Sector 4 was widely known as the Neon District.
Before the sky tore open, it was a place of nightlife, cheap bars, and flashing holographic advertisements.
Right now, it was nothing but a slaughterhouse.
The holograms were glitching constantly. They projected fragmented images of dancing girls over piles of dismembered corpses.
The smell of blood hung heavy in the air.
Alvian walked straight down the center of the street.
He did not hide at all. Stealth was only for prey. Predators could naturally walk wherever they pleased.
His new [Micro-Scale Dermal Armor] felt tight across his chest. It was like a second skin that buzzed with latent energy.
He flexed his hands. The bone spurs on his forearms extended and retracted with a wet sound.
(Where are you?)
He was currently hunting.
The Scavenger had been a pretty good starter meal. However, his [Cellular Regeneration] burned energy at a truly terrifying rate. He needed to stockpile more energy.
A low growl vibrated from the alleyway to his left.
Alvian stopped his footsteps.
Eyes appeared from the shadows. They were glowing and magma-red.
One. Two. Five. Ten.
It was a pack.
They stepped into the flickering light of a broken streetlamp.
They used to be stray dogs that roamed the back alleys of this district. But the Genesis Rain had completely twisted them into terrifying monsters.
They were incredibly massive, roughly the size of ponies.
Their fur had burned away and was replaced by charred black skin. The skin cracked and glowed with internal heat.
Their jaws were unhinged, drooling liquid fire that dripped onto the road and ignited small flames.
[Target Identified: Hell-Hounds.]
[Threat Level: Moderate.]
[Analysis: Subjects possess pyro-kinetic biology.]
There were a total of six of them. They circled Alvian, their paws leaving scorched prints on the road.
"Come on then," Alvian said calmly.
The Alpha was a beast with a ridge of burning spikes down its spine. It lunged first.
It did not bite. Instead, it opened its mouth and exhaled.
Fwoosh!
A torrent of fire erupted from its throat.
Alvian raised his arm to shield his face, but the fire completely engulfed him.
This was no ordinary fire. It stuck to him tightly.
"Argh!"
Intense pain. It was absolute and searing pain.
Alvian stumbled back. The fire was literally cooking him alive.
He could smell his own hair burning. He could feel his skin blistering and peeling away.
The other hounds howled in victory. They added their own streams of fire to the mix. Alvian became the center of a raging bonfire.
(Hot. It is too hot.)
His vision blurred. The pain was truly overwhelming.
But deep within his mind, the System chimed with absolute coldness and indifference.
[Damage Detected: Third-degree burns across 60% of surface area.]
[Critical Thermal Overload.]
[Directive: Adaptation Required.]
[Searching Genetic Database...]
[Solution Found: Heat Absorption.]
Alvian dropped heavily to one knee. His skin was black and charred, cracking open like dried mud.
But beneath the burnt flesh, something entirely new was growing.
The System forced his cells to vibrate and change their state. Instead of fighting the heat, his body began to welcome it.
Crack. Hiss.
The charred skin on his back split open.
A new layer of skin quickly emerged. It was not pale human skin at all. It was deep and dark crimson.
It glistened with a wet sheen that sizzled when the fire touched it.
[Mutation Acquired: Basic Fire Resistance.]
[Mutation Acquired: Thermal Dissipation.]
The intense pain instantly diminished by a huge margin.
The heat was still there, but it no longer burned his body. It felt very warm. It was even energizing.
Alvian stood up.
The Hell-Hounds stopped their howling. The Alpha tilted its head in confusion.
The prey should be completely reduced to ash by now. Why was it still standing?
The fire around Alvian gradually died down. It was completely absorbed into his new crimson carapace.
He looked exactly like a demon born from the flames, with steam rising from his shoulders.
"Is that it?" Alvian asked.
He moved.
With the [Muscle Fiber Density +200%] he gained from the Scavenger, his speed was extremely explosive.
He closed the distance to the Alpha in a single heartbeat.
The Alpha tried to bite him, but Alvian directly shoved his hand straight into its open mouth.
He did not care about the heat in its throat at all. He forcefully grabbed its tongue and pulled.
Riiiip!
The Alpha gurgled. Blood and fire sprayed out from its mouth.
Alvian spun around. He used his bone spurs to slash the throat of the second hound.
Slash!
The crimson carapace protected him perfectly. When a hound bit his leg, its sharp teeth could not penetrate the new and hardened armor. It merely scraped against his scales.
Alvian grabbed the hound by its hind legs. He swung it like a heavy club and smashed it into a third beast.
Crunch!
Bones shattered completely.
This was a complete massacre. Alvian tore them apart with his bare hands.
He was brutal, efficient, and merciless. He ripped their limbs from their sockets and crushed their skulls under his feet.
Within thirty seconds, the entire pack was dead.
Alvian stood in the center of the carnage. His crimson skin pulsed as it slowly cooled down. It shifted from a bright red back to a duller maroon color.
[Combat Complete.]
[Harvesting available.]
Alvian knelt beside the Alpha. The heat coming off the corpse was very comforting now.
He dug in.
The flesh of the Hell-Hounds was extremely tough and tasted of sulfur and charcoal. But the energy it provided was different compared to the Scavenger.
It was spicy and hot. It rushed through his body like strong alcohol.
[Biomass Consumed.]
[Trait Assimilated: Enhanced Olfactory Senses.]
The world suddenly expanded.
Alvian stopped chewing. He flared his nostrils slightly.
The smells of the entire city exploded in his mind.
He could smell the burning scent from the broken power lines three streets over. He could smell the cold sweat of humans hiding in a basement two blocks north. He could also smell the rotting stench of a Xenid nest forming in the subway station.
He could smell absolutely everything.
[Trait Assimilated: Muscle Fiber Density +200%.]
His muscles tightened and wove together. They became much denser and harder. He felt like a coiled spring.
Alvian stood up and wiped the sulfur-tasting blood from his chin.
He looked at his hands. The crimson scales were fading slightly. They retracted beneath his skin until they were needed again.
He finally understood now.
The System categorized power into defense, utility, and offense.
And the way to get them was extremely simple.
If he wanted to resist fire, he had to burn. If he wanted to resist cuts, he had to bleed.
This realization was very twisted. A normal human would avoid pain at all costs.
But Alvian realized that pain was the currency of his evolution!
He looked down the street. His new nose picked up the scent of something massive moving towards the industrial district.
(I need to get stronger.)
(I need to find something that can hurt me.)
This thought would have been suicidal for anyone else. But for Alvian, it was just a shopping list.
He casually stepped over the broken bodies of the Hell-Hounds and walked deeper into Sector 4.
The law of the jungle had descended upon Earth.
And Alvian Cross was determined to become the king.