Thalos stepped out of the ruined shop and into the shadowed alleyway of The Marrow.
The air smelled different now. Before, it was just a soup of toxic fumes and ozone. Now, with his upgraded senses (Spirit: 12), he could smell the layers of the air. He smelled the sulfur of the deep mines, the ozone of the neon signs, and underneath it all, the faint, metallic scent of Titan Essence.
It was everywhere. The world was saturated with energy, but for normal people, it was too dilute to use.
"The Archons sit in their towers," Thalos thought, his mind racing. "They use breathing techniques to filter this essence. They spend decades meditating to form a 'Core' in their solar plexus."
That was the standard Path of Ascension. Gather energy, purify it, condense it, and slowly evolve from a Human to a Highborn. It was a clean, elegant process reserved for the rich.
...Thalos looked at his own dirty hands.
"I don't have decades," he whispered.
The Four Stages of Ascension were common knowledge. Every child in the mines was taught them, a cruel reminder of how far they were from the gods.
The Somatic Stage (Body): You must harden your skin and bones until they are dense enough to hold the Titan's pressure. Most miners died here, their bodies turning to stone before they could adapt.
The Humoral Stage (Blood): You must replace your human blood with liquid energy—Ichor resonance. This required expensive serums and rare breathing techniques.
The Crystalline Stage (Core): The energy condenses into a solid "Star" within the chest. This is the mark of a True Noble. A single Crystalline warrior could wipe out an entire mining sector.
The Celestial Stage (Crown): The final step. You manifest a Halo. You become an Archon, ruling from the Spine, untouched by the filth of the world.
For a Helot like Thalos, reaching the Somatic Stage would take twenty years of breathing toxic air and hoping he didn't die. Reaching the Humoral Stage was statistically impossible without money.
"But I don't need to breathe," Thalos realized, staring at the beetle. "And I don't need money."
The beetle in front of him—a Lithos-Beetle—was a perfect example of natural cultivation. It had spent its life eating the Titan's bone. It was likely at the peak of the Somatic Stage, its shell harder than iron.
A normal human couldn't scratch it.
But Thalos wasn't normal anymore.
[Target Identified] Race: Lithos-Beetle (Tier 0 Beast) Cultivation: Peak Somatic (Physical Reinforcement) Danger Level: Low
"Test subject one," Thalos muttered.
He didn't have a weapon. His piston-spear was back in the shop, broken during the raid. He only had his hands.
He stepped out of cover.
The beetle stopped eating. It swiveled its faceted, glowing orange eyes toward him. It hissed, spreading its mandibles.
Thalos charged.
He didn't have a technique. He just had raw, newly mutated stats. He closed the distance in two seconds (Agility: 7) and swung his fist down onto the beetle's back.
CRACK.
Pain shot up Thalos's arm.
He gasped, stumbling back. He hadn't cracked the shell. He had just bruised his knuckles.
[Combat Log: Physical Damage Negated by Target Defense.]
[Tip: Lithos-Beetles cultivate Earth Essence to harden their carapace. Blunt force is ineffective.]
The beetle hissed and lunged. It slammed its rocky head into Thalos's shin.
"Gah!"
Thalos fell, hitting the metal floor. The beetle was on top of him instantly, its mandibles snapping for his throat.
Thalos caught the mandibles with his bare hands.
He gritted his teeth, pushing back. The beetle was heavy, dense as a boulder. He could feel the insect's strength—it was "cultivated" power. This thing had spent years eating bone to get this strong.
"You... are... heavy," Thalos grunted.
He squeezed. His grip strength (Strength: 6) was slightly higher than an average human, but it wasn't enough to crush rock.
He needed to think.
It cultivates defense. It covers its back in armor. But the belly...
The belly was soft. It had to be flexible to move.
Thalos stopped trying to push the beetle off. Instead, he pulled it closer.
He unlocked his legs from the ground and kicked upward, driving his knees into the beetle's underside. At the same time, he twisted his hips.
Use the weight against it.
With a heave, he flipped the heavy insect over his head. It crashed onto its back, legs flailing in the air, exposing the pale, fleshy underbelly.
Thalos scrambled on top of it before it could right itself.
He didn't punch the shell this time. He drove his fist straight into the soft, pulsating meat of the throat.
SQUELCH.
Green blood sprayed. The beetle screeched, thrashing wildly, but Thalos didn't let go. He ripped his hand back, tearing out a chunk of wet, fibrous meat.
The beetle went still.
Thalos sat there, panting. His hand was covered in green slime. His knuckles were bleeding.
[Target Eliminated.]
[Experience: +10]
He looked at the dead insect. In the cultivation world, a hunter would now carefully dissect the beast to find its "Beast Core"—a tiny marble of concentrated energy—and sell it. The meat was usually discarded as toxic.
But Thalos looked at the shattered shell. He looked at the glowing green organs.
His stomach roared.
[Trait: Iron Stomach is active.]
[Hunger Detected.]
Thalos grabbed a piece of the rock-hard shell. It looked inedible. It was inedible.
He bit down on it.
CRUNCH.
His teeth, reinforced by the System, shattered the rock like it was hard candy. He chewed the sharp shards. It tasted like chalk and old iron. He swallowed.
Then he grabbed the soft meat and swallowed that too.
It was revolting. But the moment it hit his stomach, the familiar heat returned. It wasn't the agonizing fire of the Ichor; it was a warm, simmering hum.
[Digesting...]
[ extracting Calcium... ]
[ extracting Earth Essence... ]
He felt his skin itch. He looked at his arm. For a split second, his skin rippled, turning a faint, dusty grey before returning to normal.
[Absorption Complete.]
Stats Updated:
Constitution: 8 --> 8.5
New Passive Acquired:
[Minor Chitin Plating (Level 1)]: Your skin has absorbed the essence of the Lithos-Beetle. +5% Resistance to physical damage. Your bones are 10% denser.
Thalos wiped his mouth.
He stood up, flexing his hand. The bruise on his knuckles was already fading.
He hadn't just eaten a bug. He had stolen five years of its hard work. The beetle had spent its whole life chewing on the Titan to build that armor. Thalos had taken it in five seconds.
"So that's how it works," Thalos grinned in the dark.
The Archons cultivated by breathing the sky.
The Beasts cultivated by eating the earth.
"I cultivate by eating everything."
He looked deeper into the alleyway. He needed more. 10 XP wasn't enough. He needed to reach Level 2 before the sun came up.