1 System reboot!

"The hell? Where am I?"

[I am your land survival system, you are the new owner of this snakezoid body]

[Obey me, and I shall teach you the secrets of survival with the aid of body upgrades]

"What the... Are you on shrooms?"

...

William's vision was still at a blur, so he couldn't quite understand what went on here.

A moment ago, some lady softly chirped a few words through his head that were clear, but yet barely made any sense. He supposedly was the new owner of this snakezoid body, but couldn't possibly understand what that meant!

Such a concept was beyond the norms! As he muttered things over however, another conclusion bloomed.

Although spooked by the idea, he still questioned. "Did I die? This is weird..."

The good man's vision cleared up just a blink later, but that only complicated the matter further. 

He spotted a snake which not only stood up straight, but was six-foot tall as well! An equally long tail followed it along, so he presumably just faced a beast!

"Bruh? Why is this a thing?" William grunted.

Upon further observation, he noticed that there was more than one creature of this liking, there were actually tens of them! They slithered across a busy stone-street, and seemingly carried on with their everyday lives.

William noticed a few humans between this crowd as well, which only made things weirder. They behaved casually, like it was normal to spot man-sized reptilians, who had a posture as equally smug as the nobles!

"Humans now? What kind of weird hell is this? Definitely worse than getting fucked by a demon or something." He thought.

An eventual mental breakdown wasn't improbable, there was so much to see here which he as a modern human wasn't nearly used of. What distracted him from such stress however, were the rugged architectural values which these surroundings featured.

"These ugly snakes actually know how to build houses and shit?" William asked himself.

The structures around here had a couple of main colors, which mostly seemed depressing. Some buildings were light-gray, while others had a darker texture but color in general lacked complexity.

The stone road looked especially bad since it had one single muddy shade, as if raw dirt was mixed with rocks.

"What a bad place to crash on," William could only complain.

Details around this manner weren't too important. The main point was that everything here seemed like a vast community, a whole civilisation! 

In hindsight it was difficult to take everything in, relatively, the most stressful idea could possibly be the most effective one at the moment.

He had to talk to one of these creatures, and therefore called out. "Hey you, get your scaly ass over here!"

The lady that spoke deep within his mind before, didn't respond again so far; For that matter, it was important to establish some other sources of information.

"Ran away, huh… Guess he was as scared as I am. Who could blame him, this place is a pretty weird hell." William muttered, and simultaneously noticed how everyone else abruptly avoided him.

Perhaps a squatting and squealing man wasn't so easy to approach, these random people had to play it safe after all. Anyway while he had called out for attention, it was inevitable to spot a couple more important details.

He too was shaped like a human, and had a pair of five-fingered hands to confirm it. In this case however, that fact was both confusing and offensive.

"I either lost it, or someone's fucking with me. Didn't that woman in my head tell me that I'm supposed to be a snake?" He silently contemplated, and tried to stand up.

While muttering things over, he further relied on the conclusion that this was either a dream, or he had gone crazier than humanly possible.

Nothing made sense, but thankfully a familiar tone sounded out right after, one which could help understand these abnormal surroundings! 

[System reboot…]

[Test one,]

[Test two,]

[Test test test, can you hear me sir new body owner?]

William was spooked through the first few seconds, but the sense of familiarity he felt from that tone, embraced just a little bit of comfort.

"I can hear you, unfortunately. It probably means that I'm insane now, or took one too many magic mushrooms." He joked just to escape a hunch of stress, knowing well that he never bit through any goofy drugs.

In the meantime, he even put some effort to observe the surroundings, just to figure if anyone stood idle close-by. He assumed that someone whispered all those words in his ear, and was rightfully suspicious.

That was not the case at all, however. He was ironically alone in this big crowd, so this soft female tone had to come from his head; In whatever way that was possible!

Thankfully though, this lady was cooperative enough to briefly describe. [I am your land-survival system, not to be confused with the ocean-survival system, which would help you fight angry fish and stuff like that. Anyway, you're the new owner of this snakezoid body.]

