowed me to borrow other skills.
So that's why I gained the Horn trait alongside Indomitable and Diligence.
It was something incredibly powerful.
In an instant, my scales hardened.
It felt like I was wearing scale armor.
When I tapped my body with my tail, it made a clanking sound.
So this was Carapace. It definitely felt different.
I was tougher.
I'm tough now!
Good thing I couldn't speak.
If I had shouted that in front of the centipede lady next door, I'd have been arrested immediately.
With my new skill, I did a little victory dance.
The centipede stared at me blankly.
Oops. That might have been a little rude.
A skill that could borrow other creatures' skills.
Its potential uses were probably limitless.
But surely it couldn't be used without restrictions.
To understand the limits and possibilities of the skill, I'd need some trial and error.
Grrr.
And what better way to figure that out than hunting?
See you later.
I set off to hunt.
You can't compare the natural environment here with Earth.
In the mountains of Korea, it's not easy to encounter wild animals.
At best, you might occasionally see a raccoon dog, a wild boar, or a water deer.
But this place was different.
Especially this basin—it was basically a giant ecological zoo.
There were all kinds of creatures, from small weak animals to large powerful monsters.
At first, I worried that a weak little Serpent like me might starve to death.
But thankfully that wasn't the case.
Crickets and similar insects were nice and crunchy, and Mosquito Rats wandered around fearlessly.
I could survive.
The problem was leveling up.
No matter how many crickets or Mosquito Rats I ate, my level didn't increase.
Which meant I needed to hunt monsters appropriate to my level.
From here on, the difficulty skyrocketed.
First, I had to carefully choose a target I could handle.
Even if I trained Fast Crawling, I was still slower than a Mosquito Rat sprinting at full speed.
If I started a fight, I had to finish it.
After wandering around for a long time, I finally encountered a worthy opponent—one worth risking my life for.
It was also a horned monster.
Sharp protruding front teeth.
Soft fur.
Two adorably long ears.
A dangerous animal nibbling grass.
[Horn Rabbit Lv.3]
[Traits]
[Coward]
[Skills]
[Leap Lv.5], [Burrow Lv.3]
[Status]
[On Guard]
It was a rabbit.
Despite having horns, it didn't have the Horn trait like me, nor a skill like Borrowed Horn.
At first glance, it looked like a harmless rookie.
But just by looking at its trait and status, you could tell how formidable it was.
It was extremely fast.
If I got even a little too close, it would dash away and hide underground.
Because of that, I had been hiding in the bushes for over an hour, waiting for it to come close enough.
Nibble nibble.
Then the moment it turned its back to me while eating grass—
My chance came.
[Leap Lv.5 borrowed.] *"You temporarily gain Leap Lv.1." *
It's common knowledge that Serpents can jump!
The moment I launched myself forward, the rabbit startled and leapt up.
But it was already too late.
I bit into its rear.
The startled rabbit dropped a stream of black bean-like droppings as it ran.
Anyone watching might think I had missed.
But—
"Kiing."
The rabbit, which had begun digging into the ground, suddenly collapsed.
After all—
I'm a venomous Serpent.
The hunt was a success.
"Borrowed Horn Lv.1 has become Borrowed Horn Lv.2." *
Yes!