Becoming a Monster N Chapter 401: A Name’s Insight

Chapter 401: Chapter 401: A Na’s Insight

As the last tendril retracted, his creatures, one by one, settled into digesting his blood.

As they relaxed, Noah’s gaze drifted upward. Through the gap in Arachne’s nest, high above their ho, the serpent basked in the sunlight. Its black scales seemingly absorbed any light that shined around it.

Its expression revealed nothing, but the way its body relaxed, uncaring about the noise and motion below, it looked... content.

At that mont, Noah realized he had not only forgotten about it now; he had forgotten about the serpent last night.

He recalled how Pandora had appeared before him, her aura carrying a quiet urgency. Even without words, in her own way, she cared about the snake, more than he had given her credit for.

This was the reason he made the decision to give everyone his blood in the first place, and yet he had still forgotten.

It wasn’t neglect born of malice, it was habit. He’d grown so used to those who demanded his attention, who voiced their needs, who acted, then the quiet ones faded to the background.

It was the sa for Fenrir’s new mber, it was also the sa for the very creatures who were bonded to him. He spent less attention on Pandora, and the sa could be said for Arachne.

He sighed quietly. At first, a rare regret flickered in his eyes. But that regret was replaced with his desire to do better. He didn’t truly understand what it ant to have a family that cared and supported one another, but he vowed to give his family everything he’d once wished for himself.

The serpent seed to sense his intense gaze focused on it. Its head quickly turned to him, thinking that it was about to be chastised for lingering instead of patrolling to protect Pandora as it believed its existence was now ant to be.

"Pandora," Noah’s eyes lingered on the serpent a little bit longer before he called out.

He spoke her na softly, but it was enough. Pandora was always watching everyone, everything, and when it ca to Noah, her observing was even more drastic. In the sa breath, she materialized next to him.

"What... should I do?" she asked with a sowhat excited tone.

Noah shook his head exasperatedly. Never had he t soone who wanted to be used as much as she did. "I don’t need you to do anything...at the mont," he quickly added when he felt her beco disheartened.

"I just think... it’s ti we gave your snake a na."

Pandora’s illusioned form didn’t react, but her true form did. Her entire form flickered with a burst of energy for half a second before calming once more. Ever since she received her na, she understood the importance of having one.

She truly believed that soone without a na was living a life without purpose. Before eting Noah, she hadn’t understood what it ant to exist, not really. She had drifted through the world, guided by instincts she never realized were controlling her, obeying urges that weren’t her own, but those of whatever had created her. There was no choice, just endless wandering and questions.

But when Noah nad her, for the first ti, the questions inside her began to gain aning. Her instincts no longer drowned out her will, she was more than just a dryad. More than just the will of the forest and her race.

She was Pandora.

Now, when Noah spoke of giving her serpent a na, she understood exactly what that ant. She had been watching the serpent, given to her by Noah, venturing through the forest alone, fighting and protecting them. But in the end, Pandora always wondered if it truly understood why it did those things.

It fought because it was told to. It guarded her because Noah had assigned it that role after its defeat. Beyond that, there was nothing. The snake had no will of its own, just blind obedience, performing its duties, doing whatever it should just to survive... Just like she did before she t Noah.

"...Yes," she finally said. And then she waited, her soul radiated with anticipation again, yet she didn’t say anything.

She wanted the serpent, her serpent, to have a na. But more than that, she wanted Noah to be the one to grant it. Only when he acknowledged it could their shared purpose truly begin.

Although Noah didn’t know exactly what was going on in Pandora’s heavily devoted mind, he could at least understand that Pandora wanted him to na the creature.

With a deep exhale, he focused his thoughts on a na that would suit the serpent. Like every creature he’d nad before, he didn’t just think of a na that fit his aesthetics. His goal in naming a creature was to use that na as a baseline of how he wanted to guide the creature to grow.

What he didn’t know, and still was unaware of, was that the power of a na was more mythical than he had realized.

His eyes traced the serpent’s body. Even with his enhanced vision, he couldn’t see its end. It was massive, easily one of the largest creatures he encountered so far.

Its seemingly never ending body made a na surface, "Ouroboros." It was fitting for sothing that might one day grow beyond asure, a being without end. The na lingered at the edge of his tongue.

But sothing about it felt... wrong.

He looked into the serpent’s eyes, and that hesitation deepened. It was intelligent, cunning; it was more than just its size. And thinking about it deeper, it was the first of Pandora’s kind. In so ways, it was no different than a progenitor of Pandora’s guardians.

When Noah t its eyes, the slitted pupils, the eyes of a creature, where despite the fact it acknowledged him and respected him, rather that was out of fear or respect for his strength. In those eyes it felt as if it was also looking at him as if it was scheming. It reminded him of soone who had just irritated him not too long ago.

Everything clicked in that mont. Without thinking any longer, the na left his mouth before reason could catch up.

"Ophis."

"...Ophis..." Pandora repeated the na to herself, more than once. Then she stopped, staring into Noah’s eyes. She wanted to know what it ant, the sa way that he explained her own na.

"It ans ’serpent,’" he said loud enough for the serpent to hear as well. "It’s an old word that’s tied to many older legends. In so legends, it represents a primordial serpent linked with divine hidden wisdom.

His tone then changed as he thought about the true aning he gave the creature the na. "But it also represents the dragon that defied heaven. A being who may not have made the right decision, but they were able to see their own truth when others couldn’t think for themselves, and they fought for that truth."

The serpent’s gaze sharpened, that na stirring sothing ancient within it. Pride, long buried beneath obedience, rose from its slumber. It had once been proud, wild, unbound. But Noah’s strength had crushed that pride, forcing it to live in reality, tethered to Pandora.

Now that old fire whispered again, a hunger for freedom.

As that desire rose, it finally noticed that both Noah and Pandora were watching it all this ti. Through its bond with Pandora, it feared she had sensed that faint spark of rebellion, feared even more that she might tell Noah.

Noah didn’t need her to.

"In ti," he said suddenly, his voice cutting through the silence, "that sa serpent beca sothing greater... and far more dangerous. A being that rose against its own creators."

Ophis froze.

Noah’s gaze lifted, eting the serpent’s eyes without hostility, but with a quiet warning. "But in the end," he continued, "that serpent failed. Its wings were torn away, never able to freely fly in the open again. Because... It had forgotten who had given it its wings in the first place."

Ophis’s emotions were in shambles. A fleeting thought urged it to flee before it was too late. Its gaze never left Noah, ready to leave the mont it sensed even a hint of hostility. Yet the longer it waited, it realized that Noah didn’t see it as a threat this whole ti. Gradually, its tense body relaxed, coiling across the trees and the structure of their ho.

It felt stupid to think otherwise. For all its pride and defiance, Ophis understood that Noah’s warning was more of a rcy. But not because Noah cared about it, it was because Noah cared for Pandora.

This led Ophis to wonder what Pandora thought about it. Yet, Pandora didn’t care at all. Even if she knew what Ophis was thinking, she would see it was only natural for it to have those thoughts, because it had still yet to find its purpose.

Unable to endure their stares any longer, Ophis slithered away to reflect.

Watching it go, Noah shook his head before his gaze went towards Fenrir. The beast was already watching him expectantly. This was the mont Fenrir could na his own pack mber. He’d only been waiting for Noah to witness it.

But now that it was ti, Fenrir realized sothing was missing. He didn’t have a na in mind... In fact, he realized that his nas all originated from a certain soone who hasn’t insulted him ever since Stupid.

He smiled devilishly; he had won.