Chapter 47: Transforming Into A Monster

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[ INNER PERCEPTION ACTIVATED ]

Name: Arion Elsar

Strength: 1.5 -> 4

Defense: 2.0 -> 1.5

Agility: 1.9 -> 4

Pranic Force: 1 -> 5

Defity: Prana Binding Stage [8th Cycle - 1500/ 65,536 ]

Bloodline: Doom Lizard (Active State)

Prana Aspect: [Darkness] / [Devour] / [Fire]

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

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

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

— Gluttonous Healing [Lvl. 1]: Heal wounds by ingesting pranic items

— Gluttonous Replication [Lvl. 1]: 5% chance to temporarily gain random attributes of any ingested pranic heart. Chances can lower based on the target's Defity

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"ROARRRR!!!" With an ear-deafening roar that echoed throughout the dark cave, Arion woke up and jumped to his feet within an instant, his eyes glowing like red hot embers.

Even though he had lizard-like characteristics, he looked like a humanoid monster, standing on his feet.

But if one saw him, they would never, even in their nightmares, think that the frightening 10 feet tall lizard-like monster was Arion.

His gleaming skin looked black as the midnight sky for the most part, except for the parts colored like an ember, just like his eyes.

These parts were specifically the spine-like protrusions on his back and head, his four long sharp claws, his razor-sharp teeth, and specifically his chest, which were continuously glowing a bright shade of ember shimmering on and about as if following the rhythm of his heartbeat.

His glowing ember eyes seemed like a pair of red hot suns that could blind anyone who looked into them.

But the way his mouth was dripping with saliva and the low grunts escaping from his mouth would make one wonder if even a shred of Arion's consciousness was present inside this monster.

The only feeling Arion was having now was undying hunger...as if he hadn't eaten for an eternity...a hunger that couldn't be satiated no matter how much he eats.

And right now, he was looking at all the Jawfiends as if they were appetizing meals.

When Arion roared before, all the Jawfiends, including the hibernating Queen Jawfiend, got startled by his blood-curdling roar.

They were even petrified for a second, and all the Jawfieds would have run away if it weren't for the presence of the Queen Jawfiend.

Their instincts were screaming at them to run away, but the Queen Jawfiend gave them orders to buy it time for it to recover completely from the backlash when it tried to eat Arion's pranic heart.

If even the Queen Jawfiend considered Arion as a threat now, it meant he was no joke to deal with.

They were also feeling an inexplicable suppression from his aura itself...it was as if they were facing a higher being that was capable of making them feel fear at the core of their souls.

*Kreee! Kree! Kree!*

The Jawfiends defensively screeched at Arion, none daring to attack him because of the predatory aura that was surrounding Arion that far exceeded theirs.

"ROARRRR!!!" Feeling provoked, Arion roared back at them, making them all instantly cower.

But he didn't merely stop at his roar and instead charged at them as if he was not afraid of the fifty or more Jawfiends that were gathered before him.

Now the roles reversed as it seemed as if he was the predator, and they were his prey.

Feeling Arion's anger and aggression towards them, the Jawfiends had no choice but to rush towards him since they can't disobey the Queen Jawfiends orders.

*Kreee!*

One of the Jawfiends at the front of the horde lept towards Arion's face in order to bite his face.

But Arion let out an angry grunt as his claws moved like lightning to grab the Jawfiend by its head and crushed it as if crushing a water balloon.

And immediately after that, he swiftly clawed out its small pranic heart and swallowed it into his big mouth.

The Jawfiend stood no chance at all and could only helplessly die as its pranic heart went inside Arion's jaws.

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Assimilating prana...

Defity: Prana Binding Stage [8th Cycle - 1500...2000...2500...3000.../ 65,536 ]

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Right after he ingested the small pranic heart, the number of rounds jumped from 1500 to 3000 in just a matter of seconds, and it still kept on increasing at a tremendous rate.

This was due to his ability that stemmed from Ingestion Empowerment that allowed him to increase his Defity by eating anything that contained prana.

