I activated my Ravenous Cloak, sitting in the hungry grass. I felt the grass pulling at my cloak, slowly consuming the energy I was expending to keep it active. Entering Meditation, I focused more closely on my cloak. Turning down the hunger was considerably harder than turning it up, and I had to maintain focus to keep adjusting the consumption until it became a trickle that matched that of the grass.

  As with the fleck, the grass stopped consuming my cloak when I reached equilibrium.

  “Fascinating,” I whispered.

  It was like the grass thought I was one of them. I stood and walked up to the cube, again trying to press my hand against it. My hand met brief resistance before the cube’s material rolled back, allowing my hand through. WIth a wide smile, I pushed my way into the cube.

  The outer layer of the cube was thinner than I expected, only feeling a few centimeters thick. The inside of the cube was even more surprising, as the space was neither a cube nor cramped.

  “It’s bigger on the inside, because of course it is,” I said.

  The space was a large, circular room that was dimly lit with flickering lights. There wasn’t anything in the room except for the source of the flickering light.

  In the room’s center, a shifting, swirling mass of light and magic constantly rearranged itself into different runic patterns. As with the bubble, I didn’t understand most of the runes the thing made. I did notice that as it shifted forms, bits of its light were siphoned off into the walls of the room, causing it to dim until the new rune was shaped. Hence the flickering.

  The faint feeling of hunger lingered throughout the whole room. The cube was constantly feeding on whatever this thing was. Oh wait-

  Living Rune. Level 80. A powerful, sentient magical construct formed from a single, ancient enchantment. It is both a source of great power and potential danger. Highest Stat: Intelligence.

  Level 80 did not sound like it would be a fun fight, and I wasn’t sure if my stats were of such a state to be able to fight the thing. I turned to leave when I felt something settle into my mind.

  “How did you get in here?” The Rune spoke telepathically. Its voice was a bit tinny, like it was speaking into a metal can.

  “Magic,” I answered cheekily, though it was technically true. “Just like how we are thinking at each other.”

  “You think yourself humorous?”

  “Sometimes, yes. Am I not?”

  “I need help escaping this place.”

  The Rune ignored my question. Rude. “Why should I help you?”

  “You are a Neophyte Enchanter. I can greatly improve your knowledge of runes.”

  I considered that for a moment. “I’ve tried a number of things to break or otherwise affect the cube you are in. How do I help you? And how did you know my profession?”

  “I am a sentient rune. I can sense those who are proficient in working with runes. What else are you?”

  “My class is Hypocrite Revolutionary, and my race is Omnis Vorare.”

  The Living Rune paused its constant movement for several seconds before it picked up.

  “You are the unique life form known as the All-Devourer?” I detected a tone that was a little familiar.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I am, yes, though I’ve not heard the term ‘Unique Life Form.’ The Guides called me the other thing.”

  “Guides? Oh, we are in a Tutorial! That explains my quest. I was curious.”

  “You have a quest?” I guess it made sense that other sentient beings would be able to receive quests during the Tutorial.

  “I do, to escape this space and kill 100 humanoids or gather something called control spheres. The quest updated a short while ago.”

  “And you were strengthened recently? Our quest was updated as well.”

  “I was, though this prison has also strengthened. I am essentially in a state of nearly constant rest to keep the prison from consuming me.”

  That… did suck, and I felt a little bad for the thing. “Okay, so how do I help you?”

  “I can be pulled to dwell within your soul chamber, from which I can help you with your enchanter profession.”

  “Soul chamber?” I asked, confused.

  “You must have an external storage space, right?”

  “I do.” I lifted my Amulet of Holding out from beneath my armor.

  “A soul chamber is like a storage space, but within yourself.”

  “There really isn’t anyone around to tell us shit like this. I suspect my soul chamber would consume anything I put in there, no doubt. As my core is basically pure Hunger magic.”

  “You were able to get in here, which means you were able to turn down the hunger within yourself. To attune it to the cube’s hunger affinity.”

  I nodded. “Your Intelligence must be insane, the way you parse out my abilities.”

  The Living Rune flickered with what I assumed was pride. “Thank you, All-Devourer.”

  “Before we get into the specifics of just how the hell the soul chamber thing works, can you tell me what the deal is with my race? The guides were practically throwing themselves at me for me to eat them. Their tone of reverence was eerily similar to yours when I first told you what I was.”

  The rune went silent for a while, flickering at a controlled space. “I don’t know specifics, but I can say that the guides are the beings most closely tied to the System, and that it also likely has something to do with being a unique life form.”

  “Why is that important?” I honestly had no idea, and this thing seemed super smart, so why not get as much as I could from it?

  “Take humans as an example. Humans are possibly the most prolific race throughout the multiverse.”

  “Most of us couldn’t even stay human when the System integrated us!”

  “Perhaps the humans of your planet were weak. No matter. With so many humans, the records generated by them are just as prolific to the point of becoming a bit-”

  “Watered down?”

  “That metaphor works. Do you know why this may be?” The Living Rune asked.

  I considered that for a minute before answering. “Because there isn’t very much that humans haven’t done?”

  “Yes. This doesn’t mean that one’s individual achievements don’t give specific records, but it does mean that you have to work a bit harder to achieve the records for upgrading. Now, connect the dots.”

  “As a unique life form, all of my records are much more potent because the System… has no data to base record potency on?”

  “Indeed. And the System without data to base your progression on will generally err on the side of making strong records as it is better for itself as a whole.”

  “So I kind of break the System by default?” I asked, intrigued by this new information.

  “And your potent records will leak into those around you, giving them a boost to their paths to power.”

  “This is coo coo bananas!” I crouched and covered my face with my upper hands.

  “Is this not good news for you?”

  “It is, it’s just crazy. Why was I chosen by the System? I was just a no name dude who fixed automated machines that packaged frozen food. What the hell did I have to offer the multiverse?”

  “Your power is far higher than it should be for one of your level. You have a drive to get stronger. The System is, if nothing else, rewarding to the drive for power.”

  “So, just because I like to see my numbers go up because of ingrained, borderline obsessive video game playing, the System said ‘hell yeah that’s the guy for me?’”

  “I don’t know what video games are, but if that’s how you got the drive to, as you say, see the numbers go up, then yes.” The Rune was sometimes annoyingly matter-of-fact.

  I sighed, giving my face a final rub and standing back up. “Alright. Let’s break the system some more. How do I get a soul chamber?”