Yeah, this new life bites, ahis bitch really does taste amazing!
The woman I was totally lusting over had just throwo the face of a demon, and now the two of us were plummeting down into a sinkhole, a massive abyss! Despite the chaotic dest into infinite darkhat swallowed us whole, I was unfazed. Instead, I g tightly to my quarry, ign her muffled screams. My corrosive form enveloped Niamh’s head, and her frantic g for release proved fruitless. Her dissolving fiips had been reduced to bony-like cws, her suffering, and desperation igniting a wicked delight within me.
Am I a sadist?
It wouldn’t be long until the rest of her hands succumbed to my touch, a thought I savored with perverse glee. Though a hint of remorse might have stirred within someone else, the alluring taste of cherries and the intoxig aroma of her melting flesh overwhelmed any traces of something as silly as morals.
As we tio fall for what seemed like ay—seriously, how deep is this hole?—I notiiamh’s fingers had almost pletely disappeared. Surprisingly, her head remained intact, although her facial features were aiggling a bit as I jostled her face, I could dis that her nose, lips, cheeks, and even her eyes were gone. Yet, she fought against me with releenacity.
Somehow, she mae what remained of her digits into a fist, nding solid punches on what used to be her face—effectively, to me as well. Sharp waves of pain—or was it more surprise than pain?—washed over me with each blow. Her desperate persistence, even now, anded my admiration.
Isn’t she quite the stubborn one?
Unwavering, she tio batter me with a barrage of blows, akin to a boxer striking a speed bag.
A, isn’t she just fug precious.
And then, in the blink of an eye—or rather a fsh of a notification—the assault ceased.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
BattleResult
Enemy Defeated: [Demonic Sn Vessel]
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Current Level: 13
Level 5 Milestone Achieved [LMA]
Racial Skill Unlocked: [Are Insight]
Level 10 Milestone Achieved [LMA]
Racial Skill Unlocked: [Polymorph]
Milesto Level: 15
Initiate [Absorb] on [Demonic Sn Vessel]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
Nine levels? Holy shit! I need Aurelia to toss me around more often.
That boost had been signifit, grantiwo milestone skills. But what came ure ecstasy! An asmic wave surged through me as the level-up notification pinged, invigorating every fiber of my being. My grip tightened around Niamh’s face, squeezing with newfound strength as I mentally screamed in delight. Like a watermelon overburdened by too many rubber bands, her head gave way with a grotesque pop. How I loo shriek aloud in my euphoria!
Unfortunately, all good things must e to ahis monster girl met the floor with a bang! I crashed into the ground with the ferocity of an apocalyptic explosion. A siing spsh resonated as Niamh’s remnants burst upoone, my viscous form following suit, spttering grotesquely in her wake.
Every part of me throbbed with paie being reduced to a quivering, asmic goo. Oddly, it reminded me of my first time doing an—never mind! Bereft of limbs, bones, ans, even a brain, I was merely a pudding—a sinister, demonic pudding—smeared across the stone floor, mingling with traces of the succubus.
I y there among the viscera, dissolving everything within reach, without any io move. My all-enpassing gaze eventually drifted to the persistent notification that still floated before me. After what felt like ay, I sluggishly heaved myself from the smear I had left on the ground.
Ugh, they call this a trial?
Gng back at the notification, I ceded with the fai of mental whispers, yes, on [Absorb].
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillUpdate
[Absorb] [Demonic Sn Vessel] Successful
New Selectable Skill Avaible:
> [Astral Insight]
V:\>
What’s with all the insight? I really should take a moment to gh all these skills. And why only one skill this time? Olin was too weak to give me any levels, yet I shree skills from him.
It ainfully clear that I had no idea how my system worked. heless, every advantage was crucial, especially since I had no clue what awaited me in this dungeon. Yes, I was actually inside a dungeon! My mind struggled to focus, tinually drifting back to the system skills.
Yeah, it’s time to explore these skill options.
After painstakingly pulling myself together, I was dishearteo find no remaining pieces of succubus flesh. It seemed my spttered form had no trouble dev the remnants after she burst like a pulverized pumpkin.
Ugh, I want more—yikes! What’s happening to me? No, Bke! Bad! Bad!
With a mental shake of my ent head, I focused ily on my status sheet, particurly the skill details. Anything to distract myself from the uling realization that I’d morphed into a monstrous version of Hannibal Lecter. I mean, ing people wasirely unpleasant—it was surprisingly delicious.
No! Bad!
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillDetails
[Absorb]
Description: Gain the ability to assimite the skills of your prey into your owoire. Success rates signifitly increase when used against dungeon monsters and other system users.
