Milo woke up feeling aimless. Yesterday still felt like a dream to him, he had seriously stared down a Fallen Beast and lived to tell the tale. He also had received its echo, if there was any hope of surviving this accursed sea, this was it. He no longer had to fret or worry over such lofty things like when his next meal would be or when he would get out. If the worst thing he had come across so far outside of the Fallen Beast and whatever that winged creature was is an Awakened Beast, it was smooth sailing from here.
Looking to his right, he saw his now fixed prosthetic leaned up against the small mound of coral he had laid down on. Eva was already gone from the spot she had slept on, she was working tirelessly on creating more satchels after the other two they had were destroyed with the campfire. Milo decided to dive into his Soul Sea, and look at the new echo he had just received. No matter how much he looked at it, the nature of his Soul Sea freaked him the hell out. The mechanical whirr in the background, the weird structure around what was supposed to be his soul core, all of it was just unnerving to him. He knew it likely had to do with his aspect, and that it was really only a visual change, but it was still unsettling to him nonetheless. With a sigh, he summoned the runes for the Abyssal Serpent.
Echo: Abyssal Serpent
Echo Rank: Ascended
Echo Class: Beast
Echo Attributes: [Glutton] [Venomous] [Reinforced]
Milo frothed at the mouth of the Venomous and Reinforced attributes, it had a high defense, and could apply venom to it's victims? Milo would rather die than ever lose this Echo, his awakened career would be a smooth sailing from here. He might not even have to fight himself, he could simply have this Echo hunt down any Awakened creature he needed killed. Except for Devil's and above of course, those were simply in a class of their own. But that was a problem for the future. Milo shook his head and focused back on the runes describing the Attributes
Glutton Attribute Description: [This beast is never full, and is able to swallow both living creatures and objects alike]
Venomous Attribute Description: [The Abyssal Serpent can apply a potent, decaying venom to those it catches in its jaws]
Reinforced Attribute Description: [The Abyssal Serpent has scales stronger then steel. It can survive perilous attacks]
Milo felt a terrible premonition in the back of his mind, the Glutton attribute would become a problem wouldn't it? The Serpent was massive, it had to be at the very least bigger than what Milo estimated to be one hundred feet, would it swallow up anything in it's path? Milo couldn't afford to send this thing to attack multiple abominations, as tough as it was, that winged creature was proof enough that they're more dangerous creatures here then the Abyssal Serpent. Milo might be able to get a peak at what exactly this place was in the description.
Echo Description: [Many Serpents exist throughout the realms, such as the Soul Serpent that guided beings into the peaceful embrace of death. An Abyssal Serpent is simply a runt of a litter, a bottom feeder that will consume anything and everything to get stronger]
Milo shivered at the description, he did not want to run into a Soul Serpent anytime soon if the Spell had some sick sense of humor by saying it was really efficient at killing things. The Abyssal Serpent was merely a runt of a litter, just what other terrible things resided in this damn sea. Well, ultimately, it did not matter. Milo exited his Soul Sea, and summoned the Abyssal Serpent.
From thin air, a serpent that was twenty feet in length appeared. It's sea green scales shined under the pale sunlight. The serpent opened its jaw, and four sharp fangs appeared, each one dripping with a strange dark liquid.
'Wow... it's so...'
"Small!"
Eva turned over, giving Milo a look of confusion "Look, Milo, I know you're not that far off from a dwarf, but please don't shou-"
Milo sent the Abyssal Serpent over to Eva, and she let out a meek squeal, along with sheepishly raising her hands up
"I meant the Serpent, it's tiny compared to what it was before"
Eva lowered her hands and glared at Milo, then she looked back at the Serpent and nodded.
"You're right actually, it is pretty small compared to the giant it was before..."
Milo nodded along with her.
