Hidden genius: Black belly snake

On a tree, a few yards away from where Tang Yue was hanging, two dark green colored creatures with long pointed ears and sharp glassy eyes were casually resting.

Their thin frame enabled them to perch effortlessly on the tree branch without alerting the snake princess to their presence.

"Shall we attack now?" The goblin Gale asked the goblin Ginko whose eyes were glued to the small snake's antics.

"Hmm… No, let's wait." Ginko answered absent-mindedly, staring at the wounded snake.

"Huh? Why are we waiting? She is clearly wounded and weak."

"Those two low-grade beasts are nothing to sweat about. Everything looks perfect. Am I missing something?" Gale scratched his head and asked with his eyes full of confusion.

"Hmm… Did you see how confidently she handled those two Croco beasts? I think she might have some trump cards… some sort of back up for sure…"

"Huh? She is a spirit beast! Just what treasure could she possess?" Gale was not convinced. 

Clearly, they were just wasting time!

"Let's wait and see how she deals with the two beasts. There is no hurry."

"In this forest, there is no way she can escape from our grasp." Ginko muttered and went back to eyeing the dangling blue snake.

"…."

Gale shrugged helplessly and watched the snake as well, albeit a bit bored.

What is there to look at in a battle between two weaklings??

Unaware of the two goblins silently stalking her, Tang Yue excitedly bobbed her head up and down.

The Croco beast in front of her had completely collapsed on the ground, lying still and motionless. 

Just a few seconds ago, it was thrashing and roaring, enraged by Tang Yue's sneak attack.

But now it was completely lifeless.

The snake was visibly surprised by the effectiveness of her venom.

She had used Venom spit and aimed it on the beast's wound and that single attack brought down the mighty low-grade beast within a few seconds.

"Looks like I need to find more poisonous things and improve my venom. This is awesome!" The snake made a mental note.

She then shifted her emerald beady eyes to the other Croco beast.

The gigantic reptile looked a bit dumbstruck. 

It looked at the small insubstantial snake hanging from the tree branch and then at its companion.

It let out a low growl and lashed its jagged tail at the tree trunk a few more times, before shuffling its feet and diving back into the endless swamp.

The beast didn't even bother to touch the other one's corpse lying on the ground.

"Huh?" Tang Yue was slightly confused by its behavior. 

She half-expected the beast to devour the dead animal, leaving nothing for her.

But the beast surprisingly left the corpse completely untouched.

She prepared to head down and quickly toss the corpse into her space pouch, but suddenly a thought struck her brain.

"Little plum, come out." Tang Yue mentally summoned the baby elemental.

Ollu Ollu

The small blob of fire was excited to be out and hovered around Tang Yue jumping up and down.

"Light that guy on fire and check if it is really dead." Tang Yue hissed, mentally commanding the baby elemental.

She had already underestimated the enemy's intelligence once and did not want to repeat her mistakes.

For all she knew, the damned beast might just be lying down there motionless, playing dead and waiting for her to let her guard down and come closer.

So she decided to summon Little Plum and test if it was really dead.

Little Plum immediately rushed over to the dead beast, excited that it finally had something useful to do.

The small blob of fire then suddenly increased in size and intensity. 

Tang Yue could even visibly see a shade of blue at its core, implying that the flame was at its peak intensity.

The blob then started bumping against the beast in all directions, burning it and roasting it on multiple spots, including its eyes, nostrils, and tongue regions, the most sensitive areas of the beast.

The beast, however, laid still without any response.

Only after confirming this for a few more seconds, Tang Yue finally sighed in relief and quickly climbed down.

She spat out the space pearl from her mouth and tossed the enormous almost half-cooked Croco beast corpse into it.

And as soon as she did that, a crisp notification sounded in her mind.

Ding. 1 Swamp Croco killed.

Ding. 50 Experience points have been rewarded.

Tang Yue was confused. It couldn't have given out this notification sooner?

Or maybe the beast was very barely alive?

Otherwise, why would it give this notification especially after a delay?

She sighed and shrugged. 

Sometimes, she couldn't help but wonder if the damned System or rather the elder was simply playing tricks on her.

"Hu Hu Hu. It's fine. As long as I am getting stronger…" She sighed and climbed back on the tree for the time being. 

She also dismissed Little Plum.

There was still daylight left and Tang Yue didn't want to take shelter this early in the day, but her body was heavily injured. 

So she decided to find an appropriate hideout to spend the night.

The thin blue snake lazily slithered from one tree branch to another, looking for a good spot.

And of course, her two stalkers still followed her, but now with more serious faces.

"You were right Ginko. It was definitely worth waiting and observing her." Gale stuttered after a while.

"I didn't realize she had such high proficiency in fire magic."

"Just how did a spirit beast manage to manipulate fire to that extent?!"

"This is ridiculous." 

"Yes, it looks like she is quite adept in this magic." Ginko replied seriously with a mysterious glint in his glassy eyes.

"How? How is it even possible?"

"Do you think that the Crown Prince might have helped her in some way?"

"Otherwise, how could this be possible?"

"More importantly, if that is the case, then is she someone important to him?" Gale worriedly asked.