Reincarnated As A Snake?

Appearing in the queen's private chambers she cast numerous anti-spy, protection, barrier, shield, concealment, silence, and other arrays on top of the already existing ones... you can never be too careful, especially in a monster society where backstabbing and betrayals are daily occurrences.

The room illuminated in all colors of the rainbow, blinding the poor Raas for a second, while many runes, sigils, and magic circles painted the floors, ceiling, walls, and even the furniture. "And with that out of the way, let´s take a seat." spoke the queen after casting a dozen spells in an instant.

Raas was gobsmacked and only nodded his head after witnessing her overwhelming skills. The queen smiled pleased at his reaction and sat down on her chair while signaling Raas to sit down in front of her. The veiled girl clearly seeing her expression just shook her head and sat down on the right of the 4-meter-long snake.

"Well, where should we start?" asked the queen while magically manifesting 3 cups of tea..

"Maybe, the obvious, with Sol´s gem?" answered the veiled girl.

"Hmm indeed." spoke the queen while glaring at the veiled girl, before turning back to Raas. "So listen here, little snake. What you have on your forehead is one of the few primordial gems out in the world, and you having one is truly... worrying."

Raas just tilted his head, "What gem on my forehead?"

...

A moment of silence prevailed through the room before the veiled girl pulled a hand mirror out of her coat and held it in front of Raas. Looking at his reflection, he saw his face clearly for the first time, till now he only saw his face in water reflections, and seeing his body in a polished mirror with clear eyesight he gasped and inspected himself. The one thing that stood out the most was the black and orange oval gem on his forehead. His face has changed a lot since the beginning. It wasn´t smooth anymore, instead, the scales protruded slightly and were not gray anymore, instead, his scales had a beautiful red-orange tinge to them, with a diamond pattern running through his body.

He was mildly surprised to see the crest on his ċhėst, that he got after being named. The symbol was a yellow hourglass with a crown on top and a mountain range in the background, but now it was a crowned hourglass with a sun behind it.

While marveling over his appearance the women glanced at each other.

"Ahem, Raas, back to the topic."

"Eh? Ah! Yes!" responded Raas.

"So, primordial gems are few and extremely rare in the world. Normally you can only get one by being blessed by one of the major gods, finding a natural primordial gem, or drinking the essence of a demigod of one of the major gods... and by the looks of it, your case is the latter."

"I- I drank the b- blood of a DEMIGOD!"

"In short, yes, but this has only a 5% success rate or less depending on your affinity with it, and the gem is just newly formed, meaning the strength will gradually increase over time under the sun." spoke the veiled girl.

"... but my affinities are poison and healing, and we are inside a dungeon, without a sun..."

*sigh* "Well, soon you will gain a fire affinity too, and you have to leave this dungeon eventually. You can´t be stuck here forever, especially when there is so much to discover out there. But I recommend venturing into the vast world when you reach tier 3 at least or peak tier 2. So do you know anything about the person that gave you this "gift"...?" asked the veiled girl.

"Hmmm, no, today was the first time we met... Oh, I remember that he is a treeling."

"Haaaah..." letting out an exasperated sigh the queen muttered, "to think that a treeling slipped through my grasp without my notice..."

"What is so special about treelings?" asked Raas.

"Well, nothing... despite being overly tuned to nature, to the point of being nearly unkillable so long that plant life is in the surrounding. Oh and inside the woodland dungeon treelings are per se "immortal" and buffed a hundredfold," said the veiled girl sarcastically.

Letting this information sink in for a few seconds Raas continued to ask, "... why did he help me... I mean, it had no reason... right?"

"Well, yes and no." said the mȧturė queen.

"?"

"First answer this, how old are you," said the queen.

"Hmmm, about a month? I don´t really know the lost count," answered Raas not knowing where this is going.

"Yes, that may be the case, but there is a spell known as [Soul age scan] a high tier spell only a few can cast, which shows the age of your soul." said the queen while taking a sip of her tea.

Raas hearing that began to feel dread.