"One of it's attributes mentioned that it ate everything it could get it hands on to get stronger, maybe it will get bigger if I let it eat"
"Well, there is only one way to find out now"
---
Milo found himself staring down a dead Carapace Scavenger, stripped of its soul shard and most of it's good meat. Milo summoned Coil, which was what he decided to name the serpent despite Eva's requests to name it Solid for some reason.
Coil looked at his master, and Milo gave it a reassuring nod, the serpent's golden eyes seemed to gleam with greed as it slithered towards the corpse. Coil's mouth went agape as it swallowed the entire scavenger in one go. Leaving Milo thankful that the winged abomination had killed it before the fight could get too perilous back then on that stormy night. After about a minute of waiting, the prominent bulge in Coil's stomach had disappeared, and the serpent seemed longer than before.
"Wow... that is-"
"So cool"
Eva shot Milo a weird glance
"Sure, we'll call it cool"
With a sigh, Eva stood up, preparing to get moving, however Milo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Wait, I want to test something, get on Coil"
"...okay"
Eva cautiously approached Coil, and slowly clambered on top of the serpent. Milo carelessly jumped on top of it. His prosthetic arm had now split into two, reigning the neck of Coil.
"LETS RIDE!"
Coil slithered forward with astonishing speed, Milo was starting to understand why it was called a runt of a litter, the damn thing was made to be slippery, and to survive above all else. A venom that could paralyze, an insatiable hunger that made the Serpent grow stronger, and reinforced scales.
Milo watched as coral and cliffs alike all blended together. However, he commanded the serpent to stop when he heard human voices in the distance
'Other sleepers? Maybe even an awakened?'
----
Sunny was currently in the middle of talking with Nephis and Cassie with the hopes of joining the two.
"I mean, you're Changing Star Nephis. To be honest, I'm a little afraid."
Nephis remained silent, and before Cassia could respond, a distant yet approaching rumbling could be heard.
Sunny instantly summoned the Azure Blade, along with sending his shadow to scout whatever it was that was approaching. The shadow moved forward, however, it was not even necessary as a giant serpent broke out through the red coral. Two figures sat atop the Serpent, one a caramel skinned boy with curly hair and a short stature, almost like the opposite of Sunny. The other was a figure clad in a full stone grey armor, only the helmet was off revealing black hair and piercing red eyes.
Sunny instantly recognized them as the second and third rankers in the Awakened Academy. Both of them had True Names just like him, however it was unclear if they also had a divine aspect like him, as far as Sunny knew, he was the only one with a divine aspect. He did know that Milo had an aspect related to the prosthetic attached to his arm.
"Hello everyone, please don't be scared of Coil, he doesn't bite"
Cassia looked towards the sound of the voice with a shiver, Milo slightly frowned at the reaction, how in the world did Coil scare her? She wasn't able to see the enormous serpent to begin with.
Eva looked over at Nephis, uncertainty in her eyes, then she looked over at Sunny
"Aren't you Sunny?"
Sunny gave a weak smile and answered "Yes"
Eva glared at him a little longer, Nephis looked at Sunny too, then both spoke simultaneously
"The pervert?"
Sunny's weak smile was replaced with exasperation.
Milo could not help but chuckle, having seen the outskirt rat in Wilderness Survival, he knew that at the very least he was a very diligent student under Teacher Julius. However Sunny spoke up before Milo could defend him
"Hey! I'm not really a pervert, you know! I just… uhm… said a few things. To a few girls. It was all a misunderstanding"
"He's probably not lying, from what I could tell, he was eager to learn in class"
Nephis gave Milo an indiscernible look, and Sunny seemed thankful that someone here could back him up.
Then, Eva spoke up once again "Since we're all sleepers, why not form a group? We have a better chance of surviving if we stick together"
Sunny eagerly nodded in agreement, Nephis stared at Eva, then spoke
"No.."
Sunny blinked in bewilderment, and even Eva seemed caught off guard.
"Problem"
Milo let out a relieved sigh, the workload just got made that much lighter