SSS Demon King System: The Rise of a Dying Extra-Chapter 5: Gluttonous StomaChapter

The cough lasted a while, Lloyd had never experienced such a strong cough, though the former owner of that body had had even worse ones.

’I guess there’s always someone who has it harder than you, now I almost feel like a crybaby for complaining about my old life.’

’Though it’s inevitable, that this child had it worse than me doesn’t mean my pain is meaningless.’

’For now, I can only try to survive for both of us. I’m not going to feel bad about taking this body, knowing it probably would’ve died if I hadn’t taken control.’

The boy sighed, wiping the blood from his lips, healing this body was going to be a challenge, but Lloyd was sure he could do it.

’Alright, enough lamenting, time to buy an ability.’

Lloyd wasn’t stupid, he’d received a mission that gave him 350 V.P and now he found himself with an ability that cost exactly that.

You didn’t need to be a detective, clearly they were urging him to buy that ability.

At the same time, Lloyd felt it could be a useful ability to improve his nutrition.

Without further delay, the boy summoned the mirror again.

So this is what I look like now.

This time, Lloyd focused more on his reflection.

He saw a thin boy, it almost looked like his skin was stuck to his bones.

His hair was a very dark jet-black tone, and cascaded over his shoulders, it was quite long for a boy.

Meanwhile, inside his sockets, two green eyes, and there was barely any brightness in them, as if they had no life.

Lloyd was really starting to get scared, his appearance could easily win him some Halloween costume contest, it was as if death had already taken him.

Lloyd felt relieved when the mirror’s information covered his reflection, seeing his state was discouraging, it almost seemed like a better option to have reincarnated as a ridiculous animal or insect like a fly or a rat.

Anyone who saw him wouldn’t be able to tell if he was really alive.

Pushing those thoughts away, the young man investigated the mirror again.

He could see how next to the ability’s name appeared a "plus" symbol, so he assumed that by touching it he could add the points.

It didn’t take long, soon the points filled the counter and the ability was unlocked.

[Gluttonous Stomach]

Rank: Omega

"This power allows the user to assimilate and consume nutrients more efficiently, making better use of the food they consume by increasing its nutritional value."

It wasn’t anything special, but for starters it looked good.

It was a quite useful passive for someone like Lloyd, who probably could only eat soups or purees.

Still, Lloyd was aware he was still too far from his goal, he was starting to feel frustrated.

It seemed he’d have to face a tedious and boring road from now on.

The progress Chaos Record offered was quite slow, especially for someone with one foot in the grave.

Lloyd knew he couldn’t rush things in his state, but having to heal so slowly seemed like a challenge his patience couldn’t bear.

Before he could continue lamenting, the maid returned to the room.

"Sorry for the delay young master, we’ve brought you a hot soup to recover," the maid’s cheerful tone was comforting, though she never seemed to abandon her professionalism.

She was pleasant, Lloyd regretted not remembering her name.

Lloyd observed how two other maids were at her side, one seemed the same age as the first, while the third seemed much older.

The three acted quickly, the youngest moved a chair near Lloyd’s bed while the oldest helped him position himself and put some pillows behind his back for him to lean on.

Quickly his "savior" sat in the chair with the tray, and with a fluid gesture took some soup in the spoon and blew on it.

Lloyd guessed what would happen now, and was about to say he could eat by himself.

However, there were two problems; first, it wasn’t something the original Lloyd would’ve done, and it wouldn’t be good to make the servants suspicious of something, especially if his future actions would already make him seem quite different from the original Lloyd.

The other problem was that he couldn’t. Lifting his arm was already an ordeal, now holding a spoon seemed like a herculean task, it was better to save strength, this time Lloyd would swallow his pride and accept his maid’s kindness.

The soup wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very tasty either.

It was simply bland, but the warmth entering his body through his throat was a pleasant sensation, so it was fine for now.

The first few days were quite difficult for Lloyd.

He was someone active in his old life, he liked to move, be active.

Staying in that body was like being in a prison.

The only reason he hadn’t gone crazy was because the situation he found himself in was so bewildering that spending all day reflecting wasn’t a bad plan.

Besides, there were some missions the system offered, which could be entertaining for Lloyd.

The missions ranged from asking for a specific meal, to sleeping a certain number of hours in a day, which made Lloyd unable to avoid suspecting that the system was advising him with the missions.

But, it wasn’t the most relevant thing that happened to Lloyd during that time, the boy had remembered something quite interesting about his surname, it sounded very familiar to him, but not from Lloyd’s memories, but from those of his old life.

At first it seemed like a mere coincidence, but little by little he started to find similarities between the Kaitos house, and a novel from Earth.

It was called Tales of Avalon, it was a hidden gem among the sea of novels that usually copied each other.

"In the grace that any day can reach, a singularity occurred. In a mere instant, the sky turned somber, the seas stirred, the earth roared."

"It was in that chaos of natural disasters, mere messengers of what was to come, that the most ominous tragedy that could exist tore the veil of reality itself."

"Through the fine cracks filtered, a blasphemous essence that should never have existed, the essence of the abyss itself finally broke through, to bring the greatest of punishments."

"The essence of chaos twisted; torn skins, deformed bones, crooked teeth. In less than an instant the continent of Aeternatis was corrupted with all its inhabitants; and since then it has been known as the demonic continent."

With an opening like that, Lloyd’s heart dove into a reading that wasn’t interrupted by anything, he even read that novel at the gym.

The premise was quite good, it started as a world threatened by a Lovecraftian evil, presenting a world with very rich construction.

Lloyd was amazed by the scenarios it presented.

Bestial fights, colossal wars, it was a bit of what this series of short stories offered.

They were different Chapters that described different scenarios where a bit more of that marvelous world was revealed.

Unfortunately, the author of that fabulous novel decided to start another work, which occurred several eras after the events of that pseudo-apocalypse.

That was the novel Tales of Avalon, where the rich system proposed in the previous story was recycled, but with a different style.

This novel, while well executed, yes, but it was still the same magic and academy model you found in other novels.

Lloyd didn’t dislike those kinds of stories, but having less free time than before, Lloyd decided to abandon the novel before it ended.

The boy himself decided to focus more on other things, and ended up leaving that hobby. But now, that memory returned again; it was because of the surname Kaitos, the name of a noble house that served as an antagonist in the novel.

While Lloyd couldn’t be sure, he had a hunch that at least it could be similar.

Especially the symbol embroidered on his pajamas, which was the house crest.

’But if I really am a Kaitos from that novel... I’m even more screwed than I thought.’