Status: Active
Type: Racial Skill
Activation: Cast
_
[Are Insight]
Description: Provides a deep uanding of the meisms behind your system skills, enhang your acquisition of are knowledge.
Status: Active
Type: Racial Skill
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Are Insight]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Astral Insight]
Description: Perceive the subtle interpy of souls and mana in your viity, revealing hidden es and essences.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
Select [Astral Insight]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Blight]
Description: jure a toxic mist that spreads a miasma of rot and disease, devastating those caught within its grasp.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Cast
Select [Blight]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Corrosive]
Description: Your touch bees lethally acidic, dissolving all that cks suffit immunity or resistance.
Status: Active
Type: Racial Skill
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Corrosive]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Fear]
Description: Emanate an aura that instills terror in those around you, selectively bypassing individuals based on subscious criteria.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Cast
Select [Fear]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Life Drain]
Description: Drain life energy from a target to heal yourself, transferring vitality with each touch.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
Select [Life Drain]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Mana Focus]
Description: Acquire the capability to prehend mana through i sorcery.
Status: Active
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Mana Focus]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Polyglot]
Description: Master all nguages spoken across the Moons of V?luspá by harnessing the ripples of mana to manipute linguistic barriers.
Status: Active
Type: Unique
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Polyglot]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Polymorph]
Description: Harness your eldritature to shapeshift at will, seamlessly adopting the appearand physical characteristics of any shape you desire, ti upon your uanding of those traits.
Status: Active
Type: Racial Skill
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Polymorph]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Silk Webbing]
Description: Produce exceptionally strong silk threads from your body, perfect for crafting intricate webs or durable fabrics.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Cast
Select [Silk Webbing]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Spider Walk]
Description: Traverse any surface effortlessly, as if gravity holds no sway over you.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Passive
Select [Spider Walk]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Stelr Void]
Description: Summon a pocket dimension by tearing through the veil into the void, creating an ephemeral space betweeies where the normal ws of physics are suspended.
Status: Inactive
Type: Unique
Activation: Cast
Select [Stelr Void]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Thermal]
Description: Empower your seo detect subtle thermal variations in your surroundings, allowing you to dis hidden life forms and enviroal anomalies based on temperature differences.
Status: Active
Type: Racial Skill
Activation: Passive
Deactivate [Thermal]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Venomous]
Description: Infuse your flesh with a potent toxin, harmful to those who ck suffit immunity or resistance.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Passive
Select [Venomous]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
Okay, that was a fug lot to take in all at once. Jesus, how am I supposed to even process all of that?
My biggest takeaway was that the racial skills I gained from my milestones came pre-activated on my skill sheet, and I could toggle the passives on and off—and boy, did I have a lot of passives. I didn’t bging into my immunities or vulnerabilities; those seemed pretty self-evident, though I felt rather smug about having immunities instead of mere resistances—go me!
However, as I stared at the list of skill descriptions, caught in a bizarre mix of fasation and revulsion, I was only now ing to terms with the fact that I was ensnared in a reality filled with magic, vampires, neancers, and demons—oh my. To top it off, I had bee some kind of monster! I shouldn’t be p this bullshit now. No, I should be seleg skills to activate, yet... It had beehan a few hours since I woke up from death—I had died—and here I lunged into the abyss of a fug dungeon. The uainty of what awaited me only fueled my frustration.
Focus, Bke. I o pick skills, not dwell on all that dramatic bullshit.
I have always been an anti-gun advocate... Well, maybe not an advocate, more of a silent piner. Whatever! At this moment, what would I have given for a pistol or assault rifle? It’s funny how danger realign your values. My moral pass? pletely scrambled right now! Hell, I just ate a woman, and not in the naughty way—the diabolically evil way—and I liked it! I sighed internally at the pleasant memory. Where was I going with this? ht! The best thing I needed besides a gun was range magic!
I sed my list, slightly irked by the vagueness of the descriptions. Blight seemed to be my only ranged spell, but a miasmic mist didn’t sound quite as votile as I’d like; it seemed more like atack spell, simir to that Fear spell, though that was more of a mental attack. I’d rather kill than make someone piss themselves. Life Drain could t as an attack, even if it was a healing touch-based attack that siphoned health from others to restore myself, but I’d rather poisohough, oher hand—healing! Still, I cked any strong offensive spells, and that’s precisely what I needed. If only I had a fireball htning spell, or any spell with some serious kick!
Gng at the list of selectable skills, a strong impulse surged through me, urgio try something, anything, just to see how it worked. Without much thought, my focus hovered over Silk Webbing. With a smirk pying on my ent lips, I decisively clicked yes o [Silk Webbing].