"Calm down Raas, I have known about your true age since you first arrived on this floor. We won´t do anything to you. No, it is even a huge boon."

Raas still being uncomfortable being revealed, spoke meekly, "why is that a huge boon?"

"Let me explain!" said the veiled girl cheerfully.

"You are what we call reincarnators or world travelers, but on this continent, we call them mostly Acutras. Meaning, "the one that got a second chance". Quite fitting don´t you agree?"

Raas nodded but stayed silent.

"You are not the first and will not be the last one. There are 12 of them known Acutras. People that got a second chance in life, and 5 of them are on this continent. Most of them are monsters, and only a few are demi-humans and humans. And now to why they are so soughed over. They have huge potentials, more unique evolutions, and skill gain chances, and most important of all, they gain experience at a much faster rate than others, making them major powerhouses in only a few years. Humans seek to capture them and make them pets or familiars so be careful when encountering them and never tell a soul about you being an Acutra."

Looking at the unblinking Raas who was in deep thoughts the queen whispered to the veiled girl. "Should we really have told him all that?" "Better than, now than finding it out the hard way."

"But others could just cast the [Soul age scan] on me and find out immediately..."

"Fufufu~ remember the shadow dragon´s blessing that I gave you?"

"Hmmm.... oh the one I received the first time we met?"

"Yes, it will prevent any scans, inspect, appraisal, spells that are below high tier. So your secret is safe as long as you don´t encounter someone absurd."

"Okey, but what has this do with me gaining Sol´s gem?" asked Raas.

"Do you know who the Seekers are?" asked the shadow dragon.

"No..." replied Raas.

"Well, you better make yourself comfortable than... because this is going to be a long long talk..."

And a long talk it was...

After hours of talk about the world, politics, history, magic, and gods they finally finished their conversation. They still are inside the queen's chambers sitting around the table with their tea long empty and the "outside" dark. Only a few torches and fireflies brightened the place up.

"Okey, so to sum it up, Seekers are a group/race of super ȧssassins and magicians that are pissed because their whole country and continent were destroyed by an Acutra that had a few loose screws and now are now out for blood. Furthermore, they are being backed by 2 major and 9 middle gods... and the treeling is from an organization that wants to rule the shadows so they want to power up Acutras to kill the Seekers and push away the competition... and as a result, I gained Sol´s gem witch is one of the most precious gems in the world and will be hunted down the instant someone sees me with it. And to top it off, because I have Sol´s gem the others with primordial gems can sense my presence, when I am near them. AND You too want to support me and make an alliance of sorts so that you can someday reclaim that dungeon for yours. BUT I still don´t know who this veiled girl is... she doesn't want to tell me...and you clearly know her already!" said Raas in one breath while starring at the elegant queen tiredly.

"Yes, that is basically it if you dumb it down. And for the girl... well, let´s say she is someone you can trust and an old friend of mine. The rest will be revealed when she is ready," said the queen while looking to the sleeping girl. Somewhere between the talk, the girl fell asleep. Raas too wasn´t flaring any better and is almost nodding away.

"One last thing before I send the two of you back. Remember Raas, Sol´s gem isn´t really yours right now, so don´t depend on it too much, before you find out all the mechanics and gimmicks it has, but after you make it yours, you will truly be a powerhouse on the continent. Oh, and a surprise is awaiting you when you go back."

Raas nodded sleepily and yawned.

Leaning forwards she gave Raas a small kiss on his forehead, where his gem is. "Fufufuf~ we will surely see each other again Raas~ So you better survive and grow up a bit more okey~?" said the queen unhinged, since the veiled girl is asleep and can´t berate her of her behavior.

"I- I will do my best..." said Raas a little flustered.

"With that said good night little Raas," winking at him a magic circle appeared under Raas and the veiled girl before vanishing from the room.

Now alone in the room, the queen's demeanor changed from elegant to serious. "It is finally time! All forces are on the move already so I better prepare too... I can´t stay on my toes anymore. Fufufufu, I will show you all that you aren´t the only ones that are in the ring!"