Feast

Could it be?

According to his system, this stuff had poisoned him the last time he ingested it. Then again, it had also awakened his demon bloodline, and based on his status shortly after that, Lokus hadn't suffered any adverse effects.

Since his bloodline, which he thought was the cause of his healing the last time, wasn't working, the only conclusion was that it was this grass that had done it.

Lokus glanced at the black blood pouring down his stomach and throat like miniature waterfalls, his expression hardening. 'I don't have anything to lose, do I?'

Pulling some of the grass out of the ground, he eyed the green blades warily before popping them into his mouth.

[Warning! You have been poisoned by Demonic Grass!]

The instant some of it traveled down Lokus' throat, a deep, biting cold assaulted him. It was far stronger than anything his Frost affinity could handle, and he started to shake and shudder from both this cold and the pain of his flesh morphing and changing under the influence of the grass.

Under his bleary but watchful gaze, the edges of the gaping wounds in his stomach from the demon's claws wriggled like worms, expanding like spilled milk to cover the holes and stapling themselves back together seamlessly.

While he couldn't see his throat for obvious reasons, he knew the same was occurring there, and even his veins seemed to be filled with blood from thin air, replenishing what he had lost in the fight.

Mere seconds in, the experience became so overwhelming that Lokus gagged, vomiting up the small morsel of meat the cloaked woman had given him all over himself. He spent the rest of the process dry heaving as his body tried to force out food he didn't have.

By the time it was done, Lokus was a sweating mess, with his shaggy white hair sticking to his face and a foul smell drifting off of him, but his stomach was whole once more. He gingerly felt at his throat, a sense of relief filling him when he found that the same was true for it.

'That was much worse than the first time,' he thought.

Whether this was because he had a clearer mind to 'enjoy' every moment of it, or because it was genuinely more painful than the first time, he didn't know. All he knew was that he'd rather not go through it again if he could help it.

His stomach growled just then, and a strong hunger that couldn't be killed even by the disgusting vomit and liters of blood covering his skin sparked to life within him. Hardly even thinking, he stood and turned toward the demon he had just slain.

Creating icy claws on his fingers with his self-created Mandate and using them to carve off a slice of furry flesh, he carefully separated the skin from the rest of the meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

The moment the meat touched his tongue, it was like an explosion had gone off within his mind. Even though it was raw and bloodied, to Lokus, it was the best meal he had ever eaten, surpassing even the spiced meat the cloaked woman had given him.

He had no idea how this was, but all that mattered to him was that right now, this demon tasted like a five-star meal carefully crafted by the world's finest chefs.

And he was so, so hungry.

Another kind of blood soon dribbled down his chin as he dug into the demon's corpse ravenously, not even bothering to cut off chunks anymore as he directly bit off large mouthfuls and gulped them down after a thorough chewing. It was an inconvenient way to eat, but all he could focus on was his meal.

He left nothing on his plate. The eyeballs, the pustules, the organs, all of them disappeared down his stomach like it was a bottomless pit.

He ate so fast that he choked on his food several times, occasionally spitting up mouthfuls of pitch-black blood onto the grassy ground, but after downing some blood to wash it down, he just went right back to gorging himself.

Before he knew it, the powerful demon that had nearly taken Lokus' life was little more than a pile of bones and a discarded heap of fur.

He flopped onto his ass, allowing himself to properly breathe for the first time in several minutes.

His inhales seemed to suck in air like a vortex, and his exhales were so forceful that the piles of fur rustled in the self-created breeze. The former was more a trick of the mind from his oxygen-starved brain than anything, but the latter was a very real phenomenon.

[Demon metabolized! Rank: Prince (Major). Your Strength and Endurance have improved!]

'Hm?'

Eating demons could increase his stats?

'What else is this system hiding from me?' he thought bitterly, before ruefully shaking his head. 'Whatever. Might as well see how much I've improved.'

Since last time, the system had directly asked him if he wanted to see his stats, he didn't yet know how to pull up the screen on his own. After some annoying trial and error, he managed to bring it up and skipped down to his four stats.

[Majesty: Prince

Endurance: Prince (Major)

Strength: Prince (Middling)

Perception: Mortal]

Lokus hummed thoughtfully. He didn't know how big of an improvement this was, because once again, this system of his didn't tell him something. Endurance had been at Prince (Lesser) before, and Strength at Prince (Minor), but how much higher than that was Middling and Major?

[The ranks of your stats follow the below stages:

Minor, Lesser, Middling, Major, Superior.

After reaching Prince (Superior), your next step will be to improve it to King (Minor).]

So both Strength and Endurance had gone up by two stages. That wasn't-

Lokus suddenly coughed violently, a spray of blood leaving his lips with each one as he doubled over.

When he finished and wiped his mouth confusedly, he looked up at that screen, his gaze going to his current condition.

[Condition: Sick (Poisoned)]

'Poisoned?' His eyes widened in realization.

The Demonic Grass.

He had brushed it off before because the system hadn't said anything afterward, but apparently this time it was planning to stick around.