[ Midnight Bell Tavern, The Next Night ]
The Midnight Bell smelled of cheap smoke and stale urine. Kael sat in the booth furthest from the light.
Grimm slid a leather pouch across the wood. He stood, eyes flicking to the Bastard Sword resting against Kael's leg.
"Four Gold Dragons," Grimm whispered. "Thirty silvers for the hide."
Kael weighed the pouch. Heavy. Dense.
"We're done."
"Vance..." Grimm wrung his hands. "Vance is asking questions. That sword technique. The fire. Are you...?"
"Go."
Grimm left.
Kael loosened the drawstrings. Gold glinted in the candlelight. Four Dragons. Added to the Alpha hunt and Sir Janson's coin, he held six.
[ Ironforge Market - The Butcher ]
The shop smelled of sawdust. The hooks were bare.
"Meat," Kael said.
The butcher looked rung out. "Dry. Caravans stopped three days back."
Kael looked past him. Hanging in the back was a hulking shape. Wild Boar. Freshly dressed. Three hundred pounds of cold mass.
"That."
The butcher laughed sharply. "Baron's reserve. Flesh is gold. Seventy silvers. Seventy-five if I chop it."
Kael looked at the boar. Last week, a pig was five silvers.
He reached into the pouch. He thumbed a single Gold Dragon and flicked it onto the counter.
Thud.
The butcher stared at the coin. His hands shook.
"One Gold," Kael said. "The boar. The mutton carcass. Every scrap of suet you have."
"But... that's nearly a hundred silvers..."
"Deliver it to my quarters. Now."
The butcher snatched the coin. He bit down on the metal. "Yes! Immediately!"
[ Barracks - Private Quarters ]
Kael locked the door. He wedged an oak chair under the handle.
In the center of the room lay the pile. The boar. The sheep. The fat. Four hundred pounds of biomass.
Kael stripped to the waist. His left arm was purple, swollen from the triceps tear.
He checked the System. 18 AP.
He walked to the window. Outside, the Black Rain hissed against the stone.
In the alley below, refugees huddled against the wall. A gaunt mother scooped the tainted slush from the windowsill into a cup. She fed it to her child.
Kael watched the child swallow the inky drops.
He turned back to the room.
System. Gluttony Ritual.
[ UPGRADING TO EXPERT... COST: 4 AP ]
[ UPGRADING TO MASTER... COST: 12 AP ]
[ TOTAL COST: 16 AP ]
"Confirm."
[ GLUTTONY RITUAL — MASTER ]
Passive: Hyper-Metabolism — Digestion Speed +1000%
Passive: Perfect Extraction — Converts consumed organic matter into usable energy with zero waste
Passive: Internal Incinerator — Neutralizes toxins, parasites, and corruption during digestion
Heat bloomed in his stomach.
He grabbed a raw chunk of boar. Bit down.
Crunch.
Nutrients hit the blood. Kael watched his purple, swollen left arm twitch. Beneath the skin, the torn triceps fibers pulled together. He flexed. The arm moved without pain.
Kael gripped the massive oak bed frame. Squat. Press. Squat. Press. He moved until his muscles burned.
Eat. He shoved flesh and bone into his mouth. Digest. Repair.
Then, the growth hit.
Crack.
Kael hit the floor. His shin bones fractured, dragging apart, then re-fused instantly. His spine popped. Ribs expanded, snapping the cartilage.
The air in the room grew thick with bloody steam and the copper tang of iron.
Four hundred pounds of biomass disappeared.
Kael collapsed onto the damp floor. His skin smoked, encased in a shell of black residue.
[ One Hour Later ]
Kael woke.
He stood. Crack. The carbonized shell crumbled off his skin.
He walked to the mirror.
[ USER: KAEL ]
[ CLASS: SQUAD LEADER (VETERAN) ]
[ HEIGHT: 178 cm ]
[ WEIGHT: 88 kg ]
Five centimeters taller. The ribs were buried under layers of serratus muscle. His arms were thick, roped with veins. His neck was a stump of sinew.
[ ATTRIBUTES ]
[ VITALITY: 2.5 ]
[ STRENGTH: 2.6 ]
[ AGILITY: 1.6 ]
He dumped the last 2 AP into Agility.
[ AGILITY: 1.6 -> 1.8 ]
Kael lifted the Bastard Sword.
Forty-four inches of folded steel.
He gripped the handle. It felt like a reed.
He swung it. Whoosh. The blade cut the air.
He looked at the steel. The metal vibrated from the force of the swing. If he struck a shield now, the torque would snap the blade.
"Kinetic mismatch," Kael muttered.
He sheathed the sword.
He patted the coin pouch. Six Gold Dragons left.
He cleaned the dark residue from his skin with the basin water. His tunic strained across the chest.
He unlocked the door.