Chapter Ten: Talent

After the snake's head fell to the ground, it continued to twitch madly. Ling Mo kicked it, sending a shower of soil flying, fully covering the snake's head, then pressed the loose earth down firmly with his foot. Throughout the process, he smiled at Catherine and said, “A snake’s neural reflexes can last a very long time. Even after its head is severed, it can still bite for six or seven hours. Some stronger snake-type magical beasts can bite for a whole day and night after decapitation. So burying and covering the snake’s head is absolutely necessary. Three months ago, I saw a young red-haired mage who, after killing a 'Green Ring Snake,' curiously picked up its head to inspect it. He was bitten, succumbed to the venom, and died.”

Catherine opened her mouth, wanting to ask why Ling Mo, having witnessed it so clearly, hadn’t tried to save him. But hunger was gnawing ever more fiercely at her now, and she could barely restrain herself. Her eyes were locked onto the snake body in Ling Mo’s hands. Ling Mo smiled slightly, flipped the snake so its tail pointed upward, and with a downward stroke along the tail, squeezed out all the snake’s innards in a messy sprawl. Then, feeling around the cut at the neck, he gripped the layer of snake skin and gave a forceful tug, producing a tearing sound as the skin came off in one piece, leaving behind translucent, pale white flesh.

Ling Mo tossed the snake body to Catherine. “When you eat snakes in the future, just use this method. The innards and skin offer little nutritional value, but the meat provides quite a bit of energy.”

Catherine grabbed it eagerly. Even stripped of its innards and skin, the snake still wriggled slowly, its tail winding around her arm. She ignored this entirely, opened her mouth wide, and bit directly into the plump meat of the snake!

The texture was excellent—that was Catherine’s first impression. The springy meat, carrying a unique reptilian chill, tasted much like chicken, but with an indescribable flavor that grew stronger with each chew. The more she ate, the more delicious it became, leaving a lingering aftertaste.

Catherine ate quickly; the somewhat tough meat was easily ground into mince and swallowed. There wasn’t much meat on a Green Ring Snake, and in just a few bites she finished it all, licking her fingers with some regret. She thought: If only the snake meat didn’t have so many bones. Honestly, no matter where you bite, it’s always a mouthful of bones, making it impossible to truly feast.

“Finished? Try to sense it—how does it compare to other foods?”

Ling Mo’s question prompted Catherine to carefully sense within herself. After a moment, she opened her eyes in delight. “Master, I’m not hungry anymore! This snake was so small—how can it be so filling?”

Her surprise wasn’t without reason. The snake she’d eaten was less than half the size of the two fish she’d previously caught in the lake, yet after those fish, her stomach still felt empty. Now, after this small snake, she felt nearly seventy percent full!

“Of course,” Ling Mo pointed at the snake skin on the ground. “The Green Ring Snake is a level two magical beast. Its body contains much richer energy than ordinary animals, many times more in fact. Actually, your method isn’t the best way to eat it—the most energy-rich part of a snake’s body is its lower jaw. After you advance to intermediate warrior and your resistance to toxins improves, you can consider eating that. Enough idle talk—did you see my movements clearly just now? If you did, try hunting one yourself!”

Catherine nodded and began to carefully observe the nearby vines. With Ling Mo’s guidance, she quickly spotted a hidden Green Ring Snake in a tangle to her left. Once you’ve seen through a snake’s camouflage, its upside-down pose actually looks rather comical. Catherine recalled Ling Mo’s actions in her mind, then quietly crept closer.

She mimicked Ling Mo’s movements, reaching toward the snake with her palm facing upward. This Green Ring Snake was smaller than the previous one and its strike at Catherine was slower. With a deft twist of her wrist, Catherine let the snake’s head slip through her palm, her middle and thumb fingers locking onto the snake’s vital spot. Then, as she was about to copy Ling Mo’s knife-hand strike, the snake’s tail suddenly whipped down, striking her shoulder and then coiling tightly around her neck.

Catherine remained unfazed. Though her neck tightened with the onset of suffocation, her hand was steady as she slashed—there was a ripping sound, and the snake’s head fell limp to the ground, its tail unwinding and drooping lifelessly.

She glanced at the cut on the snake’s neck and sighed softly. She hadn’t mastered her master’s technique; her cut was ragged, nothing like Ling Mo’s mirror-smooth precision. It was more a tear than a clean cut, worlds apart from her master’s neat handiwork.

