A Guide to Raising Snake Spirits - Chapter 2

Don’t hit the Spirit Body. Don’t hit the Spirit Body. Don’t hit the Spirit Body.

Guanyue Xi repeated the mantra three times before he managed to swallow his temper. How could one person be this unlucky? First, he crashes into a tree, then he falls down a hole. Every scrape on his body throbbed with renewed spite. He could only comfort himself with a grim thought:

“It’s fine. A positive attitude determines a Guide’s entire life.”

The snake in his hand began to coil its way up his forearm. The sensation of cold scales sent a wave of goosebumps across his skin. Guanyue Xi arched an eyebrow and unceremoniously plucked the snake out of his sleeve.

“Absolutely not. You set me up, and now you want to leech off my body heat?”

The snake’s tail flicked against the ground in protest, clearly trying to convey that it was freezing in this pit.

Ignoring the serpent, Guanyue Xi used the dim light filtering through the hole above to fish a flashlight out of his pack.

Once he clicked it on, the true scale of the cavern became clear.

What he had assumed was a small sinkhole was actually a massive tunnel. Even with the impressive beam of his tactical light, he couldn’t see the end in either direction. A closer look at the walls revealed they were made of metal. The hole he had fallen through was a ragged, person-sized breach in the ceiling—it looked as though something had smashed through it with immense force.

His brow furrowed as he processed the scene.

“How strange. Why is there a massive man-made structure here?”

“The Tower briefed us that this was a primitive, desolate planet. It was supposed to be completely undeveloped. Something is definitely off.”

He murmured to himself, his voice echoing in the hollow space.

“And a project this big. you don’t build this in a year or two. What on earth is this tunnel for?”

He paced back and forth, sweeping his light across the area in search of clues. The sound of his footsteps rang out in the empty silence.

“If I find something significant, maybe I can get extra credit. That would secure my spot as an ‘Honours Graduate’ for sure.”

“Walls, floor…”

The beam of light followed his gaze.

“Aha! I actually found something.”

The black-haired Guide snapped his fingers with a grin.

There were several dark brown stains on the floor. Guanyue Xi knelt, rubbed the substance between his fingers, and brought it to his nose. Even though he was a Guide with five senses roughly equivalent to an average human, the metallic scent of blood was unmistakable—and beneath it lay a very faint, lingering trace of a Sentinel’s pheromones.

Guanyue Xi stood up and gave the “dead” snake on the ground a sharp nudge with the toe of his boot.

“Hey, Snake. Have a sniff. Is this a Sentinel’s blood?”

The Black Mamba, seemingly humbled by its earlier blunder, slithered over to the bloodstain. After a moment, it silently glided deeper into the tunnel, its dark form quickly merging with the shadows.

Guanyue Xi followed with his flashlight. Thanks to the mental link with his Spirit Body, he wasn’t worried about losing track of it, and soon his silhouette also vanished into the darkness.

Guanyue Xi had two reasons for tracking this mysterious Sentinel. First, as fellow humans on a hostile planet, his natural empathy as a Guide made it impossible to abandon a wounded Sentinel. Second, he was curious.

A wounded Sentinel appearing in the middle of a wasteland was suspicious. The exam had only started a few hours ago; could someone really have gotten themselves this badly hurt so quickly?

He drew his Guide-issue pistol and moved forward with caution. After about half an hour, the Black Mamba signaled back—it had found an exit. Soon, a faint glimmer of light appeared ahead, and Guanyue Xi’s eyes brightened.

After being in the dark for so long, the brilliant sunshine felt like a physical blow. Everything was a blur of blinding white. Squinting, he shielded his eyes with his hand to take in his surroundings.

The area was littered with large boulders and dense vegetation. Based on the terrain, they were likely at the foot of a mountain.

The snake was waiting for him at the mouth of the tunnel, a black coil resting on a grey rock, its inky eyes fixed on him.

Guanyue Xi understood immediately. “The Sentinel is nearby, isn’t he?”

The Black Mamba nodded and promptly vanished into the shade beneath a nearby tree.

Guanyue Xi found this strange.

“A minute ago you were complaining about the cold, and now you’re hiding in the shade?”

The snake couldn’t speak, but it kept staring pointedly in one direction.

A Spirit Body often reflects its master’s state, but sometimes their instincts are sharper.

Guanyue Xi paused to think. Ever since he had entered the tunnel, a strange sensation had been growing stronger with every step. It was a restless itch in his chest, as if something were beckoning to him. The weather wasn’t particularly hot, yet sweat was trickling down his face. His breathing was uneven, and an inexplicable sense of irritability began to gnaw at him.

Something was wrong.

He puzzled over it for a moment before slapping his thigh in realization.

“God damn it. It’s Bond Heat.”

Guanyue Xi was speechless. What kind of luck was this? Out in the middle of nowhere, the only Sentinel he runs into happens to be someone he is compatible with. Triggering Bond Heat requires at least a Level 3 compatibility—there were probably only a handful of such pairs on the entire planet, and he’d stumbled into one in the back-and-beyond.

Muttering curses under his breath, Guanyue Xi fished a bottle of suppressants out of his bag and injected himself. A sharp sting flared and faded. As the cold liquid entered his veins, the feverish heat subsided, and his mind cleared.

