"If I drop two drops of marinade into this serum, does it count as chemical warfare or culinary genius?"
A young dark-skinned boy with white hair swirled the amber liquid in his glass beaker, watching it catch the light of the laboratory. He said again with a smile;
"Honestly, the world isn’t ready for medium-rare mutated pork chops. But my stomach certainly is."
There were three people behind him, but none of them had any interest in what he was saying, or what he had to say.
"Why is HE the one handling the catalyst?"
"Don’t ask me. The Cabinet actually approved his grant. Can you believe it? They drafted him straight into our team like he belongs here."
"He doesn’t. 79UG03 is an orphan who stumbled into USARD because nobody else wanted him. All he cares about is food."
The boy paused his swirling, closed his eyes, and facepalmed.
"If you two are going to talk behind my back, at least use my first name," he sighed, turning around to face the two younger technicians.
"I’m Max. Not Seventy-Nine-U-G-Zero-Three. Doesn’t that sound like a serial number for a defective microwave?? Please, it’s weird!"
"The only thing weird in this laboratory is you and your stupid ambitions," an older voice said from behind.
Dr. Jones stepped forward. His arms were crossed across his chest and his face was twisted in disgust.
He hadn’t joined the gossip, but his expression made it clear that being assigned to this project was a personal insult.
Ironically, Jones was supposed to be the lead scientist on the team. Yet here was an eighteen-year-old kid running the entire show.
Max set the beaker into the automated injection rig, offering Jones a sharp, confident smirk.
"Mr. Jones, I thought we agreed you’d let me handle the conclusion. You’re always welcome to sign off early if your heart can’t take the excitement."
Jones sneered. "Tsk. Rude brat."
The two technicians exchanged quiet looks. Max’s arrogance was infamous across the United States Apocalypse Research Department.
He was an anomaly. Raised in a government-run orphanage after losing his parents during the early Descent, Max’s childhood had been fueled by nutrient paste, like every other less privileged kid.
When he finally made money to taste real food for the first time, something inside his brain snapped.
That single meal sparked an obsession. While other kids dreamed of Awakening as heroic Players, Max studied day and night, becoming the youngest researcher in USARD history for one simple reason, he wanted legal access to monster tissue.
He wanted to eat what the world deemed inedible.
"Ahem."
Max cleared his throat loudly, gesturing for the team to clear a path as he rolled the injection apparatus toward the center of the chamber.
Restrained inside a heavy-duty cage sat their specimen: a Goreboar.
It looked like a pig, except it had razor-sharp tusks and long legs like that of a deer’s.
Metal clamps pinned its neck and limbs, while mana-suppression coils were all around its torso. The beast was barely breathing, it was as good as dead.
The Goreboar was an F-rank monster. That was the lowest tier found inside a Gate.
Even so, the scientists kept a healthy distance because none of them were Players.
Players were awakened humans capable of wielding superhuman skills or channeling mana through their bodies.
To a team of normal humans, even a half-dead F-rank beast could tear through them like tissue paper if given the chance.
"What are the mana readings?" Max asked.
The female technician sneered, but tapped her wrist console. A holographic display projected above her arm, courtesy of Earth AI.
It was a global planetary management network that quantified mana, tracked Gate outbreak risks, and processed signals. It was another thing the Descent had helped humans accomplish.
Her eyes suddenly widened.
"Wait... core density is at seven percent. We’ve never gotten it this low!"
Even Jones leaned in, unable to mask his shock.
Despite their contempt, none of them could deny Max’s genius. He had set up the containment field himself, calibrating the energy coils to bleed the monster down to the absolute threshold of death without triggering full organ collapse.
’When monsters die, their mana condenses into their flesh within seconds. That condensed mana is what makes their meat hard as rock and toxic to ingest. But if I drain the core to critical, inject my neutralizer, and purge the residual energy...’
Max’s mouth practically watered. Monster pork.
Since the Descent fifty years ago, most animals have gone extinct and that had turned real meat into a luxury.
If Max proved monster flesh could be sanitized and consumed, he wouldn’t just make history, him or anyone would never have to eat nutrient paste again.
"I’m about to administer the serum," Max announced, positioning the pneumatic needle over the beast’s neck. "Step back."
"I’m not going anywhere," Jones snapped, "I’m going to stand right here and watch you make a clown of yourself."
The two younger technicians, lacking Jones’s stubborn pride, quietly backed away until their shoulders touched the doors at the rear of the laboratory.
Max shrugged. "Suit yourself."
He pressed the execution key.
The mechanical arm lunged forward, driving the thick needle deep into the Goreboar’s neck.
A valve opened, pumping the amber fluid directly into the creature’s core. Instantly, a plume of crimson, boiling steam erupted from the specimaen’s vents, filling the glass enclosure.
Max picked up his handheld scanner, his heart pounding in his chest as the readout began to update in real time.
[Mana Density: 7%... 6%... 5%... 4%... 3%... 2%... 1.5%]
Jones watched over Max’s shoulder with a pale face. ’The kid can’t actually be doing this... right?’
