Nothing appeared different between this Forger and the ones that turned into dust and vanished.

  Something nagged at the back of my mind as I checked each of her fingers.

  Bingo!

  A crystal and metal ring rested on one of her fingers, which I quickly removed. The trace amount of crystal in it barely registered on my radar, but it was there.

  They had to be running out of the stuff. Unfortunately, they were finding ways to make better use of what small amount they had left.

  I studied the ring and tried to connect to the object, yet it warmed in my fingers.

  A rune blazed to life as the ring super-heated. The image of it hung in the air for a second.

  I dropped the ring to the stone floor as it flared brightly before melting into nothingness.

  “That sucks,” I whispered to myself as I continued my search. It didn’t take long to realize I had left the battle axe and smaller knives outside.

  While the weapons would be nice, I didn’t need them at the moment, and I didn’t want to see if the Flora Maw was out there. They seemed nice and all, but something about the interaction still bothered me. Like I’d missed something important.

  The Forger didn’t have armor on, only skin-tight clothing that stretched to fit them. Now it was torn and shredded in several places. Dried orange blood flaked off in a few locations.

  I’d helped kill them, and now I had to choose what to do.

  Did I dare eat its heart?

  Footsteps came from the campsite area, and Lenna walked closer before squatting next to me. The weight of her green eyes rested on me without saying a word.

  “It didn’t turn to dust.” I scratched the back of my head. “All I can come up with is it's because we destroyed the cloning facility.”

  It felt like the correct answer.

  Lenna nodded. “That makes sense, that they vanish into dust since they aren’t really dead.”

  My mother had turned into dust. Did that mean she was still out there?

  There was that tube in her lab, yet the place got completely blown to pieces. She had to be gone. That chapter had to be done.

  I paused, my hands twisting in my lap.

  “I don’t know if I can eat it,” I whispered. “Noseen would tell me it’s a waste not to use it and grow.”

  “I can’t tell you if it's right or wrong, but you just called for us to hunt down and push them off this planet.” Her voice came out softly, but she didn’t have any flicker of light coming from her abilities.

  “What do the stars say?” I asked.

  “Shouldn’t it be your choice?”

  I swallowed hard. It needed to be my choice. I resisted as I stared down at the carcass. They were humanoid and had rational thought, and that gave me pause. Still, it wouldn’t stay fresh forever, and I had to choose.

  My stomach grumbled without a care, just wanting food. If I was going to do this, I needed to do it soon.

  “This crystal is amazing!” said Dan as he stumbled over to us. “I think I can improve my communication rune effective distance from studying the way the mana flows inside it.”

  We both stared at him quietly.

  “Oh, did I interrupt something?” His eyes flickered from me to the Forger. “Wait, is this like when you ate the Manden?”

  My lips parted, but I didn’t know what to say. Then I went for it.

  “I can eat my kill's heart and gain skills, but I’m trying to decide if I want to go for it. The Manden was the first sentient I’d ever… er… eaten. And I didn’t know they were sentient.” I motioned at the Forger.

  His eyes grew wide, then narrowed, then flickered to the ceiling as he nodded. “That’s a very potent ability. The skills you could learn with that… I’m jealous.”

  I snorted.

  His mouth opened, but he closed it as fingers started tapping on the stone in his hand.

  Silence reigned for a moment as both Lenna and Dan hovered, waiting for me to decide.

  “Of course you should eat it,” he finally said with a serious look. “Think of the knowledge you can gain from it. What if you learn how they regenerate, or communicate with the beetles?”

  I didn’t mention I already knew how they communicated with the the beetles.

  His body practically vibrated as his hands started moving as he spoke. “I wish I could do that. I could be anything I wanted! Not just a craftsman, but maybe someone who could make a difference.”

  “What if it turns me into a monster?” The question slipped out.

  Lenna reached out and placed her hand on my knee. Her lips parted, but before she could respond, Dan continued.

  “A monster is a creature without morals similar to your own.” Dan snorted. “You saved me, who was part of a party trying to kill your teammate. I don’t think you need to worry about becoming a monster.”

  Dengu padded closer from the noise that Dan was making. He peered at the Forger, his eyes wide. “Dinner?”

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  That made me chuckle.

  Though, it didn’t help that I still didn’t want to eat it. Yes, it could bring me more power, but the thought of eating it made me uneasy. Maybe it was the human part of me pushing back against it.

  What about my humanity?

  “We’ll do dinner soon…” I muttered, as my stomach growled again.

  Dan suddenly pointed at me. “You better eat any of us if we go down.”

  I shuddered, thinking about my friends.

  “What?” I shook my head. “That’s not how it works. I’d need to kill you.”

  “Still. I’d rather a piece of me lived on than just vanish forever.” His voice went quiet as his eyes hardened. “Be important and make a difference, in at least that way.”

  “Didn’t you figure something out about the runes?” I asked, needing to change the subject from eating my friends.

  His eyes went wide again, and he hurried back to the campsite.

  “It feels like I’m eating something evil, and I don’t know how to change my thoughts on that.” There, I said it. “You are what you eat, after all.”

  My stomach growled again as my mouth watered.

  “I don’t agree that it's evil,” whispered Lenna. “The Forgers have a very different society from us, one built on cloning and expansion that doesn’t fit with what others want. It doesn’t make them evil, only wrong.”

  “Food is food,” said Dengu, sniffing, before wandering closer to Dan.

  I didn’t know what to say to Lenna, especially after hearing the voices of those who’d lived through the war back in the crystal cave. They’d argue that the Forgers were evil, yet here she was, saying they were just wrong. Even though she’d been kidnapped.

