《~I was Transported to another world and became overpowered thanks to my cheat skill~》
Chapter 1
I have died.
It might not seem like much.
And yet, that emptiness, that feeling of suddently becoming nothing...
I fear it.
I don''t want to die again...
I hate this fear...
I hate my powerlessness at preventing my own death...
I won''t die again...
No matter what atrocidies and horrors I have to do...
I suddently woke up, anxious and feeling like I just had a horrible dream. Several voices, just as confused as I am, resounded all around me.
I couldn''t make heads or tails of the situation, but I didn''t need to, as a voice somehow soft, and yet so loud spoke up.
"Welcome, my heroes. I am sure you are all confused, and this will indeed be much to take in. However, I will first tell you this: You have all died..."
As everybody kept on listening to the goddesses'' explanation, my mind became hazy. Died? I died? That... dream... was real?
I shivered, phantom pain taking over my reason or judgement. Dark thoughts and evil voices spoke up, like offering candy to a kid. They spoke sweet words, convincing me of false things.
"You died once, but what happens if you die again?" "Won''t the pain multiply twice?"
The things they said were based on my own imagination, since the voices themselves were my imagination. Thus, nothing was proven, and yet it all seemed so real...
"... And like that, I will ask you to defeat the vile demon king. All of you, since you come from another world, will have powerful innate abilities. When you have sorted out everything mentally, come up to me so I can unlock your innate abilities."
I finally glanced at where the voice came from. It was an unnaturally beautiful and busty woman wearing some sort of battle dress and weilding a shiny lance.
I wasn''t even listening to all of that bullshit, but since I wasn''t exactly uncoltured in the other world, I know the gist of it. Save the world, defeat the demon king, get a harem, live a happy life and bla bla bla... Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit...This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
What is the meaning behind life? In my... past... life, I suppose, I was a scientist. I worked for the government, researching various rather unorthodox things. Most of my subjects were humans, and naturally, few of them lived past my experiments, and none ever left the lab.
Did I feel bad about it? The answer would be no. I did it for a reason, to further enhance humanity. However, now, after I experienced that thing that cannot even be described as pain, I feel like all of humanity can just go die. I care not anymore.
Yes... Yes... I was wrong the entire time... What is the meaning behind life? To hold the ability to move? Reproduce? The need to use energy? To observe the world around us?
If only I had figured out the answer in time... However, it''s still not too late... The meaning of life is to continue living forever... Of course... Why didn''t I figure this out sooner... Hahaha...
I felt as though a huge weight was lifted off my back the moment I realized this. The feeling of anxiousness and fear that had been with me ever since I died, which in reality should only have happend a couple of minutes ago, disappeared.
After a couple more minutes of planning and making decisions, I approached the woman. I didn''t trust her in the least, and this strange of feeling of needing to trust her more only made me trust her less.
She looked at me softly and said "So, do you have everything sorted out?" I nodded slightly to her and she smiled before putting a hand on my head. I silently cringed inwardly. Even gods were taller then me?
I felt a strange feeling of warmth spread through my whole body, and like a dam being broken, strange new senses opened up to me, suprising me. Then, a small screen appeared in my mind.
Name: Edward Massaj
Race: Human
Age: 24
Titles: none
Skills: none
Strenght: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 1
Thinking about it for a moment, it made sense that I had all stats at 1. It should be about the average for a regular adult, and although I was way smarter then the average person in my old world, I assume that I just got a 1 too for reasons.
The goddess pulled her hand back for a moment and said "So? Did you feel it?"
I blinked a couple times, taken away from my own little world and quickly nodded my head. She smiled warmly at me and said "Good. Now, allow me to unlock your skill..."
This time, she didn''t even touch me as I suddently felt a stream of knowledge flow into me. I crouched and groaned as I held my head in between my arms in pain.
She looked at me with a bitter smile as she apologized "I''m sorry, that pain will go away soon. Don''t worry, it only happens when you unlock your innate skill."
Indeed, after a while, the pain finally faded and a new notification appeared in my mind.
