That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill

"To 'starve' myself, eh? I spent around two weeks without ingesting any food in order to test it out… that was when we first came to the capital…. and I noted no differences between now and then."

If I had to notice one difference, it could be the fact that I needed to sleep more at night. From a required 2-hours sleep, I had gone up to 4 hours of rest.

"To follow up, again, as you expected, that gave me the idea I mostly lived on mana, being more of an elemental-type. (People did confuse me with some sort of water elemental-fairy, in the beginning, right?) That was verified, too." Just earlier, as I ate different ingredients highly-concentrated with mana, I noted that my Fatigue statistics, from the System Menu, had gone down.

"The conclusion is that…"

"...You do not indeed require any of what we, fleshly creatures, need to promote our good health and ensure we can keep on living. Hmm. Wonderful, son."

"Right," I nodded. "So, basically, you could say I only need energy—basically mana—to live and grow."

"Assuredly."

"Food is low on mana. Human food, that is. So it's not as efficient. To expand on that, I might try and test tasting a few different animal types of meat to see how it goes. Monster-type meat should be a good nourishment. Human meat could be, too. That's as long as my prey's sufficiently powerful, right. You, for example. Mind giving me a finger or two? So I can taste it. No? Anyway."

To finish, we exchanged a few more words. When my level and stats went up, I instantly literally grew up and got bigger. The old man concluded that I wasn't indeed non-elemental. It might have sounded silly, but now I understood why I didn't have any need to defecate, to pee, and stuff like that. It also made sense that I could spend minutes underwater without drowning. Or also why I could spend a full week without sleeping and not go crazy. As long as I had some mana supply, in theory, I could keep running.

"Good to know!" was what the old man told me.

Talking about my stats and level, I then brought up the matter of the System Menu. More precisely, I spoke about my unique skills. Those were important facets of my existence the old man wished to know more about. So that was part of my report.

He already knew about "Dwelling," but now I could give him the "game-like" descriptions and details of the skill.

"Oh. Hmm. This competence of yours… We already understood it, did we not?" The details still interested him. I then mentioned the "Consciousness" Passive Skill to him. "Most interesting! To think that this was a concept that can be quantified as an ability. To be conscious, hmm. Self-aware. Oh. This ability isn't quite unique, as is understood from your description of it, but you do well to mention it, my grandchild."

After we were done talking about these two skills… that was when things started to become serious.

❮ "Unique Skill: Grand Devourer" — Unique skill bestowed upon the "monster." The monster is a legendary being from old tales of a long-since-lost history. Sometimes painted as the representation of a vengeful spirit or of the representation of the sin of Greed, the monster is nowadays more commonly believed to be a ravenous, greedy calamity that is, according to such old tales, believed to swallow the whole world along with the Nine Heroes, at the end of times. The monster, possessor of the "Grand Devourer" Unique Skill, also often is depicted as the stealer of Skills. The monster is also popularly said to have been created "from" humans, like the Greed that is within them, as a punishment for their wickedness. ❯ Like this, the skill description went on and on. Mostly, the descriptions were about some lost part of "history," as the System would have it. ❮ Grants the user Permanent Positive Effect "Limitless." ❯ "Limitless" was a positive effect that basically gave the user infinite room to grow, or infinite growth potential. Most people and things in the world had a limiter that they couldn't exceed. Theoretically, I didn't have any. ❮ Grants the user Permanent Positive Effect "Sense Fragment." ❯ I didn't bother to explain what "Sense Fragment" was as I was mostly clueless about all of it, at this point. ❮ Grants the user Permanent Positive Effect "Grand Devourer." ❯

That was it. Well, I couldn't really say that, though. "That was it." What was what, exactly?

If I remembered the "dream" I had had, after I accomplished the Main Quest "What lies behind the story," I might have at least understood a few bits of that giant skill description. At any rate, I had forgotten. I couldn't have helped it.

What I remembered was the young storyteller of my first day, the one who told the story. Yes, the story. Old tales. Ancient Tales. Whatever people called them. This skill description wasn't just about some fancy nonsense. I understood that. Still, I didn't remember the contents of that "story" so vividly at all. Naturally, I couldn't come to any conclusion about anything with that.

But the old advisor… Maybe he could tell me something.

As I first started describing what "Grand Devourer" meant as a skill, the old man went through different stages: His old voice wavered when he told me to repeat the words slowly to him so he could take notes, and I noticed a thin film of sweat on his forehead. He grew seriously agitated. After that, the old man took a minute or two to silently stare at his notes, his eyes slightly trembling, as he impatiently stoked his gray chin, in a state of emergency. Then, for another minute, it seemed to me the old man had become afraid of something. In a quiet voice, he analyzed the skill description, as if he was making connections with other points he already knew. "This matches that, and that matches this… But what about the mention of this… What about the mention of that… It doesn't appear to… make sense…?"

"O-Okay, easy, old man," I nervously laughed, eyeing him with a confused grin.

"Y-Young man…" he whispered, turning toward me as if he noticed my presence for the second time. I told him not to be so drawn away with his own thoughts that he forgot I was here. He quietly nodded, and I decided not to disturb the old troubled soul. I was curious about what he had to say, but no questions were asked.

Later, when I would ask him about that very moment, the old man would deny me an explanation and tell me that it was all nothing to worry about anyway.

For the time being, that wasn't important.

And the old man came back to his senses. "Go on then, son." What about the other skills, he asked.

"Don't look at me like this, hey," I shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't have much left. Most juicy stuff was the skill we just went over. As for the last one…"

❮ Unique Skill: "Mana's Benediction" — Is granted to one who is beloved by the Mana. The user has been blessed by Mana. Grants the user Permanent Positive Effect "Privileged." — Positive Status Effect "Privileged" (level MAX) — In relation to the Game, grants the user Privilege(s) that aren't granted to Non-Player characters. If required, it restores the Storyline to its intended path. Allows the user interaction through the System. Is one of the requirements to qualify as a Player. Lasting effect: Permanent. ❯