Eight.
Eight unique cores... pounding quietly in my chest like trophies.
It's been over a month since I began hunting in this cursed labyrinth. My body had grown—not just in size, but in power, in speed, in instinct. I stood now on four legs like a shadow-wrought wolf, my fur darker, tougher, with streaks of silver near the spine. I was the size of a mid-adult human, lean but solid. My eyes had changed too. Sharper. Hungrier.
Just two more.
Only two more unique cores before I finally completed the evolution the system whispered about in my mind. My bloodline boiled at the edge of awakening.
I sat near the glowing crystal vines deep in the cavern maze, licking the dry blood from my claw. My breath was steady, but my muscles ached. That last one had left a mark.
The system window still hovered, translucent and mocking.
---
[Devour – Level 3]
Unique Cores Absorbed: 8/10
Core Slot Capacity: 4
Bonus: Stat inheritance increased by 20%.
---
Heh... Not bad.
But the next two wouldn't go down so easy. I could feel it in my bones.
I closed my eyes for a moment. And then, like a flood, the memories hit. My mind played back the brutal path I'd clawed through to get here...
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Flashbacks
1.The Cragling Imp, a one red eye monster, with a height and looks of a goblin
Who took almost everything out of me when I was just a pug with weak body
2.The Raviging Slashtail, with a strong body and vitality with fur over his body and strength and defence like a rock
Its was easy compared to my first kill but more difficult then it to kill
Instead of getting depressed in this fight . I feel more like enjoying the fight
3.The Gloomspike panther , Sleek, black-furred, twice my size. Fangs longer than my foreleg. Its amber eyes locked onto me the moment I stepped into its territory.
This was the first monster which match the type of species I am of now. It gave me better experience to fight against one of my own kind
4. The Gravehowler, a skeletal wolf that echoed my every move—only faster. Beat it by turning off my instinct and fighting like a human assassin again.
This was the most disgusting beast I have fought with because it was more like a undead than a living beings
Also it give me familiar feeling, like I had in my past life, the feeling of a predator or say assassin
5. The Frostveil Moth. Wings of ice, breath of mist. Beautiful and cruel. I had to close my eyes and rely on sound to kill it.
I don't hate ice but this body genes hate it, it was difficult to fight with him because my unconscious mind gives my body another order than I give it to him
6. The Stonetusk Grunter. A boar with magma-tipped tusks. One misstep cracked three ribs. Worth it.
When I was fighting it , I thought about making a steak out of him but as I am now, I have no way I can eat it , ( I have to it raw again weeeeee. )
7. The Screech Vine-Terror, part-plant, part-bird, all screech. Slit its root before it wrapped around my lungs.
Its almost took my breath. That was the first time I was in a state where I could have died by suffocating or say lack of oxygen
8. The Sandspike Lizard. Quick bastard. Took three pounces and a final bite to the skull.
Its name had a lizard in it but it didn't look like a lized it's more like a crocodile or say alligator
More agile and fierce then I had seen In my past and this life.
---
Eight monsters. Eight cores. Eight victories.
I stood.
Two more. I wouldn't delay. My evolution was breathing down my neck.
"Let's finish this," I muttered, voice low and steady, more growl than man. My claws scraped against the stone.
I crept forward, leaving the crystal glade behind. The tunnels narrowed into spined paths, echoes of distant monsters flickering in the black.
My target was near.
The system flickered again.