Midas was trudging through a new place. A decidedly less shiny place. The tasty lines here were... fainter. Wilder. Not kept in line. That last part almost made up for being less shiny. Midas hated rules. But rules were tasty.

He thought back to when he'd discovered as such. A shiny ball, but not the shiny ball, had the gall to approach him. Clearly it needed to be taught a lesson. But when he bit it, it did not snap. This made no sense! He could see the tasty lines that made it up, so why wasn't it tasty?

Rules. The rules told him that he couldn't eat tasty lines when they were like this. The rules said he had to go along with silly little things like matter and a physical form. So he bit the rules. The rules tried to fight back with a rule that you couldn't bite the rules, but he bit that one too.

And with the delicious dark mana! The rules told him that he couldn't, the rules had the nerve to try and tell him what to do. So Midas bit the mana, and he bit the rules. And he kept on biting until they yielded. Now, he gazed upon the result of his hard work.

[STATUS LOADING...

[STATUS]: MIDAS

[CLASS]: [MANAMANDER], [LIEUTENANT], [ALL THAT GLITTERS]

[LEVEL]: 10

[AFFINITY(S]): MerANroAr

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

[BONDED]: [DUNGEON CORE]{LASAIR}, [BLESSED]{eNYrrXor}

[ABILITIES]: MANA GLUTTONY , ADVANCED SENTIENCE

Beautiful, glaring red. The rules curled around him, proclaiming the red as something dangerous, to be feared. He thought it looked tasty. He reached out with his fangs, ready for another conquest. The rules didn't dare to stop him, not yet.

A single tooth met the red, and a searing pain flew through Midas' veins. It burned and froze every part of his body at the same time, halting the beat of his heart and ceasing the rise of his lungs. It felt like he was drowning in an ocean of power.

But that power had one fatal, vital weakness. It was tasty. And so, with every scrap of sanity and strength he had remaining, he bit. The red recoiled, surprised. He hadn't managed to do much damage, but the red acted as if nothing had thought to fight back before.

So Midas bit again. And again. And again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Until the red submitted. Until it bowed before him. Until it fell to his own rules.

Midas smiled a toothy grin as he felt the power flow through him. No longer did it burn or freeze. No longer was he the victim. No longer was he lacking in control. Midas made the rules. The red would be his, be shiny, or he would bite and bite and bite until it was.

[GLITCH DETECTED. ERADICATING GLITCH...]

The rules came back in full force. Their ranks had swelled by a factor of several hundred. They filled the entirety of the new place with their oppressive shadow. But still they didn't learn from the past. Still, they made the same mistake. Still, they were tasty.

Ah well. Defiance made for a fitting feast.