At the center of our bubble was an eight story tall building that had a curious magic about it similar to the bubble. When I identified it, I was surprised to find it had System information.

  Tower of the All-Devourer. Designated for Group: ADA. Health: 100%. Defense: 0%. Upgradable.

  I grabbed the attention of the nearest guard. “What is ADA?”

  “All-Devourer’s Army, sir.”

  “Who thought of that?” The guard shrugged. “Great. I’m going to meditate on the top of the tower.” I didn’t wait for him to answer as I leapt, landing heavily on the tower’s roof. Selka was standing there, overlooking the camp with her arms behind her back.

  “It was Gregory who thought of the acronym,” she said without looking back at me. She must have heard our conversation from up here. Might need to be more careful as people continuously grow in stats.

  “I don’t hate it, but it feels a bit self-aggrandizing.”

  “It would have been if you’d made it up, but you didn’t, so don’t worry about it.”

  “Fair enough. I need to pick some skills from recent gains, and divvy out some free points.”

  Selka turned to face me, leaning back to rest against the low parapet wall. “I didn’t think you got free points like we do.”

  “I normally don’t, but my new patron offered me something that gave me some free points. The entry didn’t say it was a continuous thing, so I’ll have to see about that later on.”

  “How many did you get?”

  “Ten times the combined sum of my race, class, and profession, 1570 in total.”

  Selka lost her center of gravity in surprise and fell back off the tower. I rushed over to check on her and she was standing on a spear of hot metal sticking out of the side of the tower about 5 meters down, shaking her head.

  “I’m going to check on things,” she said like nothing had happened, leaping off the spear and disappearing behind another building.

  I pointedly didn’t tell her about the boost from my first title after that. Maybe I should keep this stuff to myself? I walked back to the center of the tower and sat, entering my Soul Chamber.

  “All-Devourer. You’ve gathered the rest of the spheres. Congratulations.” Tree said to me as he etched runes along the outer edges of the floor.

  “Race and Profession skill choices time! Plus I have a huge amount of free points I need to add.” Tree wriggled and flashed in interest, and we got right to it.

  New Race Skill Options Available: Two.

  Total Race Skill Options Available: Six. Previously unchosen skills improved.

  Consuming Strike. Rare. Your hunger is so great it can affect your other natural weapons. Absorb an extreme amount of health with each strike while this skill is active. Consuming Strike can be applied to any weapon of Rare or higher rarity. Applying to lower rarity weapons will consume the weapons over time.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Gluttonous Leap. Rare. You seek to feast even upon those who dwell in the skies, and your body adapts. Your leap height is extremely increased when jumping towards a foe, and your first strike against said airborne foe is increased by 20 percent. For a short amount of time, you may stay airborne to continue fighting.

  Corrosive Arc. Rare. In your desire to consume, you have learned to send out corrosive arcs of energies to significantly break down barriers and damage natural armor. Corrosive Arc bursts into smaller arcs that branch to nearby foes after striking their intended target.

  Vital Transference. Uncommon. Your affinity for hunger flows throughout your core circulation, and you can use it to your advantage. You can consume from your own mana and stamina pools to heal yourself at a rate of 12:1.

  Adaptive Hunger. Uncommon. When you consume enough of a given type of affinity, you gain benefits and minor, short term adaptations depending on the affinity.

  Mental Maw. Uncommon. When you consume mental attacks made against you, you may choose to retaliate through the connection, damaging your foes using the very essence of your Hunger.

  “Do you wish to try to exert some control over your affinity?” Tree asked as we looked over the choices.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Consuming Strike, Corrosive Arc, and Vital Transference would likely work well together.”

  After considering that, I asked, “What about Gluttonous Leap?”

  “I don’t know that it would go well with the others, but you can try.”

  I had some ideas, especially because I just didn’t like the skill. I sat down on the floor to meditate and sharpen my focus. My pathways flowed with the increased vigor of recent growth. To help as much as possible, I added eighty-six of my Free Points to push my Perception to quadruple digits.

  The connection between my core and the choices that lay before me was present, but my sense wasn’t strong enough to get a proper grasp. So, I pumped another 100 Free Points. Stronger, but not where I felt I needed it. Another 100 points. There we go!

  My core pulsed.

  HUNGER!

  Yes! Now, how best to fuel the combination? I felt my core pulling on the threads, as it must have done before I had the Perception to detect them. Earlier in the tutorial, I thought that maybe the Gluttonous Leap skill would advance to flight, but it didn’t seem to be doing so no matter how long I left it to upgrade. Perhaps it would better serve me by being the fuel for the combination.

  HUNGER!

  The skills began to flicker as before, but Gluttonous Leap was the first to go. I sensed the connection unravel, broken down and pulled into my core. Then Consuming Strike, Corrosive Arc, and Vital Transference were pulled off the chamber wall. I felt their threads coil toward my core.

  HUNGER!

  The energy from Gluttonous Leap surged into the coiled threads of the other skills, pulling them together. The process took more and more energy, and I understood that the leap skill alone wasn’t going to be enough. Not wanting to consume another Control Sphere, I pumped health, stamina, and mana from my own pathways. The drain was severe, and I felt my head ache and my exhaust increase as I was drained.

  HUNGER!

  Right before I had to stop and switch to some other source, I felt the much stronger thread of the new skill display upon the Soul Chamber wall. I fought off my tiredness to read the new skill and notifications.

  New Race Skill: Hunger Strike, Epic.

  Hunger Strike. Epic. Contrary to its name’s colloquial meaning, Hunger Strike imbues your melee strikes with the Hunger of your core, including its ability to break down barriers and damage natural armor. You can spend additional energy from your pathways to send out arcs of consumption that branch to up to five nearby foes after striking the intended target. You can choose between Health, Mana, and Stamina to be recovered from each strike, though Health is affected to a far greater degree. Vitality improves the amount recovered from each strike.

  You have consumed four skills to create one. You may not gain another Race Skill until you have reached Level 100.

  “Hey, I didn’t get the unique scenario thing this time!”

  “Of course not, Dan. You’ve already done this before, and now it’s time fo-.”

  “Hell yes, brother! Time to eat some Profession Skills!”