Flames

- Within the Dungeon -

Inside the catacombs, Zane began his hunt.

His objective was simple—testing out the [Devour] skill to see what it did, as well as practice [Fire Manipulation]. Both birds could be achieved with one stone—all he needed was a low-level enemy.

Slowly and cautiously, he made his way around, searching for any signs of monsters. Usually, the most common type of enemies to be found in a Dungeon of the catacombs-archetype were Undead, and possessed armor was a particularly frequently seen low-level adversary. As such, Zane listened for the sound of clanking metal—footsteps. Very soon, he heard what he was searching for, and headed closer to the source of the sound.

It didn't take him long to get there.

"… There you are."

Peeking his head out slightly from behind the doorway, Zane found himself staring at the back of a possessed knight. It marched like a zombie back and forth inside the corridor, slow and without purpose. Any loyalty and chivalry it had from its living days were nowhere to be seen, now reduced to nothing more than a hunk of walking metal armor.

Zane needed to be careful about this, however. This wasn't the only pair of footsteps he was hearing. There were no doubt more undead not far from here, so if he wanted to pick a fight, he'd need to first isolate his opponent.

After some thought and looking around, Zane picked up a few small pebbles off the floor, and tossed one a few meters in front of him before quickly ducking back into hiding. The noise was just enough for this knight to hear, but would be far too quiet for any other enemies in the vicinity.

Just as predicted, the undead knight suddenly spun around at the sound, and after some hesitation, began heading in Zane's direction.

Satisfied, he narrowed his eyes. 'Good, good… that's it.'

Quickly, he turned and began walking away, occasionally dropping another pebble from his hand. Tracing back the steps he'd taken to reach here, Zane led the knight towards an area he knew was free of other enemies. Here, he'd be able to take an isolated duel—that was his best bet, given his current level and stats.

After arriving in a large and empty open room with a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the middle, Zane decided it was time. Taking cover behind a nearby shelf, he waited for the marching undead knight to wander into the trap.

It didn't take long.

Slowly peeking out from behind his hiding spot, Zane lifted his arm, palm open towards the vulnerable back of the walking armor. Then, mimicking the moves he'd seen Leo do hundreds of times, Zane narrowed his eyes and flashed the phrase [Fire Manipulation] through his mind—the activation requirement of the skill. Simultaneously, he envisioned a tadpole-shaped concentration of energy—the easiest attack to use—and held firm as the bolt of fire shot out from his fingertips.

The flaming projectile flew across the air and struck the enemy straight in the back, staggering it a bit. However, it wasn't enough to do any heavy damage, since fire wasn't particularly useful against steel armor.

'… Shit.'

Zane had been aiming for the leather underneath through the tiny gaps on its joints, but since this was his first time using a skill like this, naturally he wasn't going to be proficient at it.

The walking armor slowly turned around to the direction where the projectile had shot from, and Zane, realizing hiding wasn't going to do him any further good, quickly switched to plan B. Raising his arm even higher, he aimed towards the ceiling where the chandelier hung from, and let out another blast of energy right as the Undead soldier charged towards him.

Thanks to his quick thinking and impeccable timing, the chandelier lit on fire and crashed down on the knight just at the perfect moment. This time, no amount of armor was going to save it. The flames seeped through the gaps in its chainmail, catching onto the leather beneath and igniting the Undead instantly.

"Arghgh…"

With a strangled gurgling noise, the clump of metal fell to the stone floor, catching the carpet beneath it on fire as well and fanning the flames even further. Soon, the figure of the armored knight faded away to ashes as it disintegrated, and a familiar System message appeared before Zane's eyes.

[Undead Knight (Lv. 5) — Defeated!]

[+50 EXP]

[Player Level Up!]

[Lv. 5 -> 6]

[+6 SP]

"… Hm. Not bad."

Zane glanced down at his own hands while the notifications were automatically dismissed, and reflected on how his first try at using [Fire Manipulation] had gone. It wasn't bad—at the very least, he could confirm the legitimacy of his innate [Devour] skill. However, to truly hone and use it as a reliable weapon, he'd need to practice a lot more.

'If I remember correctly, the DEX stat should help with aim and skill accuracy… though INT is also a viable option, as it provides more raw power.'

Since his primary form of attacking right now was skills, Zane chose to use the 6 SP (stat points) he just gained on INT and DEX respectively—3 each. Right after he did so, however, another System notification popped up in front of him, and upon reading what it said, he frowned a bit.

[Fire Manipulation — Tier Up!]

[I -> II]

[You can now manipulate and bend weak pre-existing fire to your will.]

"…"

He'd used the skill twice.

And it was already ranking up?

Needless to say, this was not normal. Zane remembered it took Leo an entire week just to get his Fire Manipulation from Tier I to II, and that's with daily Dungeon Raids. Zane had literally just used the ability twice—one of which was technically a fail since it didn't hit its target—yet the skill was already ranking up for him, increasing its damage, accuracy, and expanding its limitations.

'Could it be…?'

Falling into thought briefly, Zane pondered what the cause to this phenomenon could be. He was 99% sure this was the work of his special physique, the Vampire Devouring Body, but the question was 'why' and 'how'.

The answer to the latter was something he didn't know, but the former he could guess—due to the nature of the [Devour] skill, once Zane began obtaining more and more abilities from other entities, it would be hard to tier up all of them. As such, to make sure the tier of all his abilities kept up with his main level, he needed to have increased mastery speed.

Thinking about it this way, everything began to make sense. Zane couldn't help but marvel at how well the traits and abilities of this physique were designed. Unfortunately, these Undead Knights didn't have any 'flesh' Zane could consume, which meant he couldn't steal their abilities with [Devour]. Then again, he doubted there was much to gain from a basic enemy like this anyway. Grunt-class Dungeon monsters like these rarely had anything special to mention about them.

As he walked passed the pile of burnt ashes where the Undead Knight once stood, however, he noticed a burnt strip of leather sticking out from the rest of the charred body.

He wondered.

'What if I were to eat that…?'

It wasn't exactly 'flesh', but it could be considered to be part of the knight's body. Would it still work with the [Devour] skill? Zane decided to find out.

Carefully, after letting the heat cool down a bit, he moved the leather strip to somewhere safe without fire. Given the floor was made of stone, the fire died down pretty quickly with nowhere else to spread to. After confirming it was at a temperature level cold enough to not burn the inner of his mouth alive, he gently lifted it up to mouth-level.

This was going to suck—he knew that very well. The taste of burnt leather was something he'd never experienced before, and for good reason. Still, his only objective now was survival—which ultimately meant getting stronger. Making use and testing the limits of the [Devour] ability was the first step to accomplishing that.

Besides—earlier, when his physique awakened, any debuffs and injuries were automatically cleansed, were they not? Not to mention vampires had incredible regeneration and durability abilities as portrayed by fiction, so Zane had reason to believe this was going to work—however slim the chances may be.

Without even bothering to brace himself, Zane bit down on the burned leather and tore off a piece before swallowing it in one gulp. The taste, as expected, was horrible—but it didn't bother Zane, who had already been scarred beyond belief. What he was more concerned about was what came after—the System notification that appeared before his eyes:

[Undead Knight (Lv. 5) — Devoured.]

[DEF +1]

[Added to Compendium!]