Black Hound had trained Raven to withstand interrogation, starvation, cold, sleep deprivation, and substances specifically designed to make people talk.
Nobody had included raw magical organs.
He put the piece in his mouth.
Chewed.
The texture was rubbery.
The taste came next.
Bitter.
Metallic.
And then heat.
A lot of heat.
Raven frowned.
The flesh seemed to grow hotter as he chewed. For an instant, a burning sensation like chili spread across his tongue and down his throat.
He swallowed.
Silence.
"Horrible."
Nothing.
Five seconds.
Then the system appeared.
"Insufficient biological material consumed."
Required assimilation: 41% additional.
Raven looked at the gland.
"I hate you."
He cut off another section.
This time, he didn’t smell it.
Chewed.
Swallowed.
The heat was even more intense.
A third piece.
Raven needed water to get it down.
Finally:
"Predation requirement satisfied."
Beginning Trait assimilation.
The effect hit all at once.
Raven dropped the knife.
Heat.
First in his stomach.
Then his chest.
It wasn’t an external burn.
Something was spreading from inside him.
It climbed through his sternum. Crossed his shoulders. Ran down his arms.
Raven took a deep breath.
His heart accelerated.
He felt a second pulse.
Not another heartbeat.
Something different.
Pressure.
Energy gathering where there had never been anything before.
The interface appeared.
"Ember Spark acquired."
First Magical Trait successfully devoured.
Mana pathways established.
Mana unlocked.
Raven slowly raised his hand.
The sensation was still there.
Internal.
Like discovering a muscle that had always existed but that he’d never tried to move before.
Current Mana: 18 / 18
"Mana."
He tried pushing that sensation toward his arm.
Too much.
A flame erupted over his palm.
FWOOM.
Raven jerked his hand back.
The fire vanished.
He looked at his fingers.
Intact.
"Interesting."
He tried again.
More slowly.
The pressure moved from his chest to his shoulder. From his shoulder to his forearm.
A spark appeared.
Then a small flame.
Orange.
About the size of a lighter flame.
Raven held it.
Five seconds.
Ten.
The interface appeared discreetly.
Mana: 16 / 18
He closed his hand.
The flame disappeared.
Then he tried increasing the output.
This time, he pushed more energy into it.
The fire grew.
Eight inches.
Twelve.
Raven extended his arm.
The flame shot forward unevenly.
Struck a tree trunk ten feet away.
FWOOSH.
A black scorch mark remained on the bark.
Mana: 11 / 18
Raven looked at his hand.
Then at the opened corpse of the Cinderback.
A part of that animal had literally just become something his body could do.
"So that’s how it works."
Predation didn’t create power from nothing.
He killed something. Found the part responsible for what he wanted. And ate it.
Then his body learned how to do the same thing.
Raven looked at the partially consumed gland.
Almost half remained.
The interface recognized it.
"Remaining Flame Gland tissue detected."
Trait already acquired.
Further consumption will provide no duplicate Trait benefit.
"Good."
That meant he didn’t have to eat the entire raw organ.
He appreciated small mercies.
Now he was actually hungry.
Not metaphorically.
His body had been burning energy for hours, and he’d barely eaten anything.
Raven looked at the Cinderback’s hind leg.
"Edible?"
The system answered.
"Cinderback Meat"
Edible.
High mana density.
Consumption provides nutrition and minor biological experience.
That caught his attention.
"Experience?"
Correct.
It was the first time the system had answered him so directly.
Raven cut several pieces of meat.
He wasn’t going to eat those raw.
He gathered dry branches.
Extended one hand.
Ember Spark.
A small flame caught on the fibers.
Raven stared at it for a second.
There was something mildly absurd about killing a lizard that could breathe fire, eating the organ that let it do so, and then using the stolen ability to cook the same lizard.
But it worked.
That eliminated every practical objection.
He cooked the meat until the center was no longer red.
Tried a small piece.
Firm texture.
It tasted somewhere between dark-meat chicken and game.
Much better than the gland.
He ate.
One piece.
Then another.
When he finished the third, a message appeared.
"Cinderback flesh consumed."
Nutritional requirements partially restored.
Magical biomass assimilated.
Minor Experience gained: 3
Raven stopped chewing.
Looked at the notification.
Then at the meat.
"That too."
He ate another piece.
Minor Experience gained: 2
The benefit was diminishing.
That made sense.
Devouring specialized organs granted Traits.
Eating ordinary flesh still nourished his body and provided a smaller amount of growth.
He could literally grow stronger by eating monsters.
Raven let out a short breath through his nose.
Could have been worse.
It could have required him to eat them alive.
He ate enough to recover some energy and wrapped several cooked portions for later.
