The rise of the pervert primordial-Chapter 774: The fourth day of the development trial (part 7)

Chapter 774: The fourth day of the development trial (part 7)

Naturally, the scene of the little wyrm starting to show panic after being underwater for more than ten minutes while moving around the pond, that the anaconda royal guards expected to see, didn’t happen.

As the minutes passed, two of the royal guards gave criticizing gazes at the third one, which is the one in charge of this part of the trial as he holds the highest record in holding his breath underwater.

It’s worth mentioning that while the royal guards are fellow loyal subordinates of the king of water beasts, they aren’t friends, though they have developed past the limit of mortal animals, which means that they have much more human-like behavior, in their case they are love-rivals competing for the attention of the king of water beasts.

Therefore, if a chance came to kick either of them while being down ever appeared, the others would for sure make use of it, and that was the case here, because if Espi passed the underwater trial they will of course blame the royal guard in charge of it, making him lose the favor of the king of water beasts, perhaps he might even be forced to step down from his position, since he is also the one to whom the three anacondas that were guarding the area of the border from which Aster and the others came, are subordinated to.

"Hisss!", angered due to embarrassment, the royal guard anaconda immediately yelled at his direct subordinates, the ten guards from earlier who didn’t dare to approach the old king cobra.

He was telling them to jump down into the pond while he glared at the old king cobra leader, this was an optional addition to the trial, that those who wished to thoroughly prove themselves could request, it was basically having other anacondas jump into the pond and chase after the trial taker.

Since that way the one partaking in the trial would be forced to do more than just calmly stroll around underwater, being chased will make them have to accelerate, dodge and the like, which translates in consuming oxygen so their underwater time will be reduced at a faster ratio than normal.

Of course, suddenly changing the conditions of a trial that had already started like this was against the rules, especially because neither the little wyrm nor the old king cobra ask for this additional optional rule to be implemented.

’Come on, complain or come out to ask what’s going so I can nullify the result of the trial!’, thought the royal guard anaconda in charge of the underwater trial, the first part was directed to the old king cobra, if he outraged at the sudden change in the rules kicked a fuss, it would give bases to the royal guard for cancelling this round of the trial.

The second part was even more scummy, if the little wyrm confused of what was going on, came out to ask what happened, her underwater trial will be immediately counted as finished and she will of course lose since there hasn’t been even thirty minutes since she started.

Unfortunately, the old king cobra leader wasn’t even looking at the trial, he had his eyes closed and ignored the royal guard alongside his tricks.

As for the second option, it was even more fruitless, the ten four-meter anacondas had started chasing the little wyrm since they entered the water but no matter how fast they swam nor how much they stuck close to the other, they were unable to catch up to her.

What’s more, given how fast Espi was swimming the ten guards who normally can remain underwater while moving for around thirty minutes, immediately rushed to the surface in less than twenty minutes.

Seeing the heavily breathing ten anacondas on the surface, the royal guard in charge of the underwater trial nearly lost it.

"Hissss!", he directly ordered another ten anacondas to jump into the pond, naturally he had no more four-meter guard sized subordinates, those were three-meter sized younger anacondas, subordinated to him.

This time however, the old king cobra leader opened his eyes and narrowed his gaze towards the royal guard and more importantly towards the younger anacondas as well as the guards.

His intention was clear, he won’t tolerate any more tricks from their side, and while the royal guard in charge of the underwater trial for a second felt tempted to jump and chase the little wyrm in person, he saw how Espi freely maneuvered underwater at the same speed which she has been using since the anacondas started chasing after her and ultimately chose not to do anything else.

One thing was Espi surpassing his record and another thing was him not being able to catch a young challenger underwater, his reputation already took a hit when he threw the ten guards midway through the trial so while gritting his teeth, he cancelled his previous order and made the anacondas in the pond leave.

Espi still needed to remain underwater around ten more minutes, though to be honest she should be already counted as the new record holder, because not only is she younger and smaller than the royal guard, but she has moved at a way faster speed and with zero seconds of rest in between, than the royal guard.

But the anaconda was shameless enough to hope for Espi to run out of oxygen and come out of the pond, so that he could claim she had failed in the next ten minutes, needless to say but that didn’t happen.

For mortal rank animals that can’t breathe underwater, how much time they can hold their breath is tightly related to the amount of oxygen they can store in their blood and muscles.

And in case you have forgotten, the little wyrm can eat huge amounts of food for her size without her stomach bloating or anything of the like even as of current, because she has the innate ability to store nutrients in her blood and flesh as a whole, which explains why her vitality is so high even as a mortal ranked beast.

The previous is an adaptation she developed in Esmeralda’s realm, since she couldn’t come out to eat whenever she wanted, she had to make the chances she had count, so she stuffed herself at every given opportunity, though as of current the limit was obviously smaller, due to her size and having zero spirit energy in her body, the basics of said adaptation remained which means that the oxygen she can store in her blood is massive, she could have continued moving at an even higher speed underwater without surfacing for hours if she wanted to, but of course the enemies had no need to know that.

