The Harvester

Rakna felt really heavy.

"I feel really heavy," he voiced it with an even tone.

"I bet you do," Kaelith laughed.

Rakna sluggishly turned his head to the right where he saw the head of a white snake with blue eyes sticking out his tongue at him and hissing softly. Until this point, it was mostly a normal thing. What wasn't though was the size of said head.

If he didn't know better, he would have thought he had a literal python coiled around his neck and body at the moment. Pronos had become at least six meters long with a girth probably larger than a regular python but lower than an anaconda.

"I have to say; an S potential pet is something else. To grow to that size at that level is impressive," Kaelith remarked as he savored her tea.

Rakna raised an eyebrow and mentally brought out the litt… the big guy's status.

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Name: Pronos

Master: Rakna Xiorra

Age: 3 | Level: 16 (120/160)

Race: Eion Snake | Title: Nil

Path: Ouroboros

Potential: S | Rank: I

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Attributes:

Strength: 4.5 | Endurance: 10.6

Speed: 13 | Dexterity: 2

Intelligence: 5.6 | Luck: 3

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Available Attribute Points: 5

Available Skill Points: 1

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Statistics:

Stamina: 76/76 | MP: 114/114

Swiftness: 47.2 | Agility: 27

Senses: 31.2 | Atr Cap: 38.7

Attack: 58.3 | Defense: 67.56

Magic Attack: 36.8 | MP Regen: 0.77/min

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Proficiencies:

- Bite (Lv. Ex)

- Grapple & Strangle (Lv. Max)

- Mana Control (Lv.3)

- Mana Sense (Lv.1)

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Magic Skills:

- Poison Magic (Lv.3) => [Acidic Venom (T.9); Poison Fog (T.9); Paralyzing Fog (T.10)]

- Infinity Magic (Lv.1)

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Cognitive Skills (Passive):

- Poison Resistance (Lv. Ex)

- Pain resistance (Lv. Max)

- Fear Resistance (Lv. 6)

- Fatigue Resistance (Lv. 4)

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Spontaneous Skills (Active):

- Poison-Secretion (Lv.9)

- Camouflage (Lv.8)

- Anesthetic Secretion (Lv.4)

- Gigantism (Lv.1)

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Unique or Racial Traits:

- Eion Scales: +20% Defense.

- Eion Poison: Poison Secretion can produce Eion Poison.

- Eion Blood: 50% increase to MP and Stamina.

- Night Vision: Light Amplified Sight.

- Thermal Vision: Infrared Sight.

- Echo Vision: Sight acquired through sound feedback.

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Other than this magic and mana proficiencies, the only thing that truly differed from before was the skill Gigantism; which Rakna promptly appraised.

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Gigantism (Lv.1): This is a skill that can only be learned by compatible beings. It allows them to modulate their body size under a limit set by their level and proficiency in the skill.

When transforming, attributes will not be altered but be aware that static numbers do not imply that nothing will change. Heavier mass, longer reach, larger body to control… Although your body's capabilities would not change, everything else would.

Although this is a powerful skill, the rarity of its able users makes it cheap enough for most people to get one. The limit size that one can reach with this skill can also depend on how much of the user's body is mailable by molecular energy.

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Cost: 1 Stamina for every percentage of increase or decrease in size.

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Note: When ingesting the Gigantism pill, users that are not compatible will be at risk of seeing their body implode with only a very low chance of success.

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"I see. So that means you can return to normal, right?"

Pronos nodded at his question and his body immediately began to shrink. Rakna gradually felt the weight on his shoulders disappear until it was barely noticeable. Pronos had not only shrunk back but he now was even smaller than before; around thirty centimeters long.

It was apparently fully premediated as he happily snuggled under Sonata with considerably more ease than before. It also felt even more spacious to him.

Rakna sighed in relief right after, confusing Kaelith. "For a moment I thought I would have to call you something other than little guy."

The fox woman sweatdropped. "Your priorities really aren't right, wolfy."

"Maybe. Hey, can I also buy this pill?" He asked.

"What? You mean you want to use the Gigantism pill for yourself?" She raised an eyebrow. "It is available to Hosts in this shop but let me tell you that it is disgustingly rare for a humanoid species to be compatible with it. Even us pureblood who generally have two forms, have no chance of being compatible with either."

"I get that," he replied, silently noting to himself the info that she had just given him. "Still, is there a way for me to know if I'm compatible or not?"

"Well… that's automatic. Browse the item and if you are compatible with it, the System will tell you. If you are not, it's all the same."

Rakna nodded and opened the shop window. "Alexa."

[Right away,] she replied and complied with her Host's unspoken command. Within a second, the item he was looking for appeared in front of him. The description was the same as he had just read but there was one line at the bottom that almost made him want to smirk internally.

