Records of Rebirth

I was wrapped up cosily in the warmth of my nest area, when the peace and quiet was shattered by the 'Ding' of an alert. I sleepily open one eye to see a message floating above my head.

[Quest Issued: Increase your poison tolerance to gain the skill [Poison Resistance]. Reward: 50XP]

"That's not funny Sensei."

Ignoring the alert, I close my eyes once more to return to sleep, hoping it would disappear. It must have been a bad dream.

«I assure you, it's not. It's quite genuine. Now, wake up.»

"You can't be serious. I'm right in the middle of a quest and you add another one?"

«You have more than enough time to train your nest mates and complete this quest as well. Your resistance to poison is incredibly weak and it is a serious problem.

If you encounter another creature with poison more potent than yours, it will be difficult for you to survive. I thought you would choose Poison Resistance over Appraisal to counteract this, but you didn't.»

Was he saying I chose wrong?

A skill like [Appraisal] was more essential, giving me information I wouldn't get otherwise. In a battle, information was worth more than a thousand soldiers. The merits of [Appraisal] over [Poison Resistance] weren't small. I'd hate to think I made the wrong choice.

If Sensei was so vehemently against it, he must think I did. But, wasn't that was just his opinion. It didn't mean he was right.

"The main point here is, If. You can't say I will definitely encounter one."

«You can't leave things up to chance. You must eliminate every variable before they have a chance to strike against you.»

Why do I feel he was no longer talking about my [Poison Resistance], but the nestlings.

"What would you say is worth more in a war? Having many soldiers or one skilled general?"

«....»

"The general, no matter how skilled, can't do everything by himself or be everywhere at once. At such a time, you need good pawns to reach the places you can't."

«That works only when the pawns are willing to act according to orders, and not betray the general. Your pawns aren't reliable, I'd rather stake my bets on the lone general to do the job right.»

"But one person can't win a war by themselves!"

«What do you think the rest of your classmates are doing? Unlike you, most of them are in stable environments facing no danger. You can't leave your fate to unconnected parties that can betray you on a whim.»

Ah, those guys. I hadn't thought about them for a long time.

Regardless of what happened in the past, they must all be confused and terrified at what was happening to us. Wherever they reincarnated they were probably alone or with strangers they didn't know.

As the survivors of the massacre, such a petty quarrel didn't matter anymore when looking at the bigger perspective. Past grievances aside, I wouldn't mind seeing a familiar face. We were not friends but I didn't exactly hate them either.

"You know where they are?"

«Yes. They are young and protected. One is close by, above the ground. But she is still an infant.»

Eh, so she was a human! A momentary pang of pain flashed through my heart. These unfair conditions! I was trying my hardest not to hate them but I already felt a bubbling rage and deep jealousy.

Sensei said she, so there were four possibilities. I wondered who the 'lucky' one was. I wouldn't mind paying them a surprise visit.

"And the others?"

«Far from here, across the sea.»

It was not Sensei's fault they ended up as babies and I ended up as... this. It was the fault of that petty goddess. Still, I couldn't help the simmering rage surging out of me.

Technically I was a baby too but the difference was just too much! I was forced to fight for my survival while they were leisurely enjoying their childhood.

Ah, this is so unfair! Did that shameless goddess have some grievance with me?

"Can I see where they are?"

Sensei breathed an exaggerated sigh.

«That's not the issue. I'm just making a point here.»

"You can't just mention something like that and expect me not to ask for details."

«Stop complaining. Remember you have two quests now. If you keep whining like this, I might just add another one.»

Tch. This ass hole! Did they all have this nagging bastard in their heads too?

«What was that?»

"Nothing." I grumbled.

«You can't hole up in here forever. Your precious nest mates are getting hungry. Sooner or later you'll have to hunt. You can't have such an obvious weakness in battle.»

I sighed helplessly, he had a point.

My time in the nest had been mostly spent training the nestlings and familiarising myself with my new abilities. During this time, I'd learnt more about the shortcomings of my skills, and with [Poison Resistance] in my arsenal, I could at least cover my bases.

As the nestlings kept up with their training, I explored the extent of my horn's abilities. Since gaining Obsidian Horn, this was the first time I truly wielded them for an extended period, but I found they were not as strong as I initially thought.

I wanted to see the mangrove forest again so I crawled through the small tunnel in our nest to the Cliff's edge. It went well until halfway through when I nearly chipped them on some overhead rocks. If I wasn't careful while crawling through tight spaces, they could be easily damaged.

To test that point, I used them on my male guard's rugged scales during our spar.

He'd obliged willingly of course! I would not deliberately hurt any of my adorable nestlings, not if they didn't try to harm me first!

And I certainly wouldn't harm someone as loyal as him.

I would've happily used the traitorous ones as my punching bags, but they completely avoided me.

Anyway, I was disappointed to find my horns could only slightly pierce his scales.

His [Rugged Scales] at LV3 and [Impact Resistance] at LV4 could rebuff them, which showed a skills impact was not necessarily restricted by the level of its wielder.

Obsidian Horn was a great tool, only if used on the right parts. They worked best on soft flesh, not tough hides, neither could they slice through bone.

To counteract their weakness I could either increase the strength of the attribute by constant practice, or through levelling up.

For now, I settled for getting a ranged attack that would keep anything I couldn't cut at a distance. I haven't practised to the extent that I broke a horn, but there was a high possibility of that happening in the future if I was careless.

So far, I had learnt to shoot my venom like a water spray, gaining the skill [Venom Rain: LV1]. It would do damage to any target that had an open wound, or, if I sprayed it directly in their eyes or mouth. It was still a work in progress and its range was limited, but it was an effective evasive attack.

To cover for the weakness of Obsidian horn, I also tested the limits of heat sense.

The rabbits had made me wary of attacks from creatures in multiple directions and I found the only way to counter that, was to trace their presence with [Heat Sense] beforehand. By forming a detection sphere around myself I could do exactly that.

The only problem was that the spheres were extremely expensive. Every time I used it, [Heat Sense] would instantly use up all my MP, only keeping the sphere for a mere three seconds before it dissipated like a dead light bulb.

My aim was to develop a detection skill that worked passively with my other skills that I could keep on at all times, but it was proving difficult. I practised it so many times, yet I could not find a way to keep it on permanently, without draining my MP.

However, as a result my [Heat Sense] rose to LV4, so it wasn't a complete loss. I concluded such a defensive measure was beyond my current capabilities, especially since my MP was so meagre.

It was exhausting. The more skills I gained, the more flaws I found in my defences. Sensei was correct. Without Poison Resistance I was only leaving myself exposed to yet another glaring weakness.

I shook off the eighteen or so snakes in my nest area and they rolled off me like droplets of water, groggily blinking in succession at me in protest. The one clingy snake though, crawled up to me and nuzzled its head on me once more before falling asleep again.

The sound of its faint snoring made me sigh in defeat.

I resisted the urge to slap the silly snake away as I reminded myself that it was only an infant. I had to be more patient and act like an adult, even if it was just an elaborate show of kindness to keep their support.

The sooner I obtained more power, the less this would matter.