He truly regretted not going back to get the second short spear he had created, but he didn''t think he had the time to do so. With the night already waning, if he tried to do a round trip, he might get caught up in battles as the creatures began to wake up.

    What he had feared the most weren''t thend animals, though, but rather the creatures he had spotted sleeping in theke. He was already hardly a match onnd. If he had to fight in the water, he would be finished.

    Ss took a breath and exhaled. Nothing had gone right this whole time, but hadn''t he made it here?

    [You have in Little Madness]

    [Floor One of Slithering Madness Cleared]

    [Rewards]

    [Little Madness (Skill)]

    [Inflexible Gene Elixir (Consumable)]

    [Little Madness yer (Title]]

    Ss frowned. Pushing forward with his intention, he clicked each one for more information.

    [Little Madness (Skill)]

    [A little bit of Madness never hurt anyone. Exchange your sanity for a power boost]

    Wasn''t this just a far weaker version of his Madness Comprehension? Plus, this seemed toe with side effects his Madness Comprehension didn''t have at all.

    [Inflexible Gene Stat Elixir (Consumable)]

    [A medicine for the soul and not for the taste. Drink this and maintain an Inflexible Gene State for three days]

    This wasn''t entirely useless. Although he had a Soft Gene State right now, which was two levels above this, it wouldn''tst forever. Still, it was a bit shabby.

    His Soft Gene State gave him a 50% sess rate of iming new Genes, but this would only give him a 10% chance of sess. It was unfortunate.

    [Little Madness yer (Title)]

    [You have taken down an apprentice of the Madness. Keep going and one day you just might step onto the path of true Madness]

    [+1 Will]

    [+1 Charisma]

    Ss shook his head, especially when he saw what happened to his stat menu afterward.

    [Name: Ss Grimde]

    [Species: Human (F)]

    [Affiliation: Grimde Lineage]

    [Level: 0]

    [Titles: A Flexible Will; A Patient Stalker; Little Madness yer (Dormant)]

    [Physical: 8]

    [Strength: 5]

    [Constitution: 5]

    [Dexterity: 13]

    [Speed: 8]

    [Mental: 9]

    [Intelligence: 5]

    [Wisdom: 10]

    [Charisma: 12]

    [Will: 36]

    [Luck: 1]

    [Skill: Maddened Meditation (F); Little Madness (F)]

    [Comprehensions: Madness (F)]

    [Gene State: Soft]

    [Fragmented Genes: Grimde Lineage (F); (2) Dexterity (F)]

    [Gene Talents: de Aura (Mutated - Weakened)(-); Sudden Burst (Dormant)(F)]

    For some reason, the Little Madness yer Title was dormant, and he didn''t even get the stat boosts from them. He didn''t really need more Will or Charisma, but it wouldn''t exactly hurt either.

    In summary, though, he had gotten very little out of this victory aside from the right to go and risk his life again on the second floor. He had a Skill that was useless, a Title that was dormant, and an elixir he would probably only drink if he really had no other options. Even then, he had to figure out a convenient way to carry this elixir around with him because he didn''t have a bag.

    ''I could try to make one out of the fox skins…''

    Ss decided he would do this before looking toward his final hope: Little Madness'' corpse.

    He walked over and put a hand on its head.

    [Little Madness]

    [Genes Detected]

    [Fragmented Gene: (7) Constitution (F)]

    [Attempt Assimtion?]

    [Yes][No]

    Ss'' brows raised. His grandfather hadn''t told him this was possible, but this made sense. Maybe it was a case of if a creature assimted enough Fragmented Genes, they would form a Common Gene, so on and so forth.

    This would make his 50% chance worth far more, assuming that it did so one by one and wasn''t an all-or-nothing sort of situation.

    [Gene Assimtion Starting…]

    [Gene Assimtion Triggered]

    [Gene Assimtion Sessful]

    [Gene Assimtion Sessful]

    [Gene Assimtion Failed]

    [Gene Assimtion Sessful]

    [Gene Assimtion Failed]

    [Gene Assimtion Failed]

    [Gene Assimtion Sessful]

    [Constitution: 9]

    Ss exhaled a breath when he saw this. Four of seven was a good oue. He was happy that it wasn''t an all-or-nothing situation. Although it would have been amazing to get all seven, just in a risk assessment sort of situation like this one, this was for the best.

    ''Floor two…'' he quietly thought to himself.

    He put a hand on Little Madness, hoping it would allow him to take it. He had no method of cutting apart those hard scales, but maybe he would find one on the next floor.

    Ss'' vision blurred, and when he appeared again, he was standing on a familiar cobblestone road. In the distance, it split in two directions, just likest time.

    After a moment, Ss lugged the heavy five-meter-long python over his shoulder and began to walk toward the forest again.

    As much as he was curious about what was down the other path, he wasn''t in a position to take risks for the hell of it. He would stick with what he knew for now and hope the situation would be the same.