He checked his last remaining vial of suppressant. If the guy ahead didn’t have his own, things were going to get ugly. Sentinels were mentally unstable by nature; if Bond Heat wasn’t managed, they would go from “agitated” to “destroying everything in sight” real fast.

The black-haired Guide rolled up his sleeves and shouldered his pack. Sensing his master’s shift in mood, the Black Mamba also became alert. Man and snake moved forward with extreme care.

Guided by the mutual attraction between their types, Guanyue Xi quickly located the cave where the Sentinel was hiding. Before he even reached the entrance, he could smell a thick scent of blood mingled with the bitter aroma of coffee.

“A coffee-scented Sentinel?”

He felt a pang of sympathy. At this distance, the Sentinel’s enhanced hearing would have already picked him up. Guanyue Xi carefully released a soothing wave of his own pheromones, hoping to calm the stranger down. He glanced at his gun and decided to holster it—it was better not to provoke a cornered Sentinel with a weapon.

He had only taken two steps when a massive, green-spotted python suddenly blocked his path. It was easily over ten metres long and as thick as a man’s torso. As it moved, the muscles along its back rippled in segments, making the black ring patterns on its skin look even more terrifying.

No one looking at it would doubt its power to crush life. A single coil would be enough to shatter a man’s bones. This was a Green Anaconda—the largest snake in the world.

It stared at Guanyue Xi with deadly intent, opening its mouth to reveal a terrifying, purplish-red throat and a tubular trachea.

The Black Mamba shot forward, intercepting the giant snake. Refusing to be intimidated, it bared its fangs in a silent snarl. Its signature ink-blue mouth and venomous fangs were a clear warning. Despite being more than ten times smaller than the Anaconda, it stood its ground without a hint of fear.

As a Guide, Guanyue Xi recognized instantly that this python was the Sentinel’s Spirit Body. He frowned. A Spirit Body this distinctive was something he should have heard of if they were in the same graduating class. Furthermore, if the Spirit was this stressed, the Sentinel himself must be in a terrible state.

He intensified the soothing pressure of his pheromones.

“Easy now. I’m a Guide. I’m not here to hurt you.”

Guanyue Xi spoke softly as he took two steps back, signaling his snake to do the same.

“See? If you need it, we can give you more space.”

Between the pheromones and his submissive body language, he saw the Anaconda slowly close its mouth, its expression shifting to one of confusion.

“Want to come closer and have a sniff?” Guanyue Xi offered a friendly smile and held out his hand. “I  think my scent is actually quite pleasant.”

“…”

His Black Mamba stayed on high alert, ready to strike if the giant snake made a single suspicious move.

The Anaconda hesitated for a long time before slowly drifting closer.

Guanyue Xi didn’t move a muscle. The Anaconda sniffed the air about ten centimetres from his hand before vanishing as abruptly as it had appeared.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The Spirit Body was convinced, but that just left the “main body” who was likely even harder to deal with. He hoped the Sentinel would be just as receptive.

The cave was shallow about five or six metres deep and three metres high. He could see everything at a glance. In the shadows, a tall, hunched figure was curled up against the wall.

Guanyue Xi didn’t have a Sentinel’s night vision. Even with his eyes wide, he couldn’t make out the man’s features. Afraid that a flashlight would trigger the Sentinel’s frayed nerves, he gave a light cough to announce himself.

“Ahem. Hello. I’m just a Guide passing through for the graduation exam. I followed the… uh, scent.”

“…”

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re a Sentinel. Mind telling me your name?”

“…”

Fine, Spirit Bodies can’t talk, but why is everyone I meet today a mute?

Guanyue Xi felt like he was talking to a brick wall. He considered just turning around and leaving; clearly, this guy didn’t want help.

He stood in a standoff with the figure in the dark for a moment. Just as he was about to give up and return to his exam, a raspy voice finally emerged from the shadows. It was a single, cryptic observation:

“Lemon-scented.”

“Huh?” It took Guanyue Xi a second to process that. “Oh. Right. My pheromones. Yeah, they’re lemon.”

The Sentinel fell silent again.

A real man of few words, this one, Guanyue Xi thought irritably. He decided to ignore the attitude and took a few steps further into the cave.

“Look, I’ll be blunt. You’re feeling feverish, right? Like you have an irresistible urge to smash things?”

The stranger: “…”

“If you don’t say anything, I’m taking that as a ‘yes’.”

“Those are symptoms of Bond Heat. And as it turns out, I’m the compatible Guide.” Guanyue Xi pulled the suppressant from his pocket. “I have some medicine that will take the edge off. As long as we stay away from each other after this, it shouldn’t flare up again.”

“By the way… do you know how to inject yourself?”

“…”

Guanyue Xi let out a heavy sigh. If the guy wouldn’t talk, there was nothing for it. He’d just have to play the Good Samaritan to the end.

“I’m guessing that’s a ‘no.’ I’m coming over to give you the shot now. Please don’t hit me.”

He felt like a zookeeper trying to feed meat to a wounded lion—he almost wished he had a long pole to deliver the medicine from a distance, like a tribal spear.