Chapter 24: Gluttony: Devour

"I've been wondering this for a while but... Is he alright in the head?"

"I was also concerned about the same thing... He hasn't done anything so far and just keeps moving his arm around the air... What's he doing?"

"Shhh... Stop talking about him, what if he hears you? Let's just go over our abilities."

The people were whispering amongst one another while keeping an eye on Xavier. Although they were on high alert around him, he didn't seem to care.

"Watch this." A person said as they raised their hand.

Suddenly, a piece of mud appeared out of thin air before their eyes. A tired look appeared on his face after the manifestation.

"I can only do this much for now..."

Currently, they are testing their newly awakened abilities. Each of them had their own, some were weak while others...

"Like this?" Another person asked.

A red brown haired girl with dark brown eyes. The moment her hand was raised, the crowd experienced a strong surge of wind that sent chills up and down their spines.

"Oi... What the hell is this?"

"All this wind? I'd understand if we were outside but we're underground..."

"Don't tell me... The girl's ability is..."

The crowd watched in astonishment as a ball of wind grew in size above her hand.

"U-Um... How am I supposed to stop it?" She asked nervously.

"Y-You're joking right?"

The girl quickly shook her head and watched as the ball continued expanding, it was going out of control.

While the people quietly panicked, Xavier watched with intrigued eyes.

*Sigh*

From his sheath, he drew his sword and flicked it right at the center of the ball of wind.

*CRASH!*

The sword had pierced right through the ball of wind in a blink of an eye, and as it dispersed, strong winds blew in their direction.

"Are you... Trying to wake them up?" Xavier asked as he stared at the red brown haired girl in the eyes.

His stare caused her to become flustered and turn away. "N-No... Sorry..." She apologised as she grew redder.

Xavier raised his eyebrows with a confused look before picking up his sword and walking back to the edge of the platform.

'She didn't seem tired at all after all of that.. She's strong and she hasn't even been trained yet...'

'Looks like there are hidden talents among humans too... There's no telling how this war will go, not that I care.' He thought to himself.

After sitting back down, he continued organising his system stats.

The young brown-haired girl he'd saved watched him from the train tracks with sparkling eyes. For some reason, she seemed to admire him.

In Xavier's opinion, her admiration was strange since he had not accomplished anything worth being admired, he had only killed four people. Her reaction should have been the opposite.

Focusing on the task ahead, he ignored the reaction.

[Name: Xavier Trigger.]

[Race: Half Chronos & Vampire Fledgling Hybrid.]

[Level: 5]

[Levels Until Evolution Remaining: 5]

[Level UP options x 1] (Available.)

[XP: 190/1000]

[Coins: 100]

[HP: 35/35]

[Energy: 174/200]

[State: Normal]

[Strength: 18]

[Agility: 23]

[Stamina: 10]

[Sense: 12]

[SP: 3]

[Skills]

[Rewind: Level 1]

-[Return.]

[Gluttony: Level 1]

-[Devour.]

[Hyper Regeneration: Level 1]

[Shop]

[Quest]

-[Bloodline Quest: Drink Human Blood]

-[Daily Quest: Daily workout.]

-[Main Quest: Rescue family from the Vampire Camp.]

He scrolled down his status screen with curious eyes. Several things caught his attention at first glance.

The bloodline Quest, his skills, and the shop.

'System, I have a question. The Hyper regeneration skill, I only got it because of my race right?'

[Affirmative.]

'The same could be said for rewind, right? You know, Chronos and all that.'

[Affirmative.]

'I see... How do I unlock new skills? Like I did with Hyper regeneration?'

[There are different ways the User can unlock new skills:]

[Skill Orbs from the Shop.]

[Special Quests & Bloodline Quests.]

[Labyrinths.]

Xavier's ears twitched.

[Additionally, certain skills can allow the user to unlock new-]

'Wait... Wait! Labyrinths & Special Quests? What do you mean by that?' Xavier asked with a surprised expression.

[...Due to a lack of information, unable to answer the User's question.]

Xavier narrowed his eyes. He had no doubts about the System, but he felt it was hiding something from him. Something worse than the vampire war that had just begun.

[…]

Xavier sighed.

'Continue from where you left off.'

[Certain skills can allow the user to gather more skills.]

'Does such a fortunate skill really exist?'

[Affirmative, the User is already in possession of a skill which can do so.]

Xavier's eyes widened.

[The Skill: Gluttony.]

In a deep state of reflection, he placed his hand beneath his chin.

'I'm guessing the skill will only be able to do so after it levels up and evolves?'

[Affirmative.]

"Hehe... Hehehehe..."

In the blink of an eye, Xavier began giggling to himself with a wide grin on his face. The sight sent shivers down the people's spines.

'The hunger is a bitch but you're one hell of a skill aren't you... Gluttony? And then there's Rewind too... Hehe...'

When Xavier thought of his family, a grin slowly disappeared from his face. In the end, he sat on his back and stared at the ceiling.

In a quiet voice, he stretched out his arm and asked.

"I wonder if I'll be able to get strong enough to save them..."

A shadow hung over Xavier's face as he continued.

"No... I will. No matter what it takes."

After remembering his purpose, Xavier slowly approached the corpse of the first vampire he had killed on the platform.

Upon reaching his body, he realized his sword and sheath were missing. He then remembered that the brown haired girl's father was the one who had taken it.

He ignored this and looked at the pool of blood underneath the vampire. As he gazed at it, he could feel his urges rising.

Xavier did not mind the Vampire's mummified body ruining the sight.

'That being said... I wonder how I'm supposed to gather all this spilt blood to drink it and garner XP?'

'I can't just start licking it from the floor like a dog in front of all these people and his body probably doesn't have any blood left.'

Xavier's eyes glowed a bright crimson red and the decapitated body of the Vampire came into focus in a pale red light.

[Does the User wish to use Gluttony: Level 1 Skill, Devour's special effect?]

'...?'

[Gluttony: Level 1 Skill, Devour.]

[Gluttony, devour allows the user to consume the blood of a target and absorb their stats.]

[Devour special effect: Gather the blood of a target the user has killed.]

[The effect can only be used under the condition that the target was killed by the user.]

[To use this effect the User must say its name: Devour.]

Xavier placed his hand over his throat, rubbed it, and mumbled.

"Devour."

[Gluttony: Level 1]

[Devour has been activated.]

Xavier's eyes widened as he watched the blood on the ground begin to move and gather in the air.

The spilt blood of the mummified Vampire entered the floating stream, creating a sphere the size of a football in front of Xavier.

[The Blood is ready to be devoured.]