The Hero Returns

A grade change...

Gluttony changed from "Prey" to "Predator." It wasn't just its grade that changed, though, as its external appearance also changed at the same time.

After it evolved to a "Predator," Gluttony now appeared to have a somewhat rotund-looking torso and short, small legs, wide shoulders, and a round face. It now looked like a male humanoid with lots of meat on his bones and tall stature of around two meters.

"Is this the personification of gluttony, then?"

The desire of Gluttony the Predator involved "insatiable appetite." That desire was basically the entirety of Gluttony the monster. Despite becoming a full-fledged Predator, its appetite hadn't disappeared at all. Rather, it even seemed to have grown stronger.

Indeed, this version of Gluttony that now stood before Su-hyeun's eyes was the embodiment of that very desire.

Gluttony's lips slowly parted, "I...want to...say...something..."

A monster that didn't think about anything else besides fulfilling its appetite until now finally became able to speak. Its evolution into Predator probably gave it the ability to think rationally.

"The amount of Death Aura required to summon him has increased accordingly, but..." his thoughts trailed off.

But, it didn't really matter.

s

"The total reserve of my Death Aura has increased a lot more than that, anyway."

The moment Su-hyeun's Death Aura stat reached the triple-digit mark, its total reserve shot up by several folds.

Gluttony did consume a ton of his Death Aura during its evolution, but rather than feel unhappy about it, Su-hyeun thought that this was an event that must be celebrated.

Besides, this event allowed Su-hyeun to figure out the reason why Gluttony couldn't evolve into a Predator until now. "It was simply that you couldn't digest everything you ate, wasn't it?"

Gluttony slowly nodded at Su-hyeun's muttering.

It used to be a "Prey," and its entire existence was based on its insatiable appetite. It devoured the living and used them as nutrients to become even stronger and nothing more.

Gluttony accompanied Su-hyeun on various adventures and got to devour a few Predators, but even then, it was unable to absorb almost all of its victims' powers and energy.

Su-hyeun had been thinking that this was because Gluttony wasn't a true Prey but a summoned creature bound to him.

But that turned out to be wrong.

"So my lack of strength was to blame all along," he concluded.

After all, Predators were existences diametrically opposed to the gods.

The thing was, Su-hyeun's own Death Aura stat simply wasn't high enough to command such creatures. More correctly, he wasn't in possession of the godhood related to that purpose, the godhood of death.

"If I flip that around, then..."

Su-hyeun recalled all of his summons that had become even stronger after he acquired the godhood of death and stared at Gluttony, a summon that had successfully evolved.

"The stronger I get, the stronger my summons will get, too."

Su-hyeun checked out the application rate for the other summons. The lowest was around 120%, while the highest sat around 300%.

The average of the application rates had gone past the 100% mark, which meant that Su-hyeun's summoned creatures were now stronger than when they were still alive.

However, Gluttony's application rate was still only 80% even now.

[Death Acceleration]

* It forces a living target to quickly die and takes away the life force of the living as the target reaches their death.

* LV: 1

* Proficiency: 0.00%

He also got himself a new skill after acquiring the godhood. This skill, Death Acceleration, did what it said on the tin and allowed him to steal a target's life force, thereby pushing them into death's doorstep much faster.

It was basically a skill that represented the godhood of death the best, but it also refilled his Death Aura supply in the process; it might be an attack skill, but it was also a recovery-type skill at the same time.

"In a way, this is the most cheat skill I have."

Death Acceleration was supposed to accelerate the target's death, but in truth, this skill was basically designed to suck in their life force instead.

And the target didn't always have to be an enemy he was fighting against, either; beings brimming with life force existed in practically every world out there, after all—for instance, things such as a blade of grass, a tree, a flower that one could find anywhere, and even a living, breathing planet.

If he decided to steal all of their energy, then Su-hyeun would be able to resupply his own energy reserve almost infinitely.

"I guess this is kind of like the Death Aura stat's own breathing technique, then."

Since the death of living things was the price to pay when using it, he knew he shouldn't be abusing this skill, but even then, there was no doubt that it would prove to be very useful.

And so, the promised one hour went by quickly as he confirmed his newly acquired godhood and skill one at a time.

"Are you finished now?" the Administrator asked upon his return, eyes half-closed to prevent Insight from being used on him.

"Yes, I'm finished. Let's get started right away."

"Alright, let's. By the way," the Administrator suddenly hesitated for a bit. Normally, the trial would've started without any other "advice" given, but this time, it was different. "Fella, you are aware which floor this is, yes?"

"Yes. Aren't we on the 200th floor?"

"Since that's the case, I'll believe that you understand how challenging this trial will be, even for you."

Su-hyeun was slightly stunned.

On every tenth and hundredth floor, the difficulty of the trials would spike higher to a freakish level. He was well aware of this, but that information was solely based on the experiences of various awakeners.

This would be Su-hyeun's very first time to hear that information directly from an Administrator.

"Your warning that this trial will be harsh...Is that my hint this time?"

"No, I'm just saying. You know that there are no more hints past the 100th floor, right? Even we can't predict what might happen from that point on, after all."

"I'm sure that's the case. Even you Administrators won't be able to accurately foresee the future of the gods possessing the qualifications, after all."

The old Administrator flinched in surprise at Su-hyeun's observation. Su-hyeun merely smiled faintly at that reaction. He was only taking a stab in the dark, but looking at that reaction affirmed it for him.

After acquiring Insight, Su-hyeun began wondering about something. If this Insight was the type of power that allowed one to see into a target's future simply by looking into their eyes, then could it be that all the hints the Administrators gave to him until now were something similar?

"Well, I guess it's all true, then."

