My brows furrowed. "Fragments? Progress? The hell's that supposed to mean…?"
I shook my head and clicked my tongue. "Whatever. Doesn't matter now. I'll figure it out later. Right now, I just need power."
After gaining the new skill, my heart was pounding.
Not with fear. Not with relief.
With hunger.
It wasn't the kind of hunger you feel in your stomach. No… this was deeper. It was crawling through my veins, burning inside my chest, scratching at the back of my skull.
I wanted to use it again.
I needed to use it again.
On anything. On anyone.
Human, monster, friend, enemy… it didn't matter.
I didn't understand it at first. These emotions, this gnawing desire. But I could feel it—something inside me was changing.
No. Not changing.
Blooming.
A seed.
The Abyss Seed.
It had taken root the moment I devoured that serpent. And now, with its first taste, it began to sprout. Every beat of my heart made it grow. Every breath I took fed it.
A poisonous seed.
I could feel it—hungry, pulsing with life.
Its roots had already started to sprout, digging into my heart.
"...Hahaha… Hahahahaha!"
The laugh tore out of me before I even realized it. Low at first, then louder, sharper—like something crawling out of my chest, dragging itself up my throat.
Even I froze, startled by my own voice. It wasn't just me laughing—it was the seed laughing through me.
But it didn't stop.
I laughed until my throat burned. Until my eyes watered. Until the trees themselves seemed to shiver with the sound.
And when it finally died down, I was left smirking, breathless, my whole body trembling with excitement.
The seed was awake. And it wanted more.
I could feel it — not dead, but alive. Scratching, breathing, trying to sync with my heartbeat like it was testing if we were the same.
Every thump made it hungrier, and that hunger… it felt right.
Not a curse. Not a voice to fight.
At least, that's what I told myself.
Because when it pulsed, my chest tightened. My veins burned, but I didn't pull away — I leaned into it.
It hurt, but the hurt felt good. Too good.
Maybe it wasn't something inside me at all — maybe it was me.
Or maybe I was just getting better at lying to myself.
Either way, I could feel it moving with me, breathing with me, like my blood had finally found something worth feeding.
For a second, I thought about stopping — about what it meant if I couldn't.
But then it laughed again, and so did I.
Guess that answers that.
Either way, the line between us was fading.
I could feel it trying to breathe with me, its rhythm slipping into mine, heartbeat to heartbeat.
Sometimes it laughed when I did. Sometimes… before I did.
Like it was waiting — patient, curious — to see which one of us would move first.
Then I realized I couldn't tell whose laugh was whose anymore.
The sound came from my throat, but it didn't feel like mine — too deep, too smooth, too calm for what I was feeling.
Each pulse hit harder, each breath heavier, like it was whispering inside my ribs: go… go… go.
That's when the rush came — crawling up my spine, curling in my chest, spreading hot under my skin.
The kind of rush that makes you forget where you end and something else begins.
The taste of it, the rush of it — I couldn't stop now.
So I ran. I ran through the trees; my eyes were sharp, searching for corpses left behind by other parties after they carved out the monster cores.
For the rest of the world, monster cores were everything.
But for me, it was the corpses that mattered.
I didn't care if anyone saw me. If they hunted me down, so be it.
My legs carried me on their own, my breath rough, my grin sharp.
And then I saw them again.
That same party of four—Liu Fang, Chen Wu, Zhao Min, and He Jian.
They were cornered.
Their backs pressed against a stone wall, nowhere left to run. And in front of them—two Venomfang Serpents.
Their eyes alone were enough to freeze the four in place, like invisible chains tightening around their throats.
Each flick of those tongues tasted their fear; each coil of their bodies promised their death.
The Venomfang Serpents weren't rushing in. Their long tails coiled tight against the ground while their upper bodies rose high, swaying slowly, tongues flicking, enjoying the fear of their prey.
I stood behind a tall tree, watching.
And in that moment, I understood.
They weren't waiting because they were slow.
They were waiting because fear tasted better than flesh. That was why they didn't kill them in an instant.
And the worst part?
I felt the same.
My lips curled as I watched their trembling bodies, their wide eyes, and their broken voices begging to run. My chest tightened—not with pity, not with fear—but with hunger.
Like the serpents, I wanted to savour it.
Their fear. Their despair.
It was delicious.
My tongue slid slowly across my lips as if I could already taste it. A shiver ran through me, and I twisted my shoulders, my body tightening, trembling with the thrill.
The Abyss Seed inside me pulsed, roots digging deeper into my heart. I wasn't just watching anymore. I was feeling it. Living it.
Just like them.
"Wait…" I muttered under my breath.
Something smelled off.
There were three Venomfang Serpents. But in front of my eyes, only two.
"Where's the last one?" I whispered, scanning the cliff.
And then I saw it.
The last serpent was coiled high above, its tongue flicking, body tight like a spring, waiting for the perfect strike.
A low chuckle slipped out of me.
So they weren't just poison and muscle. They had brains too. Strategy. Coordination. Their minds had evolved as much as their bodies.
They weren't monsters anymore. They were hunters. A party.
And then my grin stretched wider as the realisation struck me.
The first one they killed… that was bait. A lure. A sacrifice to draw them in, drain them, trap them.
I pressed my hand to my forehead and laughed under my breath.
"I knew this… Monster Hunting 101. Read it, memorized it. Guess I forgot how stupid people can be when they think they're special."
I tilted my head, eyes gleaming as I looked at the students trembling below.
"The serpents are smarter than you now. And you call me trash?"
I smirked, savouring the irony.
"Pathetic."
I was rooting for no one.
For me, it didn't matter who won or lost.
What I wanted was for them to end it quickly. Now.
I didn't have the patience to wait long.
I watched them — Liu Fang, Zhao Min, He Jian — all strutting prizes they hadn't won yet. Cute. I made a mental note to ruin the show.