Seth awoke not with a jolt, but with a slow, deliberate inhale. Every fiber of his being thrummed with a vibrant, raw power he had never felt before. It was as if his old body had been a rusty engine, and now a supercharged motor was purring in its place. He sat up, the world around him appearing sharper, the scents of the forest more distinct.
He looked down at his hands, expecting to see the familiar fur-covered paws. His breath hitched.
They were… hands. Human hands. Covered in a few faint, silvery scars, but with short, clean nails and smooth skin. He brought them to his face, his fingers tracing the line of his jaw, his nose, his forehead. No fur. Just the warm, smooth texture of human skin.
A wave of pure, unadulterated joy washed over him. "I'm… human? I'm back?!"
But his elation was short-lived. As he moved, he felt a familiar weight behind him and a new sensitivity on the top of his head. He reached back and felt the long, bushy appendage—his tail. Then he touched the top of his head, where two pointed, furry ears twitched at his touch.
A quick glance at his reflection in a puddle of water confirmed it: he had the face and body of a human, but with the sharp, black-furred wolf ears and a matching wolf tail of his Beast-Kin form. His eyes retained their predatory, slitted amber glow.
'Well, half-human is better than full furry,' he thought with a mental shrug, the initial shock giving way to pragmatic acceptance. The sheer power in his new form was too intoxicating to complain.
He pulled up his system interface, a wide, greedy grin spreading across his now-hairless face.
Host: Seth
Race: Shadow-Wulfen (Evolved)
Status: Excellent
Devour Points: 62/200
Skills:
- [Venom Resistance (Moderate)]
- [Web Slinger]
- [Paralytic Venom Gland]
- [Pack Hunter's Sense] (New! - From Wolf Biomass)
- [Shadow Prowl] (New! - Racial Trait)
[Pack Hunter's Sense]: Allows host to instinctively sense the emotional state and position of designated 'pack' members.
[Shadow Prowl]: Allows host to blend into shadows, muffling sound and reducing presence.
"Oho! New skills!" he chuckled, his voice a smoother, deeper baritone than before. The Pack Hunter's Sense felt like a faint, glowing map at the edge of his consciousness, showing him the location of everyone in the camp. The Shadow Prowl was an instinct waiting to be used. Perfect for hunting. I need to go out again. I need more DP.
Just then, the foliage at the entrance of the secluded spot rustled. Fon stepped in, carrying a waterskin. "Seth, you're finally awake! We were so worri—"
She stopped dead, her golden eyes widening in shock. The waterskin slipped from her fingers, landing on the soft ground with a dull thud.
"Y-Your face…" she stammered, pointing a trembling finger. "You look… almost human! What happened?"
Seth stood up, stretching his new, powerful limbs with evident satisfaction. "The effects of evolution, it seems. Don't get used to it, I might get even handsomer next time," he said with a smirk. "How long was I out?"
"Just a day," Fon replied, still staring at his unfamiliar human-like features, a faint blush coloring her cheeks beneath her fur. Her eyes then drifted to the large, pulsating cocoon next to him. "And Gronk… he's been like that since you both returned."
Seth's gaze followed hers to the dormant Gronk. The manic smile that Fon had come to both fear and find strangely compelling returned to Seth's now-hairless face. Somehow, without the fur, his sharp canines and predatory gleam seemed even more pronounced and unsettling.
"Good. He's processing." Seth's smile widened. "Which means it's time."
"Time for what?" Fon asked, a sense of foreboding creeping into her voice.
Seth's eyes glinted with a terrifying ambition as he looked past her, towards the main camp. Through his new Pack Hunter's Sense, he could feel all of them—the weak, the scared, the hungry. They weren't just liabilities anymore. They were unfinished projects.
"Time to stop babysitting and start an assembly line," he declared, his voice dripping with manic energy. "It's time to evolve everyone here."
The idea struck Seth with the force of a lightning bolt. Dragging monsters back was inefficient. The true path to efficiency was to bring the experience points to the pack.
He remembered the potent, fluorescent nectar he'd accidentally crushed during the last hunt—the substance that had driven every monster in the vicinity into a frenzy. A little controlled application of that...
A cruel, brilliant smile touched his human-like lips. 'Why do the hard work when you can make the prey come to you?'
He gathered the entire pack in the center of the clearing. They looked at him, a mix of awe at his new form and nervous anticipation.
Seth looked over them—the frail, the young, the inexperienced. But he didn't see weakness anymore. He saw unspent DP.
He saw evolution potential.
"Listen up!" His voice, clear and commanding, cut through the air. "You're all tired of being hunted. Tired of being weak. Tired of humans and goblins and orcs looking at you like you're nothing but vermin!"
He paused, letting his words sink in. He saw fists clench and jaws tighten. Good.
"That ends today. You will not just survive. You will not just be strong." He gestured to his own form, then to Gronk's dormant cocoon. "You will become predators. You will evolve. You will stand at the top of the food chain, and the world will learn to fear the sound of your footsteps! We are no longer the prey! From today, we are the HUNTERS! AND EVERYTHING IN THIS FOREST IS OUR FOOD!"
A roar erupted from the pack. It was raw, filled with pent-up frustration and newfound hope. Even the elders were pounding their staffs on the ground, their eyes blazing with a fire they hadn't felt in years.
"Now, for your first lesson," Seth announced, his tone shifting to a practical, almost cheerful one that was somehow more frightening. "Advanced farming!"
He explained the plan with chilling simplicity. He had already soaked several large sticks in the potent Glow Nectar and placed them at strategic points around a designated "killing zone" at the edge of their camp.
Meanwhile, he and a few others had spent the last hour weaving a labyrinth of his incredibly strong spider silk between the trees, creating a series of funnels and traps.
The air began to thrum. A low growl echoed from the tree line. Then another. Drawn by the irresistible scent, monsters began to emerge from the shadows—giant wolves, screeching raptor-birds, and hulking, boar-like creatures. Their eyes were glazed with primal hunger, focused solely on the glowing sticks.
They charged—and immediately became entangled in the nearly invisible webs. They thrashed and snarled, trapped and confused.
"NOW!" Seth commanded, not moving from his spot. "They're already on the menu! Finish them!"
The pack, armed with spears and claws, didn't need to be told twice. They moved in, their fear replaced by a savage glee. A fox-woman drove her spear into a trapped wolf's side. A badger-man clawed at a struggling boar. It wasn't a fair fight. It was a slaughter. A harvest.
Seth watched, arms crossed, a satisfied smirk on his face. In his mind, the system notifications were a beautiful, chaotic symphony.
Catalyst Function: Target (Fox-Kin Female) Evolution Progress: +3%... +5%...
Catalyst Function: Target (Badger-Kin Male) Evolution Progress: +4%...
Devour Points (DP) Gained: +10... +7... +12...
Current DP: 91/200
Fon stood beside him, watching the scene with wide eyes. She saw the children, who were once terrified, now cautiously poking at a webbed-up monster with sticks. She saw the hope, the burgeoning strength.
She looked at Seth's profile, his human-like face set in an expression of utter contentment. The manic energy was still there, simmering beneath the surface, but it was now channeled. He had taken their despair and forged it into a weapon. It was terrifying, and she had never felt more secure.
Seth chuckled, low and dark. "See? Much easier than doing it all yourself."
He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of his pack farming their own future. The pained roars of monsters were like music. The chiming of his system was the chorus.
'This is true efficiency.'