I retreated into the shadows of a cavern hidden deep in the heart of the Madranæ—a name I gave this part of the jungle after spotting remnants of something familiar.
Old tools. Ropes. A rotting, half-buried backpack.
Signs of humans.
This was the place.
I remembered it from the movie Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. The expedition team had passed through here—used this passage to reach the other side of the river, toward the mating grounds. That begged one big question:
When were they going to arrive?
And did I even want to wait?
---
Don't get me wrong.
I didn't plan on living here forever.
Sure, I could evolve the traits of a fish, grow gills or fins, and swim my way out of this jungle. It was possible. The system gave me options most snakes could only dream of. But I wasn't just a snake—I was smart enough to understand the risks.
What if I swam into another anaconda's territory?
What if I got lost?
What if I ended up near humans and they killed me before I even had a chance to hiss?
No, blindly wandering off into the unknown wasn't a plan. It was a gamble.
And this body wasn't built for gambling. It was built for strategy.
That left the other option—waiting for the expedition team.
But that wasn't without risk either.
To wait meant surviving in this jungle until mating season arrived.
Which was in just four months.
---
By then, this place would be crawling with gigantic snakes—aggressive, territorial, and far more experienced than me. And if I wasn't big enough?
I'd be crushed.
Eaten.
Forgotten.
So I made a decision.
I would stay.
I would grow.
And in four months, I would be a monster.
> Target Size: 20 meters
Time Remaining: 4 months
Priority: Hunt. Evolve. Survive.
Every creature I could fit into my mouth was now fair game.
Birds. Boars. Crocodiles. Even other snakes.
This jungle was my buffet. My battlefield. My home.
And every day that passed would bring me one step closer to being something no expedition team or native legend had ever seen before.
I was asleep.
Tucked in the shadows of my cave, belly full from last night's kill, muscles relaxed, tongue flicking lazily in my dreams.
Then—pain.
Something tore into my spine.
I snapped awake with a sharp hiss of agony, my entire body jerking like a whip. I twisted toward the source only to see it—a tiger. Lean. Muscular. And bigger than me by at least half a meter. Its fangs were buried in my back, pinning me down.
The pain was blinding. I couldn't even feel my tail. My spine was… was it severed?
I didn't care.
I retaliated instantly—snapping my jaws onto the tiger's back and coiling my body around its torso. Muscles locked. Ribs constricted.
But this wasn't a warthog or a crocodile.
This was a big cat. A born killer.
It snarled and thrashed, clawing at my thick scales. My constriction alone wasn't enough. I was strong, but the tiger was stronger.
So I adapted.
I slid my jaws from its back up to its neck, locked tight, and began thrashing with violent, wild force.
Bones cracked.
Flesh tore.
And then—crunch.
The neck snapped.
Its body went limp in my coils.
---
> DING!
You have hunted a Juvenile Tiger.
+200 Evolution Points
Tiger genetic material acquired.
Available Traits:
– Dense Skeletal Structure
– Jaw Strength Enhancement
– Fur Layer (Temperature Resistance)
Do you wish to integrate?
I hissed low, catching my breath. My back still burned, and I could feel nothing below my midsection. I had been paralyzed a few moments ago. But now...
The feeling was returning.
My regeneration—enhanced by the Blood Orchid—was already working overtime, mending shattered vertebrae, reconnecting nerves. Even pain felt like progress.
"Show system interface," I muttered.
---
🧬 SYSTEM INTERFACE
[Name]: Alex Schiller
[Level]: 2 (600 / 1500 EXP)
[Age]: 6 months
[Lifeform Tier]: Common
[Species]: Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus)
[Size]: 12.8 feet | 96 kg
[Integrated Genes]:
– Crocodile (Jaw Foundation, Bone Density)
– Blood Orchid (Regeneration Boost, Lifespan Extension)
[Available Evolution Points]: 200
[Unlocked Attributes]:
– Jaw Strength Lv.1 → 60 psi (0 / 500 EXP)
– (More attributes available as evolution continues)
---
I stared at the screen, eyes narrowed.
Attributes?
I had never seen that section before. All my past gene integrations just gave me passive changes—tougher skin, stronger muscles. But this?
Jaw Strength Lv.1.
It had its own experience bar. That meant I could train it. Upgrade it. Push it beyond animal limits.
