— Third Person —
As soon as the blade pierced Adel's heart, a cry of pain escaped his lips. His eyes flew open, and his body arched in a final spasm.
He struggled for just an instant, then his eyelids shut, and all strength left him.
Meanwhile, the monster's heart pulsed, and a faint, unsettling violet light began to radiate from the runes.
The carvings on the boy's chest lit up in response, tracing black lines that spread across his torso. The flesh around the wound twisted, tore, healed, and tore again, as if the body itself rejected what it was trying to absorb.
The monster's heart trembled, then slowly began to dissolve inside Adel's chest.
The ground around him quivered. The rocks, soaked with the blood of the ritual, sizzled like burning coals. But it was the rune on his wrist that caught attention; it glowed gold and black at the same time, as if two opposing forces were trying to overwhelm each other.
When the heart finished merging, dark spirals began to form on Adel's chest, extending to his shoulder. And then, everything grew quiet… at least on the surface.
Inside Adel's consciousness, where a silent, empty land stretched endlessly, the monster's will wandered lost, unaware even of its death. It searched for its prey, but found nothing.
Then, from the ground, a tiny point emerged and grew before its eyes. A black slime took shape — dense, pulsating. Tentacles twisted, eyes without fire opened on its surface. The monster sensed the danger.
It tried to escape, but a tentacle shot out, grabbed it, and dragged it in, absorbing it into its body.
When everything was consumed and nothing was left to see, the creature closed its eyes and sank back into the ground.
— Adel —
I opened my eyes wide and shot up, coughing up the leftover blood that clogged my lungs.
I stayed crouched for a few moments, my head pounding painfully. I could only remember the moment I had stabbed myself; the rest was a jumble of confused, senseless flashes.
"Ha… did it work?"
I looked at my arms, and they were no longer skeletal. Still thin, yes, but now fuller, with lines that hinted at muscle. The rest of my body seemed to have changed in the same way.
"And what's this?"
I lowered my gaze to my chest. There, where I had struck myself, was a strange spiral-shaped tattoo.
I didn't know much about the ritual I had performed. In my old life, I never needed it, since I was already a Grade 7 and losing my connection to my god didn't make sense. Everything I knew came from scattered rumors — they said it was used to heal lost limbs or to amplify the power of someone desperate enough to try it.
But I had never heard of a mark like this.
I touched one of the lines with my finger, and in that instant, something strange appeared before my eyes.
#######################
Name: Adel
Age: 16
Race: Human...?
Grade: 0
Core: Lizard Heart (0 → 10%)
Physique: 0.003 → 0.1
Mind: ???
Mana: 0 → 0.05
Vitality: 0.001 → 0.1
Skill: Shadow Veil (Lv 1)
#######################
"For the gods' sake… not even a day has passed and you're already throwing another madness at me."
It wasn't so much the appearance of the window that shocked me, a simple spell could produce a similar screen, but what it showed.
First of all, why wasn't it sure about my race? And then… what exactly was that "Core" line?
The skills seemed to have taken the place of the blessings.
Finally, the "Mind" line… well, thinking about it, maybe it was the most accurate way to represent it.
"The core… I guess it's like the one the draconians have, although that final value… I have no idea what it means. As for the skill…"
The moment I thought about the skill, information popped into my mind.
[Shadow Veil.]
[Activating this skill allows the user to reduce their presence in dark spaces. This skill can be improved.]
I tried to activate the skill, like I would with a blessing, and immediately I was wrapped in a layer of shadows.
"It's very similar to a blessing I used to have."
Since Noctis was the god of night and silence, I had various skills with an affinity for shadows/darkness, so it was quite easy for me to use that skill.
With some answers in hand and many more questions, I focused on how to get stronger.
Looking at my stats, I understood just how disastrous my situation had been before I absorbed the heart. Now, at least, I had a foundation to build on.
The draconians strengthened themselves by storing mana in their core, the dragon heart, and refining that energy.
I closed my eyes and tried to do the same. I could feel the mana surrounding me and each breath pulling it in, directing it toward the heart, where… it was rejected?
No, wait — maybe I did it wrong.
I tried again. But like before, the mana refused to flow into the core.
That was a bad sign.
A very bad sign.
"Come on, you bastard… get in."
I tried harder to guide the mana into the heart, but it was useless.
"Hah… HAHAHAH!"
I was so screwed that laughing was the only option. I had just lost any chance of revenge, and no, I didn't take it well.
"FUCK!"
I kicked the lizard's corpse in anger. I had almost died and had even stabbed myself in the heart, all for nothing.
Might as well kill myself before the alien races showed up, and if you wondered why I didn't go to someone powerful and tell them what would happen in the future, the answer was simple: I couldn't.
It was one of the iron laws imposed on me; nothing from my old timeline could be revealed.
I rubbed my forehead, trying to find a solution, when the mark on my chest began to pulse. Text appeared before my eyes.
[New skill: Predation.]
[Predation]
[A skill that allows you to absorb power from the cores/hearts of reptilian creatures, improving and evolving your own. This skill cannot be used too many times consecutively, and preying on the core/heart of a creature with a higher grade than your own carries the risk of destroying your own body.]
I stared at the skill for a long moment and, well… it seemed too good.
Too many things didn't make sense, especially this mark on my chest and now this skill.
"It is said that a poor man cannot complain about free food, but that does not mean he cannot suspect that it is poisoned."
It was also true that, being the only one who had ever tried something like this, I couldn't say for sure if what was happening to me was normal or not, but I didn't want to ignore the doubt either.
"I should test it for now."
I looked at the corpse of the monster I had just killed, doubting anything would happen. As I suspected, touching it did nothing. I forced myself to drag it toward the exit, finally squeezing through the crack, though with a bit more difficulty than when I entered.
The sky, always endlessly bright, didn't let me tell how much time had passed, but before worrying about that, I wanted to test my new abilities.
I headed back to where I had found the shadow lizard I had killed. While walking, I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction for my rebuilt body, which no longer got exhausted after just a few steps.
I reached the same spot in no time. I carefully checked the surroundings and, a bit further ahead, I spotted another one, busy devouring another monster.
The area was shrouded in shadows, so I activated Shadow Veil to reduce the chances of being seen.
I approached slowly, using every shadowy patch to blend in with the surroundings, getting closer and closer.
When I was close enough, I crouched down, feeling the muscles of my new body tense.
I held my breath, staring at the creature. A moment later, I lunged forward, driving the blade into the spot where its armor was thinnest, between the neck and spine. The beast let out a choked sound, twisting for a few seconds before falling limp to the ground.
If I had missed that vital point, I would have been forced to fight the creature, and if possible, I still wanted to avoid that.
I looked down at the still-warm corpse. I needed to figure out how to use my skill. At first, I thought I had to extract its heart, but as soon as I touched it, the skill activated.
[Predation activated.]
I could see the monster's skin cave in where the heart was, and then the notifications appeared.
[Lizard Heart (10 → 12%)]
[Physique: 0.1 → 0.11]
[Vitality: 0.1 → 0.11]
[Shadow Veil: Lv 1 → 2]
That… was a lot.
By killing just one monster, I had not only improved my stats, but one of my skills had even leveled up.
"I shouldn't celebrate too soon."
I didn't know for sure if it would happen every time, but if it did… I could speed up some plans.
The fact was, I now had a path to grow stronger, and I needed to find out just how far I could push this skill.
"Looks like I'll have to spend a bit more time in here."