We lapsed into silence, our eyes cautiously fixed on the fallen Orc Lord, as if even the faintest whisper could awaken it from its deathly slumber.

 

Mercifully, it remained inert, its monstrous form devoid of life. Visceral tendrils of Nihility Energy still clung to its body, ravenously sapping any remaining vestiges of magicules.

 

“Quick, hide it!” I hastily instructed my direwolf companions, Shiro and Kumo, my gaze flicking nervously over my shoulder. Rimuru was bound to notice the altered demeanor of the Orc ranks sooner or later, and I didn’t want him to know that I was the one behind the Orc Lord’s death.

 

Actually, I did want him to know I was the cause of its death, I just didn’t want him to know that I had it in my possession. There were quite a few reasons for this, but mainly:

 

For one, Rimuru would undoubtedly claim the Unique Monster for himself, an outcome I had no interest in allowing. And even if he were generous enough to let me keep it, his subordinates might not see eye to eye with him on that.

 

Furthermore, should he consume it, his rate of power accumulation would skyrocket—rendering my own progress painfully slow in comparison.

 

Either way, it would be easier for me if we didn’t let the hungry slime discover about it. My direwolf comrades understood; with a synchronized effort, they gripped the Orc Lord’s hulking feet and dragged it into the obscurity of the nearby brush, a task simplified by the creature’s magicule deficiency.

 

True to my suspicions, Rimuru arrived, propelled through the air, his entourage of subordinates following closely underneath. "You okay?” Rimuru sent a thought into my mind. “You look like you’ve been through hell.”

 

I nodded. I’d gained many skills over my 15 days, and one of them was a particularly unusual one. One that allowed me to fabricate ‘superficial wounds’ to mislead my adversaries.

 

Though it was just a Common Skill, under the calibration of Source, it could even fool wielders of Unique Skills. Realizing my deception had bypassed even Great Sage made me exhale a mental sigh of relief.

 

Rimuru scrutinized the murky backdrop behind me, piecing together the jigsaw. Clearly, I had vanquished the Orc Lord single-handedly.

 

What he was really worried about was the scattered patches of darkness that seemed to be slowly spreading. Even Great Sage couldn’t decipher them, and was only able to inform Rimuru that they were dangerous.

 

He pondered querying me, but ultimately chose discretion over curiosity. Everyone had their private enigmas, and he wasn’t about to spill the beans on his own capabilities, Predator and Great Sage, anytime soon.

 

He gestured to his subordinates, silently conveying his decision before ambling over. “You good, bro?” He clapped a hand on my shoulder.

 

“Yeah.” I replied tersely, not bothering to elaborate.

 

“You sure don’t look it,” Rimuru quipped, generating a cerulean orb of liquid from his form. “Take this; it’ll mend you up.””

 

The boy hesitated for a moment, before downing the blob of liquid. You could’ve just splashed it on your face. Rimuru thought, but didn’t announce it. “Go get some rest, we’ll catch up later.”

 

“Rest up, we’ll reconvene later,” he suggested, then floated away, his entourage trailing behind. This time, their departing glances carried not disdain, but a newfound respect—a reverence for strength.

 

 

 

“Ugh, seriously…” I muttered, lounging on the back of Shiro in a secluded patch of the forest, the overhead canopy of leaves providing dappled shade.

 

Rimuru had not pressed me with questions, a development I found curiously unexpected. However, his gaze had been sharp, and it had nothing to do with me having killed the Orc Lord.

 

His concern, I sensed, lay more with the tendrils of Nihility Energy that I hadn’t fully retracted.

 

I had wrestled mentally to pull back the ominous Nihility Energy into my body, but for some unexplained reason, it was defying my commands.

 

Instead, it remained free, hungrily eating away at the ground, turning soil into barren ash.

 

By the time Rimuru arrived, stray tendrils of this dark energy were still aimlessly floating about, like a serpent’s forked tongue tasting the air.

 

Relief washed over me as Rimuru refrained from questioning the matter. How would I have lied my way out of that entanglement? That was a rabbit hole I didn’t want to tumble down.

 

But it was finally time for the main event, the main dish, the main ‘cuisine’. Well, that’s if one’s idea of fine dining includes devouring a grotesque, ten-meter tall behemoth of muscle and malevolence, then I was about to partake in a Michelin-starred meal.

 

My time in this world, punctuated by near-daily consumption of all sorts of abominations, had steeled my stomach for this moment.

 

Despite my acquired resistance to disgust, a shiver cascaded down my spine as Source began to shove the colossal Orc down my gullet.

 

By the time the process was completed, nothing remained of the Orc Lord but tattered, fetid rags that smelled like a gym locker room that had never been cleaned. I mean, literally nothing; Source had voraciously consumed every last morsel, down to the tusks.

 

Thanks to a variety of digestive skills I’d picked up along the way, devouring monsters had become less jarring on my system. Still, my insides felt like they had run a marathon through a field of thorny brambles.

 

As Source devoured the last shreds of the Orc, my heart pounded in my chest. Fingers mentally crossed, this was the game-changing moment.

 

*Notice. Unique Skill Starved has been acquired*

 

“HELL YEAH!” I hollered, balling my fists in triumphant ecstasy.

 

*Extra Skill Predator’s Eyes and Unique Skill Starved will be merged using Unique Skill Covalent*

 

My eyes widened with anticipation, my hands clutching tufts of Shiro’s fur as I waited for Source’s response.

 

*Notice. Extra Skill Magic Sense will also be merged with Extra Skill Predator’s Eyes and Unique Skill Starved*

 

Huh? Wait, that wasn’t part of the pla-

 

*Notice. Unique Skill Ravenous has been acquired.*

 

A tsunami of information and raw data crashed into my neural networks. Source had spared me the anguish when I first received Unique Skill Starved, knowing that it was merely a stepping stone to power up Predator’s Eyes.

 

But this time was necessary. It felt like my brain was undergoing its own version of a supernova explosion. This was why monsters usually fell into a deep sleep upon evolution—it helped their brains assimilate this cascade of new data.

 

The agony ebbed away gradually, leaving me awash in a sea of newfound knowledge and capabilities. I looked down at my palms, my eyes as wide as saucers. This skill was beyond expectation.