Belching softly, I lean back on my palms and stared up into the skies…it was almost nighttime and I knew I should be getting ready to return back to the tribe.
Sighing at the unwanted attention and trouble I would be facing soon, I began to pack up.
Then I retrieved the bamboo strips from the place I had kept it to dry up after an hour of soaking them.
Quickly, I began to weave the basket, making sure to also add the ropes i had made from wrapping the now flexible bamboo strips and soon I had made one a bit too tall for a normal basket.
Standing beside it, I realized how odd it looked.
It almost reached my waist!
Shaking my head, I arrange the pot and stones neatly into it before I hurled it over my bag and began to head back to the place I had kept my things at.
It didn’t take long to pack everything up and this time when I carried it, I staggered and almost fell from the weight.
Damn this body was so weak!
Shaking my head, I glanced at the setting sun before I began to head back to the tribe.
I hummed a tune as I did but as I walked, I heard a soft moaning sound that brought my walk to a sudden halt.
What was that?
Maybe some beastmen are doing the deed?
Really?
Let’s go see?
Of course!
Quickly, I walked towards the sound and hide away behind a large tree trunk.
Looking through the bushes around the tree trunk, my mouth opened up in a shocked gasp but I quickly clamped my palms over my mouth to shut myself up.
Noctis?
Ooh yes, Noctis.
What was he doing here?
In his serpentine form and so brutally injured?
He seems to be upgrading from Star Tier six to seven!!
What?
Fear rushed through my heart at the thought and a small shudder ran through my entire body.
Well, this was the same man that would later slice the the Villainess a million times because she forcefully had her way with him and hindered his upgrade from Tier seven to eight?
And crippled him in the process so that he could never upgrade again forever?
The same one that the original owner has tried to have her way with four times and failed badly?!!
The same Noctis?
Original owner, what was wrong with you?
What a mess you left for me!!
Oh please, stop with the charade.
Weren’t you the one who wrote her that way to pave way for the female protagonist?
Yeah, I did…didn’t I?
This is just karma I know it is but isn’t it coming a bit too fast?
But hey, look he’s wounded…maybe I can finish him off before he comes around to kill me?
What kind of host are you?
And besides the main system and the one protecting the leads would never let you go, you’ll be following him to hell together!!
Damn it!
But for someone so strong, how did he get so injured?
I don’t kno— “…Find him!!
You must make sure you end him now that we can or we will all pay for it if we don’t get this done!!” A sharp voice filled the air and I instinctively his myself.
Who were those people and who are they searching for?
Must be the same people who attacked him.
Looking at him now, they just have attacked him when he was vulnerable.
During his upgrade.
Then they must know him well enough to time it so perfectly.
Exactly Hmm, we should leave before we also get caught.
If you leave, the favorability points will increase to a minus five hundred and you will suffer your first painful death What?
How am I supposed to save him?
He’s in his snake form!!
He has the ability to shift into a more smaller form that you can carry but he’s way too muddle headed to do now and also delirious too and don’t forget weak.
Hmm, let’s try it and get the hell out of here before anyone finds me with this bad luck male.
Anything for those favorability points.
I slowly crawled out, going to his side with great care to avoid being staked through the heart by that sharp tail…I think that tail looked more sharper than my knife.
“Listen to me, you need to change…transform…reform so I can take you out of here,” I whispered to him as I stopped in front of his head and his tongue flicked out lazily as if he heard me but refussd to do as I said.
“Look, I don’t have the time to play games with you.
If I leave you here and during this upgrade of yours, you’ll be killed by those people.
But if you agree, I can take you out of here…” No response “Okay, yes I have ulterior motives..” I paused, I couldn’t tell him of favorability points…he wouldn’t understand and might even calm me a witch.
“I need the best beast furs and skins and meat for a week after this!
Deal?” No response He’s weak Oh yeah, that’s true “Transform reform if you accept but stay and die if you don’t..” please accept and give me points, I don’t want to die again anytime soon.
A splash of green light washed over the place and in place of the big serpent was a much smaller one.
Though drastically smaller than his true form, Noctis was still enormous in my eyes.
His obsidian-scaled body stretched nearly thirteen feet long, thick and heavy as I wrapped him around my body with great effort.
With how he was looking before, I’d say that thing was less “snake” and more “natural disaster.” Who in their right mind writes a serpent male this huge?!
Oh right.
Me.
I did.
Glad to hear you still have self awareness Don’t feel proud of yourself.
“His scent is coming from this end!!” Voice filled my ears and my eyes widened as I quickly balanced the basket and heavy snake before jolting away.
I almost forgot about this people!!