[0.9%... 0.6%... 0.3%... 0.2%]
Max’s grin stretched from ear to ear. The two technicians who had gone near the door returned immediately to watch what was going on.
’This is a historic feat... I can already imagine all the promotions and rewards if it succeeds. Me as team leader and a small team of three younglings... It will be a headline?’
Dr. Jones held his breath as he kept watching the numbers drop. His mind was going through a lot of emotions.
Until...
[0.1%... 100% ]
"WHAT?!" They all screamed at once.
[WARNING! FLASH EVOLUTION DETECTED!]
[TARGET HAS MUTATED: E-RANK MONSTER DETECTED!]
[WARNING! E-RANK MONSTER DETECTED!]
Sirens blared throughout the laboratory as Earth AI triggered the emergency protocols.
"Ahhhh!"
"It’s mutating! Run!"
Panic immediately took over. The two younger scientists bolted for the exit, the curiosity that made them come closer were their biggest regret now.
CLAANG!
The clamps exploded outward in a shower of sparks. The Goreboar’s eyes snapped open, glowing with red light. Its body swelled and it burst through the restraints as if they were made of paper.
The male technician stumbled as he reached the exit. Before he could scramble to his feet, a blur of black bristles crushed the space behind him.
The Goreboar slammed into him, driving it’s tusks cleanly through his spine and pinning him to the concrete wall.
With a brutal snap of its neck, it stomped its heavy hooves down, turning the man’s lower body into a horrifying crimson smear.
He was dead before his scream could come out.
Screams echoed off the ceiling as the female technician escaped, triggering for the door to begin sliding downwards so the monster doesn’t escape.
’Shit!’ Max’s mind raced.
The room was massive, and the closing door was already halfway down. Max sprinted with everything his eighteen-year-old body had.
He was the closest to the beast when it freed its shackles, so Dr. Jones was ahead of him in the race.
He eventually caught up, and they reached the doorway together just when the bottom edge of the blast door was three feet from the floor and dropping fast.
Max lunged to slide under.
THWACK!
Suddenly, a palm slammed directly into Max’s chest.
"Out of my way!" Jones shrieked.
The unexpected force threw the slender teenager backward onto the floor, skidding out of reach as Jones dove beneath the lowering slab.
CLANG!
The blast door closed down, locking Max inside the containment room with the beast.
"Fucking bastard!"
Max coughed, scrambling to lift himself up, but a shadow fell over him. The Goreboar was already there.
WHOOM!
With a whip-like motion of its head, the monster’s tusks clipped Max’s ribs, tossing him twenty feet across the lab.
He crashed violently into the reinforced glass barrier, coughing up a mouthful of blood as his vision swam.
"G-god... damn it..." Max gasped, barely able to breathe.
The Goreboar trotted over, its glowing red eyes locked onto the helpless teenager. It raised one massive, hoofed leg and brought it down without hesitation directly onto Max’s lower body.
CRACK!
A sickening crunch echoed through the silent room. Pain beyond human comprehension washed over Max as his legs were instantly crushed into a mangled pulp.
He screamed and his voice cracked as his consciousness were on the edge of darkness.
The beast snorted, steam pouring from its nostrils as it lowered its hideous snout, opening its jaws wide to crush Max’s head and end the meal.
Max lay bathed in his own blood, his body broken, his life bleeding out onto the floor.
Yet, as he stared at the raw flesh exposed beneath the monster’s shattered skull, a crazy grin spread across his bloodied face.
After spending years trying to make monster meat edible, was he really going to die without ever tasting it?
’Fuck it. If I’m dying anyway, I’m getting a bite first!’
With the last reserve of strength in his broken body, Max threw his head forward and sank his teeth deep into the Goreboar’s raw, open head wound.
CHOMP.
He bit down hard, tearing a mouthful of flesh away and chewing it.
At that moment, the world seemed to freeze.
[Player Identified]
[Awakening Successful! You have awakened Unique Class: Glutton (Rank: ???)]
[You have awakened a Skill: Devour (Rank: ???]
[You have awakened a Trait: Toxic Immunity (Rank: ???)]
[Skill: Devour Activated]
[You have devoured mutated E-rank monster: Goreboar]
[Select parameter to consume]
[Memories] [Experiences] [Stats] [Skills] [Class]
BOOM!
A shockwave of crimson and light erupted from Max’s body, exploding outward with the force of moving train.
The blast struck the Goreboar, lifting the massive beast off the floor and blasting it twenty feet back into the far wall.
In the center of the light, Max hovered an inch above the floor.
The mangled mess of his crushed legs twitched and within a second, they were back together anew.
Max hit the floor on his two feet and before the dazed Goreboar could even recover, he moved.
He approached the monster with jaw-breaking speed, pouncing onto it with both his hands and feet like a fellow monster.
THWACK!
His punch shattered the Goreboar’s skull plate.
THWACK!
His stomp caved the monster’s brain in entirely, painting the surrounding floor crimson.
[You have killed Mutated Goreboar (-E-Rank)]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
Max saw the crimson energy fading away from his body before he fell unconscious.