[Gluttonyskill gained]
A smile spread through my face as I read the description of the skill
[Gluttony - Innate skill: You are the one who shall rise above all others. Consume and absorb to rise to new heights. Allows to take away parts of the stats of enemies, the stronger the meal compared to you, the more stats are gained. Small chance to earn an opponent''s highest level skill. Due to your strong desire to live, you can now devour a living being''s life force through skin contact or by consumingthem alive, this will heal your injuries and extend your lifespan. Warning: Overuse of this skill will lead to corruption]
After thanking the goddess and feeling myself being transported away, I roared of mad laughter in my mind. Oh, poor world, you have no idea of who''s coming for you...
Chapter 2
''Welcome heroes, I am king Retard, and today I want YOU to save MY country for a whopping 99 payments of 0.00!''
That sentence would be enough to describe the 1 hour long speech the supposedly benevolent king gave me and the other 5 idiots that got summoned along with me. Describing them? There''s nothing to describe about them other then the fact that they are the trashiest trash that ever existed.
Hell, there was a catgirl maid during the summoning, and right after we were summoned, one of the guys just randomly began fondling her breasts. I''m curious as to how that did not count as sexual harassment, but if all the novels I read have even an inkling of truth in them, maids, slaves and other lower parts of society have no rights at all, and can only accept their fate. Funny, isn''t it? I agree, it is not.
But who am I to care what a bunch of horny teenagers want to do? I have a much greater goal in mind. The king gave us bedrooms in the innermost part of the castle, close to where he lives. Although I doubt that those peanuts-for-brains could ever understand why he did such, it isn''t hard. He doesn''t want to give us a chance at escaping until he is absutotally sure that we won''t rebel. Such trust, it leaves me blushing.
Well, I wasn''t planning on running away anyways. Knowing how governments actually works is a huge advantage compared to the idiot heroes, since those guys barely know how to wash their laundry.
But it''s not like I''m blaming them... In fact, they could all die for what I care. As long as it''s not detrimental to me, they could even go and save the world, because I certainly won''t. Really? Slaying a ''demon king''? That''s retarded.
"Ed?" A voice calls behind me. I sigh in annoyance as I turn around and answer the intruder "How may I help you?"
It was the boob-fondler, of course. This guy is the exact stereotype for naive heroes, and it irritates me quite a bit. Not only does he not have common sense at all, he''s shameless beyond belief, and yet when the princess tried seducing him, he turned all red and run away. It''s beyond me how his brain works... oh, right... it doesn''t...
He laughed awkwardly and said "Man, you gotta relax. You literally spent a week in the library, you need to go out some more!" whilst patting my shoulders.
I scoffed at him before answering "And? I believe that vegetables should not insult fruits for not moving around, since that would be a perfect elementary-school example of ''hypocritism''."
He pursued his lips and said "Ugh... fine. Still, you refused to train with mako-sensei, did the king send a magician or something to train you?"
That Mako girl? Oh, yes. The muscular sadist. She''s in fact a nice person to hang out with, since she stays mostly silent and is quite blunt. Although she could tone down on the shouting during training. Well, it''s not like I need to train my body or learn swordsmanship. The latter I already know, and the former... well, my skill should help if the knowledge I have about it iscorrect.
Reading books has always been one of my absolute favourite time killers. Nothing beats swallowing information like a dehidrated man in a desert suddently finding an oasis. Horrible reference? Yes, but that''s besides the point.
Stats can essentially only be upgraded only if you train yourself vigorously, have a cheat skill or you''ve been summoned, as apparently ''heroes'' can gain stats much, much more easily then natives, ''blessings of the goddess'' and all. Do I believe that? Not a bit.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
As I was lost in my thoughts, the brain-dead hero poked my shoulder and asked "So?" With a weird expression. What''s with that pitying face?
"Hm? What were you saying?" I ask. When did this guy even pop up? Wasn''t I reading a book?
He sighed and mumbled "Nevermind... I''ll just go say hi to Yuri-chan..."
I frowned slightly. That Yuri girl scared me. It''s not that she''s powerful, however, she has really good brains, no morals and a very... charming skill. The combination makes for a very dangerous enemy, should she become one. Also a bad ally, should she become one as well. Her personality is somewhat slutty too, as she successfully seduced half of the male heroes that were summoned, and by half I mean 1 out of 2. Depressing, isn''t it? 2 boys and 4 girls were summoned. The goddess is obviously feminist.
