I drug all of the bodies into one place. Most had head or neck trauma as I don't know if a damaged heart affects anything. I would think not but you never know with weird magical abilities. There were a total of fifteen corpses, five already had their hearts removed and eaten, nine had hearts of unknown quality and then there was Arthur Yest whose heart should be worth thirty HEP. Time to dig in.

Eight of the nine hearts were worth two points and one was worth three which brought me to this total.

Now should I accept the reward first or eat Artur's heart first? But the reward might give me extra stuff from his heart. Fuck it I have nothing to lose.

Interesting. So filling up the HEP gives me three choices to choose from. This time an augment, skill, and ability. Is it like this every time?

There's only one clear winner among these. Iron Stomach could be useful but since it's a skill I may be able to acquire it normally so that's a pass. Scale Shot I think isn't the greatest. If the scales on my tail were absent in my fight with Arthur I would've either lost or died as he would have been able to carve a deep wound into me. So Bewitching Eyes it is.

Well, I thought they were, to begin with so this doesn't change my answer. As soon as I confirmed yes my eyes were hit with a searing pain. I quickly clutched the area around my eyes and let out an agonizing scream. They felt like they were liquefying and reforming over and over again.

A few minutes passed before the pain finally subsided. I cautiously looked around my new eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness of the fire and the dark of of night. I could indeed see slightly better although the firelight hurt a little to look at directly for too long. Hopefully, that won't be a permanent issue and it is just my eyes getting adjusted. I don't know if there were any visual changes though, I would have to find either a large enough surface of polished metal or clear enough water to check. Now that I think about it I don't know what I look like. I have a vague sense of my features from before the stranger either awoke my powers or gave me this system which did. I remember that I thought I was quite pretty and that my eyes were like that of rubies, and my ears were tapered like elves. Might as well search for a water source tomorrow morning. That way I can both check out my appearance and wash myself of all this blood. Gods the smell is starting to get bad, but I still refuse to go out there at night. There are plenty of things that go bump in the night and I don't know if I can handle them right now.

Now onto the next heart. As I ate it it exploded with various delicious flavors. It was like I ate a premium steak. Wait what's steak? GAH! I hate this implanted information! You recognize that something is like a steak but not what a steak is! *sigh* I hope an actual steak is as good as that heart. Let's just check my stats and claim my reward.

So does it increase by increments of five each time or did it double from an increase of five to an increase of ten? Something to figure out later unless the system wishes to enlighten me right now? No? Okay.

So two augments and an ability this time. I guess it is a bit random then. Serrated Fangs, while boring, is just a straight upgrade. Regenerative Flesh will never not be useful and I will already have to eat a lot for evolution and for [Devour] so the downside is minimal. But Blood Offering is a bit concerning. The description is vague and the color is the same as those very, well for lack of a better word bloodthirsty messages. Is something trying to influence me? I know that gods factually exist because of my given information so I wouldn't be surprised that one is trying to influence me. It could also be any of the myriad demons or devils in the Burning Abyss as well. They thrive off of corrupting and twisting mortals.

"I'm sorry to whatever being is trying to influence me but that description is just too vague and untrustworthy. So please don't smite or curse me." I said aloud. I don't know if they are in my head or not so let's just say that out in the open. And if they are in my head well, that's something to be concerned about, isn't it?

My fangs I mostly use for poison injecting purposes anyway so let's not do Serrated Fangs right now. All that leaves is Regenerative Flesh. I accepted that as my reward and braced for the incoming pain.

.....

Huh. No pain. My stomach is a bit itchy and looking down I can see that my wound is slowly closing up. That's going to be pretty useful. Would be faster if I knew how to circulate mana. Something to try and do in the morning after a rinse. Let's [Devour] these corpses and then head to sleep. The adrenaline of combat has long worn off and all my body wants to do is sleep.

***

I was currently propping my torso up from the ground in despair. I've devoured thirteen of the corpses and do you know what I got? Nothing except a full stomach. Nothing except what I feel is the mocking messages of the system.

Is the description of [Devour] a lie? Why is it not working the way it's supposed to?

Okay whoever you are, you are definitely in my head. Thank you for at least communicating with me. Guess it's time to eat these other corpses. All that's left is the one whose heart was worth five HEP and Arthur's. Both should have some good skills so let's do this. [Devour]!

As Orstelia used [Devour] the entirety of her eyes went the same ruby red color her irises were. Opening her maw towards the corpse worth five HEP a truly gruesome sight could be seen. It started with the blood around the corpse being sucked into her mouth. Then the body was peeled, layer by layer.  After all the soft tissues and organs were dissolved into mana then came the bones. They rapidly desiccated and then crumbled into dust, and then mana. Anything that flew towards her mouth was dissolved into pure mana, thus nourishing her. The equipment was however spared from such a fate.

The only reason Orstelia never reacted is that during the process she couldn't see anything and it happened in around four seconds for a human-sized target. Onlookers would be able to see every part of a human body in four seconds. Truly not the best thing to witness.

Useful. Now I can apply my venoms to any weapons I have. Maybe I can mix it with my saliva to make it easier to spread? I would probably have to use multiple doses to make it work properly otherwise it might become too diluted. Something to worry about later.

