Devouring Dragon Heir

Klaus methodically sorted the remaining insects he had collected. He had processed the ant colony, gaining significant physique enhancements, and had sorted the chameleons, which yielded no immediate skill or trait acquisition due to insufficient numbers for Camouflage (D) skill.

Now, it was time for the dragonflies. He focused his will on the bag containing the hundreds of iridescent insects, and a notification chimed, indicating a significant absorption.

[Ding!! Dragonfly corpses absorbed!]

[Ding!! Trait acquired: Natural Hunter (C)!]

Klaus immediately focused on the details of this new acquisition.

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TRAIT: Natural Hunter (C-rank)

Description: Through the absorption of the Dragonfly, you have gained the Natural Hunter trait, which is a composite of several skills that transforms you into a remarkably effective predator. This trait integrates several key abilities, allowing you to track, react, and intercept targets with superior efficiency:

Superior Vision (C): Your visual perception becomes exceptionally keen, granting a vastly expanded field of view and an acute sensitivity to movement. You can detect subtle shifts in the environment and track rapid targets with unparalleled precision, processing visual information at an accelerated rate. This enhancement allows you to perceive details that would be invisible to an ordinary human eye.

Hunter's Reflexes (D): Your reaction time is drastically improved, allowing for lightning-fast responses to threats and opportunities. Your body instinctively anticipates and counters sudden movements, making you incredibly difficult to surprise or evade. This ability provides a crucial edge in high-speed engagements.

Trajectory Intercept (D): Your mind gains an innate ability to calculate and predict the most efficient interception paths for moving objects or targets. This allows for precise evasions, deadly accurate attacks, and an almost prescient understanding of how to position yourself in dynamic situations. You can instinctively anticipate where a target will be, not just where it is.

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After understanding the features of the trait, Klaus moved on to the next section about its potential for enhancement.

However, the system indicated a monumental requirement: a huge number of 100,000 dragonflies to advance the trait.

Given his current urban environment and the sheer scale of that number, he recognized he could not proceed with this enhancement at the moment. While the ability to gain wings might be useful in the future, he had other, more immediate priorities.

He proceeded with the last insects in his collection: the beetles and cockroaches. Both species yielded similar absorption results, providing no unique skills or traits, but offering enhancements. Klaus looked at their potential enhancements.

One was an Exoskeleton enhancement from the cockroaches, and the other was a Body Armor enhancement from the beetles.

Both demanded millions of sacrifices even more than the dragonfly wings to show any significant progress. This was beyond his current capacity for collecting.

Klaus, unwilling to waste the biological essence, converted the remaining, unabsorbed insects into raw stats.

Due to the small size and limited quantity of these specific insects, he hardly gained one point in his physical stats, a negligible increase compared to his previous gains from the ants.

In just one day of intense insect hunting and absorption, he had acquired quite useful gains: a C-ranked trait (Natural Hunter), and a B-ranked skill (Herculean Strength).

His base physique had increased significantly, and with the added 200% bonus from Herculean Strength, he was now physically much stronger than any Unawakened human, and indeed, stronger than many low-ranked hunters.

Klaus now possessed at least some defensive capability. His body had undergone a noticeable transformation. His face had also changed quite a bit due to the loss of residual face fat and the toning of his muscles, giving him a sharper, more defined appearance.

He even felt that his height had subtly increased, though it was difficult to confirm without a precise measurement.

Looking in a mirror, Klaus felt that hardly anyone would relate him to his previous identity, Vance, if he chose to explicitly hide it. His physical transformation, combined with his new haircut and shaved beard, made him look like a distinctly different person.

However, he still insisted that making up the story of being Vance's twin brother was more useful. This narrative provided a plausible explanation for his resemblance, should anyone look closely, and preemptively addressed any potential inquiries.

Furthermore, the money he was spending, the 100,000 Union Credits, had been given as compensation for Vance's death, meaning his transactions could potentially be traced by secret agencies of the Hunter Association. A believable cover story was crucial for maintaining his low profile.

Klaus decided to go for the awakened evaluation at the association building that very day. He required an official identity as soon as possible to live and operate freely in this world.

