"EGO!" Leon pointed at the scorpion, "Use 'Devour'!"
Suddenly, EGO's eyes became a fierce crimson red as he channeled his power and charged toward the monster's carcass, stopping right in front of it and opening his mouth wide as if to consume something.
The dead scorpion began to emit a faint glow as its essence was being sucked out and absorbed by EGO, and suddenly, a bright white aura burst forth from the scorpion's body and was drawn into EGO's gaping mouth.
[Yummers!]
A panel appeared in front of Leon.
[EGO has absorbed his first soul!]
[Souls: 1/1]
[EGO has leveled up to level 1!]
But this wasn't all.
~DING~
[You have leveled up to level 1!]
[Obtained 5 stat points!]
'What the fuck was that?'
[Sucking their souls is the first step of devouring, partner!] EGO's smile was as wide as ever, [But oh well, thanks for the meal!]
~FWISH, BOOM~
And suddenly, EGO disappeared in a flash of light, going back inside Leon's body.
"…Dude," Leon sighed.
[You have been granted 2 stat points for devouring the 'Giant Scorpion']
And to add to that, it seemed like EGO devouring enemies actually granted him stat points every time, the stronger the enemy was, the more stat points he would get.
Was this the power of devouring?
Did he devour his enemies essence and stats to give them to himself?
Huh… weird.
[10 stat points available!]
"Well, place 2 of them into each of the attributes, I guess…"
[Your Vitality Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]
[Your Strength Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]
[Your Speed Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]
[Your Endurance Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]
[Your Perception Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]
And so with that, Leon felt a little stronger than before.
The feeling of leveling and powering up was amazing, and it was no wonder people sought strength if this was how it felt.
[Quit dreaming, partner, let's keep going if you wanna end up like all those at the entrance!]
"ARGHHHH!"
"PLEASE ACTIVATE, PLEASE…"
Somehow, he could the voices of those a bit better than before, maybe since [Perception] was increased.
But in the end…
[84 -> 41 students alive]
Half of those that had entered the school already died in less than five minutes.
This 'pre-selection trial' really wanted to only allow the strongest among them to remain.
'Well… doesn't really matter.'
[Yo, behind you!] EGO was extremely useful as well, as he could warn Leon of anything happening.
"…!" Leon turned around and kicked a scorpion that tried to jump on his head to cut it off.
He had never fought before, but somehow his movements were somewhat decent for some reason.
[Don't worry, partner, me being there actually helps you out!]
'Fair…'
~FWISH, BOOM~
EGO appeared back as soon as the scorpion was killed, and he yet again used [Devour] to absorb the monster's soul.
[You have been granted 2 stat points for devouring the 'Giant Scorpion']
"I have a question," Leon touched EGO's flame, and as he thought, it didn't hurt at all.
[Do ask, partner.]
"Well… how do I truly level up? I mean, I did level up once I killed the first scorpion, but I don't see any sort of experience panel…"
[Good question, partner!] EGO continued to spin around the scorpion, [Well… let me tell you easily: every person in this world has a different experience method.]
'Oh?'
[Some need to gather experience by killing enemies, others need to get materials, some rare ones just have to use their abilities and hit a monster with them,] EGO continued, [And as for us… we need to devour.]
"Was that why we both leveled up at the same time?"
[Not so dumb, huh, anyway just make sure to not let your hunger make you lose reason, and you start eating humans, haha~]
"I can eat humans?"
[Oh, but yes you can, what I meant is that you shouldn't do like with that first scorpion and try to eat it yourself, you should just let ME do the job!]
Basically… him and EGO were linked.
"Ok, and so how many souls do I need, since it doesn't show on my own status window?"
[Check mine, we are both linked, meaning that I am your essence!]
'EGO, status window,'
---
[Name: EGO]
[Status: Devourer]
[Level: 1]
[Souls (Experience): 1/3]
---
[Skills:]
>Devour
---
Leon immediately noticed it: [Souls (Experience): 1/3]
This was his experience bar, for level 0 it was 1, and now for level 1 it was 3, meaning that it would increase more and more as he leveled up.
It would become quite difficult to level up though once the number ranged in the hundreds or thousands, so how could he possibly level up at this point?
[Do not fret, partner, remember that we gain stat points after every enemy we devour, plus some "souls" do give out more experience than others, it completely depends on the 'soul strength' of the opponent!]
'Amazing…'
[Anyway, let's keep going, partner, we want to kill that boss after all, right?] EGO didn't disappear this time, instead he placed himself on Leon's shoulder.
"Not leaving?"
[Not convenient to keep appearing and disappearing after each kill.]
"Fair," and so Leon continued to walk through the desert and abandoned hallways of their "fake" school.
By now, all those that remained should be the ones that had successfully activated their powers.
[41 -> 29 students alive]
But even this didn't mean they wouldn't die since no experience was bad to begin with, Leon was actually luck he was able to land a punch on that thing since its HP pool was really low as well.
But right as he was about to turn around yet another corner of this school, which was somehow WAY bigger than the normal one, feeling more like a maze…
~DING~
[You have received a QUEST!]
[Quest: "Devour Them".]
[Objective: Reach Level 5.]
[Reward: "Partial Healing" Skill.]
"Ohhhh!" Leon's eyes sparkled: getting a new skill surely would be useful, no doubt in that.
These quests were also a good way to gain rewards and have an objective for the future as things could get complicated, no wonder every talent allowed their users quests like this to help them, huh.
"Hey," Leon tapped the small ball of fire on his shoulder with his fingers, and it was sent flying toward the wall, "Oh shit, how weak are you?"
[Weak? How dare you! Just wait until I gobble up all these souls, and I'll be a giant in no time!]
"Sure, anyway, I have a question."
[Do ask.]
"Are you the one that is giving me these quests, and if so, can't you just grant me the most overpowered of skills at the beginning?" Leon shrugged.
[Well, the answer is quite vague, I can sense that I do have an influence in the decision, but it is your talent itself that chooses to give out quests and their rewards.]
"So basically no, so many fancy words for nothing!"
[Quit talking and just get to level 5 damn it!]
"Fair," Leon continued to walk, being careful of his surroundings as surprise attacks could result in his death, "Assign two stat points in vitality by the way."
[Your Vitality Stat has increased by 2 stat points!]