I looked towards the corpse of Arthur. I don't have many memories of being a snake but I'm pretty sure he was the strongest I've ever fought. I don't know why but I felt the urge to give a little prayer to the gods, hoping he found a worthwhile afterlife, if they existed at all. Nothing about them exists in the information given to me. I clapped my hands together and closed my eyes, giving a silent prayer for Arthur Yest. I know at least that the being known as [REDACTED] can see into my mind so I hope it isn't just an empty gesture. After that brief prayer, I used [Devour] on Arthur's corpse.

Well even if I don't stick to ranged weaponry it will help with my poison spit attacks at least. Now to find a nice warm, covered place to sleep. Although I'm getting the feeling I forgot about something. Probably wasn't important then.

A few minutes later I found a very nice tent, judging by some of the decorations in it I think it may have been Arthur's. It was just barely big enough to fit me if I coiled up, something I was going to do anyway. Sleep soon took me and I drifted into the blissful existence that was sleep.

*****

-Someplace where only gods dream-

It was neither late nor early in the morning or night but outside the study's window was a perpetual clash of twilight and dawn. The study was quite large having one wall of nothing but filled bookcases, several small tables with chairs, a fireplace with a kettle over the fire, and at at opposite ends of the rectangular room was an ornate door made of ash wood and a large gothic style glass window with a large desk and a plush high backed chair made of dark wood. Sitting in the chair was a male, human-looking figure who was reading one of the many papers strewn around the desk.

He was of average height, had dark brown but graying hair, and had a beard that wrapped around the edges of his jaw and around his mouth that had a sharp extending point where his chin was of the same color. He wore professional-looking gentlemanly clothing although his overcoat was hanging off of a nearby coat rack, along with a wide-brimmed traveling hat and a top hat, leaving him in only his pants, a white shirt, ruffled with a long day's activity, and a black tie. One of his hazel eyes wore a monocle of silvery metal and clear glass but both eyes were focused on a particular piece of paper he was holding.

It was an essay worth of words as a written apology from Loki for one of his pranks on the gentleman's carefully made system. It was a type of apology letter something he had seen thousands of times before but he had to read each and every one of them just in case Loki tried to pull one over on him. He has tried before so it's not like it's without precedent.

As he set the paper into his folder of Loki's apology letters a knock was heard from his door.

"Come in," he called in a pleasant, but tired voice.

The door opened to reveal a feminine figure draped entirely in frayed black cloth. Numerous shifting limbs of various animals could be seen moving underneath by neither person in the office seemed bothered by it.

"Ah, good waning radiance Fang. What brings you to my office?"

"I mostly wanted to appreciate the waning sky from your window while I enjoy some of your tea Teller. Today's council meeting was an absolute bore and dragged on for what felt like a mortal's lifetime." Fang responded in a hissing, sleepy drawl.

"I wanted to see if you would fight me!" came an aggressive growling voice from under the same cloth. "And I just want to be away from everyone!" came a third voice like that of a shy little girl.

Teller just nodded as if everything was completely normal and gestured to one of the empty tables.

"Sit down and I'll have tea made shortly. I imagine there's more to your visit than just some R&R," Teller stated while getting up from his chair. He needed a break anyway, and he could always use chronomancy to make sure the work he needed to do would get done. As Teller made tea Fang glanced at the numerous books on the shelves before her gaze fell on Teller, an unseen blush appearing on her cheeks. She shyly turned away and gazed out at the beautiful sky present past the window.

Her focus was broken by a teacup being set in front of her and Teller sitting down with an exhausted sigh. They both took a quiet sip from the scalding tea, Fang having to push aside part of the cloth hood covering her face revealing her sickly pale flesh, purple asphyxiated lips, mouth full of shark teeth, and her right heterochromatic eye, a fuchsia-colored cat's eye. A few locks of her white, wool-like hair fell in front of her eye which she angrily huffed about and then put back.

There they sat for several minutes just enjoying the tea and silence. Underneath all the cloth covering her Fang was fidgeting nervously. She wanted to ask Teller out on a date but she was so nervous she could barely taste the tea in front of her. As she drank the last of her tea she took a deep breath.

"Hey, Teller. Would you like to..." Before she could finish her sentence the door burst open. In the doorway was a shirtless boy who looked no older than fourteen and of vaguely Nordic descent. The features that stood out the most were the pair of goat horns on his forehead and the four spider limbs ending in human hands on his back.

"Hey Teller! That tree was boring so I came to say hi!" he cried jubilantly with eyes closed as he burst through the door. He opened his eyes only to instantly pale with fright. Loki knew a lot about other gods hence why he instantly knew he fucked up. 

"On second thought I think I'm going to go elsewhere!" he yelled nervously. He turned around and went to leave but a scaled, draconic hand firmly grasped his shoulder. He slowly turned his head only to see two glowing eyes, one fuchsia cat's eye, and a cyan wolf's eye staring at him with burning hatred.

"I think we need to personally punish you," Fang said as three voices with barely contained menace.

"Wait a minute 'Mother of Nature's Fangs', no Grezxial, there's no need to be hasty no is there!?"

Grezxial, whose nickname in the realm of gods was Fang, disagreed as numerous bestial hands grasped onto Loki. Loki's screams could be heard for over a week. What she did though is only known to the two involved.