The hints from the Administrators sounded like "clues" that had been based on the knowledge of what might happen in Su-hyeun's future. However, this wasn't some pre-programmed quest found inside a video game, so it would've been impossible to foretell how Su-hyeun would proceed with a trial.

Seeing into the target's future but not being able to see the future of someone who had acquired the godhood was of no use; there was no point since even if the future could be witnessed, it could always be altered, anyway.

And that was why past the 100th floor, the Administrators stopped giving Su-hyeun hints after he acquired his godhood.

"Whatever the case may be, thank you for the advice. I'll keep it in mind."

"Feels like I've said something unnecessary here."

"No, not at all."

"Ugh. You might be fine, but I might get an earful later on. In any case..." the Administrator smiled awkwardly just as the surrounding scenery began changing to something new. The old man's figure grew blurry, and all the color from the surroundings vanished. The transfer to the new stage for the upcoming trial had begun, in other words. "I wish you the best of luck."

Whoosh—

The scenery completely changed before Su-hyeun's eyes. The blanked-out world gradually regained its color, and the new sight that greeted him was a cityscape that didn't seem any different from what could be found in the other worlds.

Tap—

"Ah, my bad."

"What's this? Why are you standing in the middle of the street all dazed and stuff?"

"We have fresh meat on sale! Butchered today!"

"Which way to the mercenary guild?"

"Mercenary guild, you say? Let's see…You keep going down that way, then..."

It was a rowdy and noisy street. Su-hyeun's surroundings were filled with innumerable people.

Su-hyeun ended up bumping shoulders with a few other passersby as he stood in the middle of the street; some apologized before going on their way, while others got annoyed that he was blocking their path.

"It's peaceful here," he thought.

The vibe he got was different from the 199th floor's trial. Unlike with that trial, where he heard loud screaming from the very onset, this world seemed to be way too peaceful.

He needed a lead first to get going, but he didn't have to wait long. Messages finally came to him a short while later.

[The 200th floor's trial will now commence.]

[The first trial will now begin.]

[Please destroy the altar.]

"The altar?"

He was given two leads. One, this was the first trial, and second, he was given that term, "altar."

Since this was the first trial, it could mean that there would be a second and then a third trial later on. As for that altar, he wasn't sure what it meant just yet. It could refer to something secretive or something readily accepted and obvious to the denizens of this world.

For now, he didn't have enough information to go on.

"This might take a while."

Tap—

It was at that moment that a little kid among the passersby ran into Su-hyeun. This child was still young and only reached around Su-hyeun's waist in height.

"Ah, I'm sorry, sir," the child bowed at Su-hyeun and then tried to walk past him.

And right at that moment, Su-hyeun reached out toward this kid.

Grab—

"Hey, kid."

"Y—yes?"

"Do you need money?" Su-hyeun asked, which made the kid flinched in surprise.

Although the pickpocketing technique was pretty good, this kid wasn't so accomplished in the art of hiding one's guilty facial expression, it seemed.

Su-hyeun unfurled the child's clenched hand. Gold coins that were previously resting within Su-hyeun's pockets were on the kid's small palm.

"Tsk!"

Smack—

The kid urgently shook off Su-hyeun's grip and began running away.

Thanks to his small physique, the kid proved to be rather swift; either the kid was trained professionally or he knew the lay of the land too well since that small figure slickly weaving in and out of the crowd looked rather extraordinary even to Su-hyeun's observation.

"Hmm..." Su-hyeun stared at the kid who was getting further away and smiled faintly. "Well, I paid upfront, so I guess it'll be fine."

* * *

Dash, rush...

The kid, Millie, continued to briskly dash and weave past the crowd.

Although he ended up bumping into a few other people, Millie didn't stop running. A marketplace with so many people like this one was an easy place to hide a small physique like Millie's, after all.

"Dunno how he found out, but whatever, I managed to lose him," Millie thought as he stepped inside a secluded back alley.

No one was here; this alley where people almost never stepped inside, thanks to the persistent disgusting stench, was a place he would always stop by after successfully picking someone's pockets.

Clang—

Millie confirmed the three gold coins in his grip. They felt rather substantial.

Wondering if they were fake, he even bit down on a coin, just to make sure.

"It's real!"

A bright smile bloomed on Millie's face.

Each of the gold coins was a bit bigger than his finger and felt quite weighty. He would have to work for a whole month straight if he wanted to earn three of such gold coins. Obviously, his moods perked up instantly.

"Hey, you over there?"

But then, he heard a voice he did not want to hear right now.

Millie looked behind him and noticed three other kids approaching him. They were all bigger than him, too.

"What's that in your hand?" asked a blonde-haired boy with lots of freckles on his face, who also happened to be the biggest of the trio. He was the leader of the pickpocketing kids in the neighborhood. His physique was significantly bulkier than other kids of his age, thanks to experiencing an unusual growth spurt, and he made sure to use his superior strength to take away the money that other pickpocketing kids managed to steal.

"T—this..." Millie quickly hid the gold coins in his hand behind his back. He acted on reflex at the sudden arrival of this trio, but in the end, his reaction meant nothing because they had already seen the gold coins in his hand.

"You better give it up when we're being nice, alright? If you don't want to get beaten up like the last time, that is."

"Aren't you being too cowardly?!"

"Cowardly? Hey, you also stole that from someone anyway. I'm merely taking that away. Isn't that true?"

s

The boy wasn't wrong there; the real owner of the coins was someone else, so calling the boy a coward for stealing what was already stolen was a laughable thing, indeed.

Nonetheless, it was still unfair no matter how one sliced it.

"That's why—"

It was right then that an unfamiliar voice suddenly came to them from behind the trio of boys. Their gazes automatically shifted to see the owner of that voice.

"Why don't you give it back to me?" Su-hyeun, who had stepped into this remote back alley, pointed at the gold coins in Millie's hand and said, "That's my money, after all."