I grinned.
"Integrate."
> Integration complete.
New Attribute Unlocked: Jaw Strength Lv.1 – 60 PSI
(Attribute strength will increase through usage and directed evolution.)
---
I turned and twisted, testing my jaw. Something had changed. My bones were denser now. My teeth... sharper. I could feel the beginnings of a single, unified jawline forming. My flexibility was dropping, though—my once soft skull was growing solid, less capable of dislocation. That meant constriction might slowly become obsolete.
A fair trade.
I was becoming a different kind of predator—less snake, more monster.
I looked back at my spine. A few minutes ago, I hadn't been able to feel anything. Now, the skin was knitting shut. Muscles twitching. The damage was healing—slowly, but surely.
I coiled up tighter, staring at the dead tiger beside me.
If this jungle wanted war...
I would give it a monster.
Four months.
That's how long I hunted, devoured, evolved, and shed the last traces of my former self.
I had become something else.
Something apex.
---
Every animal that crossed my path had become sustenance. Birds, boars, crocodiles, even other snakes—I hunted them relentlessly. With each kill, I pushed myself toward a single goal: dominance.
By the time the mating season crept in, so did the other anacondas—dozens of them, slithering through the brush with muscle and instinct. Their scent flooded the jungle air, thick and pungent. I could smell it from miles away.
And I wasn't the only one.
---
Then I saw her again—my mother.
A gargantuan emerald beast, easily 26 meters long and gliding through the jungle like a myth given flesh. Her eyes locked on mine for a moment across the water, and I knew:
I wasn't the biggest.
Not yet.
But I was no ordinary snake anymore either.
---
> "Show system interface."
---
🧬 SYSTEM INTERFACE
[Name]: Alex Schiller
[Level]: 5 (0 / 4000 EXP)
[Age]: 10 months
[Lifeform Tier]: Exotic
[Species]: Mutated Green Anaconda
[Size]: 17.3 meters | 1,022 kg
[Integrated Genes]:
– Crocodile (Bone Density, Jaw Strength Foundation)
– Blood Orchid (Regeneration, Longevity Boost)
– Tiger (Muscle Density, Jaw Structure, Predatory Reflexes)
– Gar Fish (Scale Armor Upgrade)
– Tree Frog (Chameleon Camouflage)
[Unlocked Attributes]:
– Jaw Strength Lv.3 → 600 psi (368 / 1500 EXP)
– Camouflage Lv.1 → (212 / 500 EXP)
– Regeneration Lv.1 → (Passive, scaling with level)
[Available Evolution Points]: 740
---
I felt the weight of my power with every motion—my new armor plating, like overlapping segments of metallic scales, gleamed faintly beneath my skin. They came from the gar fish whose genes I'd integrated after swallowing a school of them whole. Hard as iron. Flexible enough to move. Strong enough to stop most small-caliber bullets.
I was a monster cloaked in flesh.
And I had grown smart enough to know when not to show myself.
---
Somewhere beyond the canopy, I heard it—a chopper. The distant thrum-thrum-thrum of rotors slicing through jungle mist. Accompanied by shouts. Crashing brush. Equipment clanking. The expedition team had arrived.
Just like the movie.
I watched from the shadows, tongue flickering, my massive body hidden beneath a thick curtain of vines and ferns. I couldn't risk being seen. I wasn't just big—I was too exotic.
If humans saw me, they'd do what humans always do:
Study me. Fear me. Hunt me.
And then someone would come for me with tanks, tranquilizers, or thermite.
No, I would remain a ghost. An unseen god among beasts.
---
> "Allocate 700 evolution points to Jaw Strength."
> DING!
Jaw Strength upgraded: Lv.4 → 950 psi
Next Level: 950 / 2000 EXP
---
Nearly a ton of muscle, armored with scale plates tougher than steel mesh, with a bite now stronger than a hyena's. I wasn't just a snake anymore.
I was a creature that didn't belong to any ecosystem.
And this jungle? It was no longer my prison.
It was my throne.
Now all I had to do was wait. Wait and watch the expedition team enter the mating grounds, wait as chaos unfolded, and bide my time.
Because one day, they'd all come to know…
That in the heart of this jungle, something greater than a giant snake was watching.
End of chapter.