Arion was able to sense where the Jawfiend's pranic heart was located easily through his sharp senses and thus easily tear it out and swallow it.

The other Jawfiends quickly surrounded Arion and began to bite him from all directions.

"ROARR!!!" Arion roared, feeling pain from their strong jaws sinking into his flesh.

His eyes became more frenzied as he grabbed one of the Jawfiends and chewed its head out before swallowing its pranic heart.

The injuries he had sustained from the bites of the Jawfiends began to close up at a terrifying rate. Still, his prana assimilation rate slowed down since his body was automatically directing prana towards his injuries to heal them up.

Still, his prana cycles were increasing at a lesser rate and were keeping his pain at bay, allowing him to attack the Jawfiends unimpeded by his pain.

His strength was, however terrifying, allowing him to tear through the Jawfiends bodies as if tearing through paper.

However, this was completely contrary to his weaker defensive capabilities, which was the reason why the Jawfiends were able to deal injuries easily to his body.

"RAAWRRR!!" Arion continued his frenzy, killing Jawfiends left and right, devouring their pranic hearts, his strength continuing to increase as seconds passed, his wounds reopening from the Jawfiend's bites but closing up again at a rapid rate because of the prana he was assimilating continuously.

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Assimilating prana…

Strength: 4 -> 4.5

Defense: 1.5 -> 1.7

Agility: 4 -> 4.5

Defity: Prana Binding Stage [9th Cycle - 20,000/ 262,144]

Ingestion Empowerment [Lvl. 2]: Ingest any pranic items to increase Defity. Effectiveness varies with level

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Without his knowing, his body had jumped into the next cycle of the Prana Binding Stage, increasing all his basic attributes like strength, defense, and agility.

Not only that but one of his passive abilities, 'Ingestion Empowerment,' leveled up, allowing him to retain more prana from the pranic hearts he had devoured.

For instance, if previously each pranic heart of the Jawfiend allowed him to gain 10,000 rounds for his pranic cycle, then now he could gain as much as 15,000 rounds worth of prana by assimilating prana from their pranic hearts.

The original fifty number Jawfiends had dwindled down to less than twenty. No matter how many of them tried to bite away at Arion, he shook most of them with his terrifying strength while his body rapidly healed his wounds from the bites of the other Jawfiends that managed to cling onto his body.

*Kreeeeee!! Kreeeeee!!* The remaining Jawfiends let out screeches of despair to their Queen Jawfiend, who still seemed in hibernation.

However, from far ahead, another horde of Jawfiends was rushing towards, as if they heard the call of help from their fellow Jawfiends to help kill or, let alone severely injure this unbeatable lizard-like monster.

Hearing the dozens of Jawfiends scurrying towards him, Arion quickly leaped from the ground and clung onto the walls with his sharp claws since his instincts were driving him to avoid the swarm of Jawfiends and kill them off one by one by moving here and there.

Arion's mouth was dripping with blood and saliva, still not feeling his hunger satiated at all even after eating more than a dozen Jawfiends.

His bright ember-colored eyes were still looking at the Jawfiends gathered below with great interest and killing intent.

"ROARR!!" With a roar, he jumped down and began to move with incredible agility in between the horde, tearing out the pranic hearts of the Jawfiends one by one as he moved at tremendous speeds, making the Jawfiends unable to latch on to him.

Each time he killed one or two, he would instantly leap onto another place, preventing the Jawfiends from swarming over him.

Suddenly, a new piece of information entered his mind,

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Strength: 4.5 -> 5.5

Defense: 1.7 -> 2.2

Agility: 4.5 -> 5.5

Defity: Prana Binding Stage [10th Cycle - 50,000 / 1,048,576 ]

Abilities:

— Doom Fang [Lvl.1]: Dark venom courses through your veins, including your fangs. A single bite from your fangs will instantly poison your target. Effectiveness depends on various factors. [Temporary ability]

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After eating so many Jawfiends, Arion had already entered the 10th Cycle of the Prana Binding Stage and even temporarily awakened a new ability!