Even at the inn, he had already had to pay an extra bribe to the manager to live there for the past night, simply because he had no official awakened ID.

Such inconveniences and potential scrutiny had to be eliminated swiftly.

Klaus again chose to walk towards the association building, conserving his funds. Once he reached the massive, modern facility, a stark contrast to the slums, he walked towards the reception desk.

A young lady with neatly styled hair and a professional demeanor looked up. Her eyes subtly lit up, betraying a flicker of interest as she saw Klaus's newly refined, handsome visage.

"Welcome, sir, what can I do for you?" the lady spoke in a polite, professional tone, her voice smooth.

"I would like to register as an awakened," Klaus replied, his voice calm and confident. He was very familiar with the process from his general knowledge of this world.

To be evaluated and given a rank, a person had to undergo a specific test fighting virtual monsters in a simulated environment. The highest rank of monster that could be consistently defeated by the hunter would determine the rank that would be officially given to the person.

Although this method was, in some ways, quite crude it, simplified complex battlefield scenarios into a singular combat simulation it was still much better than earlier methods.

In the beginning of the apocalypse, when mana first emerged, a hunter's rank was simply divided by the highest-ranked skill one possessed.

But over the years, people realized that a single higher-ranked skill could often be overpowered by stacking the synergistic effects of multiple lower-ranked skills.

While this was barely the case for S-rank and above hunters, for the lower levels, which constituted the vast majority of the awakened population, skill synergy proved to be a more accurate measure of combat prowess.

Moreover, there were different types of hunters namely support hunters, battle hunters, scout hunters, and many other specialized types each one requiring a different criterion of evaluation.

Thus, after the emergence of the Guardian Academy, extensive studies began on the topic.

Finally, a new criterion, which was much more apt and comprehensive, was developed, leading to the current virtual evaluation system.

Since Klaus wanted to register as a battle-type hunter, emphasizing his physical strength and combat abilities, he was led by the receptionist to an underground facility.

This area was surprisingly crowded, filled with other aspirants waiting for their turn, and hunters returning for re-evaluations.

The lady led him to a small, isolated room where a single, sleek VR capsule was installed, glowing faintly. VR technology was quite famous among the general populace, known from public forums and entertainment, but it was still not directly usable by the common populace.

The Hunter Association had put strict restrictions on its use, controlling access and development. Only the association had the advanced tech and the specialized know-how on how to operate such VR capsules for official purposes.

Klaus was instructed to enter the capsule. He lay down on the comfortable, ergonomic bed inside, and the clear, reinforced lid sealed above him. Then, after the lady pressed a few buttons on an external console, she looked at Klaus through the transparent lid and offered a reassuring smile.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled by the capsule.

Klaus returned her smile, a brief, genuine one. He knew the lady was interested in him, an expected reaction to his newly enhanced appearance, but he was not particularly interested in pursuing it at the moment.

He simply replied "Yes," focusing his attention entirely on the task ahead.

He remembered his last attempt at evaluation, years ago, before his transmigration, when he was just "Vance." He had been given an F-rank, unable to even last against a single monster. He had tried, but he had only delayed his inevitable defeat.

While the evaluation proceeded, every single move of the hunter, every subtle twitch and strategic decision, was judged by a sophisticated AI system.

This ensured that the hunter was given a fair and objective evaluation, free from human bias. The overall evaluation was given in terms of "Battle Power," a composite score calculated by the artificial intelligence developed by the association, based on factors like efficiency, damage dealt, damage taken, and tactical awareness.

Klaus closed his eyes as the soft beep of the several machines connected to the VR capsule rang faintly in his ears.

A moment passed, a slight disorientation as his consciousness shifted. Then, he was standing on a vast, grassy plain, bathed in the virtual sunlight, with a dense forest appearing a few hundred meters ahead of him. From his previous, failed evaluation memories, he knew that the virtual monsters would start approaching from that forest.

Soon, a translucent panel appeared in front of him, floating in his virtual field of vision, asking for his choice of weapons.

Earlier, during his first evaluation, Klaus had chosen a sword as his starting weapon, trying to emulate heroic figures.

But over time, he realized that a sword was too heavy and unwieldy for his unawakened body then. He needed a lighter, faster weapon that would complement his newfound agility and reflexes.

