The surface world was messy, complicated, and human.

  Kai… he would conquer it, one step at a time.

  The surface world was messy, complicated, and human.

  Kai stepped into the dungeon again, the faint stench of damp stone and decay filling his nostrils. Rank D. Supposedly “easy.” A playground for novice hunters.

  He smirked. Easy or not, this is my practice.

  The system flickered faintly in his vision:

  Kai blinked. He didn’t know why it was so low. 1%? That was practically nothing. But it didn’t matter. Hunger still roared inside him. The Devourer’s path demanded consumption, and consumption demanded practice.

  The first wave of creatures appeared—slightly larger than rats, with jagged teeth and shadowy claws. Instinctively, Kai moved. His shadows flickered weakly around him, responding sluggishly to his commands. Still, with careful strikes, precise cuts, and careful placement, he tore through them.

  One percent… and I can still kill them. he thought, a dark smile spreading across his face.

  Hours passed. Hours blurred into each other. Kai moved tirelessly, grinding, experimenting with techniques. Every strike, every consumed corpse, every absorbed fragment of shadow pushed him just slightly forward. The hunger pulsed constantly, restrained, teasing him, whispering, “Grow… grow…”

  Kai ignored it. He focused on efficiency. How could he fight smarter with so little? How could he maximize each kill?

  He learned quickly.

  Shadows could extend farther if he concentrated.

  Limbs of monsters could be used as weapons after absorption.

  Environmental hazards amplified his damage if he timed correctly.

  By the time he reached the dungeon’s mid-layer, Kai was moving like a predator. Efficient. Calculated. Cold.

  But the system still held him back. The hunger, the power… barely trickled in.

  It doesn’t matter, he muttered. I adapt.

  After what felt like days of grinding (hours in the dungeon, reality outside distorted), Kai finally reached the deepest chamber. The boss awaited: Rank C Aberrant Horror, a massive twisted creature with multiple faces stitched together, eyes blinking in conflicting directions, and a crown of spikes fused into its skull.

  Its growl shook the chamber. Every footstep rattled stone. Its stench was overpowering. Kai felt the system stirring faintly in his mind:

  Kai’s pulse quickened. Perfect.

  The fight began.

  The Aberrant Horror lunged, swinging multiple limbs at once. Kai dodged, barely, relying on reflexes, experience, and careful timing. Each strike of his weak shadow blades barely grazed the monster at first. It wasn’t enough.

  Pain, blood, fear—everything he had experienced in the Abyss returned, a memory of raw survival. The hunger flared, restrained, pulsing. Kai clenched his teeth.

  “Patience,” he whispered. “Calculate. Adapt.”

  Minutes stretched like hours. He tested attacks, dodges, environmental traps, even the monster’s own momentum. One by one, weak attacks started landing. Each absorbed fragment gave him tiny boosts. The system still allowed only 1—but over time, even that 1% accumulated.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The Aberrant Horror screeched, rolling across the chamber. Kai leapt over it, landing on its back, driving his shadows into its spine. Bone cracked, flesh tore. But the monster fought back violently, throwing him across the room.

  He landed heavily. Bruised. Bloodied. Still alive. Still calculating.

  I will adapt.

  Finally, after countless strikes, counterattacks, and brutal improvisation, Kai drove his final shadow blade into the monster’s core. The creature screamed—a symphony of pain and rage—before collapsing.

  The system flickered violently. A notification appeared:

  Kai’s eyes widened. He barely felt the increase in power… but the system whispered faintly:

  “You are not yet full. Grow. Consume. Hunger is your path.”

  Kai exhaled slowly, leaning against the wall. Sweat dripped from his forehead. Pain lanced through his body, but he grinned.

  This… this is perfect.

  The Guardian’s subtle imprint echoed in his mind again:

  “Patience. One percent is enough… for now. Let him hunger. Let him learn restraint.”

  Kai didn’t understand fully what it meant, but instinctively, he knew she was controlling the growth of his power. He smiled faintly, bloodied but triumphant.

  “Good,” he whispered. “I will consume everything. All of it.”

  The dungeon trembled faintly, as if responding to the Devourer’s promise. Shadows writhed. Kai’s hunger roared quietly, restrained—but building.

  This was only the beginning.

  Kai had survived betrayal, the Abyss, and now the surface world’s challenges.

