Max had been surprised at how empty the streets were as he left the coliseum. The sound of the crowd inside echoed across the inner city as he made his way toward the bridge that led to his inn.

There on the bridge, waiting, were Fowl and Tanila, bouncing slightly as they saw him come into view.

Max smiled as he saw the two of them begin moving toward him.

“Fowl! Tanila!”

The hug he got from both of them lasted longer than Max had expected.

Still waiting for either of them to shout or yell at him for being stupid, Max hardened himself once the embrace broke.

“You ok?”

Looking at Tanila, Max saw the concern in her eyes.

“I am,” he replied, nodding slowly. “I’m actually better than I had originally expected.”

She smiled, and Max could see her relax, her body not as stiff as it had been.

“Those fights were… unbelievable,” Fowl said, glancing around the empty street. “Perhaps we should talk about them inside, where it’s a bit more private?”

Looking behind him for a second, Max nodded.

Alexander had congratulated Max the second he walked into the inn. Somehow, word had already spread out here, and after answering half a dozen questions, the man let them use a private room.

Sitting at the end of a massive table that could easily seat twenty people, Max took a moment and ate, realizing now just how hungry he was.

Fowl and Tanila just watched as Max devoured the food Alexander had brought for them, waiting till he was ready to talk.

“So you gave up all your winnings?” Fowl asked as Max set down his second tankard of ale and let out a sigh.

“I did give up my gold… I was told it was my only choice if I wanted to live.”

He saw Tanila’s face scrunch and watched as Fowl started to stroke his beard. Both sat for a moment, not responding.

“It kind of defeated the whole purpose of doing this,” Max added.

Fowl nodded, picked up his tankard, and started to take a drink.

“Being told, I had to give back over two thousand gold–”

Fowl sputtered and choked as he drenched Max with the ale he had been swallowing when that number was announced.

“Two thousand gold!” Tanila exclaimed, leaning forward in her chair. “You won two thousand gold?!”

Max nodded, wiping the ale from his face and chest as Fowl continued to try to catch his breath.

“Gods, Seth… two… how in the hell did you get that much?” Fowl finally managed to ask between coughs.

“I bet every round on myself. Each time, I wagered everything. The odds plus the wins just added up. I was a bit surprised at the number also.”

Fowl shook his head, wringing out the ale that ran through his beard.

“Imagine… two thousand gold… you could have done so much with that.”

Max nodded at Fowl and shrugged. “I’m just glad I survived and didn’t lose myself during this whole thing.”

Tanila leaned forward and rested her arms on the table. “Tell us everything.”

Fowl and Tanila had asked their questions as he told the story. Once he finished explaining the notification of Consume, saying it was evolving and partially resisting whatever ability the Queen had used on him, everyone sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Has it changed? Like, what does your skill say now?” Tanila asked finally.

[Skill Description - Consume]

*****

Consume - Evolving: X8K76DK.

*****

Staring at that notification, Max knew he was making a weird expression from how the other two looked at him.

“It says evolving and has some weird letters and numbers for the description. Nothing else.”

Tanila tapped her chin and stared at him. “And you picked up dark magic and an upgraded weapon mastery?”

Max nodded.

“Seems like a typical day in the world of Seth,” teased Fowl as he picked up a piece of fruit and ate it. “And your stats?”

“The ones I made up or my real ones?”

Fowl chuckled and nodded. “Let’s say the real ones. I want to cry a little more.”

[Base Stats Check]This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

*****

Max Hoste

-Year-old Human Male

Level 1

Exp 1/1000

Stamina: 220/220

STR: 43

DEX: 41

CON: 44

INT: 26

WIS: 23

*****

Muttering, Fowl shook his head. “Gods… I’ll repeat it, that is so broken.”

“Level thirty-eight,” Tanila whispered.

“Come again?” Fowl asked, not hearing her. “What?”

Looking at Fowl, Tanila’s head moved slowly up and down as she did the math again. “He is basically level thirty-eight. That many points… it’s…”

Slamming the table with his palm, Fowl groaned as he saw Max starting to smile. “Goblin nuts, you are seriously broken.”

“Broken or not,” Max said, with a shrug, “My plan only worked partially. I lost all the money I hoped to acquire to pay for Batrire’s elixir. All I got now is a bag of gear from the people I defeated.”

Max pulled the backpack out, and when he dropped it on the floor, it made almost no noise.

“Is that a…” Fowl jumped out of his chair and moved to the bag, tossing it open before groaning again. “Mother of elf tits! A spatial backpack! They gave you a spatial backpack! The kind that can even fit within a dimensional item!”

Max glanced down at the backpack and leaned over, looking inside. Within it, he could see dozens of pieces of armor, jewelry, and weapons, all waiting to be taken out.

