Demon King
chapter-9

The Second Evolution (1)

Not believing what I had seen, I rubbed my unsuspecting eyes and looked at the notification window again to confirm that I wasn’t hallucinating.

I had learned magic!

I had gotten the Goblin Warrior’s lightning ability!

After eating a Goblin Warrior, I now had the power to attack using only my mind! As well, I was previously just a beginner swordsman at Level 5, but now I had risen to Level 6!

It now became perfectly clear to me that the Predation Skill is not about merely absorbing the strength of the enemy that I eat, but also incorporating their skill!

I regretted my words when I said that predation was just a simple skill. It wasn’t.

It was the best skill of all!

I also learned that despite eating a lot of Goblins, I didn’t get any new skills because the Goblins didn’t have any, and consequently, my existing skills didn’t increase.

In simple terms, Goblins, without any useful skills, were more ineffective and barely gave any benefits other than first aid. But the Goblin Warrior was completely different because after eating just one, I learned lightning magic, improved my sword-fighting ability, and my level had increased.

Despite being weaker, the Goblin Fighter as well, still held swords, and once eaten, I can absorb their sword fighting skills and still raise mine.

“I can be stronger.”

At that moment, I realized that I had more reasons to stay in this dungeon. The more monsters I eat, the more I will grow. Just the thought of it made me feel more motivated.

I remembered the mercenary in the inventory, who must have had higher sword fighting skills than the Goblin Warrior, but I shook my head to drive the thoughts away.

“Not now.”

In front of me was a mountain of Goblin Fighter bodies, and I hurriedly ate all of them excited at the thought of how much strength I will gain.

[Strength has risen by 1.]

[Beginner Swordsmanship has become Lv7.]

[Predation became Lv2.]

I ate a total of nine Goblin Fighter bodies, including the bodies dragged to the safe area and those in my inventory. I also spared one body in case of an emergency.

I eventually got up after my stomach felt like it was going to explode from overconsumption. I wielded my sword, and several rusty knives were thrown all over. I thought to myself that a skill that consumes stamina rather than magic would be better right now. But then again of what use would it be to me?

Wielding my sword and throwing rusty knives around increased my skill level, so it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t much compared to when I ate the Goblin Fighters, but it was still something because my Sword Level increased to Level 7! I was at Level 6 just a while ago! It was my reward for suffering and enduring death. Moreover, my predation level increased.

I asked myself, “Do other Goblin Fighters also have predation?”

No way! The basic principle of increasing skills was to use them as often as possible because the more you use it, the more the level increases and therefore, the stronger you become.

I assumed that my predation level increased either from eating stronger opponents like the Goblin Warrior or because the predation count had reached a certain number.

I had not yet attempted my lightning magic; there was no harm in completing the predation first. My mana was full anyway, and predation was one of my most useful skills.

I expected that something would change as the level went up, and I immediately read the predator skill information to know what to expect.

[Predation Lv2]

[Any creature can eat anything. The act of eating restores health and mana. Some toxicity is negligible. The efficiency of absorbing skills increased slightly.]

My eyes opened. Something had changed.

First, it was now possible to recover mana through predation. I previously thought it was essential to put the body in the inventory and use it to escape, but now that I have acquired lightning magic, this new mana recovery feature synergized well with it.

Second, ‘slight toxicity’ has been changed to ‘some degree of toxicity.’ It’s a bit vague, but I guess that meant that I could evade more strain now.

Third, the efficiency of absorbing the skill of what I ate has increased slightly. In the future, this efficiency would increase as the skill level of predation increases, and this made me very excited.

As I was thinking about all these things, an idea crossed my mind.

I recalled that the more I used a specific skill, the more the skills level increases. Like with my swordsmanship and knife throwing skills, the more I use my lightning magic, the more it would increase! So I can use magic when my mana is full, eat the corpse to regain mana, and improve my magic by using it!

Anyway, my mana was full at that time, and without hesitating, I summoned the information of the lighting magic.

[Beginner Lightning Magic Lv1]

[The level of mastering a weak lightning strike from the hand. If you deal with a lot of Lightning Magic, your skill will develop. The higher the skill level, the stronger the lightning will become.]

As expected, the skill description confirmed my suspicion. The moment I had acquired the lightning power, I immediately knew how to use it.

