The next week passed without incident. Winston kept attacking the door, harvesting the materials to sell. At the same time, Caltherans kept returning with more of the metal to patch it up. Every time the Caltherans came to test [Consume], he feigned exhaustion, capitalizing on their false belief that using the skill cost him mana. He would’ve tried to escape by using [Consume] on the stone around the door, but after the Caltherans discovered he could do that, they had replaced and reinforced the stone with metal. Winston had tried, but he could only consume minuscule amounts at a time.

  Thalysar had used his strange ability on him several times in the past few days, and he had finally figured out how to escape. With each day that passed, his ability to detect energy strengthened. Finally, he could sense the invisible chains as they wrapped around him. He just had to overload the chains with energy. Still, the chains were powerful, and it would be challenging to break them.

  He was finally ready to flee, but Winston knew that Thalysar and the other researchers would return soon. He needed to prepare.

  Name: Winston

  Race: Corgi

  Class: Relentless Consumer (Unique)

  Rank: Initiate 9

  Titles (3/5):

  Non-Humanoid Progenitor

  [Redacted]

  Modified

  Food Energy: 550/550

  Stats:

  Strength: 17

  Dexterity: 17

  Toughness: 17

  Charisma: 45

  Stomach: 55

  Mind: 30

  Free Points: 32

  Active Skills (3/10):

  Consume lvl 9

  Channel Food Energy lvl 9

  Mental Manipulation lvl 1

  Passive Skills (2/10):

  Enhanced Stomach lvl 5

  Passive Charm lvl 9

  Winston had 32 points to distribute. He could’ve had more, but he had to reserve enough energy to advance to Acolyte 1. Winston looked over his stats. He knew he’d been neglecting Charisma, but it would have to wait. Strength wasn’t a priority, either; he didn’t intend to be directly attacking anyone.

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  Finally, he decided to put twenty points into Mind and Stomach. Fifteen to Mind, five to Stomach. The other twelve would be divided between Dexterity and Toughness, letting him take more damage and move faster.

  Winston checked his skill levels as well, finding himself a bit disappointed. He’d been trying so hard, but his skills weren’t quite there. [Passive Charm], [Channel Food Energy], and [Consume] were all at level 9. They were teetering at the edge, only needing a little more to push over. Mental Manipulation was still stuck at level 1. Not only was it his hardest skill to level up, but he hadn’t had any opportunities to use it while he’d been here.

  Food Energy: 600/600

  Stats:

  Strength: 17

  Dexterity: 23

  Toughness: 23

  Charisma: 45

  Stomach: 60

  Mind: 45

  Free Points: 0

  Satisfied with his stats, he entered his soulspace. For the first time in a while, he ignored the beauty. He ignored the rustling grass. He couldn’t be distracted, not now. He’d been waiting too long for this opportunity. Winston strode up to his bowl and began to eat. As the energy flowed through him, his mind cleared. It was now or never.

  The feeling of advancing was unlike any other. Winston felt as if he were being reforged from the inside out. Still, it didn’t hurt.

  Winston opened his eyes. He had done it. He was an Acolyte. The advancement had taken far more energy than he’d expected. It was no wonder so many Caltherans were stuck at Initiate 9.

  Every step he took felt powerful. As if, with a single stomp, he could shatter the very earth. He stared at the two graves in his soulspace for a long moment before turning away. There were only a few more hours. He needed to be as ready as he could.

  When he exited his soulspace, he was immediately hit with a message from the System.

  Congratulations on reaching Acolyte 1!

  You will now be given an Acolyte-tier Soul Shard. Your Soul Shard will be based on your class. Please prepare…

  Winston tilted his head. What was a ‘Soul Shard’? Was it the ability he would get for reaching Acolyte? Winston’s train of thought was cut off as a searing pain shot through him. He let out a whimper as he fell on his side. It was as if a raging fire had set itself ablaze within him.

  Then, the flames flowed towards his core. The pain disappeared from his extremities, concentrating itself around Winston’s stomach. Then, just like that, the pain was gone.

  Soul Shard gained: Devour (Unique)

  Winston lay there, panting as the pain ebbed away. After a moment, he forced himself to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he brought up his status screen.

  Race: Corgi

  Class: Relentless Consumer (Unique)

  Rank: Acolyte 1

  Soul Shards (1/?):

  Devour (Unique)

  …

  Food Energy: 700/700

  Stats:

  Strength: 27

  Dexterity: 33

  Toughness: 33

  Charisma: 55

  Stomach: 70

  Mind: 55

  Free Points: 0

  Winston’s eyes widened. He’d gained ten points in every stat. No wonder Acolyte-tier beings were so powerful. Even if they didn’t focus on advancing their mind palace and stats, they would still get a huge stat boost upon their advancement. After looking over his stats for a moment, Winston focused on his new Soul Shard.

  Devour (Unique)

  Devour the very essence of your opponents’ attacks.

  Devour your opponents’ attacks, absorbing the energy put into them and preventing your opponent from using the skill for a certain amount of time.

  Scales with [Consume]’s level and stomach stat.

  Winston read the description, excitement building within him. Would this let him escape from Thalysar’s Soul Shard, as well? Winston read through it again, tilting his head. The description of the Soul Shard was strange. With his skills, the descriptions always said stuff like ‘Allows the user to.’ This one was different, though. It was directed at him. Was it because it was a Soul Shard? Because it was unique?

  After a moment, Winston returned to the center of the room. He’d gotten up to 1651 credits from harvesting the metal of the door. Still, he couldn’t afford the skill he wanted. Now, he had to make a choice. Did he spend it now, on a different skill, or did he wait?

  Winston chose to wait. He didn’t see any skills in his price range that he wanted. And if he chose an item, Thalysar would find it when he checked Winston’s ring. Now, all there was to do was wait.