“Holy elf tits,” Max muttered, ignoring the grunt Tanila gave when he said that. “I was worried they shorted me on this.”

“Not counting what that gear might be worth,” Fowl said, pulling out a piece of plate armor the warrior from Max’s first fight wore, “you could sell the bag easily for a hundred gold.”

“But we don’t have to do that. Do we Fowl?” asked Tanila.

Max looked at her and then at Fowl, who was frowning at their mage.

“You’re going to spoil my surprise like that?”

Fowl winked at Max and then pulled out two coin bags from his storage, dropping them on the table with a clink.

“Fifty gold, courtesy of yours truly.”

Max glanced at the bags and then back at Fowl, smiling from ear to ear.

“How?”

“He bet the only coin he had on you,” Tanila answered. “Once he knew you wouldn’t stop, he found a betting booth, and they gave that foolish dwarf fifty-to-one odds on you winning the whole thing.”

“Holy elf tits! Fifty to one!”

Fowl nodded and pulled out more pieces of equipment, placing each piece on the table before getting the next out.

“Let’s ignore that for now. At the moment, I want to see what we have in here.”

Almost two hours later, they had sorted all the equipment, and Max was surprised to see how much of it was low-level gear.

The plate armor was all just a plus one to constitution. Max decided to keep it for now, as he would need a set for those times, stealth wasn’t an option.

The only swords worth keeping were the ones that Adaneth had owned, but Max wasn’t sure he wanted them. They gave two dexterity and one point of strength each. They didn’t provide any bonus to damage and at the end of the day it was decided they were useless to him.

Tanila picked up some mage items from the elf mage he had killed. Two rings and a bracelet. She had hesitated to take them at first because of the elf’s religious views, but Max convinced her the best way to begin to make things right was to use those items for good.

“All this, and you only came away with a ring. Seems crazy,” Fowl muttered as they finished putting everything back into the spatial backpack.

“That’s because that Alfred guy's stuff isn’t here. I wonder what he was wearing?”

Max slipped the ring on, enjoying the one extra point of dexterity while admiring the green metal it was made of.

“Better alive and not having to deal with that problem,” Tanila reminded Max. “The queens seemed upset for a moment. I still can’t believe you resisted them.”

“Or that skill the Alfred guy had,” Fowl added. “And your skill didn’t tell you what it was?”

Max shook his head, thinking about that again.

“A child cannot consume the father, but a father can consume the child.”

Max shivered, remembering those words.

“Well, let’s forget that and focus on what we need to do next. Tomorrow, we can send the payment to Tang Mu and decide how we want to spend the next few days. For one, I want to spend some time with Batrire, so when she wakes up, she doesn’t complain that I abandoned her.”

Laughing, Max nodded at Fowl, who he knew had a good point.

“Perhaps Tanila and I can do some research and also see about trying to find uses for the materials we have. Merla did give a list of people to talk to.”

Letting out a yawn, Max stretched and stood up. “I’m ready for bed if you two are ok with that.”

Both of them nodded and watched as Max left the room.

“He’s ok, isn’t he?” Fowl asked Tanila after the door shut.

Nodding, Tanila stood up, picked up a grape from the plate of fruit, and rolled it on her finger. “As far as I can tell, he is. Only time will tell what will come from that skill evolving into whatever it will become.”

Grunting, Fowl stood up and motioned to the door.

“Get some rest. I know you are worn out.”

She nodded and started walking toward the exit. Before she got to it, Tanila stopped and smiled at Fowl. “Batrire is lucky to have you.”

“You bet your elf’s tits she is,” Fowl said with a laugh.

Rolling her eyes, Tanila ignored the laughter from her short friend and left the room.

How does it feel? You know you enjoy it. You could have resisted, but you knew you wanted it…

Max thrashed in his bed.

His mind was in that dark place he had been to only a few times before, and the image of himself was taller, stronger, and closer. He could feel the difference in it. Felt the hunger it had. It was satisfied in a different way right now. There was still a hunger. A thirst that was never quenched no matter how much blood he spilled or lives he took.

There was something different about it. It was changing, and that scared him.

Why? Why did we have to kill that man? We could have let him live.

That is a lie, and you know it!

His image shouted at him, waving its hands and arms.

He would have told others about us. Imagine if he told his family that his skill didn’t work. Imagine if they knew that we were like him, only stronger. What do you think they would have done then?

Max winced. The truth was the moment he saw those notifications and realized how Alfred had expected to gain something from their fight, Max knew that man had to die.

What did he have? What skill was it?

His image laughed, a dark and sinister sound echoing in the walls of his mind.

I will share a little knowledge while I can. Moments like these are rare right now, but soon, as you grow stronger… as we grow stronger, there can be more… many more.

The eyes of his double turned red as it leaned forward, towering over him by a head.

Let me share with you the knowledge you desire…