Kin-Eater

Chapter 2 · Kin-Eater

Just as Lu Minghao was fantasizing about the wonderful Otherworlder monster girls and big sisters, a sudden hunger surged through his body like a tide. From his body to his soul, everything roared and craved its first nourishment since birth, driving Lu Minghao to devour the first meal of his life.

"So hungry. So hungry, so hungry."

Faced with the sudden hunger, Lu Minghao's body urged him to seek out his first food. However, because slimes had poor vision, Lu Minghao could only vaguely see everything around him, as though he were looking at the world in the worst black-and-white resolution. It felt like a human with over eight hundred degrees of nearsightedness taking off their glasses.

"Hm? What is this feeling?"

The next second, Lu Minghao's round, streamlined body suddenly froze. A strange sensation appeared in his perception. The vibrations in the air and on the ground told him everything happening around him. Even though he could not see clearly, Lu Minghao instinctively sensed the things nearby.

It was as if he were standing on the surface of a body of water, able to clearly sense the faint ripples in the distance and precisely detect where something was. It was similar to how a spider could detect movement on its web. He could sense their size, but not what they were.

"Is this the world as perceived by a slime?"

Lu Minghao instinctively crawled forward cautiously. His liquid body wriggled ahead bit by bit. Although his perception could detect the bouncing members of his own kind nearby, he still chose the safest method of movement out of caution and fear. After all, despite possessing top-tier talent, he was currently only a weak slime that could not even beat a dog.

Smack!

Suddenly, Lu Minghao felt himself bump into something. His advancing body came to a stop.

"Is this a sword?"

Lu Minghao examined the long, bar-shaped object in front of him. Although he could not see it clearly from his perspective, its blurry shape looked somewhat like a sword. Moreover, his body's perception told him that it was sharp.

"How did this thing get here?"

After examining the sword blocking his path for several seconds, Lu Minghao decided to ignore it since he could not figure it out. He was starving, after all. He then went around the sword and continued crawling forward, but the next second, Lu Minghao felt something enter his body.

Pfft!

Suddenly, Lu Minghao felt the object inside his body dissolve. A warm current seemed to soak through his entire body, and a trace of strength emerged within his newly born form.

"Holy crap, I dissolved grass."

Lu Minghao stood dazedly in place. Compared to the hunger in his body, this brand-new sensation of dissolving grass with his body filled him with wonder. Especially the feeling of being soaked through after dissolving the grass—it was simply ecstatic!

"Should I try it again?"

The next second, Lu Minghao looked at the other grass growing ahead. Remembering that wonderful feeling, his round body suddenly leaped up and plunged straight into it. His liquid-like body wrapped around the grass below, then completely dissolved it without leaving a trace.

Moreover, every time he dissolved a patch of grass, Lu Minghao felt his weak body grow a little stronger. This sensation drove him to sweep through all the green grass around him. Before long, the already sparse grass had been devoured completely.

"Come to think of it, other things seem edible too."

As Lu Minghao examined the sword that had blocked his path, he looked at the talent panel that only he could see.

[Gluttony] (Purple): You possess a bottomless stomach and extraordinary digestive abilities. Due to your racial traits, you can devour both living creatures and inorganic matter. You will completely absorb the nutrients of anything you devour, accelerating your growth, and you have a chance of obtaining some of its abilities.

According to the talent panel, because he possessed Gluttony, Lu Minghao could devour both living creatures and inorganic matter. In other words, the iron-forged sword in front of him was also on his menu.

"I'll give it a try. And if it's true, I'll never lack food again."

As he spoke, Lu Minghao slowly moved closer to the sword before him. His liquid body gradually wrapped around it, and the moment part of the sword entered his body, Gluttony's powerful digestive ability immediately began breaking it down and turning it into nourishment for his growth.

"It really works!"

Feeling that familiar sensation of being soaked through rise within him again, Lu Minghao charged forward and wrapped the entire sword in his body. However, since his body was only about the size of a basketball, roughly half the sword still remained exposed outside.

Nearby, several slimes hopping into the distance paused whenever they passed Lu Minghao. Their feeble intelligence could not understand why this fellow had stopped there. After all, ordinary slimes did not possess Lu Minghao's Gluttony ability.

If grass was still something they could digest, then things like swords were completely beyond an ordinary slime's diet.

Bang!

Suddenly, something struck the ground, startling the slimes gathered around Lu Minghao. They began hopping wildly in every direction in a panic. In reality, it was the sword Lu Minghao had been devouring. Its lower half had already been completely dissolved, causing the upper half to fall down.

Smack!

"Hm?"

Just as Lu Minghao was about to continue eating the remaining half of the sword, he suddenly felt something collide with his body. The familiar sensation surged up again. When Lu Minghao looked toward the direction of the impact, he discovered that a slime had somehow hopped onto him.

The part that had touched his body was instantly dissolved and digested, just like the grass and sword before it. Only half its body remained, lying on the ground. Judging by the lack of movement, it was completely dead.

"So I ate one of my own kind?"

Looking at the half-slime lying beside him, Lu Minghao could not help thinking of a certain split-personality spider. Was he going to walk down the path of a kin-eater too? No, wait—he had already set foot on it. After all, he had eaten half of one already.

"As expected, slimes have such fragile lives. It died so easily."

Seeing one of his kind die so easily filled Lu Minghao with fear. Although he possessed, in the truest sense, infinite possibilities, he was currently nothing more than a slime that could die at any moment.

"Rest in peace. I'll carry on living with your dying wish and become a powerful slime!"

The next second, Lu Minghao's body crawled forward and instantly wrapped the half-slime within itself. As that familiar sensation rose again, something inside Lu Minghao changed. Everything was simply for the sake of survival.

Also, rest in peace inside my body!

Also, I'll be changing the update schedule tomorrow—one chapter in the morning and one in the afternoon.