A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your support so far! I hope we see each other until the end~

Special hugs to the awesomes who sent gifts, tickets, votes, comments, and reviews! Each one helps the story very much!!

...

___

A snake?

Nadia, biased with the world’s teaching, would’ve been terrified of this snake. Naia, on the other hand, was just curious.

She reckoned she’d stay curious for a long time. After all, these things—animals, even the common ones—were ’legends’ to her in the past life.

She kneeled down so she could take a closer look at the snake.

It was around 75 centimeters long, which was pretty compact. It had a thick muscular body with a triangular head.

She took out another reference book from the space. But then flip-flapping of pages might take a while. Unlike some plants that she recognized by memory, she had no idea about snakes.

Thinking about this, she took a photo of the snake. There was a signal (though lagging) even in this area, and it wasn’t difficult to Doogle-Image-Search the snake.

The species she was facing was called an Adder Snake, a poisonous snake. Its signature mark was apparently a bold, black zigzag stripe down its back.

They were considered one of the spiritual or smart snakes that tended to watch before acting, to bask quietly rather than roam, and preferred stillness over escape. If it decided to attack, they were precise and short-ranged.

Reading this, she carefully stood up and stepped back, just in case, and took out something light but sturdy from her space (which ended up being a pan) to shield herself, also just in case.

But the snake really made no attempt to attack. Instead, when it approached her, it was very slow, almost coaxing.

Are animals so smart now?

It then tried nudging her once more, slowly turning its head in a direction, and nudging her again. It slithered away, but when it was a meter away, it stopped, turning to face her before heading out again.

Her eyebrows rose, suddenly understanding. "You want me to follow," she said, a statement, and she really did. Anyway, she could teleport away if she needed to escape.

She was wearing thick pants even before she went here, so even if she was bitten in the legs, it wouldn’t reach her skin.

She was curious, but not careless.

They followed the snake for about five to ten minutes, and the walk was relatively smooth. She also pondered about a few things, including the approach of the snake.

She also realized that several others wanted to approach her, whether they were small animals, mid-sized animals, or even bugs.

Her eyes twitched and ordered them to keep away, especially the bugs, and...they really did.

"Oh?"

Were they always this obedient? She tried to remember her previous interactions with animals and bugs and was fairly sure it wasn’t like this. The bugs that entered the space were relatively obedient, but now it seemed like those outside behaved similarly.

Could it be another effect of her space? It could be a passive effect she didn’t know about.

Or...perhaps it was an upgrade, brought about by the massive eating-spree her space just had.

While walking along the dense forest, she took this chance to test it. There were creatures from all directions, so she could practice well.

How she used her ability was similar to how she created the temporary enhancements in the weapons. It was like adding a coating or a gel of energy she could control, and she decided to try and control the direction and the distance.

For example, she would try to ’block’ one side while retaining the other, and after some trial and error, they really did!

As for the distance this could be detected, it was the same as the distance of the space, indicating that this ability really was connected to it.

But after having fun for a while, her feet paused, and her face turned paler.

What if she attracted something she didn’t want? Did she always have to watch her ’aura’? Don’t look at her leisurely walking around, doing this long-term was taxing.

What if she were doing a stealth mission?

What if it attracted people instead?

Fortunately, after a few tries, she realized that this passive seemed to have an on/off switch. If it was on, it’d passively stay on, if she wanted it down it’d stay down.

Ten minutes later, she pretty much mastered its control. If she wanted to be an animal-magnet, she would, but if she didn’t want to be approached, then she wouldn’t be approached—this especially included 99% of bugs.

This gave her a lot more confidence in traversing the unknown forest.

Fortunately, no trap or danger greeted her on the way, and she simply followed the adder snake.

They soon arrived at a stone wall, which was part of the mountainous area.

The slithering friend stopped and circled in front of a hole, occasionally looking up at her. Naia was surprised to know that what the snake wanted to show him...was his female.

It had similar patterns but had a different color scheme, with the male light silver and the female having brown and copper skin, because they had a greater need for camouflage when pregnant. The female was also more heavy-bodied than the male, so they could carry more embryos.

It seemed to be ill and struggling. After she took out her phone again and researched, she realized that it was about to give birth, but there were some complications.

This type of snake did not lay eggs. They were carried inside the females’ bodies and would be born active and already venomous.

According to the internet, females give birth to 5-20 youngs. There would be no prenatal care after birth, and even the husband would be long gone even before the birth.

Reading this part, Naia couldn’t help but look at the snake with admiration.

"Look at you, overcoming stereotypes and being a responsible father."

Adder Snake: "???"