Rolling my eyes, I dived back into the book. So the triangular theorem of circles is actually a squared rhombus... *Incoherent mumbling*
~A week later~
"Welcome! This is the Shallow Forest''s slave house, how may I help you?"
A beautiful woman with an ample bosom greeted me as I entered. I scowled internallyas I thought''What could I ever need in a place like this? Tsk, seducers are the worst'', however, on the surface I answered with a smile "Greetings, I am looking for a battle slave, either gender is fine, and I won''t care for the race. The price must range from the 20 golds to a maximum of 40. If possible, I''d like at least 5."
Her eyes perked up as she answered "Of course! follow me, please."
I did as ordered as I toyed with the small bag of money on my belt. The king was ''generous'' enough to grant us some money to buy anything we wanted, and I immediately decided to adress the issue at hand, my stats.
During this time, the heroes had all reached around 4-5 in their stats, meaning they had 5 times the amount of strenght a normal person has.
Normal people in this world have stats hovering around 2-3, so technically they''re only twice as powerful, however, the pitiful me is still stuck at the 1 cap. However, it''s not like I did nothing this whole time.
Name: Edward Massaj
Race: Human
Age: 24
Titles:Bookworm
Skills: Arcane Magic Lv. 1
Strenght: 1
Dexterity: 1
Constitution: 1
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 3
Charisma: 1
Indeed, not only did I uncover the ''legendary arcane magic'', my wisdom and intelligence also received a lovely boost.
As for the ''legendary arcane magic'', it was really hard to discover. Truly. I had to not only read a book, I also had to occasionally refer to it! Imagine how hard that is. Sarcasm aside, it was easy.
Of course, for people of this world who understand nothing of how energy and laws work, they obviously would never be able to understand it. Even the heroes probably wouldn''t be able to.
Arcane magic is not really useful yet, but I already discovered a couple ideas I''m refining right now. It might not match fire magic in destructivity, nor light magic in healing, but I think it''ll be a pretty nice all-rounder.
Going back to the big-titted slaver, I looked at what she ''brought to the table''. There were around 10 slaves, mostly females with 3 males. I''m thankful to whatever deity (Not that bitch) for allowing me to be summoned that I wasn''t born a slave, as these guys do not seem happy. scars of lashes cover their skin, silver collars adorn their necks and one even has an infected wound on herbutt, which is in clear display by the way.
As the slaver praised on and on about how great these guys were, all the while they grit their teeth, I asked "May I know their statuses?"
Naturally, she immediately chirped "Of course sir~! Here you go."
A convenient feature is the ''share status'' ability. Normally, people can choose not to share it if they don''t want to, however, slaves cannot disobey, so the moment the slaver ordered it, they were forced to do it.
Let''s see... Oh man, some of them are pitifully low... Seriously? That girl has a 0.5 for strenght, can stats deteriorate? No, that''s not possible, otherwise I would be at 0 strenght right now... Still, that''s quite impressive... Not in the good way.
Sighing, I picked the the highest one for each stat, which gave me 4 girls and a man. After paying and dropping a drop of blood on their collars, I went back to the castle for experimentation. Since I have no need for any slaves as of now, they''re going to be useless after this experiment... If they live past this experiment, that is. And if my assumptions are correct, they won''t. Too bad, really, but who cares?
It''s for the greater good, after all. My own greater good.
Chapter 3
"Number 1, come here."
These words were like a death sentence to the terror-stricken slave. She fought against her own body, trying to run away, but she could do naught against the slave collar. What a sad story, but that''s life.
Currently, I was locked up in my room that had essentially turned into a pseudo-primitive laboratory. It couldn''t even compare to the most basic of basic labs in my old world, but what could I do with nothing but my own two hands and some gold? Not much, would be the correct answer.
I wasn''t the only one buying slaves with the money the king gave us. The girls bought dresses and souvenirs, tipical of brain dead teenagers, whilst the vegetable bought a tigerkin lady, an elven flat-chested brat and a silver-haired human. It really impresses me how much a teenager''s hormones can mess up your brain. Not only did those three slaves each cost as much as all my slaves together, their usefullness is limited.
But, oh well, I''m just a scientist with a slight case ofthanatophobia, how would I ever be allowedto judge others? Well, others that aren''t puppets under my feet, of course.
