Selecting 'Ingredients'

As the magic runes on the wooden tag in his hand shattered, Ogre successfully stepped into the black market.

A pungent, mixed fragrance immediately rushed at his face. If he had to describe it, it was somewhat like the disinfectant developed by the Church of Truth.

This was a mesmerizing incense burned to erase any external ‘scents,’ rendering most scent-based abilities useless.

The downside was that smelling it for too long could easily cause hallucinations; theoretically, it should be considered a type of poison.

Only the ‘shopkeepers’ who had taken the corresponding antidote could stay inside for long periods—this was designed by the black market to prevent people from overstaying their welcome.

Additionally, it helped eliminate the foul, strange odor of the slums.

And it also had a certain effect in isolating the spread of diseases.

Although he had been here many times, Ogre still disliked the smell. He mainly hated the feeling of his sense of smell being interfered with, as it made him feel unsafe.

Foul odors were actually not frightening; what was truly terrifying was the gentle, mesmerizing incense that caused one to lose themselves.

Ogre habitually waved his hand in front of him, trying to disperse the scent, although it was practically useless.

Ever since joining the arena as a champion defender, Ogre rarely came to the black market. First, he had a relatively stable source of income now.

Second, due to his ability (magic resistance), there weren't many things here useful to him—high-grade potions were too expensive for him to afford, and low-grade ones were useless.

As for equipment and weapons, Ogre had better places to acquire Apprentice-level items, while higher-grade ones were simply too expensive.

Therefore, what Ogre bought most when he came here was knowledge about various professions.

Of course, that was the old Ogre. The current Ogre had sufficient funds, probably around five or six hundred gold coins.

Originally, Ogre had planned to use this money to buy a forbidden elixir... If he truly couldn't become a Professional, becoming a Warlock was also an option.

As for forbidden elixirs, more expensive didn't necessarily mean better, but cheap ones were certainly nothing good.

Even if there was only a ten percent mortality rate, Ogre didn't want to gamble.

‘I'm only here to select ingredients.’

Watching the crowd bustling about and arguing in front of him, Ogre checked his mask once again.

After confirming there was no issue, he continued to walk forward with quick strides—his goal had always been very clear.

Most people here, like Ogre, walked very fast. Unlike the lazy fellows in the inner city, those who came here valued their time, which was one of their few assets.

Only well-fed predators and ignorant sheep in a pen would reveal their laziness so lightheartedly. Gazelles struggling to survive would remain alert even when completely full.

Because the gazelles that weren't alert were all dead.

However, due to being right next to the Forest of Monsters, even the nobles in the city wouldn't entirely let their guard down. This could be seen from their clothing.

The clothes of people near the border tended to be practical, and they rarely styled their hair or wore headwear. That was why Folke and Lange had been quickly recognized as visiting nobles earlier.

Only noble knights who had been away from danger for a long time would choose a setup with thick armor and no helmet—which both hindered agility and failed to provide full-body defense.

Although the border nobles were predators in a sense, they were closer to wolf beasts.

Even though wolves were predators, they still faced crises they couldn't handle, requiring them to stay alert at all times and remain united and exclusive.

“Customer, look at these fine, beautiful slaves. Why not buy some?” It was hard to imagine that the person saying this to Ogre was actually a textbook red-haired dwarf.

Ogre's black eyes swept toward the cage behind the dwarf. Indeed, there were quite a few good-looking slaves inside branded with magic contract runes.

At a glance, slaves with characteristics of many different races could be seen here, and there was even a young centaur girl.

The only race missing was humans.

Probably because this was still human territory, or perhaps because humans were too cheap...

In a way, slavery had never truly been abolished. If a noble killed a commoner, it only cost three hundred gold coins.

“I can't afford them...” Ogre left a brief reply and walked away without looking back.

He had no interest in saving these people, nor did he have the right. He hadn't even redeemed himself yet.

Besides, even if he rescued them, it would be pointless. Slaves whose value existed because of their beauty would only perish faster once they left their masters. It was hard to say whether such an outcome would be good or bad.

The only thing it might satisfy was one's own sense of moral gratification.

That was the last thing Ogre needed.

Perhaps everyone is an ogre...

Given the chance to “eat others.”

Buried beneath the deformed prosperity was sin... and no one cared.

And in such a turbulent world—strength is the only foundation. Without strength, one cannot protect the “wealth” they possess.

This wealth could be beauty, family affection, or money.

Without strength, one could only pray for a favor from fate, just like those pitiful slave girls—hoping for a master who was kind but not pedantic.

“What kind of ‘ingredients’ should I eat...”

To be honest, what to eat was the only thing Ogre really needed to consider right now.

He came here precisely to select a richer variety of ‘ingredients.’

After three ‘feedings,’ Ogre had developed a deeper understanding of his own ability.

The stronger the ingredient, the harder it was to digest; the more memories the ingredient had, the more difficult it was to digest...

And the digested abilities were inherited based on certain conditions—how much he could inherit depended on the ‘compatibility’ of his own body for modification.

After all, Ogre had already eaten two birds, and he hadn't grown feathers or wings. Therefore, the abilities he inherited would not be everything.

Filtering it down like this, Ogre's target requirements became very clear.

