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Chapter 82: The Agony of Excess

Upside-down over its head, he smashed his gauntlet directly into the Gomodo\'s face as it reached up to strike him. That earned him only the briefest reprieve, but it was enough time for him to land on its back. He took a moment to gather the perfect strike, just like he\'d practiced, and in that time it began bucking wildly. It required all his focus not to be thrown off and instead to bring his hand down across the monster\'s middle.

His claws struck in a tight pattern, tearing through the monster\'s back. He left nothing to chance and swiped with his other hand, this time tearing the beast fully in half. Nothing was left but two pieces, thrashing out their last life.

When the Gomodo\'s tail struck his side, he realized how badly he\'d miscalculated.

As the severed tail battered him, the upper half of the monster dragged itself around and snapped at his leg. He could only barely dodge it, which gave the tail time to slam him to the ground. Both halves of the beast seemed to be nearly blind, since it really should be dead, yet they still came after him with bloody-minded determination.

There was no time for clever strategy now. He just tried to kick the tail back with all the strength he could, even as he twisted away from the snapping jaws. That got him just enough space to punch the monster\'s head again, except it barely slowed down and managed to get its jaws around his shoulder.

Kai\'s vision went red and he almost gave in to his rage. A small part of him knew that would be a mistake: this monster could keep fighting even longer than he could. If it could keep attacking after being cut in half, it could survive long enough to kill him. He couldn\'t afford to trade blows with it in a bloody rage.

So, forcing aside the pain, Kai gathered all his concentration and focused on his free arm. He straightened his fingers, formed a claw, and thrust them directly through the Gomodo\'s skull.

Its body still thrashed, but without intention. He managed to pull his other arm out before the teeth tore it too much and then just lay on the ground as the upper body slowly died. Somehow the Gomodo\'s tail lasted even longer, laying waste to a circle of crops before finally lying still.

Everything hurt. As Kai lay there, he realized just how good the corpse was smelling.

He pushed the thought away along with the body and forced himself to his knees. The arm the Gomodo had bitten was still in bad shape, so he used the other to crawl closer to the body lying on the ground. "Zae Zin Nim? You alive?"

"Could be... worse..." She managed to sit up with a grunt. Her sleeve was bloody, but strangely there was no blood around her neck or torso. "The flames defended me... but they burned deep. By the end, I had... nothing left."

"Defensive skill. Sometimes those can drain all your reserves to save your life."

"Wasteful. I could have killed it with a few more strikes."

She scoffed, and Kai was about to argue, then he saw the look in her eyes. No, she knew how close she had come to death. It wasn\'t something he\'d like to think about either, and he\'d had a lot of near-death experiences. Since she clearly wanted some privacy to work through her denial, Kai limped back to the body.

Normally, he would use the fire stone to cook the monster and then eat it. But Zae Zin Nim was carrying it at the moment, and the body looked so juicy... before he could be disgusted with himself, he knelt down and began eating.

Strangely, the corpse seemed to be disappearing faster than his bites could justify. The Gomodo had been huge, so it should have taken him a day to eat the entire thing. Yet the fight had awoken something in him and he could feel his power exerting itself. Every time he took a bite, more of the body dissolved into raw power. As if he was consuming the monster\'s very essence.

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That should have been a good sign, but not long after, Kai felt a searing pain in his stomach. He stumbled back, clutching both hands over his middle.

"I might have just done something stupid," he told Zae Zin Nim. "Can humans eat raw meat like this? I thought I could, but..."

"No, think about it logically." Her legs were a bit shaky as she walked over, but she had regained her casual grace. "There\'s no way you\'ve started digesting the meat this quickly."

"It sure feels like it has! Fuck, that hurts..."

"Are you feeling the pain in your stomach? Or is it lower, in your dantian?"

Kai didn\'t think it was exactly either, but her comment was just what he needed. The pain might be physical, but its source was spiritual. There was some kind of conflict... like the Gomodo\'s strength was fighting everything else he carried. He didn\'t want to let go of any of it, so he pushed the sensation aside, trying to find an empty space that would ease the pain.

To his shock, it worked. His stomachache vanished and the meat began looking delicious again. This time it wasn\'t so hard to resist the urge.

"I feel better," he said, "but I don\'t understand why."

