I Shall Devour Everything

Chapter 53: To Lie Or Not?

"Oh, right. I should be able to use prana effectively now," In his excitement, he realized he had forgotten to try and connect with his prana. However, even with connecting with his prana, he was pretty confident given all the beneficial changes that happened to him and since he could feel prana in his bones.

He closed his eyes, and within just an instant, he was able to easily connect with the prana in his heart compared to the intense level of concentration he required before, making him feel astonished at himself.

But suddenly, a screen of information appeared in his mind

[ INNER PERCEPTION ACTIVATED ]

Name: Arion Elsar

Strength: 3

Defense: 4

Agility: 3.8

Pranic Force: 1

Defity: Prana Binding Stage [ 10th Cycle - 0/ 1,048,576]

Bloodline: Doom Lizard (Dormant)

Prana Aspect: [Darkness] / [Devour] 

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Pranic Mark: None

Abilities -

Shapeshifting [Lvl.1]: Limited to base race and bloodline form

Passive Abilities -

Ingestion Empowerment [Lvl. 1]: Ingest any pranic items to increase Defity. Effectiveness varies with level

Enhanced Healing [Lvl. 1]: Heal physical injuries faster than normal

Enhanced Senses [Lvl. 1]: Enhanced hearing, smell, taste, touch, and vision

Enhanced Balance [Lvl. 1]: Enhanced center of balance and ability to recover from movement imbalance

Enhanced Inner Perception [Lvl. 1]: Read own status (Defity stats, pranic mark, abilities etc.) based on terms the host is familiar with

'What the fuck!' Arion was taken back when this screen of information popped up in his mind. It seemed no different than the status screens he had read about in novels and seen in anime.

'This can't be real' He inwardly mumbled in a daze but didn't forget to read what kind of information contained on this screen.

'RPG terms? What the hell is going on? I can't be in a game, right? Don't tell me I got sucked into some random game like those light novels' This was the first thought that popped into his head, seeing how there were attributes like strength, defense, and so on displayed on the screen.

But then he decided not to believe it since that would mean Mei is fake or someone out of a game. Besides, he could feel it in his soul that he was living in a genuine world that truly exists in space and not something that originated out of some software, especially considering how ridiculous it seemed.

He felt that these base stats were relative to a normal human, but he had no idea how they scaled if they were multiplicative, exponential, or totally something else, which was too profound for him to understand.

'I am the 10th Cycle of the Prana Binding Stage?!!' He was shocked to see that his Defity had reached the peak of the Prana Binding Stage, which he thought would take him at least 1 to 2 years, even if he was a genius.

'Bloodline? Is this from that old dragon's...what the fuck! Doom Lizard? A lizard?? For real? Did that sly old man really scam me? And here I was expecting at least a majestic dragon...but a lizard...pfft...but the name Doom sounds a bit cool...hope it's not an ordinary lizard...but how do I use this bloodline, and what is it exactly' Arion was quite perplexed since he couldn't make out how this bloodline thing is going to affect him.

The only reason he wasn't too shocked was that he knew that Aldress' Origin Blood entered his body, and that probably had something to do with him having a bloodline which made him wonder whether he should be excited or if it was a curse.

'Darkness and Devour Aspect? I knew I had the Darkness Aspect, but what the hell is this Devour Aspect? Why do I feel that it sounds a bit ominous? Maybe I should try asking Mei about this later. Hope it's at least good enough and not something that turns me into a glutton,' Arion hopefully sighed.

'Pranic mark? What the heck is that? I hope it's something OP but seeing how I have none; I guess I would need to get stronger. Well, I am not surprisedHmm...whaaa...I have a shapeshifting ability? Damn! That's...wait a sec...what is this bloodline form? Is it Doom Lizard?...I hope I don't turn into some household lizard...yucks!' Arion now realized why he was able to change his face into someone else's in his previous life. But he still couldn't make head or tails about where this ability was coming from since he hadn't met Aldress at that point yet.

So he theorized that this ability was something that came from somewhere else.

'Passive abilities? Like ones that don't need any kind of energy to activate and are always active?' Based on his knowledge of the times when he was an avid gamer, he was able to make out some things.

'Ingestion empowerment? Don't tell me I can power myself up by eating? I am not even a glutton...but damn...that sounds OP. All I have to do is keep on eating and power my way through? Hope that is true' Arion already started making plans to increase his stomach capacity and appetite.

But then he realized that he missed out on the word 'pranic items,' which crushed half of his hopes since he had no idea if he could even eat any pranic items. 

The only edible items and had prana infused in them were some special and expensive medicinal herbs that he dared not imagine the taste of even if he had the money to buy them.

'Enhanced Healing? Ooof...will I heal instantly or what? This ability surely sounds OP,' The more he read, the more he was feeling astonished and excited.

'Enhanced Balance? Hmm...I doubt I would have much use for that unless I am an acrobat...anyways...oh...inner perception, huh?...based on terms the host is familiar with...wait a sec...is that why I am familiar with at least half of the things shown here and how it appears as a screen?' Arion felt like now it made sense why he was able to figure out why a status-like screen appeared in his mind.

Apparently, it was just a different way of being able to inspect himself, his condition, and so on. And this only made him happy since now he confirmed that he was indeed in a real-world now and not some virtual world or something.

'Enhanced Senses? No wonder I was able to react faster when those Jawfiends tried to ambush me...' Arion felt like all the puzzle pieces were fitting now.

Still, after completing reading everything, he was in a state of disbelief, wondering how all these good things happened to him all of a sudden without signs?

In fact, he only experienced bad things ever since those Dreadlings attacked and considered himself dead after having all of them gang over him.

He felt like he was surely missing something...something that could explain why all these miraculous things happened to him. 

Even if other people considered that it was due to the grace of some god or goddess, he just couldn't believe in such things and felt that there should be a good logical explanation.

"Ari, is everything alright? Were you able to feel it?" Mei asked in a slightly confused tone, seeing how Arion was taking quite some time after closing his eyes and how his expressions seemed to change at times.

Mei's voice pulled out Arion from his thoughts as he opened his eyes.

"I" Arion wanted to tell what he really saw in his mind about all the bloodline and stuff. But then he remembered how he might not really be Arion or someone who just took over Arion's body.

Thus he was worried that if he revealed what he saw, then Mei might become suspicious that he really was not Arion all this time and might do something unpredictable...one of the worst cases being that he might not even see her again if she leaves him.

So he decided to hide that part till one day he was confident enough to tell her everything. But he doubted himself whether he would be able to muster up the guts to tell her that.

He felt quite bad and was in a dilemma since there he was really excited and badly wanted to tell her the truth and make her happy. But on the other hand, there was the possibility of her getting shocked and hating him or leaving him.

He quickly weighed these options in mind and realized which one he wanted to avoid the possibility of happening.

He smiled and said, "I have good news! I am at the peak of the Prana Binding Stage! I just can't believe how this happened to me within just a few days."

Mei happily said as she grabbed his hands, "I am happy for you, Ari. Now you can finally fulfill your dreams without having to worry about anything. I knew good things were bound to happen to you one day because of how much you persevered all these years."

*Growll~*

Arion wryly smiled as he patted his stomach, and Mei smiled amusedly, hearing the hunger pangs from his stomach.

"I guess you must be very hungry considering how you slept for four entire days! Rest for some time if you want to while I cook you up something good. Tell me if it's tasty this time instead of pleasing me," Mei playfully said as she left.

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