“Huuuungrrrrryyyyyyy” the word was long and drawn out, as it was hard to communicate with Brent’s mouth stretched across part of a boulder that was almost a foot across.

The hunger was getting worse, making it hard for him to focus on his skill growth and goals. Only his desire for revenge upon Mike was allowing him to push forward.

The ligaments in his jaw cracked loudly, and he whimpered in pain, even as his jaw stretched a few inches further, reaching the point where the rock was half-way in his mouth, causing it to disappear completely.

[Congratulations! Maxilla Proten has reached Level 2.

Your mouth’s capacity continues to increase as you set your sights on true power.]

The pain cleared his head, and with his morning stretches done (if it was even morning, it was impossible to tell in a pitch dark world with only small patches of glowing moss) he approached the largest patch of moss he had ever attempted. Kneeling down in front of it on his hands and knees, he stretched his mouth wide, until his chin touched the floor over a foot below his nose and began to suck in as hard as he could. On his first attempt, nothing happened. Fortunately, despite inhaling furiously and his mouth being wide open, Consume made it impossible for any dust or other debris to be inhaled into his lungs, so there was little danger in his actions.

After stopping to catch his breath, he gave it another go, inhaling with all of the Strength his System-enhanced body was capable of. The edges of the moss began to peel upwards as his lungs reached capacity and he was forced to stop.

On his third attempt, the moss curled inward against the force of the gale, before slipping from the ground and entering his mouth.

[Congratulations, Devourer! Level 20 reached!

+7 stat points by assignment]

[Congratulations! Consume has reached Level 4.

+2 Strength]

[Congratulations! You have learned the skill Wraith’s Gale

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

+4 to Intelligence

Unsatisfied with having to hunt food, you can now use your lungs to bring it to you.

Strength of suction force strongly correlated with Intelligence.]

Gargling with pleasure at the rapid gains of the morning's growth, he promptly invested all of his available points into Intelligence, powering up his Consume and Wraith’s Gale. He felt as if the System’s approval of him was almost palatable as the stats distributed and his new Intelligence came to bear. Enough dawdling for one morning, its time to get after some breakfast.

⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫

Another week passed in a flurry of hunger-tinged images. Brent licking the ground longingly after consuming a rather large piece of moss. His mouth expansion skill gaining another level, causing him to lose his training prop and forcing him to creep around in the darkness to find another. Even the few dreams he had had during the scarce times he could bring his starving body to sleep were focused on his mouth.

Brent’s mouth had remained open for the entire time. Thanks to Consume, nothing unwanted ever flew in, and no slobber ever made it out. HIs lower jaw now hung close to his navel as he crept along in the darkness towards the noises that had plagued him for months. Meat would be a good addition to his exclusive greens diet… even if he wouldn’t be able to actually taste any of it, and at Level 28, he thought he was finally ready for it. It was nearly impossible to find moss of a higher level than himself anymore, and he needed a new jolt to his leveling speed if he wanted to overpower Mike.

Though the bats were invisible in the pitch darkness, he deemed he had traveled far enough when he started to hear some of their cries coming from behind him. Finding a large boulder, he climbed on top of it and stood still, inhaling as hard as he could. His lung capacity had also improved over the last few weeks, and he could now inhale steadily at 50% power for over a minute. At full power, the duration was decreased significantly, but the strength of the pull scaled up to match it. He had yet to get a skill from his efforts, but he was confident the System would award him soon.

After two hours, his need for energy was overwhelming, and he was thinking of going back when a sharp pain twinged his foot. Frantically scanning about for the attacking moss, he saw no source of light. Unsure what else could be the culprit if not his second-greatest foe, he began casting Analyze all over his body, finally locating the source when another sharp sting on his hand allowed him to find it.

Monster Type: Abyssal Worker Ant

Level: 34

Seeing the “Abyssal” prefix reassured him that this was another attempt by his cunning foe, and he greedily inhaled the ant, instantly bringing him to Level 29. After allotting another 7 stat points to Intelligence, he began searching for where the ant had come from. He was well into the heart of bat territory before he finally found the colony. Kneeling down in front of it, his mouth wide open, he began to inhale. Three levels accrued immediately, but soon after, he was forced to stop and retreat. The ants had sensed the danger and swarmed their attacker, biting and stinging him with wild abandon.

After running blindly away, hitting his head and tripping more times than he wished to admit, it took an hour to inhale all the ants off of his body. Luckily, his lower jaw was flexible enough to swing around to his back or he never would have gotten all of them. His safety ensured, he fell into the sweet bliss of a poison induced coma.