The meat was chewy and the shell was hard, But Mitch had never tasted something so delicious in his life. After the first bite came another. And another. He kept wolfing the leg down but he still felt hungry.
One leg after another vanished, green liquid staining Mitch's mouth. Eventually he grabbed the ant's abdomen and started taking huge bites out of it.
The pain he felt was slowly vanishing and his exhaustion was being washed away. He looked over at Madeline and realized she had almost finished her first ant.
Noticing Mitch looking over, she suddenly started feeling embarrassed. She turned her head to the side and tried hiding the fact that she was still munching on an ant head.
"No need to feel ashamed, child. It is His intention for you to eat like this, and eat like this you shall. However, I have expended a lot of energy. I therefore ask you to only eat two of the ants and leave the other to me, so I too can regain my strength."
Madeline got pulled out of her thoughts and remembered that Mitch had suffered grievous wounds. She took the half-finished head and got up, intending to leave.
Mitch reached forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her back down. He then sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I did not mean for you to eat less, Madeline. In fact, if I were to not be hurt, you would get the majority of the food. You are still growing, while I am already fully grown. For the purpose that Khad Mitch has given you, eating these creatures is a must."
"Yes Michael… I'm sorry for not being able to help you."
He wanted to deny her apology, to tell her that she would be able to help him, he reckoned that empty words would do no difference. She would realize her own worth soon enough.
He, on the other hand, needed to eat and gather his strength in case he needed to fight again.
Katherine, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for a while, started speaking.
"You seem to be very occupied with eating. Did you enjoy it that much?"
Mitch became confused at that remark. It was true that he for some reason couldn't stop eating, but he was still very much attentive to his surroundings. He paused his eating for a bit and tried to decipher his helper's cryptic comment.
That's when he noticed his body feeling lighter. Not only did it feel lighter, but he also felt more aware of every part of his body. It was like he had been living with a barrier between his thoughts and his movement, and now it was suddenly gone.
He stood up and walked over to a tree.
Madeline looked over in confusion, but soon returned to eating. He had told her to eat, so she would eat first and ask questions later.
Whoosh
Mitch jumped at least two meters into the air and grabbed onto the tree.
Crack
Just him wrapping his arms and legs around the tree made a fissure in the sturdy trunk.
He started climbing the tree as if he was crawling on a flat surface. Mitch then grabbed onto a thick branch and started swinging, eventually jumpeing towards another tree.
He kept playing around in the treetops like a monkey until he tired himself out. Returning back to the ground, he started discussing the changes with Katherine.
"Haah… haaah… phew. Not only has my strength and my control increased, I also feel like I can move around a lot longer before I feel exhausted. Is all of this really just from the Devouring power system? I thought it was supposed to be an E2 power system?"
"E2?"
"Yeah! I felt like Grade-E level 2 was too long to say, so I just cut it down to E2. But nevermind that; are you sure it's E2 and not something stronger?"
Mitch couldn't believe that he had gained so much power from eating just one ant. He felt like he wouldn't necessarily lose even if he faced those four ants head-on now.
"Yep, pretty sure it's E2. And I think you're misunderstanding how strong this power system actually is. It might be called E2, but the subcategory is 'Body Strengthening'. You should expect it to improve your body, but it's not exponential."
"You will feel the biggest boost when you've just started, but the strength you gain will slowly become less and less until you've reached the peak of this power system. At that point you either have to find another power system to supplement this one, or you will start stagnating."
Mitch understood what she was saying. Though he felt more connected to his body, that was it. His mind had not changed one bit, nor had he gained any additional powers. It was just that his body had an easier time keeping up with his thoughts.
He flexed his biceps and clenched his fists in an attempt to measure just how much he had changed.
The feeling he got from growing stronger was addictive. He had been very interested in growing stronger ever since Theodor introduced those VR games to him, but he was too busy and too limited on Tellus to actually get to bask in this feeling.
But here… The possibilities were infinite!
He returned to the clearing, finding Madeline happily chewing on her second ant torso. He sat down opposite of her and reached for his second serving of ant tartare.
"By the way, Archangel Michael. I have this weird feeling in my tummy." Mitch looked over and saw her patting her stomach.
Although she had already eaten an entire giant size ant and was just a head away from having finished her second one, her stomach did not look bloated whatsoever.
"Can you describe that feeling to me?" Mitch was confused. The feeling of strength he gained from eating the ants might have originated from his stomach, but that was not where he felt it gather. It had spread throughout his entire body, saturating every single fibre of it.
"I'm not sure. I think that if I go to sleep I will wake up stronger, or something like that."
It then hit Mitch what it could be. He opened his own status page and took a look.
[Name: Mitch]
[Title: Lesser Khad]
[Mynt: 1.48]
[Power System: Devouring—Body Strengthening (2%)]
[Followers: 1]
[Skills: N/A]
[Khad skills: {Manifestation}, {Blessing}]
[Unique Khad skills: {Gene Tree}!]