"Ogre, I foresaw this day long ago... I wish I could spend more time with you..."

"Father!!"

***

The summer morning light streamed through the window, illuminating the dust particles in the air.

It also shone on the young man who had just awakened from a dream.

"Huff..."

After taking a few deep breaths, the young man habitually wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye.

This young man was none other than the child raised by ogres—Ogre Kessing.

He had been away for two years now and was currently sixteen years old.

"I can't believe it's been so long, and I dreamt of it again..."

This unique first-person perspective dream wasn't entirely a figment of Ogre's imagination; it was related to his ability.

In this world, a small number of people are born with extraordinary abilities beyond those of ordinary humans.

Ogre was fortunate to be one of them.

He named his ability—'Ogre Lunchbox.'

Once activated, Ogre could acquire a portion of the memories and extraordinary abilities of a creature by consuming its body within an hour of its death.

He didn't need to consume it entirely, but the portion eaten couldn't be less than one-thousandth of the creature's size.

After activating the ability, the acquired memories would manifest in a first-person perspective dream.

Ogre accidentally discovered this ability when he was nine, and that time, he became a bird in his dream.

The feeling of flying was something he couldn't forget for a long time.

He then told his father about the ability, and his father advised him to use it cautiously—because too many foreign memories might cause him to lose his sense of self.

Ogre had always respected this advice.

During that period, he indeed had trouble distinguishing whether he was a bird or a human.

So, Ogre always maintained a sense of awe towards this ability, until his father's death...

Ogre wanted revenge; he wanted to see the target of his vengeance!

So, Ogre painfully consumed a piece of his father's flesh.

Unfortunately, after activating the ability, Ogre couldn't discover who had turned his father into that state.

In his dream, Ogre only saw that the assailant who injured and killed his father used fire.

And as a price—the long and repetitive dream almost caused him to lose himself.

"Fire Mage..." Ogre pulled out a notebook from his bag, where he recorded his targets for revenge— Goblin King. Ogre Chief. Fire Mage/Unknown Professional (?)

These three were the targets of Ogre's vengeance. The Goblin King caused the village tragedy, the Ogre Chief caused his father's tragedy, and the unknown Fire Mage was the direct culprit of his father's death.

Turning to the second page of the notebook, it was densely filled with legends and possibilities of the Resurrection Spell.

However, many of the records were crossed out, leaving only the section on Divine Prayer blank.

Ogre had never believed in gods, but after his father's death, he hoped that the legendary gods truly existed, though it seemed too distant...

Because now, Ogre wasn't even a formal Extraordinary Professional.

Moreover, he hadn't even completed his so-called revenge quest.

Reflecting on this, Ogre turned the page to the third one—where he had documented the paths to gaining power for his revenge over the past two years.

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Knight (×).

To become a knight, aside from the Breathing Technique and training resources, the most important thing was the Knight Bloodline. Ogre had tested for it—he didn't have the aptitude, as it depended entirely on one's birth.

Martial Artist (empty).

Ogre looked at the Martial Artist section, pondered for a moment, and finally picked up a quill to mark it with a cross.

Martial Artist was the path prepared by the Church of Truth for those who couldn't become knights, involving the same Breathing Technique and strengthening of the body.

However, becoming a Professional as a Martial Artist was much harder than as a knight of the same level.

This was because a Martial Artist needed to balance and integrate their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, a process that usually required meditation for balance.

Without achieving the Three Qi Unity, one couldn't be called a Martial Artist, merely a stronger person.

Achieving the Three Qi Unity and cultivating Qi and blood was the only way to become a true Extraordinary Professional.

Ogre had always aimed to become a Martial Artist, attempting to cross the threshold into professionalism.

He had persisted for over a year.

But perhaps due to his previous use of the ability (Ogre Lunchbox), Ogre's Three Qis never merged.

Now it seemed he had no choice but to give up.

Mage (×).

Becoming a Mage required not only a Mental Gift but also talents in Mana Perception and Elemental Affinity.

Ogre's earliest attempt was this, as compared to knights and Martial Artists, Mages of the same level had greater destructive power and were easier to train.

Unfortunately, Ogre possessed none of these three talents.

If it were just a lack of Mental Gift, it could be compensated with potions; if Elemental Affinity was insufficient, one could switch to becoming a Shaping Type Barrier Master.

Unfortunately, Ogre's Mana Perception was negative.

As for the reason, Ogre had a guess—it was related to his ability—

After consuming his father's flesh, Ogre realized that the Ogre Lunchbox ability also had the effect of replicating part of the consumed species' talents.

The prerequisite was that the other party was a transcendent species.

The first bird he consumed wasn't a demonic beast, so Ogre didn't gain any abilities.

But after using the ability with grief for the second time, Ogre immediately sensed several new abilities within his body.

These were roughly as follows.

Low-level enhanced digestion.

This was a common ability among many demonic beasts, but ogres excelled in this area, with powerful ogres even able to consume magma and become Fire Stomach Ogres.

Low-level enhanced recovery ability.

This was also a basic ability of ogres.

Basic magic and poison resistance.

This was the survival ability of the ogre race; even the weakest ogre possessed this ability—perhaps because their ancestors consumed mithril, ogres naturally had resistance to mana, giving them good resistance against basic magic and poisons.

It sounded good, but the pitfall was that mana resistance was a double-edged sword, making the effects of potions on Ogre surprisingly poor.

It also deprived him of humanity's greatest advantage—mana adaptability.