She had no idea that Ling Mo was even more astonished within. Truly a prodigy with a martial constitution of 99—after seeing his actions just once and without understanding the subtle force behind them, she’d managed to decapitate the snake in one stroke purely by her innate agility! He himself had needed two months to achieve this. The skin of the Green Ring Snake was tough; ordinary people couldn’t cut through it even with a sharp machete!

What now? Ling Mo was somewhat frustrated. He had expected Catherine’s strike to only sever half the snake’s head, after which the snake would bite her hand, teaching her a lesson and allowing him to proceed with the next stage of training. Now, all his words were stuck in his throat.

Catherine, meanwhile, walked over with furrowed brows and asked in confusion, “Master, I feel like I made a mistake just now. That snake actually wrapped around my neck—if I hadn’t cut off its head quickly, the suffocation would have weakened my grip and affected my fighting ability. Did I do something wrong?”

Seeing her eager, inquisitive eyes, Ling Mo grew even more exasperated and answered gruffly, “It’s because this Green Ring Snake has eaten humans—or at least humanoid creatures, like monkeys. It knows that the neck is a humanoid’s fatal weakness and can suffocate by constriction. Being strangled is normal; you simply lack combat experience. If you’d paid more attention to where the tail struck—your shoulder—you could have instinctively used your head to take the blow. You might get a superficial wound, but your hard skull would easily deflect the tail, avoiding the danger of being strangled.”

Catherine nodded in understanding, but she couldn’t help a small retort: “Master, I do have plenty of combat experience. After all, I’ve leveled up to advanced mag—”

“That’s magical combat experience!” Ling Mo interrupted her. “I’m talking about close-quarters fighting. Enough chatter—half an hour’s rest, then when night fully falls, the most important time will arrive!”

Catherine caught the impatience in Ling Mo’s tone, stuck out her tongue, and hurried off to clean up the snake carcass. No longer so hungry, she began to care more about her quality of life. She broke off a few dry branches from above, pulled out a firestarter from her pocket, lit a campfire, and skewered the peeled snake body on a branch to roast it over the flames.

Waiting was dull. Ling Mo closed his eyes and ignored her. Bored, Catherine reopened her chat overlay to interact with her viewers. She glanced at the Mag-Eye Sprite, flashed a peace sign, and struck a forty-five-degree cute pose, saying:

“Viewers, hurry and take a screenshot! What are you waiting for, it’s your world’s cutest sister Catherine! You all crowned me world’s cutest, not my own self-praise!”

“It’s too late for acting cute now! You human-shaped female tyrannosaurus!”

“How much has the streamer’s constitution improved? Her moves were so fast I couldn’t even see them!”

“If you can’t see, why not activate Eagle Eye?”

“The streamer ate a green snake raw just now, like a savage! So scary!”

“This martial arts technique is something else! If it were a beginner mage, they couldn’t kill a level two magical beast like the Green Ring Snake so cleanly!”

“Of course not! The Green Ring Snake’s skin has high magic resistance!”

“Did everyone overlook something? Three months ago, red-haired mage—doesn’t that remind you of anything?”

“You mean the young Italian mage everyone was raving about recently? He’s gone.”

“Gone, gone. Wasn’t his name Daniel Inbas? Handsome guy!”

“A miserable end—never thought he’d die so pathetically. The rescue team can come back now.”

“He was handsome, I was planning to have his babies!”

“Big Brother Mo is so cold-blooded, clearly nearby but didn’t save him!”

“Nonsense! Big Brother Mo isn’t his father. Once you enter the magical beast rainforest, life and death are up to fate!”

“...”

Catherine smiled as she watched the lively banter on the chat, burying her slight sorrow deep in her heart. What’s done is done—there’s no point in dwelling. Seeing the snake meat nearly cooked, she quickly took it from the fire, blew on it symbolically, and, relying on her improved constitution, bit in without fear of the heat.

She wore a look of pure enjoyment, blissfully chewing the snake meat and boasting indistinctly to the chat: “Green Ring Snake meat is already tender, and after roasting, its gaminess disappears, leaving only a fresh aroma, paired with the chewy, springy texture—a truly exquisite delight!”

Her exaggerated description and delighted expression triggered a flood of drooling emojis in the chat. Catherine swallowed the first bite and was about to take a second when she suddenly froze, her enjoyment etched onto her face.

Aaaaaah!!!

Ling Mo was startled by a piercing scream. He opened his eyes to see Catherine rushing over, holding the skewer, tears in her eyes, and stammering, “Master, master! Why isn’t this as filling anymore?”