Chapter 5: Monster Eating + x10,000 Multiplier
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Riven was eating goblin meat.
"Ugh, disgusting."
He had thought about cooking it first, but that would only delay the inevitable, so he decided to just eat it raw.
His strong jaws and teeth from the recent transformation allowed him to grind through bone and muscle with ease.
Riven tore another chunk of raw goblin flesh free with his teeth. The taste was foul, metallic, and rancid, layered with the sour tang of monster mana, yet his newly enhanced body refused to reject it.
There were no changes to his body until he had devoured around half of the goblin.
Then a dark red energy coalesced within him and spread across his body, pulsing with a faint green glow.
"What is this...?!"
The Authority of Gluttony had activated, and his Class, Predator, was finally showing its worth.
[Monster Eater] Activated.
[Goblin consumed: 47%.]
[Experience gained.]
[Gluttony] Triggered.
[Stat Absorption: +0.01 Strength | +0.01 Agility | +0.01 Vitality.]
A second later the multiplier hit.
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[Stat Absorption magnified.]
[Strength +100 | Agility +100 | Vitality +100.]
He felt the changes instantly. The sudden surge of power felt like molten iron flooding every fiber of his being.
He dropped to one knee, fists slamming into the dirt of the backyard hard enough to crater the soil.
Bones creaked, then thickened under the pressure of the new strength.
"That’s... not bad."
He had investigated earlier that F Rank Hunters usually had stats in the dozens, E Ranks usually had one stat around one hundred, and D Ranks reached into the thousands.
Right now Riven had obtained three stats each over a hundred points, placing him at the starting line of D Rank.
Just by eating a measly little goblin? No, only half of it!
But that was not enough.
Not enough at all if he ever wanted to confront the one who had left his wife in this broken state.
Melisa Frostbane, the current Frost Sovereign of the Frostbane Family, a monstrous L Rank (Legendary) Awakened.
For that he would need hundreds of thousands of times the stats he possessed right now.
The Calamity that would consume the world, provoked by her family and his own, was likely only three years away.
He did not have time.
He had to hurry up, grow as quickly as possible, and stop them from taking everything from humanity.
Or everyone, and even the planet itself, would be doomed.
"Alright, let’s get this done with."
He forced himself upright and finished the rest of the goblin in three savage bites. Bone, organs, even the tiny core, everything went down. The green glow intensified, then settled into a steady, hungry thrum deep in his chest.
[Goblin fully consumed.]
[Skill Acquired: [Minor Stealth – Level 1]: Decreases your presence for 10 seconds by 30%, making it easier to sneak behind a foe for a critical hit.]
[Talent Devourer: No viable talent detected.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[Skill: [Minor Stealth: Level 1] has been multiplied x10,000!]
[You have learned the Skill: [Veil of Invisibility: Level 1]: Envelop your body in an invisibility veil that makes it impossible to be detected by anyone with Perception Abilities lower than B Rank. Once you attack a foe, the invisibility veil disappears, but there is a guaranteed Critical Hit (Ignores 50% of Defense and Deals x3 Damage) on the foe. Cooldown: 30 Seconds.]
Riven was shocked. Veil of Invisibility was an incredible Skill. He was no longer just a tough warrior. He could now sneak behind foes and strike them with a critical hit that tripled the damage and ignored half of their defense.
With this, would his talents not be wasted if he entered anything less than a D Rank Gate?
"Hm, I still have that thing... let’s get it over with."
Riven was already addicted to this feeling of power. He wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to the larger body.
The Hobgoblin.
Its thick hide and dense muscle promised far better results. He did not bother with knives. His bare hands tore the corpse open like wet paper.
The first mouthful of Hobgoblin meat was denser, richer with mana.
The Authority of Gluttony roared in approval, as if Beelzebub himself were speaking directly to him.
[Monster Eater Activated.]
[Hobgoblin consumed: 25%.]
[Experience gained.]
[Class Level Up! Predator → Level 2.]
[Gluttony Triggered.]
[Stat Absorption: +0.008 Strength | +0.005 Endurance | +0.004 Mana.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[Strength +80 | Endurance +50 | Mana +40.]
Riven’s vision whited out for a full three seconds. When it returned, his senses had sharpened so dramatically that he could hear Elisa’s steady breathing through the closed bedroom window and the soft buzz of a mosquito approaching her.
He moved quickly, using the goblin’s severed hand to smack the mosquito into the ground, killing it before it could touch his wife.
"Hah, and that’s only twenty-five percent..."
He kept eating.
By the time the Hobgoblin was reduced to a clean skeleton and an empty core socket, he ate the bones too. Then a new window appeared.
[Hobgoblin fully consumed.]
[Skill Acquired: [Lesser Club Mastery – Level 1]: Increases Mastery over Club-type Weapons and the Damage they deal by a small amount.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[Skill: [Lesser Club Mastery – Level 1] has been multiplied by x10,000!]
[You have learned the Skill: [Heavy Weapon Master – Level 1]: Grants instant Mastery over all Heavy Weapons the user holds, whether Hammers, Clubs, Maces, or similar. Increases damage dealt by 100% and Defense Ignore by 10%. Bonuses increase with each Skill Level. Heavy Weapon Martial Arts can develop automatically through the combination of Weapon Proficiency and Mana.]
[Passive Skill Acquired: [Thick Hide – Level 1]: Your hide is thick as armor. You take less damage from physical attacks.]
[Skill: [Thick Hide – Level 1] has been multiplied by x10,000!]
[You have learned the Skill: [Impenetrable Skin – Level 1]: Your skin is thicker than mithril armor. You can withstand all sorts of physical attacks with extreme efficiency and negate a large quantity of damage up to a certain amount. Additionally, magic damage deals only half as much, and your wounds regenerate ten times as fast.]
[Talent Devourer: Chance failed.]
[Predator Class Level 3 reached.]
[New Class Skill Unlocked: Devourer’s Instinct – Sense residual power in nearby corpses and living prey within 50 meters.]
[Gluttony Triggered.]
[Stat Absorption: +0.02 Strength | +0.01 Endurance | +0.015 Mana.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[Strength +200 | Endurance +100 | Mana +150.]
"Hm, it didn’t work on the Class Skill. I suppose it works differently," he thought. "Class Skills don’t count as external rewards, is that right? So it only applies to external things, not what is already within me... for now."
Riven nodded silently and then looked back at the monster cores, wondering if he could draw some kind of value from them.
Then something that had been delayed for a bit finally appeared. It seemed to respond more to his wife’s mood than anything else.
The Love Investment Authority activated.
[Love Investment Authority]
[Target: Elisa Frostbane]
[Affection Level: 18 → 20]
[Investment Progress: 0.5%]
[Note: Target’s latent recovery rate has increased by 0.05% due to emotional stability.]
[You received the reward: [Elisa’s Smile (D Rank)]: A Recovery Potion that restores 30% of your Health and Mana and leaves a passive regeneration buff on your body for the rest of the day.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[The Item [Elisa’s Smile (D Rank)] has been multiplied by x10,000]
[You have received the item: [Elisa’s Pride (SSS Rank)]: Call forth the power that Elisa once held, summoning a Phantom embodying her past to aid you in battle for 24 Hours.]
"It even works on items..."
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