Then he extracted a few scales and two claws.
He carefully stored the remaining half of the Flame Gland.
He didn’t know what it could be used for.
But something capable of converting biological energy into fire seemed far too useful to leave behind.
He spent part of the morning experimenting.
Ember Spark had obvious limitations.
At minimum output, he could maintain a flame for quite a while.
Launching it consumed considerably more mana.
Effective range:
roughly ten feet.
Thirteen if he wasted too much energy.
Accuracy:
mediocre.
Speed:
far below any modern projectile.
Power:
enough to cause severe burns or start a fire.
It wasn’t a primary weapon.
Not yet.
But Raven knew perfectly well that a tool didn’t need to kill directly to be useful.
Fire could:
Blind.
Frighten.
Force someone to move.
Ignite fuel.
Destroy supplies.
Create smoke.
Remove cover.
He could work with that.
Predator’s Instinct proved even more interesting.
It wasn’t radar.
It didn’t magically detect everything around him.
But when a green-skinned snake appeared from behind a rock, Raven sensed danger before he saw it.
When a small animal fled through the bushes, he knew which direction it would break.
When a bird descended too close, his body anticipated the angle of its movement.
The Trait took information his senses were already receiving and processed it differently.
Faster.
Combined with twelve years of training...
it was dangerous.
Raven preferred that.
A power that could improve through experience would always be more useful than one with a fixed ceiling.
By midmorning, he opened his information.
"Status."
Nothing.
"Profile."
Nothing.
"Raven Ashford."
The interface appeared.
RAVEN ASHFORD
Race: Human
Level: 2
Rank: Common
Health: Injured
Mana: 18 / 18
Authority:
"Predation — Level 1"
Traits:
"Predator’s Instinct"
"Ember Spark"
Experience: 41 / 100
Raven studied the number.
He had gained experience from killing.
And eating.
Not the same amount.
Killing seemed to provide much more.
But consuming magical creatures contributed too.
He closed the screen.
Two species.
Two abilities.
One had improved his instincts.
The other had allowed him to use magic.
And both were Common.
Raven looked toward the depths of the forest.
The question came inevitably.
What could he obtain from something genuinely powerful?
Regeneration.
Venom.
Speed.
Camouflage.
Flight.
Skin capable of stopping weapons.
Magic far more dangerous than that small flame.
He didn’t know the limits of Predation.
And now he wanted to find out.
A sound came from the south.
Raven turned.
Predator’s Instinct didn’t signal immediate danger.
He listened again.
Impacts.
Irregular.
Then...
a voice.
Human.
Very distant.
Another.
A shout.
Metal.
Wheels.
Raven extinguished the fire and started moving.
He didn’t call out.
Didn’t answer.
He advanced through the trees using cover.
When he got close enough, he found a dirt road cutting through the forest.
A caravan.
Three wagons.
Five people visible.
One was on the ground.
Another held a spear.
And on top of the second wagon, an enormous creature was trying to reach the driver.
Raven remained hidden behind a tree.
He didn’t recognize the species.
Thick body. Four limbs. Gray skin. Massive jaw.
But something immediately caught his attention.
The creature struck the side of the wagon.
During the motion, its forearm changed.
The gray skin hardened. Darkened. Turned rough.
Almost like stone.
CRACK.
The wood gave way.
Raven watched.
He didn’t think about the people.
Not yet.
He thought about what he’d just seen.
Stone skin.
A defensive ability.
Potentially a Trait.
The driver screamed.
Another man tried driving a spear into the monster’s back.
The point bounced off.
Raven continued watching.
He had no reason to intervene.
Those people weren’t his problem.
Then a bag fell from the wagon.
Food.
Next, he noticed a leather tube tied beside the driver’s seat.
A map, probably.
Horses.
Transportation.
Information.
And a monster that might give him a defense he currently lacked.
Raven felt the weight of the cooked Cinderback meat inside his pack.
Remembered the unpleasant taste of the Nightfang’s brain.
Then the hot gland sliding down his throat.
Predator’s Instinct belonged to him now.
So did Ember Spark.
Neither power had been given to him.
He had eaten them.
And for the first time, Raven fully understood exactly what kind of world he’d been dropped into.
To anyone else, those creatures were dangers.
To Raven...
they were food.
Power.
Possibilities.
Every monster he killed could contain something he didn’t have yet.
And if he found the right part...
he could make it his.
The beast raised its stone-covered arm again.
Raven drew his knife.
He wasn’t going to save those people.
But there was food.
There was information.
And he wanted to know what the part that turned flesh into stone tasted like.
A small flame appeared between his fingers.
Raven smiled.
"Now we have a deal."