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Scan complete. Three forms have been discerned within you. Therian; Not Compatible. Wolf; Compatible. Werewolf; Compatible.

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"I'll buy it," he said without hesitation.

"…eh?" Kaelith exclaimed. "No way, right? You're joking… right?"

"Foxy, I said I'll buy it."

The vixen opened her mouth and closed it with a groan. "Goddammit… fine then. Do it."

Rakna confirmed his purchase before she could even finish her sentence and the System informed him of something that he almost had forgotten about.

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Total Value of Your Cart: 50 000 Talys.

Emerald Privilege Detected.

Final Value: 40 000 Talys.

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Rakna then watched Sylvie rush in the back store and then turned back to Kaelith who had most likely gotten a similar notification as him since she was staring a hole in his person with even more intensity than when he said he wanted to buy the pill.

"How. Did. You. Get. A. 20%. Discount?" She asked mechanically.

Rakna had a lot of things he could answer with. He could also just tell the truth but he decided to summon his inner Gray, "I'm just that awesome."

"…sorry, my bad. Obviously. How could I not have thought of that? It all makes sense now," she nodded exaggeratedly. "As if it would!!" She then snapped immediately. "Are you saying that after all the shit I've done for the Pavilion, I don't even get to have a better discount than you?! What kind of preferential treatment is that?!"

Rakna pursed his lips and blinked with a blank expression. He stood up and slowly backed away from the panting enraged beast in front of him until he was leaning against the opposite wall.

She frowned at him. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Strategic retreat until the storm passes."

Kaelith glared at him for a moment before sitting down again with a sigh. "Your sense of humor is all over the place, wolfy. It's not like I would kill you over this or something."

Rakna cocked his head to the side as if saying 'really?'.

"…okay, maybe I'd break an arm or two but not anything too bad," she said dismissingly and he snorted before returning to his seat right when Sylvie returned with the box.

"Let's get this over with," Kaelith said with a sigh. "Don't worry, one day I'll be immune to you. I swear it on the name of my clan," she declared as she opened the box and pushed it toward him.

"Challenge accepted," Rakna quipped as usual and grabbed the pill inside the box. He took a look at it and put it inside his spatial ring for now.

"Is there anything else you want to buy? With the money you have right now and that godforsaken discount, you should be able to get quite a few nice items."

Rakna mused before shaking his head. "I will save it. I feel like I can get by with my current loadout and I also have a lot of luck as you said. I can probably loot whatever I would need."

"Some people are truly too gifted to be fair…" Kaelith lamented. "At this rate, you'll probably reach the 500th Plateau in about a year if you don't waste time."

"A year? It's that easy?" Rakna inquired.

Kaelith snickered. "Well, depends on how you see it. You see, any of the more talented Hosts can probably reach the high Plateaus in a few years. But do you know why there are so few of them that proactively continue to the 800s or 900s?"

Rakna squinted and pondered about it for the first time. He already knew there was a three-year deadline to go from one Plateau to another. He also knew that some Hosts would supposedly take all of that time to train before… "Oh," he exclaimed.

"I see. Strong Hosts can quickly conquer the Plateaus, maybe in a few days or a few weeks, but as they go up, the harder it gets. The harder it gets, the longer they have to stay on one Plateau. Which is only natural. But something becomes obvious at some point."

Kaelith smiled. She knew he had already figured it out.

"If they continue to go up recklessly like that, they will at some point fail to complete the Trials in time. Add to that the fact that there is no goal to aim for and people will naturally decide to spend those full three years, not because they want to get stronger as much as possible, but more because they do not wish to risk their lives for an inexistent goal. So, it would only be the logical thing to simply take life in stride and live for as long as possible."

Kaelith nodded. "Exactly. People like that; they do not stay on one Plateau because they're not competent enough. They just believe that there is no point in climbing. For them, conquering the Trials is a sort of part-time job and instead, they spend their day fooling around, making a family, explore their hobbies…" She paused. "I wonder, wolfy, will you be like that too?"

Rakna closed his eyes in thought. Would he? He had no idea. He certainly wanted to conquer this System at the moment. He didn't like it one bit that he didn't know why or how he even had to be thrown into this situation.

But, in the end, as much as he was determined to see through this, no one could really tell if their future self would actually respect that conviction. He might just give up at some point and settle down somewhere just like Kaelith said.

"But…" He said as he opened his eyes. "That is not a question for today. No one ever gains anything by posing questions that cannot be answered. It only slows you down. Most solutions come to you, not the other way around," he uttered and stood up. "Thanks for the small talk, foxy. Later," he said and left the shop.

Kaelith hummed and picked up her tea. She heated it up again with her flames and drank the rest in one go. "Not a question for today, huh? Perhaps… but that, unfortunately, means it'll have to be answered someday. No matter what," she placed her cup down and disappeared from there when Sylvie jumped on her lap.