Back at Erynd’s tent, Winston lay curled up on Erynd’s chest. He pressed himself closer to Erynd, searching for warmth. And with each rise and fall of his chest, he found himself calming down. Closing his eyes, he directed himself into his soulspace, ready to use the knowledge he had gained from his purchase.

  Landing in the empty field, he took a moment to take in the beauty. There was something beautiful about the simplicity. A light breeze rustled through the grass, causing it to sway. With a sigh, Winston turned and stepped onto the stone platform. Looking up at the emerald green mist he had gotten from Erynd’s arrow and the stone the beast had launched, he began to compress it. Instead of his food bowl, he chose his water bowl.

  One drop after another, pure, crystal clear water landed in the bowl. When the mist finally dispersed, there was a full inch of liquid in the bowl. If the knowledge from the system shop was to be trusted, this would strengthen his ‘mind palace.’

  The mind palace wasn’t the same for any one cultivator. It didn’t need to be a palace, either. It could be anything, depending on the will, personality, and mood of the owner. Stepping forward, Winston bent his head down and drank deeply, not letting a single drop escape.

  He felt the energy seeping into him, both similar and different to when he had increased his rank. Closing his eyes, he bent his soulspace to his will, taking the first step on the path of his mind palace. When Winston opened his eyes, there was only a single new addition to his soulspace. Sitting to the side of the stone platform was a lone tombstone.

  Inscribed on the face of the tombstone was a single word. It wasn’t in any language, but any who saw it could understand what it said: ‘Roderic’.

  ?? ′?? ? ??` ??

  Winston opened his eyes and gently stepped off Erynd, taking care not to wake him. He slunk outside the tent before sitting down by a tree stump. With a thought, he brought up his status screen.

  Name: Winston

  Race: Corgi

  Class: Relentless Consumer (Unique)

  Rank: Initiate 2

  Titles (3/5):

  Non-Humanoid Progenitor

  [Redacted]

  Modified

  Food Energy: 200/200

  Stats:

  Strength: 5

  Dexterity: 2

  Toughness: 3

  Charisma: 40

  Stomach: 20

  Free Points: 3

  Active Skills (3/10):

  Consume lvl 3

  Channel Food Energy lvl 1

  Charm lvl 1

  Passive Skills (2/10):

  Enhanced Stomach lvl 1

  Passive Charm lvl 6

  The addition to his mind palace had earned him 3 free points. After thinking for a moment, Winston put 1 point in Toughness and 2 in Stomach. He didn’t intend to ever do any paw on paw combat, but it never hurt to increase his durability. As for the points he put into Stomach, he’d done some experimenting before Erynd had gone to sleep, and had found some very interesting possibilities with [Channel Food Energy].

  With that done, Winston decided to try and [Consume] enough items to rank up to Initiate 3. The cultivation guide he had purchased contained a surprising amount of information. There was a cap of level 10 on skill levels while he was still Initiate-tier. Once he passed Initiate and reached Acolyte—which he assumed was the next tier—each rank that one gained would make the level cap increase by one. Ranking up did some other stuff as well, but the guide hadn’t gone into detail.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Looking around, Winston searched for something to [Consume]. He could still only use the skill on one item at a time, so he searched for larger items. After consuming several large stones that each gave a small amount of energy, Winston stumbled across something else. The paths leading through the camp were barren as the camp mourned the loss of its warriors. Peeking out of the trampled ground was the edge of a small green gem.

  Winston approached it cautiously. Digging his claws into the ground around it, he scooped it up. It emerged from the soil with little resistance, as if it’d just been dropped there hours before. Winston leaped back in surprise as he stared intently at it.

  [Mana Stone - Uncommon]

  Winston cocked his head. Items had those descriptions too? He had thought it was just skills and creatures. Sadly, unlike with skills, it didn’t come with a description.

  Cautiously batting the spherical gem to the side of the path, Winston weighed his options. He could wait until Erynd woke and give him the gem, but with his inability to communicate, he doubted it would turn out well. Or, he could simply [Consume] the gem.

  Winston bent over and opened his mouth. Unlike with the hair of the Nightrender, he was able to use [Consume] on the mana stone.

