The rat boss!

Riley stared at the status window, his eyes scanning every line, every number, as his mind raced.

His Strength had more than doubled from when he first arrived in this world.

And not just that—his Agility, Mana, Vitality—they had all climbed sharply. Even his Endurance, which was previously the weakest, was now quite high.

All from just a few kills.

And in direct response to the attribute increases, his HP and MP had shot up as well. His physical and magical damage outputs had surged, and so had his resistances.

He scrolled through the numbers again, stunned at how fast things were moving.

"This is… the power of an SSS-level talent," Riley muttered under his breath, voice low and half-awed. "At this rate… I'll rise faster than I ever did in my past life."

Back then, he had clawed his way up from nothing. No rare class. No luck. Just sheer will and mediocre stats, dying over and over in low-level areas while better players zoomed past him.

It had taken him months to reach anything close to this level of growth.

And now?

He'd been here for barely an hour. And already, he was stronger than half the players in the early zones.

The numbers in his status screen reflected something else too—something that would have caught anyone else's attention at once.

It looked completely irregular.

Most player stat windows were neat, clean rows of whole numbers, but thanks to his talent, his attributes were a mix of whole numbers and decimals.

It looked like a bug in the system—but it wasn't.

He wasn't complaining.

Riley gave a faint, humorless chuckle as he dismissed the status window with a mental command.

"Whatever it takes… as long as I grow stronger," he said, his voice rough with determination. "Any way is fine."

He opened the Talent Window next, wondering if there had been any updates since he consumed those monsters.

[Talent Details: Gluttony (Unique SSS)]

[Description: You have awakened the embodiment of consumption. Through Gluttony, you may consume skills, abilities, attributes, and even the talents of others. Absorb what you devour. Become what you consume. ]

[Effect 1: Absorption] — By consuming a creature, you can gain 20% of its attributes. You also have a 20% chance of absorbing one of the creature's skill or trait.

[Effect 2: Hunger] — Your hunger will never be satiated.

[Warning:] Gluttony will grow stronger the more you use it, but so too will the hunger.

[Warning:] Hunger must be managed. Failing to control it may result in… consequences.

[Effect 3: Evolution] — Whenever you consume a creature, you gain evolution points. Evolution points can be used to evolve the talent when it reaches a certain amount.

[Evolution Points: 40]

Riley's brows furrowed slightly as his eyes caught on the new line at the bottom.

"Evolution Points…" He whispered.

It seemed like he had gained ten evolution points per Spiked Rat he devoured.

'If I'm getting ten points from something this low level… what would I get from stronger monsters?' He imagined taking down something huge—like a Lesser Ogre. Or maybe even a Boss-class mob. What would they be worth?

His lips curled upward into a slow, dangerous smirk.

"And when I evolve this thing…" He murmured, half to himself, half to the hunger twisting in his belly, "what will it become?"

He could only imagine the countless possibilities.

He might finally be able to absorb more than just twenty of monsters attributes, and his chances of getting a skill miht increase. The hunger—yes, it would grow—but so would he.

He shook his head once and straightened, finally getting back on his feet. His knees still felt a little shaky from earlier—more from the mental stress than physical—but he pushed through it.

The wind brushed past his face as he turned toward the path ahead.

At first, he planned on going straight for the village, but since this plain was filled with different packs of Spiked rats, he decided to continue hunting them, so he would grow stronger and even level up.

*

About ten minutes later…

[Level up!]

[Level up rewards: +2 Attribute points, +1 Skill point]

[Level up!]

[Level up rewards: +2 Attribute points, +1 Skill point]

Congratulations! You have reached level 3!]

[Strength +4.3]

[Agility +6.7]

[Endurance +1.8]

[Vitality +2.4]

[Mana +2.8]

Riley smiled, staring at the set of tabs floating in front of him.

He slowly wiped off the blood on his lips, swiping his daggers in the air to fling off the blood sticking to them.

During the past few minutes, all he had been doing was hunting and consuming Spiked rats.

He couldn't even remember how many he has devoured at this point, but he was sure they should be over five by now.

Grrr!

A low growl suddenly echoed from his stomach, and he lightly gripped it, his face squeezing into a frown.

'I devoured more, shouldn't I be getting satisfied… not hungrier?' He thought, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

He noticed he had started to enjoy devouring monsters a lot more and more than the first time, and despite how hard he was trying to control himself, he still almost lost control a few times.

'Ugh, whatever, I'm done here, let me head to the village now.' He thought, placing his daggers back in their sheath.

But just as he stepped forward, a loud shriek suddenly echoed from his back, and his eyes widened slightly.

His instincts as an assassin suddenly tingled, and he quickly rolled to the side.

Swoosh!

A thin, long spike immediately shot the ground he was standing before, and he gulped, sweat pooling around his forehead.

'That… was close.' He thought, chuckling wryly.

He slowly turned to the direction the spike came from, and standing there, was a giant spiked rat, about twice larger than the ones he had met so far.

'Shit… it's the boss!' He thought, swiftly pulling its daggers back out.

The boss rat had even more spikes jutting out of its body, and its spike had a slightly metallic luster.

However, its neck was covered in the same white patch as the other rats, except that it was a little thicker.

A dark red tab floated above it.

[Lesser Boss: Great Spiked Rat]

[Level: 5]

[H/P: 90]

'It's H/P is more than two times than a normal spiked rat…' Riley thought. 'This would be quite difficult to handle.'

In [Apocalypse], there were five monster boss rank, which were; Lesser Boss, Greater Boss, Elite Boss, Mythic boss, and finally, Legendary Boss.

The demon lord who defeated the hero along with all of humanity in his past life was classified as a legendary boss.

Riley hadn't expected to meet a boss this early in this game, talk less of fighting one.

However, it was to be expected. After all, he had been killing Spiked rats left and right, it was only natural for the boss to finally show up.

The main question was… could he take on a boss at his current level?