I imagined my left hand reaching out into the air, like pumping out water from a gushing spring. I summoned the lightning from the depths of my body to my arm.

It transformed its shape to be lighter, sharper, and faster. And I shot it through my palms into the air!

My lightning lit up the air for a moment. I looked at it and with my eyes wide open with amazement! It was different from sword fighting and knife throwing.

Something that ordinary human beings could not do was now possible through my hands. An exhilarating sensation engulfed me.

The lightning was strong enough to hit an enemy one meter away. This test made me realize that I had wasted half of my mana, and I immediately regretted it.

The Goblin Warrior was different: he was fast and powerful, and it dawned on me that soon, I will be able to do it too. That one day, I will be more powerful that the Goblin Warrior.

Then I looked at the last notification window.

[Predation of Hunted Goblin Fighter 4/100]

Since I got the quest, I had eaten eight Goblin Fighters and killed only four.

Despite this achievement, it was disappointing to know that I still had to kill 96 more Goblin Fighters.

Instead of thinking about the disappointments, I decided to think about my newly acquired skills. The thought of it gave me some composure. The newly acquired Beginner Lighting was an absolute plus in my fighting capacity as it would tackle an enemy from one meter away. I knew too well of how much this magic would shock the enemy.

I don’t know how much time had passed.

The dungeon was dark, so it was impossible to know the exact time. I didn’t sleep. I desperately kept my stamina at a maximum in order not to fall asleep. I was so tired, and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake.

I was afraid to run into an enemy that was stronger than me. I will never forget my encounter with the Goblin Warrior. I made sure to be attentive of what was going on around me to avoid making the same mistake again.

Then I killed and ate a Goblin Fighter. Kill and eat. Kill and eat. Kill and eat. That was my basic principle now. I used my lightning magic, sword fighting, and knife throwing skills until I had low stamina and mana, and then replenished myself through predation.

It was so excruciating. I thought I would collapse. So I stopped thinking about myself and my situation. I only thought about finding enemies, ensuring my safety, killing enemies, and eating them.

Then, at some point, a new skill emerged.

[You acquired an introductory skill over the beginner status.]

[You have acquired the beginner detection skill.]

[You got a Beginner Surprise Skill.]

[Basic State Abnormal Resistance Lv1]

[You will be able to resist slightly on all conditions. The higher the skill level, the higher the probability of success in resistance.]

[Beginner Detection Lv1]

[Ground yourself; identify brain activity, and traps within a radius of 5m. The higher the skill level, the higher the range, and precision.]

[Beginner Blitz Lv1]

[Hidden attack on the enemy. Stealth, correction when attacking. The higher the skill level, the stronger the effect.]

I was used to making detection and surprise attacks, so I was thrilled to get it. However, I was yet to get accustomed to resistance.

But soon, I realized the mistake I’d been making so far.

I was constantly sleeping! It became clear that a day or two wouldn’t pass.

I realized that during that long period of fighting with lack of sleep, I had regained my stamina with the power of predation and working while leveling up.

I knew then that I had to resist sleep. Whether I became cursed, paralyzed, or poisoned, I knew I needed to resist it. I was stunned by this revelation. The fact that I was driving myself to resist sleep! Acquisition of new skills made me stronger and this was my driving factor. Getting stronger was my prize for lack of sleep.

After that, as time passed, I felt a change in the environment.

Three Goblin Fighters had ganged up against one other Goblin Fighter. I was using the Detection Skill to grasp the situation before entering the passage.

The Beginner Detection Skill grew the fastest among my skills, and before long, it was at level 6. It was now possible to detect up to a radius of 10m around me.

Only

“It won’t be long till I complete the quest,” I said to myself.

I was conflicted.

Honestly, I was confident about fighting three Goblin Fighters. Surprisingly, combining the powers of knife throwing and sword fighting, which were significantly higher than my lightning magic, was enough to win.

Most of all, while completing the quest, my level and status were growing faster than a typical Goblin Fighter.

If I moved to different passage, instead of fighting three Goblin Fighters at the same time, I could safely face one Goblin Fighter. It would be foolish to choose a more dangerous path when there were safer choices available.

I nodded at my thoughts and moved to another passage.

But the same was true for the three Goblin Fighters on the other aisle.