The consumed creature had to be an extraordinary creature, but its lifespan couldn't be too long.

The acquisition of abilities was also incomplete and double-edged—so there was no need for it to be an exceptionally powerful extraordinary creature.

Ogre had to choose an extraordinary creature that could make up for his shortfalls with the minimum negative impact, preferably one with a short lifespan.

Choosing abilities wasn't about mindlessly stacking as many as possible. Some seemingly wonderful abilities might bring negative effects that Ogre could not accept.

The Ogre's talent had brought him more efficient energy absorption, magic resistance, and self-healing.

But the more efficient eating and self-healing also meant Ogre needed to eat more.

While magic resistance could negate some of the negative effects of magic, it also destroyed the positive effects of potions.

As for the Devil-Claw Falcon, Ogre had chosen it back then after careful consideration, though gaining high-speed dynamic vision was somewhat of a surprise.

But that didn't mean high-speed dynamic vision had no side effects.

Integrating these eyes took Ogre a full half month to adjust, during which he fell down several times. This was also his only period of rest.

That kind of mismatch between eyes and body coordination was indeed very awkward, giving Ogre a feeling that the parts didn't fit.

He would also often unconsciously look into the distance while ignoring his immediate surroundings, which was the main thing Ogre had to adjust.

In addition to this, Ogre had paid another price—he lost his acute perception of colors.

To put it simply, Ogre now suffered from color weakness.

This was also a characteristic of the Devil-Claw Falcon.

However, according to the research of Truth Sorcerers, birds were actually supposed to have highly developed color vision. Their eyes possessed inactive power, but for some unknown reason, they had collectively and actively degenerated this part of their function later on.

Of course, this didn't affect combat.

In fact, it was precisely the stacking of these abilities that allowed Ogre to leap into becoming the strongest Apprentice Martial Artist in this border city district.

“Recovery, magic resistance, digestion, vision,” Ogre muttered his current abilities.

He realized that the abilities he inherited seemed to originate from the most powerful aspect of the extraordinary creature, rather than being completely random.

“Strength, speed, defense, agility, perception.” Ogre held up five fingers as he walked.

‘What a pity. The Ogre's Lunchbox can only absorb the abilities of flesh-and-blood lifeforms...’

Ogre had actually tried eating a slime at the very beginning, but the ability failed to activate.

Tsk. As for the taste...

It was like rotten rubber soaked in slop.

It was something even an ogre's stomach didn't want to digest.

“Strength can still be made up for with martial techniques and equipment, but what about speed?”

Speed was indeed a very good direction for a breakthrough.

Being fast could solve many problems, especially since he had the support of high-speed vision.

But Ogre quickly went through several fast creatures in his mind, only to find that they all shared an almost common defect—poor stamina.

“The speed of the Shadow Leopard is achieved at the expense of body fat, and I'm not even sure if I can absorb and inherit the shadow magic within it.”

The only thing Ogre was sure of was that magic power had no effect on him, because all creatures had some magic power in their bodies.

But he had never tried magic with elemental attributes.

Mainly, these element-attributed extraordinary creatures had long lifespans and were quite powerful. Ogre wasn't confident he could absorb them without being affected.

Whether they were expensive was actually secondary.

“No, no matter how fast you are, you can't use it in narrow caves, and my existing abilities have already shortened my stamina.”

Ogre quickly gave up on pursuing the speed direction.

“Then what about defense?”

Ogre had also inherited some of the tough skin of the ogre, but precisely because of this, he hesitated about defense-type creatures.

Shellfish-type creatures were definitely out of the question; a shell was definitely the strongest part of a shellfish.

But Ogre didn't want to grow a shell to restrain himself.

Of the creatures he had eaten before, none had shells.

Then should he choose a scaled creature with powerful skin?

Ogre shook his head again. No, unless it was something like dragon hide, sacrificing his human appearance for scaled defense just wasn't worth it.

He might even be treated as a variant by the Church of Dawn.

‘Oh right, what about variants?’

Most variants were humanoid, likely due to hybridization.

Although variants had certain weaknesses (such as silver and light), their transformations were truly powerful, and they would slowly grow stronger over time.

Ogre certainly wouldn't eat a variant now. Those things were also targets to be eliminated.

But not being able to eat them now didn't mean he couldn't eat them in the future.

They could serve as a backup option if he were truly desperate. After all, this was much more realistic than a Warlock's forbidden elixir.

“If defense is out, what about agility and perception?” As Ogre thought of this, his eyes happened to lock onto a magical pet.

“Sonic Magic Bat...” To eat better, Ogre had read quite a few books.

There was a record of the magic bat in The Compendium of Beasts.

Their high body temperature could immunize them against most diseases, their powerful hearing allowed them to hear sounds humans couldn't, and their throats could unleash a powerful sonic attack.

This seemed like a very good choice.

But if Ogre remembered correctly—this thing carried the poison of plague...

“Never mind, I'll keep looking.” Ogre was not confident he could immunize himself against the poison carried by the magic bat.

Suddenly, Ogre stopped in his tracks.

He had suddenly found an extraordinary creature that perfectly met his requirements.

A creature he had only ever seen in books before.