This directly cut off his path to becoming a Mage.

However, Ogre didn't regret it; he wanted to carry his father's power for revenge!

To uncover the truth, he had no other choice.

Ogre extended his fair hand.

The enhanced recovery ability kept Ogre's skin in excellent condition.

His hands looked better cared for than those of noblewomen, with no calluses to suggest they wielded a sword.

"I still have other directions to choose from..."

Wizard (undecided).

Unlike Mages, Wizards were illegal in the Kingdom of Engodo.

Unless absolutely necessary, Ogre didn't want to take this path—it would make him a wanted criminal.

No one knew how the first Wizards came to be.

It was the only choice for those without Mana Perception who wished to use magic.

Transplanting extraordinary organs or consuming forbidden Sequence Potions could elevate a mortal to a Professional.

It sounded wonderful...

But extraordinary organs or forbidden potions would gradually cause Wizards to lose their true selves, with higher-ranked Wizards becoming more like demonic beasts...

The most famous were the legendary Dragon Sleep Wizards—they could truly transform into dragons.

Of course, these concerns were currently unnecessary for Ogre, as he couldn't even obtain forbidden potions.

Imagist (empty).

This profession was very special.

To become an Imagist, one only needed to visualize and condense a Seed of Imagination, with no other requirements.

But the lack of requirements was the most mysterious part; if one couldn't condense it before adulthood, they likely never would.

As for the usefulness of becoming an Imagist, Ogre hadn't explored it—because he hadn't yet condensed a Seed of Imagination.

He only knew that any profession meeting the standard of a Professional must be powerful and useful.

Looking at the Imagist section, Ogre sighed, "One more year..."

He had one more year until he was considered an adult; on this continent, seventeen was the age of adulthood, and after that, the Imagist option could be crossed out.

That would leave Ogre with only the path of a Wizard.

No, there was actually one more path.

That was his innate ability—the Ogre Lunchbox.

Without this ability, Ogre would have long given up on the unrealistic notion of revenge, but it was this ability that gave him some confidence.

Ogre Lunchbox.

However, this ability couldn't be activated at will.

Ogre had a feeling—if he hadn't 'digested' completely, activating this ability again would lead to dangerous consequences.

Before completing his revenge, Ogre didn't dare to take the risk.

To rely on this ability to plunder and replicate extraordinary powers, Ogre couldn't be much weaker than the 'food'; or the other party had to willingly be 'consumed'...

This greatly limited Ogre.

So after acquiring the ogre's power, Ogre only 'consumed' once more.

Because it took Ogre a full year and a half to 'digest' the extraordinary abilities left by the ogre.

Ogre thought it was probably because he had 'consumed' a life stronger than himself.

For the second 'consumption,' Ogre chose a less powerful demonic beast—a Demon Claw Falcon.

This was a very common demonic bird in the Demonic Beast Forest, preying on Magic Rabbits.

The reason for choosing the Demon Claw Falcon.

Was because the first time Ogre activated his ability, he became a bird, and he felt that 'consuming' the same type of creature would be much easier to 'digest.'

Of course, catching one was still too troublesome, so Ogre simply bought one at the demonic beast trading market.

The second 'consumption' and digestion were indeed much easier.

Perhaps it was due to the experience of transforming into a bird, or perhaps the demonic beast consumed this time had a short lifespan, so the impact on Ogre wasn't as significant as the first two times.

But even so.

It took him a full six months to 'digest.'

But fortunately, perhaps due to the high degree of 'digestion,' the abilities Ogre acquired became much more complete.

Although he didn't gain the desired claw abilities.

He obtained a more remarkable and practical ability—Hyperdynamic Vision!

The dynamic vision of hawks and falcons was incredibly powerful, and for the Demon Claw Falcon, a demonic beast, it was even more so.

This ability played a significant role in Ogre's wealth accumulation over the past six months.

"I should prepare for new 'food'..."

Ogre had long closed the notebook and stood in front of the metal mirror, tying up his shoulder-length hair.

His hair grew relatively fast, so it needed frequent trimming.

And the reason he didn't shave it all off was simply because it would be too conspicuous.

Ogre didn't want to stand out; his current hair length was just right, not too noticeable—if you ignored the face that was prettier than a girl's.

After tying his hair and wiping his face, Ogre selected a Human Skin Mask from his bag—something he crafted after learning his father's disguise techniques in a dream.

It was made by mixing Silver Needle Bee wax with fat scraped from a Magic Rabbit and treated with herbs, then applied to the face.

After drying for three days, it could be used for a few months.

Although wearing it made his face appear somewhat stiff and expressionless, it was sufficient for Ogre, as long as his real appearance wasn't exposed.

Ogre was well aware of the trouble his face, prettier than a noble maiden's, could bring him.

Although there were laws for protection, it was still easy for Professionals to target non-Professionals.

Preventing trouble before it happened was better than trying to fix it afterward; not exerting a little effort could lead to bigger problems.

This was something his father often taught him.

Seeing his beautiful face concealed to look plain and unremarkable, Ogre was satisfied and took out a mask from his pack.

"I should earn today's money first."

***

Leaving the house, he walked down an empty street, put the mask on his face, and transformed.

He became a regular at the arena, and not just any regular.

Because Ogre's Patterned Mask was surprisingly famous in the apprentice-level arena.

He had a very loud title there— The Strongest Mortal! The Strongest Mortal 'Gourmet'!