"Let's see," he mused, thinking aloud in the virtual space. "With the Natural Hunter trait, all the skills under it are advantageous for an agile and small weapon... something like a bow... nope. Too specialized, and I lack training."

"A crossbow?... Nope. Too slow to reload."

"A gun?... Nope. Ammo limitations, and not as quiet as I might need."

"Let's seeeee.... a dagger? ...Yup. A dagger it is."

Daggers were relatively easy to use, highly concealable, and perfect for close-quarters combat where his speed and reflexes would shine.

Klaus wanted a basic weapon that he could adapt to really fast, and daggers were an excellent choice for a quick, lethal strike.

As soon as the daggers were selected, materializing instantly in his virtual hands, a countdown started in front of him.

It was a three-second countdown. As soon as the countdown got to 0, Klaus readied himself, his stance shifting subtly, his daggers held low.

With his newly acquired Superior Vision, Klaus could already see a few trees shaking distinctly in the distant forest, indicating approaching movement.

Klaus immediately knew it was a terrestrial beast or monster. His guess was right: last time he had faced a virtual boar. This time, as a small, green figure emerged from the treeline, it was a goblin.

In the test, although the base strength and difficulty of the monsters were kept similar for every respective level of the evaluation, the type of monster was intentionally changed for each participant.

This was done to prevent participants from familiarizing themselves with specific attack patterns and strategizing in advance.

The association wanted to test purely raw strength, adaptable battle ability, and innate talent in this test, not memorization.

The goblin, a small, hunched creature with a short, rusted sword clutched in its hand, rushed towards Klaus.

It moved with surprising speed, its glowing red eyes fixed on him, clearly thinking Klaus was an easy prey, an unmoving target. Savagely, it lunged towards the human in front of him as soon as it got within striking distance.

Klaus used his Hunter's Reflexes, a blur of motion, to dodge the goblin's crude, wide strike by a mere millimeter. As the goblin overextended, Klaus simultaneously struck its exposed back with the dagger in his right hand.

Klaus's physical stats had been enhanced to a total of 27.3 points of effective force. This concentrated force, combined with the sharp blade, tore through the goblin's crude leather armor and fleshy back, reaching its vital organs and reaping its virtual life in an instant.

Immediately, a new system notification, distinct from the virtual environment's own interface, rang directly in Klaus's mind.

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[Ding!! Target detected!]

Species: Green Goblin (E)

Available Traits: Horny (E)

Available Skills: Slash (F)

Available Enhancements: Green Skin (F) (0/10000 progress for acquisition)

Physical Stat Conversion: 1:100 (100 units of mass/essence to 1 Physique point)

Magic Stat Conversion: 1:1000 (1000 units of mass/essence to 1 Magic point)

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Klaus, despite the ongoing evaluation, could not fully process what he saw. A new information panel from his Origin Absorption skill had appeared, detailing the goblin's absorbable attributes.

"I am in a virtual reality, right??" he thought, his mind racing. "How the heck does this skill work here? It shouldn't!"

Klaus's mind churned with a sudden, electrifying possibility. In the virtual reality program, a hunter doesn't truly die for obvious reasons; it's a simulation.

But at the same time, logically speaking, his divine Origin Absorption skill, which dealt with reality, should absolutely not work inside a virtual world. It defied the fundamental rules of reality versus simulation.

If, by chance, the skill truly did work inside this virtual world, that would mean he could grow stronger, acquire new skills and traits, and enhance his stats without worrying about his safety, without risking his life in real dungeons.

The virtual world would become his personal training ground, his infinite source of power. He wouldn't need to hunt real monsters until he was confident enough to face true dangers.

Klaus was over the moon; this news changed everything. His priorities immediately shifted.

He now had a new, monumental mission to systematically exploit this revelation. But before he could fully embark on that, he had to complete his current evaluation, maintaining his cover.

He looked at the virtual screen that asked for his confirmation to proceed to the next wave, and then he looked deliberately at the dissipating goblin corpse.

Klaus acted as if he was merely checking it out, trying to come up with an idea about how to deceive the lady outside, who was presumably looking at his real-time evaluation data.