Devour

Multiple Crawlers scattered. Running desperately for their lives, some hiding under rocks, and others climbing the rockywall to get a higher ground from the predator chasing them.

The predator, being an abnormal Blop.

Lumin was right in the center of over sixteen completely drained Crawlers, each one of them had their magic essence completely absorbed.

'How about now? Is that enough?'.

[CORRECT.]

[The trait Locomotive (Basic) has evolved into Locomotive (Advanced)]

[You can now have faster and stronger mobility.]

'Too bad I had to drain these guys for it. Well, they kinda had it coming since they used my brothers for food.'

The Blop gently moved away from their corpse, looking down at the multiple stairs needed for him to climb down.

'Ahh, still far down… wait? I can regenerate from any kind of damage, and I can't feel pain too… only leaves one option.. Jump!'.

The Blop used its strengthened legs to leap down from the stairs. Its body fell fast into the darkness, and with a sudden boom, he landed on the wet ground.

Unlike where he had walked from, this place seemed a lot wider. There were blue glowing plants, and small ponds, even weird glowing crystals that grew from the ground and walls.

'Woww, the mana in here is crazy, did I just find a jackpot?'.

[You are currently on the third floor of the dungeon]

'Well that's…not surprising, so I'm guessing that means I'll see more monsters now?'.

[Correct]

'I'll cross that bridge when I get there, leaving that, what are these glowing crystals?'.

[That is known as Mana stone, each one stores about a city worth of magical energy.]

'A city's worth of magic energy shi….'

… 'I want to absorb it.'

And the Blop did, using its skill to absorb the mana from the crystal. It felt like its body was going into overdrive, light glowing inside it but that didn't stop the Blop.

After a while, the crystal completely died, the Blop had absorbed everything.

[Massive load of mana input has been detected]

[The skill Essence Absorption has evolved into Advanced Essence Absorption.]

[You can now absorb mana at a faster rate, from more bigger sources, and get access to more noticeably traits and skills]

[A sub skill has been detected]

[Devour.]

'A new skill?'.

[The Skill Devour lets you gain a set of skills from anything you've eaten based on it's qualities.]

'Eh? What's the difference? Isn't that the same as Essence Absorption?'.

[Negative, Devour grants better access to more skills, rather than a single trait]

'Shit, I should have gotten this while I was with those freaking Crawlers.' Lumin groaned a bit.

[The skill Regeneration has evolved to Advanced Regeneration]

[You can now heal quicker and heal from any and all type of sickness and more spells]

'Oh neat. There seems to be countless more mana crystals here, wouldn't hurt to take a few for myself, would it?'.

[It won't]

'Then let's eat'.

The Blop began, absorbing mana from the crystals, devouring everything it came into contact with, the plants, crystals, even a glowworm that he accidentally devoured, and then a water shark, and even a frog that mimics voices and shapes.

In less than a few minutes, the once vibrant third floor seemed dead. Like every life has been sucked from it- probably because it had.

The mastermind behind all these, was settled on a small rock, watching over the destruction he had caused.

Unlike before, its dark hard skin tone felt more vibrant and translucent. Even its size seemed to have increased.

'I'm pretty sure if I had a digestive system, I'd be full. No way I ate every single Mana stone here'.

[Would you like me to show you your stats?]

'Oh yeah, tracking my progress is very essential'.

[Stats:

Species: Blop

Evolution: Arcane Blop

Skill(s):

Unique skills: Mana Absorption, Devour.

Core skills: Advanced Regeneration, Enhanced Mana sense, Light sensitivity, Mimicry, Water dash, Advanced Mimicry, Mana manipulation.

Ultimate skill: Predator

Trait: Advanced Locomotive, Feathers].

'Well damn, got so carried away eating everything I completely forgot about these skills.'

[Would you like me to do an assignment?]

'Hmmm…sure'.

[These new sets of skills you've recently gained since Devour.]

[Light sensitivity (This helps perceive light and darkness)

Mimicry (Allows you to mimic shape and voice of other creatures),

Advanced Mimicry (You can now Mimic texture and color),

Mana manipulation (You can use mana as a means of defense and attack)

Waster Dash (You are able to move at an alarming speed in water)

Predator (The merged skill of Devour and Enhanced Essence Absorption, this allows to you not only absorb and consume, but also store in a pocket space while also allowing for a more analytical opportunities)

]

'Wow? Way to make it more complicated. On the other hand, having a pocket space inside me is kinda cool, I can just store anything in there, ahh, maybe even go back and store my brothers, I'm sure they are tired of staying in this dungeon'.

The Blop turned to the side, there he could see another path lending to a different part of the dungeon.

'Hmm, maybe now is a good time to give these skills a try. I have a vague picture of the Mimic frog I ate earlier, so I should be able to copy its form … I think. Anyway, let's give it a go… Mimicry!'.

The Blop's form began to transform as a faint light glowed inside it. And in a matter of time, it had transformed into a Mimic frog.

Having gills on its back, and long tails that swept the ground. Its eyes popped out and its mouth was small, so it was obvious it could only eat insects.

But unlike the original Mimic frog that was white and gold, Lumin maintained his black color.

'Yooo, sick! I don't feel any different than I did before. Hehe, it should be fun turning into that night owl I ate to get my Enhanced Mana sense, okay, let's do this'.

Once again, it transformed, this time to a reddish looking owl, wings so large it almost covered its small body.

'Oh oh oh oh, Santa is going to be so jealous!!!'.