The battle heated up. Goo Beom Seok stopped his rapid advance as he saw my body begin to change, my muscles bulging, just like his.
"What's wrong with you?" he exclaimed loudly.
5 minutes earlier…
[Detection Ability]
[Starfall Greedy Active]
[Devotable Abilities]
[1. Muscle Addict]
[2. Gale Maniac]
[Select an ability to devour]
[Want to devour an ability?]
[Yes] / [No]
Without hesitation, I pressed Yes. Instantly, my body was filled with a strange energy.
The system displayed a new screen:
[Muscle Addict]
[Description: Awakens an aura of muscular beauty. Increases Strength, Agility, and Stamina by 15%. Decreases the opponent's stats by 8% if intimidated. Side effect: Intelligence -2%.]
But the next message left me speechless.
[Because Starfall Greedy can only absorb 25% of the original effect, the ability will be adjusted.]
[Muscle Addict (Copy)]
[Description: Muscle aura increases Strength, Agility, and Stamina by 3.75%. Decreases the opponent's stats by 2%. Side effect: Intelligence -0.5%.]
There was no time to think. In a desperate situation, I activated the ability.
My body slightly enlarged. My arm muscles tensed, my legs felt heavier, but also stronger.
I launched an attack at Beom Seok, aiming for his stomach.
"Feel this!"
The blow landed. Smoke billowed across the arena, enveloping us both.
The crowd roared.
"Did he win?" whispered a student.
"Ryuumin!" Hyuri and Jong Jun shouted in panic.
But when the smoke cleared, Beom Seok was still standing tall. He simply smiled.
"Haha, isn't this the effect of my ability?" he said dismissively.
He grabbed my shoulders and easily threw me to the edge of the field.
"Interesting… how can you have the same ability as me?" he asked, stepping closer.
I got up, enduring the pain, then attacked him again. I threw punch after punch, but he just laughed, taking it all without wavering.
"So what if you have the same ability? My ability's effect is still stronger than yours."
I gritted my teeth. Damn… all I could do was keep hitting him.
I punched, and punched again, but Beom Seok stood firm. Until finally… one powerful blow sent me crashing hard to the ground. It was dark.
I opened my eyes. My body was covered in bandages, pain shooting from my head to my toes.
"Where am I…?" I muttered. My gaze scanned the white room. Apparently, I was in the school infirmary.
"I lost, huh?" I whispered disappointedly, my face down, my hands covering my eyes.
The door opened. Hyuri and Jong Jun entered, carrying food.
"Sobered up, hero?" Jong Jun said, his tone laced with mockery.
"Don't be so disappointed. You were amazing, holding off Beom Seok for that long," he added, patting my shoulder.
I turned around. "How did I end up here?"
Hyuri replied quietly, "When you kept hitting Beom Seok, he finally hit you once… really hard. The match was over."
"Come on, bro, don't be sad. You just awakened, so it's natural you haven't mastered your abilities yet," Jong Jun replied with a faint smile.
They left me to return to class. Silence fell over the room.
I opened the Profile Window:
[Profile Window]
[Name: Kang Ryuumin]
[Title: -]
[Unique Ability: Starfall Greedy]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Starfall Greedy]
[Type: Unique]
[Description: Allows the user to devour 25% of the opponent's abilities and weakens the opponent's unique abilities by 2%. Grants the user this ability for 1 hour. Devoured abilities are stored in the Ability Subspace.]
[Ability Subspace]
[1. Muscle Addict (Copy)]
I sighed. "What's the use of this stored ability?"
Just then, the system window appeared again.
[Collect more abilities to unlock something special.]
I stared at the screen, feeling a strange feeling. I was either afraid, or… excited.
To Be Continued…