Devour and Cold dishes.

Dakota nearly lost his composure again. Nearly tried to make a mad dash through the open door passed the shaman.

The image of the mask being broken. The image of him breaking it. The image of him breaking the face beneath it pleased him. Focused him. Calmed him.

Dakota's indifferent stare was not like the addled wits and vacant stare the shaman was used to. So he smiled wider.

"Thish. . . neew . . . mashk." the shaman began to brag " ish . . . purfekt . . . for . . . Hunt . . . Hoomahn."

Dakota saw as the shaman walked around him, that yes, yes it was different.

The bones on the mask seemed much more red. Like they were more fresh. It seemed that many knuckle bones of some poor creature had been used to make a wide half disk around the eyes of the shaman. The tall wide mask had many tales of woe apparently.

Dakota was promising it would have at least one more before he destroyed it.

A thought occured to him. Could. . . these be his bones?

The thought almost won and wiped away his re-found self. Fortunately, the shaman seemed to see the thought flit across Dakota's face. The shamans premature smile did not chill him. Not this time, that fury returned.

The shaman cast his spells on Dakota again. Bringing his face close to Dakota as he had so many times.

Perhaps he was going to taunt him. Or call in more goblins to feed. Maybe cast a spell to torment him with.

Dakota used his inventory on his chains and used his strength to try and slam the shamans head between his fists.

He was clumsy and even with a regeneration spell on him he had not eaten in so long.

He hit the shamans shoulders. His now great strength must be formidable. The shaman was thrown back and howled.

"Gwaaaaaahorrrr!"

Dakota shot up, meaning to turn about and tackle the cruel ugly creature.

As he moved to pounce, the shaman, against the crude stone wall, waved his arm.

A new kind of pain was felt. Felt more for the shaman's cruel magics.

Ice and frost enveloped Dakota.

He did not feel fear. No, he felt anger, wrath, fury, rage.

'How dare he get so close! So close and for what? So this spell could freeze him in place!?'

As the shaman stood taller and tried to compose himself, Dakota began to move. With loud sounds of chunks of ice and frost breaking he forced his legs to move and his arms.

The shaman looked on with fear and. . . excitement? He raised his hands and began casting the frost spell to freeze him over even as Dakota moved forward. One toe length at a time.

Dakota only felt fury. His rage fogged the pain. Gave him strength and purpose. His purpose was before him. His enemy, His tormentor.

A prompt appeared for Dakota. To be promptly ignored.

New skill.

Rage: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution increase by 50%. Pain resistance increased by 80%.

Dakota began ripping his legs and his arms out of the frost and ice all around him. Large chunks pf flesh and whole fingers came off as he moved forward.

This terrific march ended with another ignored prompt after several long minutes.

New Title.

The Frozen: adds Cold resistance skill.

Cold Resistance lvl 1: 25% resistance to cold.

With that new found power Dakota lunged at the panting shaman. Clearly taxed by maintaining his spell.

Dakota grabbed his throat and squeezed. His enhanced strength finished the job.

He had continued to hold the creatures neck until long after death. When he finally let the shaman fall he felt no peace. His rage had not been sated. Only pushed away.

He opened the prompt for completing his quest to slay the shaman.

The 5 ability points would go straight to strength. The increased speed and and vice like strength won the day. He would have been imprisoned by frost had he not increased his strength by so much.

The item appeared in his inventory. The mask of the shaman. If broken would release a black cloud. The first to breathe this miasma would gain the spell Elemental blast.

He studied his knuckles and crushed the mask. Not wanting to see the workmanship or look through the eyes of this thing.

Black smoke creeped from its broken edges slowly. He breathed in deeply. Excited about taking the power of his enemy.

Elemental Blast lvl 1: Manipulate Fire, Frost, Electricity within 50 ft. 1 damage per 1 MP spent.

As he began to feel the tingly sensation in his fingers that told him he had grown in magical power he could not help himself. He lifted part of the mask and looked through one eye hole.

Immediately his right eye began to itch and then burn.

Dakota quickly threw the last broken piece away from him. His eye relaxed and felt less irritated. He could not shake the feeling he had done something. . . wrong by looking in the eye of the mask.

Before opening up his status window to place his new ability points in strength and to study his new titles and skills he thought of the shaman. He too must become a fragment.

A few more minutes passed by. Dakota knew from his private research on his phone that the more powerful a foe. The longer it could take to harvest a Mana Gem.

Sure enough, The shaman became a Fragment. A step above the shard he had seen until now. He broke it immediately. Imagining the sick shaman as he did so.

The level up prompt dinged. Apparently 1 fragment was worth 10 shards.

Name: Dakota Alain Tibor

HP: 700

MP: 850

SP: 2,750

Title: Demon Lord

Devoured, Burned, Shocked, Frozen, Enduring

Level 5

Strength: 41

Dexterity: 16

Constitution: 14

Intelligence: 17

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 9

Skills: Devour Lvl 1

Heat Resist Lvl 2

Electric Resist Lvl 2

Frost Resist Lvl 1

Rage Lvl 1

Spells: Elemental blast lvl 1

Items: Voidheart

2 Mana Shards

It felt so good to level up again. The additional strength looked good to him to. All his stats going up. It all felt worth it.

But he was starving. Maybe he would die if the spell wore off before he ate. How long had he been kept. Fed upon without anything for himself?

Dakota's enhanced perceptions stretched out. He felt it must be safe to creep out.

He opened the stone door and saw only the dim light from his prison leak out. Goblins could see in the dark. He had forgotten.

He tried to conjure a small handful of fire. Dakota blinked in surprise when it worked. He saw his MP go down 1.

It stayed at 1 too. He assumed that if he did more with it. It may cost more MP. Dakota was content not to question it for now.

Across from his prison were several large covered baskets of various goods sitting in the center of a very large cavern. It was very like the first caves he saw on entering this rift.

Some strange furs and different kinds of very crudely made carpets were strewn about the baskets.

On closer inspection, the baskets had various cold meats and waterskins filled with some kind of liquid.

Dakota had the impression this was the goblin equivalent to a family dinner table.

He looked hard at the meats in the basket. He felt his hunger more every second and feared death so much.

He opened a basket. The meat inside was cooked. Burnt more around certain edges. Other baskets had raw meet.

They were small chunks. Almost bite sized.

He closed his eyes and began his feast. As soon as he began eating he began sobbing. It tasted so good. Burnt and cold. It was delicious.

It hurt his belly but he kept eating. He felt the shamans spells healing him. It must have been days or weeks since he had last eaten.

He opened up a waterskin and began to drink from it. Letting the water run down his chin. It tasted of iron and he had dirt in his teeth at the end, but he felt better.

He felt human and alive again. He needed sleep. It had been just as long since he last slept.

Dakota knew sleep was death however. He chose to impose on the shamans spells longer for that.

A prompt dinged before him when he finally finished gorging himself.

New Title.

Cannibal: removes any negative buffs when eating flesh of the same species.

Dakota wretched on the cave floor a bit. Nodding he stood up and owned what he had done. There could be no doubt. He had eaten his own flesh.

A kind of emptiness followed. It brought clarity. He was going to live. That was all that mattered.

Stopping that train of thought. He knew better. No, he needed to hunt. He had enemies here that he meant to destroy.