A Trial Run

Squeak, squeak, squeak!

A giant rat the size of a house cat crawled out of the shadows. The damp, foul-smelling wind unique to the sewer blew past it, making its glossy black fur ripple constantly. However, the giant rat paid no attention to it at all, straining to lift its head and sniff at something.

Amid the stench of rotting garbage in the air was an irresistibly alluring scent. That scent had drawn it all the way here, and relying on its keen sense of smell, the giant rat soon looked toward an inconspicuous pile of garbage in the corner.

Squeak!

After confirming the source of the scent, the giant rat hurried toward it. However, when it reached the garbage pile, it discovered that the scent was coming from inside. Blocked by the heaps of trash, the giant rat could not move forward at all and began squeaking frantically.

The next second, driven by instinctive desire, the giant rat thrust half its body into the garbage pile. Relying on its sharp teeth and nimble claws, it forcibly tore open a gap. After catching the increasingly intense scent within, the nearly crazed rat twisted its body with all its might and squeezed inside bit by bit.

As the giant rat's body gradually disappeared into the garbage pile, the shadows outside began to writhe and distort, forming an eerie face. Its round cheeks slowly split down the middle, and the serrated teeth paired with that sinister grin created an indescribably eerie sight.

After a cold wind howled past, the strange shadow vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, inside the garbage pile, the giant rat had been driven completely mad by the mysterious scent. Ignoring its claws, which had become slick with blood, it continued tearing forcefully at the garbage in front of it. When the giant rat finally cleared away the last piece blocking its path, a cavern roughly one meter high and two meters deep appeared before it.

Inside the cavern, a sky-blue slime lay in the center, emitting a faint glow. Looking closely, one would discover that the glow was actually composed of countless points of light, which continuously revolved around the slime's body.

The scent that had driven the giant rat mad came from that slime. The moment it saw the slime, its boundless hunger destroyed the last shred of reason it possessed. Opening its huge mouth filled with sharp fangs, it charged at the slime.

Crack!

The instant the giant rat bit down, a piercing sound rang out, resembling several kitchen knives clashing together. The giant rat, which had already been consumed by madness, now rolled frantically across the ground. Bright-red blood and broken teeth fell from its mouth onto the floor.

"That's enough testing for the new skill. I've learned pretty much everything I need to know at this stage."

At that moment, the giant rat's shadow began to twist continuously. A slime identical to the one in the cavern earlier emerged from the shadow. The only difference was that this slime had neither the special effects nor the scent that had driven the giant rat mad.

"Still, this skill is really convenient. Finding prey will be much easier from now on."

As he spoke, the shadow beneath Lu Minghao began to writhe violently. The originally formless shadow transformed into a series of pitch-black spikes. Fine barbs covered the tips of the spikes, meaning that once they pierced an enemy's body, removing them would require cutting away the part of the body that had been struck.

"Shadow Kill!"

The next second, one sharp spike after another pierced completely through the giant rat's body. In an instant, its body was torn apart, and chunks of flesh of varying sizes covered the cavern.

"Now then, it's time to hunt. I don't even know how long I've been asleep. Gluttony has been starving for ages."

As soon as he finished speaking, a talent panel appeared in Lu Minghao's vision.

Name: Lu Minghao

Rank: Lower Demon

Race: Slime

Talents: [Encounter from Another World] (Red): As someone from another world, you possess truly limitless potential.

Ability One: Plunder the world's origin. Once enough has been accumulated, cross into another world at the cost of consuming the world's origin.

Ability Two: Upon entering a New World, randomly obtain a brand-new purple talent.

[Gluttony] (Purple): You possess a bottomless stomach and digestive ability. Due to your racial traits, you can devour both living beings and inorganic matter. You will completely absorb the nutrients of whatever you consume to accelerate your growth, with a chance of obtaining part of its abilities.

Ability One: Bestow Gluttony's endless hunger upon an enemy.

[Slime Physique] (Blue-White): As a slime, you naturally possess a liquid-like body and can freely control your body to change its shape. You have no need to breathe or sleep, can eat with any part of your body, are immune to some weaker physical attacks, and possess the ability of Asexual Reproduction.

[Magic Essence] (Blue-White): This is the symbol of a demon's power. You have taken the first step toward evolution. Although you remain weak, the ladder of evolution has already opened.

Branch Skills: [Shadow Escape]: Use magic essence to transform your body's properties, granting the ability of Shadow Movement and shadow manipulation.

[Illusory Dream Lure]: Emit an irresistible alluring scent to those weaker than yourself, causing them to fall into a frenzy.

After advancing to Lower Demon, aside from [Shadow Escape], which he had previously obtained from the giant rat, Lu Minghao had acquired another ability called [Illusory Dream Lure]. It could release an irresistible aura to demons weaker than him and drive them into a state of madness.

However, in Lu Minghao's view, this skill was only useful for clearing out cannon fodder and hunting at his current stage. After all, as demons grew stronger, their resistance to abnormal status effects also increased. Combined with their own skills, that tiny bit of allure would be completely negligible to powerful demons by then.

Besides those two abilities, the [Gluttony] talent had also developed a new effect as Lu Minghao grew stronger—the method he had used earlier to make the giant rat become controlled by endless hunger.

Incidentally, [Shadow Escape] and [Illusory Dream Lure] were skills born from Lu Minghao's [Magic Essence] talent, while Gluttony's ability was completely different. It was an extended effect derived from the [Gluttony] talent.

One was a skill, while the other was an extended effect. They were completely different existences.

"Still, [Slime Physique] and [Magic Essence] are only blue-white right now, and they've merely touched the very bottom of that tier. By that calculation, if I want to fully transform both talents into blue, I'll at least have to wait until I become an Upper Demon. And if I want them to become purple talents like [Gluttony], what stage will I have to reach?!"

At this thought, Lu Minghao felt a little ball-sick. Oh, wait. As a slime, he didn't have that thing for the time being. He couldn't feel pain there even if he wanted to.

"Forget it. At least this proves that the talent panel was telling the truth when it said I possessed truly limitless potential."

Finally, Lu Minghao raised his head and glanced at the demon's name at the very top of the talent panel. He smiled faintly, and the talent panel instantly vanished. As for the fact that the demon's name on the talent panel had changed, Lu Minghao was not surprised in the slightest. Although he called it a talent panel, it was actually his own talent—a part of his very being.