  Winston got a strange feeling in his stomach, but no energy flew into him. Winston narrowed his eyes. This didn’t seem right. When he consumed other items, the screen immediately said that he’d absorbed the energy. Was there something strange about the mana stone? Just then, he received a notification.

  [Enhanced Stomach lvl 1 → Enhanced Stomach lvl 2]

  Winston yipped in confusion. Had the mana stone been sent into his stomach? He tried to remember the description of Enhanced Stomach, but he couldn’t. Opening his status screen, he selected the skill.

  Enhanced Stomach (rare)

  Creates a smaller, secondary stomach. The user’s secondary stomach can digest and remain unharmed by usually harmful materials. The ability of the user’s stomach scales with the skill rank and Stomach stat.

  A secondary stomach? How had he not remembered this? Winston sighed, he supposed he hadn’t been in the best mental state when he was first brought to the Tower—not that his current state of mind was much better. Maybe the mana stone needed to be digested by his stomach?

  As Winston thought, he felt an influx of energy into his soulspace. It seemed that the mana stone had been digested. But Winston wondered why it was so quick. Maybe it was because of his high stomach stat?

  As Winston strode back to the tent, he couldn’t help but think that gaining ranks was a bit too easy. Entering his soulspace, he looked up at the cloud of mist. The mana stone had provided him with a significant amount of energy, nearly three times as much as everything else he had consumed that day.

  Speaking of days, Winston exited his soulspace for a moment to glance up at the sky. The sky was still bright, the sun still shining high above. It seemed that there would never be any darkness on the floor.

  Closing his eyes, Winston returned to his soulspace and concentrated. Compressing the mist got more and more difficult the more there was, and it took Winston a dozen minutes to finally exhaust the mist.

  Flopping onto his back, Winston let his tongue loll out as he panted. He didn’t know why it had been so tiring; it just was. After he recovered, he began to gorge himself on the energy-infused kibble.

  When he felt himself advance, Winston checked his status to confirm that he had advanced to Initiate 3. It had taken significantly more kibble than last time to advance. Winston sighed; it looked like it wouldn’t be so easy after all. Glancing down, there were a few pieces left, but he chose to leave them for later.

  Exiting his soulspace, he found Erynd awake once more. Upon seeing him, Erynd smiled softly, grief still evident in his eyes. “We have today off, but tomorrow, we’re going back out,” He sighed. “And now I’m the leader of the squad. I don’t know what to do!”

  Shaking his head, he spoke again, “Well then, I suppose I should give you a name, shouldn’t I?”

  As Erynd began listing off names, Winston remembered a skill that he had, [Charm]. The description said that it would let him impose his will and ideas on a target, so he tried it now. Staring intently at Erynd, Winston activated [Charm], feeling a slight drain on his food points.

  Winston clenched his jaw. Infusing every drop of his will into projecting his name at Erynd. After a moment, he felt something click. Erynd froze for a moment before clenching his jaw. He tilted his head as if he were trying to remember something.

  “Win…Winston?” Erynd asked, “Is that your name?”

  Using every muscle in his stubby legs, Winston leaped up and down excitedly. Running forwards and yipping excitedly, he tried to leap into Erynd’s arms, but he couldn’t jump high enough. Letting out a cry of alarm, Erynd lunged forward, catching Winston right as he was about to hit the floor.

  With Winston now cradled in his arms, Erynd asked, “So, your name is Winston?”

  Winston jerked his head enthusiastically, his tiny pink tongue dangling out of his jaws. Erynd frowned for a moment. “But…how did I know? I guess it just came to me, but it doesn’t make sense.”

  Erynd shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.” Looking down at Winston, he gently stroked his fur. “We have the rest of today off. Let’s go check out the markets.”

  Erynd scooped Winston up onto his shoulder and yawned. He grabbed his daggers before they left, but didn’t take a bow. As they walked, Erynd scratched Winston’s chin.

  Suddenly, Erynd smiled. “I bet we can get you a spatial ring! You’ll be able to carry everything that you need…though I’m not sure what you would need.”