Tutorial Time Remaining: 47 days, 19 hours, 45 minutes.

  Survivors: 1477/2000.

  Concrete cracked beneath my feet as I leapt from ruin to ruin. I could sense the powerful being drawing closer and I activated my cloak as I approached. What looked like a moving rebar sculpture of a bull sniffed around, blowing embers and smoke with each exhale. I noticed several dead humanoids around the beast as I identified it.

  Steelflame Bull. Level 20. The anger of the wilds is manifested into the steel that once tried to keep it at bay. This bull has absorbed much ambient fire magic from a long abandoned crematorium and uses it to sate its hunger for humanoid life.

  Twice my level. Okay, this should be a good test of my stats. I crouched and tensed my legs, etching a strength rune onto the lower part of my armor. I felt my leg muscles bulge as I released the energy. I screamed as I had not anticipated that my jump would take me several hundred meters into the air. The bull obviously heard me and tried to blast me with a gout of flame, but I was already out of reach.

  Focus. Extend my blades. Angle trajectory.

  BOOM!

  I landed hard onto the back of the bull, my blades sinking to my fists. I grunted from the pain that shot through my body and gripped my legs around the beast, the rune still granting strength. As with the damned crow, I leaned against the neck of the bull and bit a chunk out.

  I furrowed my brow as I held on tight, the bull bucking hard to try to knock me free. “Licorice? Really? Gros-aaagh!”

  The rune fizzled and my legs couldn’t stay locked in during the latest buck, and I was launched off to slam into a pile of rubble, burying me deeply within it. As I struggled to free myself, I felt the area around me heat up. The steel within the rubble pile turned orange, then yellow as it liquified, dripping around and onto me.

  Pain is a marvelous motivator, and I shoved my way out of the steel rain storm, peeling off bits of burning metal. I felt my skin peel away in places, which meant I was not having a great time. My health had dropped to less than half, and the steelflame bull huffed at me as I stood my ground.

  Stomping at the ground, the bull suddenly charged. The damn beast moved fast, but my Agility was more than a match. I sidestepped the bull and thrust my blade into its side. Molten blood gushed out as the bull roared, another blast of flames arcing straight for me. I tried to etch the shield rune into my armor, but it failed as I had to dodge before I could finish. I needed to get that faster.

  Showing more intelligence than I hoped it had, the bull made a rush again. A feint. That I completely missed. I made to move aside, but it pivoted and thrust its head straight at me. I felt the right horn pierce into the center of my chest.

  Right into the core of my hunger.

  The steelflame bull’s roar was one of pain as it backed up, the entire horn just gone. The hole in my chest closed quickly as I absorbed the energy from the horn. Reinvigorated, I leapt at the bull, my blades slashing out from both directions, scoring deep, bleeding gashes. If nothing else, it had to have a high vitality, as it still stood tall. The bull moved to try to face me again, but I kept moving, ducking under the monster. It seemed confused for a moment until pain erupted from its belly.

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  It flailed around as it tried to loosen my grip, but all four of my arms and my feet held on tight as I drank deeply. I felt a rush as the heat tried to surpass the vitality I received from the blood. Though it did hurt, I could feel the beast slow as I consumed. After a stumbling step, the full weight of the steelflame bull landed on top of me.

  I was not overfond of licorice, but it ended up not being too bad, though the bull was enormous and took a while to eat. A quarter of an hour later, I sat hard and sighed with content as I felt my stats bolstered.

  You have devoured Level 20 Steelflame Bull. Their highest stat was Strength. Your base Strength has increased by 10 points. Bonus stats from eating a Steelflame Bull of a higher level than yourself. All stats increased by 5. Bonus experience earned.

  DING! Class: Hypocrite Revolutionary has increased from Level 10 to Level 12.

  DING! Race: Omnis Vorare has increased from Level 10 to Level 11.

  “I wonder how much stronger a foe I can fight. No risk, no reward, right? Why am I talking to myself?” I walked over to the humanoids, seeing that they had been killed recently by the bull. Within the hour. An elf, an orc, and a small humanoid that I would have called a halfling except they didn’t have furry feet.

  “Waste not, want not, right? I’m doing it again.” I bent down to sort through what they had. The tutorial had been generous with the gifts it gave to the new members of the Multiverse, and the three corpses each had three magic items. None of which I found of particular use and all of which I decided I would just go ahead and eat. If Rare items gave me 40 points, I wondered what the Inferior rank would give. I popped one of the rings into my mouth and swallowed it down.

  The magic from the item flowed into me as with the disk, but it was much more manageable and only tingled a bit rather than feeling like my soul was on fire. Much better.

  You have devoured Ring of Dancing, Inferior. All stats increased by 5. Consuming magic items does not grant experience.

  “Okay! Five points. The disk was rare, which is the fourth tier. If the math is right, then it doubles each tier. Inferior gives five, Common gives ten, Uncommon gives 20, Rare gives 40, and so on. Need to eat a common item to make sure, but first, a feast!”

  Eight more magic items later and all my stats had grown by 45 points, almost doubling what they had been. It felt incredible!

  I focused on the orc and I felt my vision clarify to the point I could see the small cracks around the tiny hole she’d had in her tusk where a ring had been placed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could smell the paths the battle had taken in the area. Wow. I opened my eyes and focused on the nearby bubble. It was at least two kilometers away, but I could see the runes on the bubble clearly.

  As I reveled in my newfound stat boosts, I realized I had more to do. I did not know who these people were, but they must have been former survivors. As I thought about it, I changed my mind and pulled the bodies into my inventory rather than consuming them. It didn’t feel right.

  I checked my stats before heading toward the bubble. All were now in the triple digits, making me at least 50 times stronger than before the System showed up.

  Status

  Name: Dan Trench

  Humanoid Race: Omnis Vorare 11

  Class: Hypocrite Revolutionary 12

  Profession: Neophyte Enchanter 10

  Max Health: 1340

  Max Stamina: 2110

  Max Mana: 2050

  Agility: 103

  Endurance: 103

  Intelligence: 103

  Perception: 107

  Strength: 108

  Vitality: 134

  Wisdom: 102

  Race Skills:

  All Stats Must Be Eaten. Unique.

  All-Consuming. Unique.

  Infinite Tank. Unique.

  Sense Power. Inferior.

  Class Skills:

  Eat the Rich. Uncommon.

  Guerilla’s Cloak. Inferior.

  Profession Skills:

  Meditation. Common.

  Infuse Object. Inferior.

  Etch Rune. Inferior.

  Equipped Gear:

  Amulet of Holding. Common.

  Razorclaw Gauntlets. Inferior.

  Steeltusk Leather. Inferior.

  “Man, eating my stats is so busted! Stop talking to yourself!”