The Lesser Abyss Beast let out a low, rumbling growl that vibrated through the stone floor of the cavern. It was a massive, six-legged horror, its body covered in jagged, overlapping plates of dark chitin. Thick, yellow saliva dripped from its mandibles, hissing as it hit the cold obsidian altar.
In the past, Lucian’s instincts would have screamed at him to run, to hide, to beg for a Silver-frame soldier to save him. But as he stood there, his newly awakened demonic heart beat with a slow, heavy, and utterly calm rhythm.
The beast lunged.
It crossed the distance between them in a fraction of a second, its massive front claws snapping forward to tear Lucian in half.
To an ordinary human eye, it would have been a blur. But to Lucian’s crimson-glowing eyes, the beast’s movements felt sluggish. His Agility stat sat at 18—nearly double that of an unenhanced human soldier.
Lucian didn't just dodge; he waited until the very last second.
As the claws tore through the air where his head had been, Lucian slithered to the left. His body felt lighter than air. Pivoting on his heel, he balled his right hand into a fist. The violet veins mapping his forearms flared with dark energy as he poured his raw Strength into the blow.
Boom!
His fist slammed directly into the side of the beast’s jaw. The impact sounded like a sledgehammer hitting concrete. A visible shockwave rippled through the air, and several of the creature's thick, razor-sharp teeth shattered, flying across the cavern.
The massive beast roared in shock and pain, its heavy body sliding five feet across the smooth altar.
Lucian looked down at his knuckles. They weren't broken. In fact, his skin felt as hard as iron.
[Target HP: 75/120]
[Warning: The Lesser Abyss Beast has entered a 'Frenzied' state!]
Enraged by the injury inflicted by what it thought was weak prey, the beast thrashed its tail. A whip-like appendage tipped with a heavy, spiked bone club came whistling toward Lucian’s ribs.
Lucian reacted instinctively, raising both forearms to block.
Crack!
The force of the blow was immense. The residual pieces of Lucian’s Bronze-grade armor completely disintegrated under the pressure. He was pushed back, his boots dragging deep grooves into the ancient dust on the floor, but he stayed on his feet. A sharp ping rang in his mind.
[HP: 135/150]
"That all you've got?" Lucian muttered, a dark, manic grin splitting his face. The pain didn't scare him; it fed the dark hunger growing in his chest.
The beast charged again, aiming to trample him.
Instead of backing away, Lucian ran forward to meet it. Just as the beast lowered its armored head to impale him, Lucian slid low beneath its underbelly. The soft, unarmored flesh of the creature's chest was completely exposed.
With a roar, Lucian drove his sharpened, obsidian talons deep into the beast's soft underbelly, dragging his hand backward as he slid clear to the other side.
Sreeeech!
A torrent of thick, black blood erupted from the wound. The Abyss Beast collapsed to its knees, its legs twitching violently as its life force rapidly drained onto the obsidian altar. After a few final, desperate gasps, the massive creature went completely still.
A cascade of crimson system prompts filled Lucian's vision.
[Quest: First Blood — Complete!]
[Gained: 50 EXP]
[Unlocked Skill: Shadow Step (Rank: F)]
[Target defeated. Passive Skill: 'Assimilation' triggering automatically...]
Suddenly, faint tendrils of dark mist rose from the dead beast’s carcass. The mist didn't dissipate into the air; it rushed toward Lucian, sinking directly into his chest.
He gasped as a pure, intoxicating wave of raw energy flooded his soul core. The physical exhaustion from the fight vanished instantly.
[Absorbed biological energy from Lesser Abyss Beast.]
[Gained: 50 EXP]
[Level Up!]
[Level 1 ──> Level 2 (0/200 EXP)]
[All stats increased by +2. Unallocated Stat Points received: 5]
Lucian rolled his shoulders, feeling the terrifying influx of power dense within his muscles. He was already stronger than he had been ten minutes ago.
His eyes drifted past the dead beast, landing on something glinting in the dark at the edge of the altar. It was a discarded, broken plasma rifle—likely dropped by one of Vance's elite vanguards who had been slaughtered earlier. The high-capacity micro-fusion battery inside the rifle was still blinking with a faint blue light.
Lucian walked over and picked up the heavy piece of military tech.
As his fingers brushed the metal casing, his [Assimilation] skill reacted. The cold, mechanical voice of the system echoed once more.
[High-grade mechanical matter detected: Micro-Fusion Battery Core.]
[Would you like to assimilate this item?]
Lucian stared at the rifle. In this world, tech was everything. Humans ruled the galaxy with it. And now, his system was telling him he could eat it.
"Do it," Lucian whispered.
The glowing violet veins on his palm flared violently. Before his eyes, the heavy metal of the plasma rifle began to pixelate, dissolving into streams of raw, blue digital data that flowed up his arm and right into his body.