Side story - A Nibble to Rember
It was all just a coincidence. Just a small event that changed everything. Even that should never have happened.
"God damn it, Biscuit, be careful when you're taking food from ," the older man complains, nursing his slightly bleeding finger.
With a single drop of blood remaining on the corgi's lip, sothing terrifying happens. The small animal licks its lips, and at that mont, it understands.
It understands the words it had heard before.
The words that said this place isn't real, that this is a facade created by the system.
And with that understanding cos a question.
If everything is fake, does that an the food is fake too? Just an illusion crafted by that strange entity?
(Food Fake)
Later that night, a young man nad Kevin walked through the camp, keeping watch.
"Fucking Cinderbear, I hope it won't appear again."
At that mont, a strange noise surprises him. Montarily forgetting caution, the young man decides to follow the noise.
"Hello?" he asks quietly, making his way through the trees of the first floor of the tutorial.
The silence that responds is filled only by a strange, wet noise, like a ssy eater slurping soup.
Erging from behind the trees, shock overtakes him, leaving him speechless.
He sees the older man he had just spoken with an hour ago. A small creature is sitting on the man's chest, taking slow, deliberate bites out of his neck, seemingly enjoying every bite.
(Food!) echoes in his mind before a tentacle made of dark pulsating mana decapitates him, and his body falls to the ground.
The creature swiftly continues to tear at the dead man's neck, enjoying its al.
This food is real.
This food isn't fake.
For the first ti, the creature understands the difference, and a bizarre ssage rings in its head.
Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!
[Devour]
[Devour - lvl 0 > Devour - lvl 1(Max)]
You have perfectly devoured your enemy.
[Lvl 3 > Lvl 16]
You have acquired 39 stat points! Invest carefully!
The creature doesn't understand, what are stat points?
At that mont, everything could still have been fixed. Things could have returned to normal and it was still possible to stop the creature.
But.
(Mana?)
The creature rembers the words it heard from its favorite human so often.
(More mana!) resonates in the surroundings.
And then everything is lost, all stat points invested in ways they never should have been, feeding the mana-hungry skill, and allowing it to grow.
"What the heck, Biscuit!" a young man with different colored eyes screams, so hint of emotion discernible in his voice. The creature's favorite human.
The answer is a confused tilt of the creature's head.
"Fuck, what the hell!" he continues.
The creature doesn't understand, looking down at the body, at the food near its legs.
(Food) it tries to project, but the man doesn't understand.
"You can't…" he starts, then gives up. Mana flares up around his body, threatening to combat the creature.
Threatening to stand between it and the real food.
Real food? Did they call themselves humans?
"Lily…" another food mutters, and then they both attack the creature, forcing it to retreat from the body of the young black-haired girl.
The creature realizes that it can't fight its favorite human, still feeling so form of attachnt.
So it [Devours] the space in front of itself, reappearing far, far away, leaving everything behind.
In front of it, a giant bear materializes, its eyes glowing with orange light and sparks of the sa color floating nearby.
It feels different, maybe it's food?
The creature turns towards it, and dozens of dark purple tentacles appear from its back. Cute barks sound into the surroundings as it attacks the monster.
You have perfectly devoured your enemy.
[Lvl 32 > Lvl 89]
You have devoured a new skill - [Challenge]
The creature curiously tilts its head, a small pink tongue still protruding from its bloodied maw.
(More mana!) echoes again, new stats making it even more formidable.
Yet, the enemy this ti wasn't real food. Now smarter, the creature better understands that it's fake and that only people from its ho can be considered real.
So it moves again, and it [Devours].
There's only one human remaining, the creature's favorite human. It holds him with two of its tentacles, continuously biting into the man's left arm, the man still alive and trying to fight.
Yet it [Devours] everything, all the attacks, all the mana. Unable to stop, the food it has now is the best it's ever had.
(Food) it states happily.
"..."
(Food?)
Silence is the answer and it realizes that its favorite is gone. Gone in the sa way the creature's old owner is gone.
You have perfectly devoured your enemy.
[Lvl 130 > Lvl 166]
You have devoured a new skill - [Focus]
More ti passes and a new notification sounds. A month since the start of the first floor.
The entrance to the second floor appears and the creature, curious and in search of more food wobbles inside while swinging its short tail from side to side.
Congratulations! You have cleared the 1st floor of the Hell difficulty tutorial. Welco to the second floor: Mana-Infused Kingdom.
Congratulations! You can now choose your primary class. Your offered choices are based on your performance up until now in the tutorial.
You have acquired one skill upgrade token.
You have acquired one skill point.
You can now use Community, with a ti limit of 10 minutes per 24 hours.
You have acquired 5 stat points.
(More mana!) it repeats.
It also upgrades its skill.
[Devour - lvl 1(Max) > Perfect Devour - lvl 1(Max)]
More ti passes and the floors change a few tis. Every ti, the creature [Devours] everything.
But then, one day.
Welco to the community tournant.
More real food appears.
Much more ti passes and the creature, ravenous, starts to devour the place it's trapped in.
The place that stands between it and Earth, a place teeming with real food.
Error detected within the tutorial's 5th round, group 4. Unable to ?*#??úé3-
The creature continues to [Devour]. The creature maintains its [Focus], and then [Challenges] the system.
It won't stop. It will return to its ho, and it will enjoy real food once more. It will continue to consu.
It won't stop until everything is Biscuit.
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