The Captain kept his spear leveled straight at my head, his boots squelching in the mud as he closed the distance. His eyes shifted from my sapphire-blue neck rings to the glowing purple wolf core sitting between Barnaby’s feet. Greed is a funny thing; it makes dumb people do suicidal things.
"Easy now..." the Captain muttered, his knuckles white against the wooden shaft of his weapon. "Just a big worm. Just a lucky hit."
System, activate that shadow thing,’ I ordered mentally, keeping my body perfectly still on Barnaby’s chest armor. ’Before this idiot sticks a fork in me.’
[System: Triggering ’Shadow Step’ now. Say goodbye to your corporeal form, potato. Try not to think about the void.]
Suddenly, the cold espresso taste in my gut flared up. My slate-grey scales didn’t just blend in this time—they completely dissolved. My physical body pulled apart into a loose, misty cloud of freezing black smoke. The weight of gravity vanished.
The Captain lunged, driving his iron spearhead directly through the spot where my head had been a millisecond before.
Clang.
The metal tip struck Barnaby’s breastplate, sparking violently.
"GAH! Captain, watch the armor!" Barnaby shrieked, rolling sideways in the muck as the Captain stumbled forward from the missed swing.
"Where did it go?!" the Captain roared, spinning around and wiping a splatter of black soot from his nose. "It was right there!"
I wasn’t gone. I was sitting exactly two feet behind the Captain’s left heel, condensed back into my solid, three-foot noodle form. The Step left me feeling a little dizzy, but the sheer confusion on the humans’ faces was worth the minor headache.
Right at the Captain’s waist hung a small, grease-stained leather pouch. It was bulging with the distinct, metallic shape of coins.
If I take the core, they hunt me down, I thought, my snake brain scheming at maximum efficiency. But if I take the cash while they’re looking for the ghost worm...
I darted forward. No fancy magic, just pure grocery-store stealth. I hooked the tip of my tail through the thin twine string holding the Captain’s money pouch to his belt loop. With a sharp, sudden yank of my spine, the old string snapped.
[System: Pickpocket successful. You just robbed a man without using hands. The retail union would be proud.]
"Hey! My belt felt light!" the Captain barked, slapping his hip. He spun around, his spear swinging wildly through the empty air, but I had already dropped back into the weeds, dragging the heavy leather pouch through the mud.
"Barnaby, grab the core and let’s go!" the Captain yelled, his voice hitting a note of pure panic now. "The forest is cursed! The damn worm is a ghost!"
Barnaby didn’t need to be told twice. He scooped up the glowing purple crystal from the dirt, threw his uninjured arm around the Captain’s shoulder, and the two mercenaries scrambled down the dark trail as fast as their legs could carry them, splashing through puddles without looking back once.
I slithered out from the tall clover leaves, staring at the heavy leather pouch resting in the mud. I wrapped my tail around the knot, gave it a firm tug, and a dozen thick, dull copper coins tumbled out into the dirt, alongside a small, rolled-up piece of old parchment.
’System,’I thought, looking down at the loot. ’What did we get?’
[System: Twelve copper bits—basically enough to buy a few stale biscuits at the local tavern—and a low-grade mercenary map of the ’Whispering Thicket’. But more importantly, look at your energy bar, Barry. The residual shadow energy from that wolf kill just finished cooking.]
[Evolution Threshold Reached!]
[Current Biomass: 5,000 / 5,000]
[System Status: Forced Transformation Initiating. Select your Tier 2 Form:]
1. Mire Serpentine (Larger mud snake, heavy defense, very slow)
2. Shadow-Scale Viper (Unlocks minor venom, blends into dark terrain, fast)
I looked down at my dull, slate-grey scales. If I chose option one, I’d just be a larger target for the next guy with a boot. But a viper? A viper has teeth that actually do something.
’give me the venom, System,’ I said, my yellow eyes locking onto the dark trail ahead. ’Option two.’