  And soon…

  Power would flow through him in full.

  The dungeon trembled faintly, as if responding to the Devourer’s promise.

  Kai leaned against the shattered wall of the dungeon, blood and shadow dripping from his body. The Aberrant Horror lay in ruins behind him, its many faces frozen in agony, its stitched body broken into pieces. Every breath he took was heavy, every heartbeat loud in the silence of the chamber.

  He should have felt exhausted. Weak. Overwhelmed.

  But the system pulsed faintly in his mind, whispering new possibilities. A notification flickered into view:

  Kai blinked. “…What?”

  He flexed his hands. Shadows danced around him, faint, restrained, but alive. A surge of excitement coursed through his veins.

  So every boss… every kill… will make me stronger… gradually… and I can take their abilities.

  A smile curved across his bloodied lips. “Interesting. Very interesting.”

  The dungeon trembled again. Smaller creatures stirred, sensing the new presence of the Devourer. Kai’s shadows flickered faintly around him—1.01% now, barely noticeable. But the hunger… the hunger was louder than ever.

  It’s subtle, but it’s there… he thought. It grows with each conquest.

  Kai moved forward. Every step was deliberate, calculated, efficient. Rank D dungeon monsters were easy, but he experimented relentlessly, testing the limits of his 1.01% Devour power. Each strike had to count. Each kill had to maximize growth.

  A small pack of twisted rats appeared. Multiple eyes, blackened claws. Kai didn’t hesitate. Shadows lashed, tearing through them like knives. Absorption triggered.

  He flexed his fingers. Weak, yes, but the taste of power—the hint of growth—was intoxicating.

  Hours passed. Kai moved through the dungeon methodically, grinding, killing, absorbing. Shadows clung to walls, creeping like living ink. He experimented with new ways to slice, pierce, and crush efficiently.

  Each kill was a lesson. Each absorption a seed for the future.

  Patience, he thought. Power builds slowly… but inexorably.

  Finally, he reached the final chamber of the dungeon. A heavy iron door loomed before him, etched with runes of warning. The stench of decay wafted from within.

  Kai smiled faintly. Finally… a real challenge.

  The door creaked open. Inside, the boss waited.

  Rank C Aberrant Knight—tall, armored in fused bones, wielding jagged weapons formed from its own flesh. Its faces were stitched with cruel precision, eyes glaring from every direction.

  It roared—a sound of centuries of rage—and lunged.

  Kai’s shadows flared. 1.01% power. Barely enough to feel the pulse of Devourer, but enough to fight.

  The battle was brutal. Every strike of the Knight forced Kai to react, adapt, and calculate. His shadows flickered weakly, slicing limbs, tearing flesh, absorbing the essence slowly. He gritted his teeth as the Knight’s weapon slammed into the wall beside him, sending shards of bone flying.

  Hours, maybe minutes. Time had no meaning in the chamber. Pain, blood, sweat, fear—all of it sharpened Kai’s mind.

  Finally, with a precise strike, he drove a shadow blade into the Knight’s core.

  The monster screamed—a symphony of agony—and collapsed.

  A faint ripple pulsed through Kai. The system reacted.

  Kai exhaled slowly, wiping blood from his face. The shadows around him flickered, writhing like living ink.

  Assimilate Boss Ability… he whispered. So every boss, every kill… gives me more… slowly, yes, but inevitably…

  The dungeon was silent once more. Kai’s body bore scars, bruises, cuts—but the hunger pulsed stronger than ever. 1.04%… insignificant to an outsider, but to Kai, it was proof of growth, proof that his path was real.

  The Guardian’s imprint whispered faintly in his mind:

  “Do not rush. Each conquest strengthens him. Each ability absorbed… a step closer to full Devour. Let him hunger. Let him learn restraint.”

  Kai flexed his fingers again. Shadows stretched slightly further than before, responding more readily. A tiny smile curved his lips.

  Soon… very soon… 100%.

  He turned to leave the chamber, eyes cold and calculating. The surface world still awaited. Money. Supplies. Power. Allies—or enemies.

  But now, Kai understood: each dungeon, each boss, each kill, was a lesson. A calculation. A step toward inevitable dominance.

  He would grind. He would consume. He would grow.

  And one day… he would unleash the Devourer in full.