"I can only guess." Zae Zin Nim sat down just behind him, or rather crumpled. "Whatever you are might be new, but it probably can\'t just accumulate monstrous strength indefinitely. Think about it: after a few years, you\'d have hundreds of monsters represented within you. If it\'s anything like other aspects of power, then you can\'t just throw everything together."

"Like how every system has only one Physique aspect, or how different cultivation paths will come into conflict."

"Yes. If you feel better, it seems you found a space for it. In theory, if it works like advanced cultivation, what you\'ll need to do in the future is combine the different pieces of your essence into one more powerful form. But I don\'t even know how to do that when it comes to my own sect\'s cultivation, much less... whatever you\'re doing."

"That\'s still helpful, thank you."

Her words actually made perfect sense to him. The Gomodo had been big and strong and tough, just like several of the other monsters he\'d eaten, so it didn\'t fit into his soul smoothly. Maybe if he had been a genius or his new nature had come naturally to him, he could automatically have merged it into Direboar\'s Strength or Aquagorgon\'s Health. Instead, he\'d just have to figure out how it all worked by painstaking experimentation.

"Uh, do you think I should eat the rest of it?"

"If you feel like it." Zae Zin Nim groaned and dropped onto her back. "Just leave the head so we have something to show all the peasants."

Future bites didn\'t cause any more pain or increase the power within him. Still, Kai was incredibly hungry and the monster was the only thing that sounded good, so he kept eating. As he did, he paid special attention to the strange interactions of his bites.

He had been afraid that the effect would have vanished, completely beyond his reach, but the phenomenon returned as soon as he went back to eating. Not only did more of the monster\'s flesh disappear, fragments of its skin vanished as well. Even though he hadn\'t tried to eat any of the rough skin, he felt as though he could taste it.

Eventually, in a surprisingly short time, he had consumed almost the entire body. Even his new ability failed to eat the monster\'s claws or spines, and he\'d intentionally left the monster core and the head to serve as proof. Though he wondered if the core might have granted him something, when he tore it out it didn\'t smell even slightly enticing to him.

Once he was finally sated, he turned his attention inward.

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 87

Cultivation: Qi Condensation 30% (14)

Physique Level: F-9 (48)

Soul Level: 5 (25)

Monstrous Hunger - VII (eta)

Direboar\'s Strength - III (gamma)

Aquagorgon\'s Health - III (gamma)

Gomodo\'s Stamina - II (beta)

Isulfr\'s Bite - I (alpha)

Rockspider\'s Claw - III (gamma)

??? (???)

>

"Gomodo\'s Stamina" had appeared among his other traits. That made for seven monstrous aspects, including the indecipherable one, which did feel like a lot. He had the feeling that it would be challenging to learn how to fuse them, but he might need to figure it out sooner rather than later.

Of course his Physique hadn\'t changed, stalled against the barrier as it was. He was a bit surprised to see that his Soul Level had increased to 5. The battle had been rough, but it hadn\'t been nearly as long or brutal as some of his others. When he mentioned it to Zae Zin Nim, she answered with a shrug.

"You may have seen your Soul Level increase after substantial battles, but I don\'t think it generally works that way. Usually it rises very slowly."

"You haven\'t talked about it much," he pointed out. "Do you have special techniques for it in Cloudspire?"

"Not really. They\'re considered a less important part of the soul because they\'re not essential to cultivation and eventually are dwarfed by it." From her position, Zae Zin Nim raised a hand and stared at the sky through her fingers. "I wasn\'t convinced, even if I can\'t pinpoint the exact benefit. Cultivators who were just fed thousands of pills by their sects and barely fought tended to have weaker Soul Levels."

"Huh. Another mystery for the-"

"Wait." Zae Zin Nim shot up to a seated position, all lethargy banished. Blue flames flickered weakly around her as she stared skyward. "Get ready."

Kai forced himself to his feet even though he still had no idea what she was talking about. Could he fight, if they had to? Consuming the monster had given him more energy than he\'d expected, but his body wasn\'t anywhere near healed. Somehow he had burned through his qi as well, probably subconsciously when his life was on the line.

Then he saw them: Iroaki of Philaster was flying toward them again, and this time Barroguk Clanless stood behind her instead of an old merchant.

There was no time to run: Barroguk leapt down and slammed to the earth beside them.