As subject one came up to the operation table, I ''gently'' laid her down and shackled all of her limbs to the table, forming an X with her limbs.
"Very well. You four, go to that corner, and do not scream nor make any noise that could alert others of my operation. That is an absolute order."
The moment I said that, each of their collars shone a bit before calming down. If they dared to do anything, they''d die immediately. Only if their stats were ten times mine would they be able to escape, and fortunately, they aren''t quite at that point.
Focusing on my test subject, I slowly put my hands on her. One on her navel and the other slightly above her breasts and under her neck. She was naked, of course, but I doubt she cared right now.
Silently whispering under my breath, I activated my skill. "Eat and grow, grow and strenghten, strenghten and reach eternity. Let my road to immortality begin: Gluttony!"
At first, nothing happend, however, after around twenty seconds a black slime-like substance began seepingout of my arms and stabbing into the girl, whom tried to scream but was prevented by my precautions and the collar.
The Black Acid, as I chose to call it, slowly ate away at her, leaving hollow bones behind. It took a whopping thirty minutes for the whole ''operation'' to finish, and by then, I felt full. It was a strange feeling, like I could burst at any second. Naturally, I had an idea of why this was and what to do.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
After burning the skeleton in the fire pit, I sat down and began meditating. Inside of me, a large pool of energy was settled in my stomach. It wasn''t exactly ''energy'', or ''mana'', as the natives called the strange law-breaking energy that existed in this world.
No, this felt more like... Life energy? The thing that allows us to live? It sounds stupid, but that was the feeling it gave me. And yet, this life energy radiated a huge ''death energy''. Although these are cliche names, they describe the feeling it gave off quite well.
Still, the knowledge from my innate skill wasn''t for naught. I began directing this energy all around my body, letting it settle in and nourish me. It wasn''t a huge boost, but it was still quite large considering the girl had a huge 3 in strenght, 2 constitution and 3 dexterity. That''s almost three times my stats, which means I should hopefully get something good out of this.
A couple hours later, I finally finished, feeling indeed much stronger then I ever did. It felt as thought I could rend steel and shatter stone, which I tested, and I definetly couldn''t. Well, my bones didn''t break though, so that''s a start.
It felt intoxicating. I never did drugs, but I knew some who did, and this feeling is probably the same. I felt a primal desire to repeat this operation.
I looked at the remaining four slaves with a borderline insane look. Strangely enough, the feeling of fullness I felt before was gone, and in it''s stead, hunger reigned.
[Warning! Gluttony''s Corruption has reached 0.23%!]
A small warning appeared, but I ignored it. To reach immortality, I''d sacrifice my own flesh and soul, no matter what I have to do or how I do it.
Although I wanted to once again devour the remaining slaves, I restrained myself, as I had other things that I need to test first.
"Number 2, come." I sternly said, ignoring the look of horror on his face. This guy had an amazing 4 for constitution, and 3 for strenght, but lacked in everything else.
After he too was laid on the testing table, I began my smaller experiments.
Turns out, I can manipulate the Black Acid to a small extent, but I can improve that. At first, I could only allow it to do as it willed, but slowly, the acid became easier and easier to use. Not by much, mind you, but still easier.
With it, I first tried to only eat parts of him. His left arm was my first test subject, and needless to say, only bones remained. After a while of playing around with it, I decided to finish this once and for all.
Lowering my face down to his own, I murmured "Do not resist, that is a command."
Then, I bit down on his neck. I had to grind for quite a while, since his constitution wasn''t for naught. Still, I managed to force my way past his defenses and then tried the second method.
Instead of using my Black Acid, I directly sucked his life energy, kind of like a vampire, but instead of blood I sucked his life.
It was a lot less efficient then using the other method, but it was quicker. In just a couple minutes, the man''s eyes had lost all life and his skin had dried up. He looked like a corpse, if not worst.
After using the energy the man gave me, which was much less then the woman''s despite him being stronger, I glanced at the sun outside. It was already bordering the horizon, so I had to finish quickly, as the king wanted us to meet up with the nobles and showcase ourselves.
Turning towards the remaining three girls. Although I am no sadist, I couldn''t help but grin as I commented "Since I''m in a happy mood, allow me to enjoy myself on you, will you? Oh, sorry, forgot that you have no choice. That''s an order."