Riley rubbed his belly, sighing quietly to himself.
"…I miss when I didn't feel so hungry."
The hunger was always there now.
Even after devouring a boss monster, even after feeling his stats skyrocket, even after his body should've been full—it remained.
It wasn't overwhelming yet, but it never truly went away either.
Still, he got over it quickly enough. He sat cross-legged on the soft grass and opened up his talent screen, bringing up the familiar, yet ever-important text.
[Talent Details: Gluttony (Unique SSS)]
[Description: You have awakened the embodiment of consumption. Through Gluttony, you may consume skills, abilities, attributes and even the talents of others. Absorb what you devour. Become what you consume.]
[Effect 1: Absorption — By consuming a creature, you can gain 20% of its attributes. You also have a 20% chance of absorbing one of the creature's skill or trait.]
[Effect 2: Hunger — Your hunger will never be satiated.]
[Warning: Gluttony will grow stronger the more you use it, but so too will the hunger.]
[Warning: Hunger must be managed. Failing to control it may result in… consequences.]
[Effect 3: Evolution — Whenever you consume a creature, you gain evolution points. Evolution points can be used to evolve the talent when it reaches a certain amount.]
[Evolution Points: 130]
Riley stared at the last line, his expression unreadable.
130 evolution points.
No new effects. No additional warnings. But that number… it had gone up fast.
Devouring the boss rat had given him forty evolution points, which was four times more than the normal spiked rats did.
"…I'm close," He murmured, eyes narrowing faintly. "I can feel it."
He didn't know the exact threshold for talent evolution.
But his gut told him he wasn't far now—and if there was one thing Riley trusted, it was his instincts.
The hunger that accompanied Gluttony might be a curse, but it was also his compass, pushing him in the right direction.
A slow smile crept across his face.
"Alright then," he whispered, tightening his grip on his daggers. "Time to hunt that fanged boar."
*
A few minutes later…
Riley crouched low among the tall grass, each blade tickling against his arms as he crept forward.
He moved like a shadow, slow and deliberate, his presence completely masked.
[Stealth Active]
[Agility Boosted by 50% for 15 seconds]
[Presence: Masked]
His silhouette blurred slightly, blending into the swaying grasses around him.
From a distance, he was invisible—just another ripple of green and gold under the sunlight.
Up ahead, looming like a jagged scar in the earth, was a dark cave nestled at the base of a cliff.
Its entrance was wide and gaping, almost like a mouth carved into the rock. Jagged stalactites hung from the top like teeth.
Riley's sharp eyes narrowed.
'This is it.' He thought.
He remembered the rumors from his past life. A few weeks after the game officially launched, someone had posted about a hidden boss in the eastern sector—a savage, pitch-black boar with enormous fangs that grew stronger in darkness.
At the time, no one had believed it.
Until Terry defeated it.
The post had gone viral not because of the kill, but because of what the boss had dropped—an epic-grade weapon.
The first of its kind discovered in Apocalypse.
A pair of short, dark daggers that pulsed with black light.
It had made Terry a household name among players, skyrocketing him into the top fifty within weeks.
But now?
'That weapon is mine!'
Riley's eyes glinted as he inched closer to the cave.
His heartbeat was calm, his breathing controlled. The only sound was the quiet rustle of grass beneath his steps.
Then a scream shattered the silence.
"—Ahhh!"
Riley froze.
A figure burst out of the cave's mouth like a ragdoll launched from a cannon.
She flew several meters through the air before slamming into the ground right beside him, landing with a sickening crunch that made his stomach twist.
She didn't get up.
Riley's head whipped toward her, eyes scanning.
Her clothes were torn and bloodied, her limbs scratched with long claw marks.
One of her arms hung at an odd angle, clearly broken. She groaned weakly, barely conscious.
Before he could say a word, a roar exploded from within the cave.
The ground trembled.
A second later, it appeared.
The fanged boar.
It charged out of the cave like a black freight train, hooves smashing into the ground hard enough to leave dents in the soil.
Riley had seen some monsters in this game already—but this one was different.
It was massive—easily two meters tall at the shoulder. Its thick body was covered in dense, black fur that seemed to suck in the surrounding light.
Dark veins pulsed across its muscular frame, twitching unnaturally as it moved.
But the worst part were its fangs.
Two enormous gray tusks jutted from its upper jaw, curling downward like scimitars.
Each one was nearly a meter long, sharp as blades, and faintly glowing with red lines across their surface.
It didn't look like a monster, but more like a beast from hell.
[Lesser Boss: Mutated Fanged Boar]
[Level: 9]
[H/P:200]
[Desceiption: A Boar which mutated after getting corrupted by dark energy.]
Riley's breath caught in his throat.
He had already seen clips of the beast in his past life, in the viral video of Terry fighting it.
However, it looked a lot more terrifying in real life, and the fact that it was so close to him, he felt chills run down his spine.
The boar let out a savage bellow, pawed at the ground, and lowered its head. It sniffed the ground continuously, searching for the girl it had just sent flying.
Suddenly, it turned its head, its eyes locking directly on Riley.
Riley's eyes widened, and sweat rolled down his face.
'There's no way it can see me, it shouldn't be able to sense me…' He thought, tightening his grip on his daggers.
His Stealth was still active, and with the surrounding grass covering him, he was practically invisible.
However, the beast was somehow able to still notice him.
Was its sense of smell just that good?
He wasn't sure he remembered hearing about it having such a strong sense of smell.
Roarrr!!
The monster roared again, hitting its massive paws on the ground repeatedly.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, it charged at Riley, the red lines on its fangs pulsing with energy.