  “I’m going to dump it outside. The devourer can…” An idea came to mind. One that I couldn’t argue with. What if I ate it and concentrated on knowledge, not skills or stats? What if I could learn about exactly where the rest of them were on the planet?

  I sighed and snagged my knife.

  If eating its heart strengthened me and it was easier to grow, shouldn’t I do it? Maybe I’d just not mention it to my family. I knew they wouldn’t understand… Rule zero in my dad’s voice echoed in my mind for a moment.

  Don’t die.

  Fuck.

  I tried not to think about it as I cut into the carcass. My knife sliced cleanly inside, yet the bones were weird. More like webbing in the center than bones.

  It honestly made it easier.

  The small heart appeared more like an orb, and I pulled it out. Without hesitating, I tossed it whole into my mouth.

  It didn’t make sense. The taste was of maple waffles.

  How did it taste like maple syrup with waffles? Knowledge, I needed knowledge. I focused on Perceptive Awareness, as I swallowed.

  [You have devoured Dezmlia, The Breaker, and gained the skill Sharp Edges. Sharp Edges: When you strike, you understand the angles and pressures to allow your attacks to cut deeper and more cleanly, inflicting more severe wounds.]

  My eyes narrowed, thinking of my blades and polearms skill, which still hadn’t improved its rank, no matter how much I seemed to use it.

  [Would you like to merge Sharp Edges into Blades and Polearms - I?]

  Yes, please.

  [You have merged Sharp Edges into Blades and Polearms - I. You have created Razor’s Embrace: When wielding blades, claws, or similar natural weapons, your strikes cut with enhanced precision and force, inflicting more severe wounds. Your attacks are not just stronger; they are executed with an intuitive grasp of angles and pressure, allowing them to cut deeper and more cleanly.

  Furthermore, when you stand your ground with a polearm, your honed understanding of its reach and leverage grants you a significant advantage over charging beings, allowing you to deflect or counter their momentum with devastating effect. You transform every thrust and parry into a precise, bone-deep cut, making your every attack a testament to lethal efficiency.]

  Holy smokes.

  That didn’t just upgrade the ranking; it completely changed the skill into something amazing.

  While I’d wanted knowledge, this proved it was worthwhile to do what I did. I touched the carcass, and it vanished into my inventory.

  “You okay?” asked Lenna.

  “You aren’t going to believe what this skill does. I wanted knowledge, but this, this is crazy. Let me go dispose of this outside, and then I’ll explain.”

  ###

  Lenna, in the camp…

  Alex hurried across the bridge, and I resisted reminding her of the massive crevice that she could have used. Hopefully, whatever skill she’d gained was enough to help her overcome her resistance to using her devourer abilities to their full potential.

  The whispers from the stars notwithstanding, she needed to grow fast.

  We all did.

  They didn’t tell me what was headed our way, but it couldn’t be good. Not if they pushed us harder than someone normally moved up the rankings.

  “Alpha?” asked Dengu, sending concern to me.

  “She’s just getting rid of some garbage. I’ll cook up some dinner for the rest of us.” I hurried over to the campfire, picking up some wood from the pile already there before getting started. It didn’t take long for flames to appear, or for Alex to come back.

  “My fighting skills finally grew. I’ve been at Blades and Polearms, one, for ages. It evolved into a new skill called Razor’s Edge,” she rambled about the skill.

  Dan listened intently to the conversation, but didn’t add anything as Alex spoke about the new skill. His eyes widened, yet something about him had changed.

  Skills like that didn’t just happen. Evolutions usually took learning something big to fundamentally change a skill like that. Then again, the ability she had to acquire knowledge from what she consumed was the crux of it.

  Alex pulled out a ton of meat and the cooking gear and I went to work making a stew.

  Dengu sniffed at the meat she offered and took a sizeable chunk of it raw.

  Worry itched along my spine the more I thought about it. I didn’t dare say it out loud, but it felt like the system had given Alex something it knew she wanted to encourage her to do what needed to be done in the future.

  She hadn’t figured out how to get past her block with her profession, but it was easy to see for me. The only question was, could she actually do it if…

  No, not if, when the time came.

  “Where’s Strange?” I asked, not wanting to think about it.

  “Exploring the tunnel that Kabi is watching.” Alex glanced in that direction. “It’s the way that leads to the badlands.”

  Pleasure from Dengu rippled through our bond as he ate his dinner. It didn’t take long for a satisfied feeling to fill him. He finished the meat and then started patrolling around the campsite. The almost silent footsteps reassured me.

  He couldn’t sit still, and I didn’t blame him.

  “After dinner, we should go explore in that direction,” said Alex. “But maybe a nap first.”

  “I should start the journey back to Steadfast,” added Dan, nodding to himself. “After we eat. It won’t take me long, only a couple of hours. I’ll rest near the exit and wait for the sun to come up.”

  “You don’t need to rush,” I added, while stirring the pot. “Resting here would be safer.”

  “I’m not worried.” His cheeks turned a little red. “Plus, I want to test my changes to my communication rune, but I’ll need someone who doesn’t mind another temporary rune.”

  “I’m down,” said Alex, holding up her hand.

  I blinked, trying to translate what she’d said. Based on her actions, she would take the rune. Sometimes Alex’s sayings didn’t mean anything.

  Dan smiled and pulled out his supplies.

  I turned back to the stew and the sensations coming from Dengu. The connection between us hummed strongly. I’d missed this when he had been left behind.

  We needed all the connections we could build. No matter what it took, we needed to survive what was coming.