[The previous owner had died thanks to a heart attack, right here on the streets.]

"Oh that's sad," He mumbled, and wondered if modern medicine existed here.

But thankfully the system helped him focus, as it described. [You have died on your past planet for whatever reason, and your soul has migrated to this body afterwards.]

[I sensed your origin from the beginning, you come from some dying rock which is called; Earth?]

"Yes but, you gotta be shitting me… This place is not on earth?" William pressured.

[I may be no astrophysicist, but the carbon footprint of your milky-way galaxy, couldn't possibly support even mildly intelligent reptilian life. The carbon quantities across its planets tend to rise quickly, right after life blooms, which biologically cripples thousands of species who could potentially evolve complex brains.] The system punctually explained.

She didn't leave much space for the newcomer to speak, as she continued. [I hope science is enough to prove a point, but you can still experiment with these surroundings. Pinch one of these snakezoids, I guess, if you don't mind getting bitten that is?]

William muttered that idea over for a second, but quickly dismissed it. He was taunted by the diversity which this place had, as multi-raced humans and snakes lurked across the streets!

He wasn't racist, of course. Instead, it simply was stupid to pinch any kind of snake, be it green, black or white. Common sense advised against it, and these human-like creatures wouldn't appreciate any invasive gestures either!

Anyway, the stunning details across this area gestured towards realism more than enough. For that matter, he felt ready to ask a few more important questions now.

"Okay, you probably aren't shitting me. But like, where the hell are we right now? It's easier to believe that humans humped some lizards, rather than anything you said." He pressured, and still clung to skepticism.

[For your first question, you're currently on planet ALBA-UM. This planet resides somewhere in the Triangulum galaxy, your kind probably aren't aware of its existence.]

A second later, William could only admit. "I have no idea where that is, but other humans probably knew."

He was still baffled, but these surroundings felt a bit more realistic now, specifically since galaxies were mentioned. Likewise, he now was a bit more eager to hear this system out.

Cooperatively, the lady in his head continued. [I have little information about your planet or what its people are capable of, but this can lead us towards your second question. These smooth-skinned creatures you're seeing at the moment, aren't humans.]

"What?" He grunted like a startled hog.

Quite casually, the other answered. [They're all snakes, or snakezoids to be exact. That two-legged form is somewhat more mobile, so some rely on it through their daily lives.]

While still ground-breakingly confused, William asked. "So they are snakes who can turn into humans?"

[No no, they are snakezoids through and through, but they can simply shapeshift into this human-like form.]

"Wait, so you're saying that I can turn into a snake as well?" He questioned, and suddenly locked eyes with the only creature here that paid attention to him; A light-skinned brunette.

They didn't reach the point of communication, but that short-lasting eye contact felt good enough. Realism was ensured a hunch more, and the accelerating emotions it spiked up were overwhelming!

Anyway, the system helped him focus again by answering that recent question. [Literally, yes. You have the innate ability to turn into a snake, but at the moment, there's a disease in your body that strictly prevents your transformation.]

[It killed the previous body owner with a heart attack, and it can do the same to you. Your fate however, could turn out far worse as the disease is already inflamed.]

"I don't want to die again, so we gotta get rid of this thing!" William panicked.

Almost immediately, the other chirped. [Guessed so, it would be hilarious if you died off quickly this time around. As for the disease though, you gotta drink a kilo of honey to heal yourself; Specifically the kind which is produced by the rare, giant blue-bee.]

Such an answer seemed quite random, and the silence that stretched out afterwards managed to build up some pressure too!

William had enough space to rely on more sarcasm, he thought. "Oh... that sounds easy to get."

[It isn't so easy, but there's an additional reward to it, if you survive that is.]

"Really?" He questioned.

[Yes. If you manage to cure yourself by any means necessary, two-thousand system points will be thrown to your name!]