"Hisss", with the old king cobra nodding while telling Espi to come out and under the disbelief of the ones observing the trial, the young leader of the green anaconda race included, the little wyrm casually jumped out of the water all the way from the bottom of the pond, with a small motion she shook the excess of water out of her body and claimed her victory over the underwater trial.

"Hisss!", with the young leader starting it, quite a few anacondas couldn’t help but cheer on the little wyrm, she had honorably and quite amazingly surpassed the trial, of course there were some that weren’t happy to see someone they thought to be related to the reticulated boa race passing the trial, but their criticism was directed at the royal guards rather than to Espi, to the one in charge of trial more in specific.

"Hisss", with the other two guards calling the one in charge of the underwater trial "fool", with mocking voices, it was time to advance to the second trial, since they of course didn’t want to let the little wyrm have time to rest in between, the more worn out she was, the better for them after all.

...

The group of anacondas lead by the royal guards, well, two of them since the third was now feeling quite depressed and remained behind the other two, guided Espi and the old king cobra to the area designated for the second trial.

They moved quite far from the wetlands so the next trial shouldn’t have anything to do with underwater adaptation, this continued until they reached a relatively open area surrounded by trees, in the center of it there were a bunch of irregular stumps left, which gave the little wyrm an idea of what the next trial will consist on.

"Hisss", one of the two royal guards which was guiding the group took the initiative to explain the second trial of the green anaconda race, which as Espi expected had to do with testing the constriction force that the champion can exert, how you wonder, well, they had to... break a tree using their bodies.

Now this might sound incredibly easy if you take into account the fact that a really big green anaconda can apply a constriction force of 90 PSI, which is like having a 4.5 ton bus sitting on top of your chest.

However, anacondas don’t crush their victims, though they surely can produce more than enough strength to break bones, they instead kill by cutting blood flow rather than crushing them unlike what one would think.

And just like previously stated, the fact that an animal has that much strength, doesn’t mean they have the capacity to exploit it, that’s why breaking a tree with their bodies is a trial for the green anaconda race, their muscles aren’t innately meant to be used that way, so being able to do something like that regularly means that they had stopped being regular mortal members of their race.

In fact, passing this trial is the qualification required to become a royal guard and only anacondas with a length of more than four meters and a half can attempt it.

"Hissss", the royal guard that explained, looked quite full of himself, for a good reason this is the trial that symbolized the green anaconda race and he holds the record of breaking a tree in the shortest amount of time which was of half an hour.

What’s more, after seeing the previous guard not being able to step in himself because he had sent his subordinates in before, this anaconda took things a step further by saying that he would participate.

Though the old king cobra leader looked displeased, he didn’t say anything so the royal guard in question chose a tree of the many available which actually were roughly of the same size, that’s the reason as to why this area was chosen for the constriction force trial, the trees here grow at similar speed.

Once the timer stared, the royal guard wrapped his large body around the tree he had chosen and started applying pressure, gradually increasing his strength as he weakened the structure of the tree, what often determined the most differences in time between the anacondas taking this trial wasn’t raw muscle strength but "technique", and this is the method this royal guard has come with.

"Crack!", though after the first fifteen or so minutes nothing seemed to happen, shattering sounds suddenly started appearing, once the royal guard had weakened the structure of the tree, he changed to constrict with all his might, one could see the effort that he had to exert based on the tense expression on his face.

Which is understandable, during constriction and anaconda’s metabolism is accelerated up to sevenfold, so it’s quite a physically demanding thing for them, though in this case there is less risk involved since the tree is not a prey that can escape or defend itself.

After around another ten minutes the royal guard’s eyes shone as he pulled one last strong effort, then with a loud "thud" the tree to which he was coiled fell, heavily landing on the ground and leaving behind another of those irregular stumps that could be seen in this area.

Each of them represented a challenger which had surpassed the constriction force trial, with a gaze of sufficiency since he had bested his previous record by a whole five minutes, the royal guard following the tradition signaled a tree with a slightly smaller diameter than the one he used for the trial, for the little wyrm to break.

Which on the outside looks honorable, until you take into account the fact that the tree that was chosen for Espi looks greener than the one the royal guard broke, whole technically drier wood is stronger and denser making it harder to compress, it is also more brittle which means it snaps or splits more easily under pressure.

Green wood on the other hand has higher pliability so instead of breaking it tends to bend instead, this piece of information which has only been passed down through the family of this royal guard, is what has allowed them to give birth to the highest amount of successful trial takers and also record holders within the green anaconda race.

That being said, the royal guard could swear that he saw the small white snake look his way with disdain as she slid towards the tree that judging by the "exclusive" knowledge he has, is the hardest one to break out of the current possible choices.

But ultimately, he snorted to his insides, how could a random outsider know about information that took his family many generations to compile, what the royal guard ignored is that he is front of a little wyrm that is the companion of a spirit blacksmith and that she has taken a liking to craftmanship in general, so with a single gaze Espi knew the enemy was playing tricks again, it’s just that she... didn’t care.

