The World Devouring System

An extremely handsome man was sleeping inside one of the rooms of the Goldheart Family Estate in the Goldheart Duchy.

He had been asleep for around four years now, in fact. He was in a coma.

All of sudden, black runes appeared on his body. The runes looked very complex and they were in the darkest shade of black the world had ever seen. They reflected no light at all!

However, after some time, some of the runes started changing into a golden color. Soon, all the runes were emanating beautiful golden light. If the previous scene looked very demonic, then the current scene looked very holy.

Then, the runes disappeared completely and the sleeping boy's eyes shot wide open! 'Pascal' abruptly rose to a sitting position from where he had been lying on the bed.

The first thing that Pascal was greeted with was a splitting headache. He felt very groggy. It reminded him of the times he had slept in the afternoon and woke up in the evening and went on to brush his teeth, thinking it was morning.

He was very confused by what was happening.

'The game… I was playing the game.'

Just as he tried to recall, his headache intensified. A large amount of information entered his mind at a very high speed, overwhelming him. The memories and experiences belonging to Caelum Goldheart were violently absorbed into his consciousness.

'I've transmigrated into the body of Caelum Goldheart!'

'Caelum' began to organize things inside his head. He was the son of a Duke in the Novastead Empire and had been in coma for a few years now.

But the most important information of all – this was a cultivation world!

Cultivation did not pertain to farming; instead, it referred to the act of absorbing the spiritual energy of the Heavens, also referred to as Qi, to enhance oneself.

Powerful cultivators had long lifespans and were capable of ridiculous feats. According to the original Caelum's memories, some strong cultivators were capable of smashing entire mountains with a single strike of their palm and traversing over several kilometers in the blink of an eye.

'I knew there was something strange about that game! It was such a good game and yet nobody was talking about it anywhere. Now I've gotten myself into this mess.'

[Ding! System initialization complete. The system has reconfigured itself into a form that is suitable for the host.]

[Congratulations! You've been chosen as the host of the World Devouring System.]

A cool and robotic voice sounded inside Caelum's head.

'Now what!?' Caelum was startled by the voice that seemed to speak directly into his mind.

For a short while, nothing happened. Then, Caelum tried to focus his thoughts on the World Devouring System. He realized that the knowledge of how to view and interact with the System interface was already embedded into his mind. Caelum did not know when that happened.

He wanted to think that it was knowledge he gained recently, but a part of him believed that he had always known how to do this.

Once he focused his thoughts on the System, an interface appeared in his mind's eye. It looked similar to a modern digital interface. He recalled what the System had told him - that it had reconfigured itself into a form that was suitable for him.

'Is the System alluding to the modern man's addiction with electronic devices? Impressive.'

Even in such an extraordinarily serious situation, Caelum's brain had the spare computational power to think such silly thoughts.

At the very top of the interface, the words 'World Devouring System' were written in a font that was both sinister and archaic.

'What an ominous name.' Caelum recalled the last question he had been asked before his transmigration. The game had asked him if he was sure he wanted to devour the world. When he recalled that, a foreboding chill crept up his spine. To think that this would be the consequence of choosing 'Yes'!

Caelum tried to suppress the negative thoughts in his mind and proceeded to look at the rest of the interface.

[World Devouring System]

***[Basic Stats]***

[Cultivation]: None (Mortal)

[Health]: OK

[Qi]: 0 / 0

[Strength]: 7

[Speed]: 7

[Defense]: 5

[Dexterity]: 10

[Regeneration]: 1

[Qi Regeneration]: 0

[Dao Comprehension Talent]: 60.0 (max 100)

***[Affinities]***

None

***[Elemental Sources]***

None

***[Abilities]***

Devour

Beginner Swordsmanship

***[Equipped Heavenly Gifts]***

Current Superimposition Limit: 1

[Physiques]

None

[Bloodlines]

None

[Special Body Parts]

None

'Oi, what's with all this None, None and None! The System sure isn't holding back in letting me know about all the things that I don't have.'

After reading up to this point, a faint sense of excitement gripped Caelum's mind - a subconscious response due to the memories that he inherited from his predecessor.

Physiques, Bloodlines, Elemental Sources – all these things were Heavenly Gifts! Heavenly Gifts were something that all cultivators desired but few possessed. Whether or not someone possessed a Gift went a long way in determining how far they would tread on the path of cultivation.

Based on his memories, Caelum knew that most Heavenly Gifts were innate; meaning, people were typically born with them. Although there were stories of people acquiring some of these Gifts via fortuitous encounters, the chances of such a thing happening were very slim. The number of people that died trying to seek out such encounters was far, far greater.

It had been determined that the original Caelum was not born with any Heavenly Gifts. At the very least, if he had a Gift, the Goldheart family did not have the means to identify it.

The Original was always somewhat depressed because of this. Although not being born with any Heavenly Gifts was perfectly normal, he felt that he was destined for a life of mediocrity because of it. Even with the cultivation resources that he would have access to due to his family background, Caelum believed that he would become an above average cultivator at best.

But now, what was this!? The World Devouring System seemed to be implying that it was possible for him to 'acquire' these Heavenly Gifts via the act of Devouring.

The most critical ability offered to him by the System seemed to be the one named 'Devour'. Without further ado, Caelum focused his mind on it, wanting to see if the System would offer him any further details.

As soon as his thoughts converged, a short description appeared next to the ability.

[Devour]: Devour the essence of someone or something that you have killed recently, converting it into your own strength. Physical contact is needed to use this ability.

Note: Using this ability will not result in any Qi fluctuations and will not cause any observable changes to occur in the target.

It was a very concise description that felt like it omitted a lot of the finer details. Caelum wouldn't know exactly how much of the target's strength he would gain until he actually tried the ability out.

As for the fact that he would have to kill someone before he could devour them? Caelum was strangely unbothered by this. Once a person embarked on the path of cultivation, they familiarized themselves with death; often through killing but once and only once through dying.

The sixteen year old Caelum had yet to officially begin his cultivation journey. Humans in the Novastead Empire did not start cultivating before sixteen years age anyways, giving their physical bodies some time to mature. Not to mention, Caelum had been in coma for approximately four years now. If he were to start cultivating right now, he would only be a few months late to the party.

However, despite not being a cultivator yet, Caelum was his father's son; the son of the Duke of Goldheart. From a young age, he had been provided with an education befitting of his status. It was a process that provided him some familiarity with the act of killing. Pascal, who now inhabited Caelum's body had already inherited and assimilated the original Caelum's memories during that period of excruciating headache right after his transmigration.

'The customs and values of this world's people are completely different from that of my own. Here, children are coddled to a much lesser degree and are instead raised in a rough and tough kind of manner.'

'Also, the System seems to be implying that it would be impossible for anyone, cultivator or otherwise, to notice my usage of [Devour]. That is certainly good news.'

With these thoughts, Caelum proceeded to inspect the rest of the interface. There was nothing special about the [Beginner Swordsmanship] ability of his. He was quite certain that he had acquired it thanks to the swordsmanship training he underwent at a very young age.

The last section of the interface, however, caught his eye. No, it did more than just catch his eye. It almost made his heart stop.

After the [Equipped Heavenly Gifts] section, was a section titled [Milestones].