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
ActivateSpell
Seleg Spell: [Silk Webbing]
Status: Active
Type: Ability
Activation: Cast
[Silk Webbing] has bee as an active-cast ability.
_
Selectable: 2 out of 4 Skills Activated.
V:\>
Two out of four? Fuck! What was the first one I selected? ht, Mana Focus. Did I ignore a simir warning when I activated Mana Focus? Now, how the hell do I deselect Silk Webbing?
In a fit of cursing, I scrambled to toggle both skills on the list, but panic set in when I only saw Deactivate as an option—there was nothing about deseleg. I sifted through the status interface, desperately searg for the elusive option to uhem. I swore it was there, or should have been, likely smirking at my futile attempts. The problem y iatus s’s simplicity, remi of some a operating system from the 1980s, st space for hidden options. Yet, I couldn’t shake the suspi that it was my own inpetehat prevented me from reg that precious skill slot.
After taking a long moment to curb my stream of vulgarities and quiet the internal screaming, I gradually calmed down.
Shit, now I o be careful about what I pick.
Casting my gaze back at the list, Stelr Void momentarily caught my attention with its promise of dimensional ste—an alluring prospect. However, my priority was offense; I needed an attack spell. My only le options appeared to be Fear and Blight, and I wasn’t about to choose a mental debuff before seg a solid attack skill. Though Life Drain also intrigued me, it wasn’t a ranged skill, but its dual funality as both an attad healing tool was tempting.
sidering my current dition, I doubted I’d need much healing if I could just find some fresh flesh to e. After all, I had just survived a tremendous fall. It seemed that as long as even a part of me endured, not much else could take me down.
That’s probably why Fire is one of my two weaknesses.
Then there’s Blight, which appeared to be a bination of an attad a disease debuff, but the information provided was rather st. However, Blight might be superior to Life Drain, sidering it could potentially serve as both an offensive and debuff spell. Dammit! I just wasn’t sure if Blight was strictly an attack spell or not.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. I’m making far too many assumptions! What really is a mist of rot and disease—damage over time, maybe?
The allure of Venomous was undeniable, with its description hinting at a passive touch ability simir to Corrosive and Life Drain. The tantalizing prospect of inflig a twin payload of suffering on those foolish enough to make tact with me was too irresistible to ignore. Eveer, I could amplify my potential by bining all three skills! I made a mental o circle back to it. Pairing up passive attacks seemed like an obvious strategy, especially sihose skills thrived in close-quarters bat.
Holy, I won’t lie. I really wanted Spider Walk. It seemed like an excellent choice, especially given my current predit. I might even be able to scale up the hole I was thrown into with that ability. But knowing the bunch of cult-like lunatics up there, they probably wouldn’t sider that “pleting the trial.” So, I had to stay focused on offensive skills.
At first gnce, Astral Insight seemed unnecessary, but I couldn’t deny its appeal—seeing someone’s soul would be absolutely badass, especially sidering all the anime I’ve watched that made such abilities look incredibly cool. However, Astral Insight reminded me a bit of Thermal or perhaps more of Mana Focus. heless, it didn’t seem essential to acquire it just yet.
Without further hesitation, I returo my selectable list and chose Venomous as my third skill. While it might have been prudent to wait for a more formidable option, survival was my immediate priority. Given the circumstahis was one of the best tools at my disposal, especially when paired with Corrosive to amplify its effectiveness.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
ActivateSpell
Seleg Spell: [Venomous]
Status: Active
Type: Ability
Activation: Passive
[Venomous] has bee as an active-passive ability.
_
Selectable: 3 out of 4 Skills Activated.
V:\>
I was still torween Life Drain and Blight for my st skill slot. I weighed my options, sidering whether it might be wiser to save the slot for a potentially superior skill that could appear iure. Yet, as I had previously determined, maximizing my survival ces with my current abilities aramount. I o make the most of the avaible options.
Healing was crucial—I’d be a fool to overlook it. Yet, with a moment of hesitation, I chose Blight as my final option. After all, who needs healing when you wield a strong offense? Yeah, I’m an idiot! But, with s I’d admit to, I took a moment to review my plete status sheet.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
CharacterStatus
Name: Bke
Rabsp; Bck Pudding
Css: Monster
Level: 13
Titles:
- None
Racial Skills:
- [Absorb]
- [Are Insight]
- [Corrosive]
- [Polymorph]
- [Thermal]
Spells:
- [Blight]
- [Mana Focus]
Abilities:
- [Silk Webbing]
- [Venomous]
Vulnerabilities:
- [Fire]
- [Holy]
Immunities:
- [Acid]
- [Darkness]
- [Disease]
- [Poison]
Uraits:
- [Polyglot]
Selectable Skills:
- [Astral Insight]
- [Fear]
- [Life Drain]
- [Spider Walk]
- [Stelr Void]
V:\>
As I perused my updated status sheet, my attention was captured by one of the two racial skills I had earned after defeating the succubus: Polymorph! The thought of looking human again had me practically dang with joy. It was easy tet about such a gift with everything that had happened—like pulling myself back together after a rather literal spt.