"Hisss", the little wyrm calmly climbed through the tree to then attempt to coil her body around it, now, the royal guard anaconda could easily make three laps around the tree given his large size, while Espi on the other hand could only make one, well if she pushed it a bit, two was possible but that would be hell uncomfortable, especially so for a position in which she would need to be for a relatively long time.

That being said, she didn’t directly start trying to break the tree but instead moved through the surface of it at which she was allowed to attempt breaking it, it was as if she was checking every centimeter of it, only then did she coiled her body around the tree.

’Heh, just the time it takes for a newcomer to find a position to comfortable apply pressure on the tree is a big disadvantage’, thought the royal guard as she saw Espi constantly moving her body up and down as if she was trying to find the best position to apply force on the tree.

"Crack!!!", however the confident smile on the royal guard’s face stiffened the next second when a loud shattering sound echoed through the vicinity, before the tree to which Espi was holding onto... split and fell down the next second.

"...", there was a moment of sepulchral silence since no one could believe what happened, it hasn’t been even ten minutes since the little wyrm started her trial, what’s more, quite a bit of that time was Espi finding a position in which she was comfortable rather than attempting to break it.

"Hissss!", what broke the silence was the royal guard naturally accusing the little wyrm of cheating, which though is ridiculous as she wasn’t the one to choose the tree, did generate a wave of opinions among the spectators, because unlike all the other stumps left behind by other trial takers, the one created by Espi was not irregular at all.

Of course, since she didn’t cut the tree, the surface of the broken area had spikes and all, but they were really small when compared to the large pieces of broken wood that pointed upwards that could be seen on the other stumps.

"Crack!", before the royal guard could continue with his accusations, the little wyrm jumped to another tree and under the eyes of disbelief of all the present anacondas, she split it in half in a matter of seconds.

What happened is simple, Espi has no need to gradually increase the pressure she applies, because her scales are insanely tough, so instead she applied short-lived but huge rounds of force on the tree multiple times, essentially using her muscles like a hammer until the tree was pulverized.

As to why the others didn’t hear anything, that was thanks to the royal guard giving the little wyrm a green tree instead of a dry one, otherwise they would have noticed some sort of strange "beat" coming from the tree in question.

"Hisss", given the previous scene the royal guard couldn’t put any excuses, so the little wyrm descended from the second tree she just broke and claimed her victory, this time there were no cheers though, because the anacondas were still in shock at what they witnessed.

And now, there was only one last trial left, and the royal guards had started to feel panicked, they didn’t even bother continuing to shun themselves for failing, because if that white snake passed the three trials, they would have no other choice but to give the green light for the young leader to support her claim to a duel. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

And since the old king cobra was here with Espi, that meant that she already had one supporter, so the duel would be formalized and there won’t be a way back from that, sure they completely believed that the king of water beasts will win, but they’ll be replaced without a second thought.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t even stall for time for what they were waiting to happen, because Espi had gained the interest of all the spectators, so under the strict gaze of the old king cobra they guided everyone to the third area prepared for the trials.

"Hisss", the moment they arrived to an area where large bones coming from different animals could be seen, the last of the royal guards explained in what consisted the last trial, which is also the hardest one, if the first two focused in areas at which the green anaconda race excel by nature but applied in a different way, the last trial tested something that they were not used to and applying it in a way they wouldn’t even think as well.

It is a bite force test, now green anacondas do have a strong biting force of 900 psi which equals that of a lion or the average of a grizzly bear as well, however as snakes they are not the type to chew their food, the teeth of an anaconda curve backwards because they are used to hold onto the prey in order to help for constriction to happen.

So, while they meet the threshold to crush bone and bite through it, they never do so, since they swallow their prey whole and digest it without a need for their teeth to be involved, that being said anacondas also can regrow their teeth as many times as they need making sure that they stay in good condition throughout their lives.

The royal guard looked for the largest and thicker bone available and after tensing his body, he shot his head towards it biting on it with all his might.

"Crack!", that was both the sound of the bone being broken in half and the sound of the royal guard damaging his smaller teeth, he forcefully swallowed the blood that accumulated in his mouth, now no matter what bone the little wyrm chose, he could argument that it wasn’t as big as the one he destroyed.

Sure, it will come to him having to accept his defeat given that he ended up harming himself, but with this he should be able to buy time and that is the best possible scenario for the three of them as of current.

"Boooom!", or that’s what he thought, until a loud breaking sound drew his attention, while blood escaped from the corner of his mouth, he saw in shock how the little wyrm had bitten a... rock.

"Crack!", the little wyrm who bit off a piece of a large rock then closed her mouth shattering the rock with her fangs.

"Hisss", she then showed everyone that her pretty white teeth were in perfect state, it was a "crushing" victory against both the royal guard and the rock, as there is no way the royal guard can pull off something like that.