Original Sin: Gluttony

Chapter 21: Gluttony

Who am I?

Where am I?

What happened?

At this very moment, Lu Minghao, who had just awoken from his advancement, was filled with these three questions. Just a few seconds after waking up, he found himself not in the Underground Water Vein, nor in a crystal-clear stream, but in a bizarre place.

The surroundings were walls of flesh, continuously secreting a viscous, grass-colored liquid. He could even see the flesh-colored walls writhing, while Lu Minghao's body floated about in the large amount of liquid beneath him.

"So, what happened while I was asleep?"

Lu Minghao surveyed the strange scene around him. The writhing flesh-colored walls looked like real flesh, and the liquid constantly secreting from them gave him an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

Splat!

Suddenly, a purple snake, more than half its body mangled, fell not far from Lu Minghao. In just a few seconds, the snake was completely dissolved before him, leaving only a skeleton.

"I was wondering why I felt so familiar. Turns out, it's the stomach."

At this moment, Lu Minghao finally understood where he had ended up. Most likely, he had been swallowed by a passing Monster while he was asleep, embarking on an adventure within its stomach.

"But why am I okay?"

The very next second, a new question popped into Lu Minghao's mind. He had just witnessed the potency of the stomach fluid; the snake had turned into a skeleton in mere seconds, so why was he unharmed?

Lu Minghao looked down at his body. His size hadn't changed much compared to before his advancement, but his once sky-blue body now had a translucent quality, like a giant sapphire.

"I'm so beautiful!"

Lu Minghao looked at his new body and sincerely exclaimed. It was a dreamlike sky blue, as clear as the heavens, and within his body, tiny specks of crystalline starlight flickered, like stars adorning the night sky.

After confirming the changes in his body, a brand-new talent panel appeared before Lu Minghao's eyes.

Name: Lu Minghao
Rank: Middle Demon
Race: Slime
Talent: [Encounter from Another World] (Red): You, from another world, possess truly infinite potential.
  Ability 1: Plunder the world's origin. When a certain degree is accumulated, you can traverse other worlds at the cost of consuming the world's origin.
  Ability 2: Upon traversing to a new world, you will randomly obtain a new purple talent.

[Gluttony] (Purple): You possess a bottomless stomach and digestive capabilities. Due to your racial characteristics, you can devour both living and inorganic matter, completely absorbing the nutrients from what you devour to accelerate your growth, with a chance to acquire some of its abilities.
  Ability 1: Inflict Gluttony's bottomless hunger upon your enemies.
  Ability 2: Active: Convert dependents, bestowing the power of Gluttony, granting absolute dominion over them.
  Passive: Automatically modify all surrounding life forms, bestowing the original sin of Gluttony. The insatiable hunger will cause them to devour everything in sight, granting absolute dominion over the modified.

[Slime Physique] (Blue-White): As a Slime, you naturally possess a liquid-like body and can freely manipulate your shape. You do not need to breathe or sleep, can eat with any part of your body, are immune to some weak physical attacks, and possess asexual reproduction capabilities.
  Branch Skill: [Acid Resistance]

[Magic Element] (Blue-White): This is the symbol of a Monster's power. The qualitative change in Magic Element has allowed you to enter a new level.
  Branch Skill: [Shadow Escape]: Use Magic Element to transform your physical attributes, possessing the ability to freely control shadows.

[Illusory Dream Lure]: Emits an irresistible allure to those weaker than yourself, driving them into a frenzy.

[Water Manipulation]: Integrated skills such as water flow propulsion, water blades, water movement, water mist, and water bubbles, granting the ability to manipulate water.

After advancing to Middle Demon, Lu Minghao not only underwent fundamental changes in his Magic Element and physical strength but also in his abilities. Gluttony had once again derived new abilities, allowing him to actively modify Monsters, humans, or even plants into his dependents, bestowing upon them the power of Gluttony, which was essentially a significantly weakened version of 'Gluttony'.

The power of Gluttony allowed dependents to rapidly digest and absorb food, accelerating their growth speed. Additionally, there was a chance to acquire the characteristics of what they devoured. This ability was somewhat similar to the unique skill of the Pig Head Emperor, but becoming Lu Minghao's dependent would not result in the loss of sanity or fear.

However, once one became Lu Minghao's dependent, they would be completely dominated by him, from soul to body.

Another derived ability was the passive modification of everything surrounding Lu Minghao's main body. Life forms bestowed with the original sin of Gluttony would lose their minds to insatiable hunger and devour everything, but they would still be under Lu Minghao's absolute dominion.

This ability was somewhat akin to an eldritch abomination, but Lu Minghao could choose to freely activate or deactivate it. He speculated that this ability might have been instinctively derived by Gluttony to prevent such a situation from happening again and encountering danger during his unprepared, sudden advancement and subsequent slumber.

Monsters imbued with the original sin of Gluttony would frantically devour and kill everything centered around Lu Minghao. It could be said that anything or any life form other than Lu Minghao that approached would be killed and completely consumed.

"So, the Monster that swallowed me has already been passively modified by Gluttony's newly derived ability, becoming a creature driven by hunger and devoid of reason. Also, the new skill 'Water Manipulation' was likely acquired from the food I've consumed during this time."

Lu Minghao looked at the new abilities on his talent panel. He had initially thought that the biggest change from advancing to Middle Demon would be the further enhancement of his Magic Element and physical strength, but he hadn't expected Gluttony to derive such an ability.

Now, Lu Minghao only needed to stay in a certain place, and with Gluttony's new effects, he could passively modify all surrounding life forms. Before long, everything around Lu Minghao would transform into monsters dominated by hunger, frantically devouring everything in sight.

Moreover, looking at the effects of Gluttony's new derived ability, a bold idea appeared in Lu Minghao's mind.

"Forget it, it's better not to court death. My current strength isn't enough."

The next second, Lu Minghao shook his head and dismissed the suicidal thought from his mind. Indeed, after seeing Gluttony's new abilities, Lu Minghao, who sought immediate revenge, had considered sneaking into a town in the Eastern Empire and using Gluttony's new passive ability to transform everything in the town into monsters.

However, doing so might alert the high-ranking officials of the Eastern Empire. If they discovered that Lu Minghao was responsible for everything, they would most likely send powerful individuals to either capture him for experimentation or kill him on the spot.