Eight hours have passed since his return to the past, and Si Chen finally makes it back to the quiet, dark dormitory where his roommates are fast asleep. He stands under a hot shower, the steam filling the small bathroom as he tries to get used to the feel of his younger, less battle-hardened body.
After drying off, he wraps himself in a dark robe and begins to contemplate the biggest obstacle in his path to power. He sits on the edge of his bed, well aware that leveling up in this era is controlled by the powerful guilds who monopolize the demon lairs. Lying back on his pillow, he stares at the ceiling, wondering how a low-ranked student like him can even get close to the monsters he needs to hunt for experience.
As he drifts into a light sleep, his thoughts turn to the one ability that could bypass all the rules of this world. The power of gluttony.
Everything fades to black as a digital interface begins to manifest in the void of his mind. The words system booting appear in red. A loading bar slowly fills up, signaling the activation of a hidden part of his soul that has been dormant until now.
The loading is complete, and the consciousness of Si Chen is plunged into a vibrant red digital space, his body falling through a sea of data and fragments. The gluttony system interface flashes in bold white letters, signaling the successful boot-up of the mysterious power. In the background, Si Chen is a tiny falling figure against the glowing pink gradient of his subconscious mind.
As he accelerates through the void, his face is filled with shock, his body tensing up in preparation for the unknown transition. The wind from his descent shrieks past him as the digital space begins to solidify. He lands with a dynamic crouch, dark energy splashing up from the ground like liquid fire around his legs. The impact sends a shock wave through the thick red mist that blankets the floor of this strange dimension.
A colossal, thorn-covered pillar rises from a sea of blood-red water, its jagged peak lost in the swirling purple clouds far above. Si Chen stands at its base, a small black silhouette completely isolated in the middle of this vast, nightmarish landscape.
He looks around in disbelief, his brow furrowed as he tries to piece together how he traveled from his bed to this hellish space. He stands in his dark robe, his red eyes scanning the unfamiliar horizon for any sign of life or an exit.
Back in the dormitory, the roommates wake up to find Si Chen's bed empty once again. Ma Long adjusts his glasses and awkwardly suggests to the others that Si Chen must have headed out for another one of his gruelling runs.
Si Chen woke up in the middle of a pitch-black void. One moment he was fast asleep in his dormitory, and the next he found himself plummeting through an endless darkness. He sticks the landing on a vast blood-red sea. Behind him, a massive, jagged tower of bone and stone pierces the crimson sky.
He looks around in total confusion. He was just in his bed a second ago, and now he is standing in a nightmare. The tower looms over him, its surface covered in twisted demonic carvings. He wonders what kind of place he has stumbled into.
Suddenly, something stirs beneath the red waves. A pair of skeletal, pale creatures crawl out of the water, eyes fixed on him. The system identifies them as death hounds. They are only E-rank, but they look hungry enough to rip a man apart in seconds.
A screen pops up. The system is switching his class. Yellow lightning begins to spark and coil around his hands. The switch is complete. Si Chen is now a level one Lightning Assassin, and he is not waiting around to see what the hounds do next.
The monsters lunge at him from all sides. They are fast, but the lightning surging through his body makes him faster. Si Chen blurs into a streak of electricity. He cuts through the air, leaving nothing but a yellow trail and a dead hound behind him. A fist connects with a hound's skull, shattering it into pieces. A notification confirms he is already picking up loot from the kills.
He keeps moving — a whirlwind of strikes and electric shocks. Even with his low level, these monsters cannot even touch his clothes. One more strike and the last hound falls. For Si Chen, dealing with E-rank fodder like this is basically child's play.
He watches the blood drip from his hands. The smell, the texture — it is too vivid to be a dream. A golden light washes over him as he levels up. He realizes that this place is not just real. It is a literal gold mine for experience points. His stats jump by five points across the board. The feeling of power returning to his body is intoxicating. A grin spreads across his face. He has basically found a secret dungeon that he can farm all by himself.
The ground trembles as a massive shadow falls over him. It is an E-rank boss, the Death Forest King. The beast lets out a roar that sends a blast of energy forward. Si Chen does not flinch. He is ready to see how far he can push himself.
He dodges the attack and delivers a series of lightning-fast counters. Each hit drains the boss's health, and the experience points start rolling in. The boss goes down, and another golden light signals his third level up. He is climbing the ranks faster than anyone in history. The victory screen pops up showing off his new loot. He has got fangs, crystals, and a whole lot of progress.
He checks his status window again. Level three in just a few minutes. At this rate, he will be a monster in no time.
He stands over the massive corpse of the boss. Suddenly, a bright red tag appears over the body: devourable. Si Chen stares at the notification, his eyes narrowing. He has never seen a prompt like this before. He wonders if this is a unique part of the system he has awakened.
He reaches out his hand and a strange, pooling energy begins to glow. His eyes flare with a sinister red light. He thinks back to the legend of the power of gluttony. A violent vortex of dark energy erupts from his palm. It latches onto the boss's corpse and begins to tear it apart from the inside. The entire monster is sucked into the vortex, condensing down into a single point of light in his fist.
The process is finished, and a blue hologram card appears in front of him. It is the Death Forest King, condensed into a usable form. He realizes he can actually take the powers of his enemies and turn them into his own classes. His eyes widen as he reads the card's description. The ability it gives him is beyond anything a normal human should have.
A vision of Demon King Lanu flashes through his mind. This power feels identical to the one that destroyed the world in his past life. He compares his own aura to the memory of the demon kings. It is a perfect match. He realizes the truth. He has stolen the demon king's ultimate power for himself.
In this world, every hunter is born with a single class that they can never change. It is an absolute law of nature. But now, Si Chen holds two separate classes in his hands at the same time. He has already broken the rules.
He looks out at the horizon, where hordes of other monsters are waiting. He realizes that if he can devour them, he can have everything. A cold determination fills his gaze. He will not just be a hero — he will possess every class in existence.