However, before I indulged in shapeshifting fantasies, I surveyed my surroundings, or at least what I could dis in the dizzying teicolor chamber. My vision was still a blur, with only minor relief provided by the system ss, which helped me moderately focus on objeearby. It dawned ohat maybe I should just turn off Mana Focus for now. After all, from the skill’s description, I realized that the colors I saw might not be colors at all, but rather the distinct types of mana emanating from everything around me.
Once I deactivated the skill, the world erupted into a psychedelic dispy of grays and bcks. I wondered if this was how all Bck Puddings perceived the world. It was a racial skill, after all. Either way, I found it much easier to navigate without Mana Focus.
No nausea anymore—sweet!
With the easier vision to take in, I found myself in a chamber chiseled out of solid stohe walls were adorned with enigmatigravings that resembled hieroglyphs, though the details were murky. The only disible feature was the slight variation in temperature betweeched surfaces and the rest of the walls. Most of the walls bore a deep shade of gray, interspersed with random bck splotches that framed the carvings. White speckles and smears littered the floor—likely remnants of Niamh’s explosive demise. The wonderful taste of her blood and flesh still lingered in me, and the image of her obliteration refused to fade.
Therapy might be in order.
As I sed the chamber with my thermal sight, a bck figure in the er, at least twenty meters away, caught my attentioher my ability was failing me, or there was another presen the room.
Yay… I’m not alone.
I couldn’t tell if it was human, but I doubted they had noticed me. I mean, I retty tiny... wait, scratch that. I had tripled in size sining the succubus.
Just how much fat was that demoness st in those tits? Wait, that doesn’t matter—focus, Bke!
I fttened myself to the ground, which turned out to be rather low, and crept toward the hopefully unsuspeg individual. The silhouette remained motionless, likely relying on their ck of visibility for prote. Foolish. I could see them clearly.
This will be an easy kill.
Wait, am I really going to kill some random stranger? Bke, what’s wrong with you? Self-defense is ohing, but am I capable of attag and murdering the first person I enter at the bottom of a hole, pletely unprovoked?
YES!
Uh, I mean if I don’t, they surely will attack me…right? So, yeah, that’s a legit reason to strike first. Besides, I’ve seen enough movies to know a good defense is always a strong offense! Right—right? Ugh, I really should stop repeating that line; I’m starting to sound like a cliché.
I was beginning to accept that I’d lost any resembo my past morals and sanity, hoping it wouldn’t get worse. My pudding-low-crawl came to a halt at the figure’s boots. To my disbelief, they remained oblivious to my presence, even though I was directly in front of them. They appeared pletely incapable of seeing in the dark. heless, I couldn’t help but admire their steadfastness in remaining silent and still. There was no indication of movement from them, not even the rise and fall… of their chest.
Well, crapo, they are already dead.
Damnit, Bke, stop feeling disappointed you weren’t the oo kill them!
With my thermal vision, I should have realized that a body appearing bck meant they were literally dead cold—wouldn’t that also apply to vampires?
Wait, Aurelia was all b my sight, wasn’t she? Huh…
As I slithered to their side, I noticed some curvature in the chest. It’s a woman! It was difficult to dis her age, but I could tell she hadn’t been dead for more than a few days. A slight st of decay was in the air, ae my best efforts, I couldn’t help but feel a twisted sense of hunger.
No. No. No! Stop thinking like that, Bke! The body hadn’t deposed enough to make me salivate.
Bke—what did I just tell myself?!
The temptation to not let her belongings go to waste was to, so I tried to pull off a boot. However, my current slimy state meant I stuck to it like glue, slowly corroding the material into a gooey mess. Damnit! I released the boot before causing more damage, but not before a hole had already formed by the big toe.
I’m thinking like a human, as if I needed boots ear. Wait—does this mean I ’t colley dungeon loot? Well, shit! I ’t use items, even if I wao. Shit. Shit. Shit. What the fuck do I even need dimensional ste for then? Whatever! I guess I have no other choice.
Sorry—not sorry, dy, but you’re my meal now!
I wasn’t even sure if Absorb would work on a corpse, although it had been effective on a ghoul. Still, there’s no time like the present to find out. Without further hesitation—I froze as the body shifted ever so slightly.
1
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