Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

Raven studied the labels.

He couldn’t read every name, but he understood the classifications.

Bloodborn.

Beastkin.

Human Noble Bloodline.

One vial carried an additional red mark.

Royal-quality trace — unconfirmed.

Predation reacted as he brought it closer.

[Multiple Hereditary Biological Signatures Detected.]

[Bloodline Fragments Present.]

[Integrity: LOW to MODERATE.]

[Direct Assimilation Viability: INSUFFICIENT DATA.]

Some of Nyxara’s amusement disappeared.

”Now you understand why I was following them.”

Raven set the vial down. ”Not completely.”

”Then keep looking.”

The next case contained collars. They were nothing like the slave collars Raven had seen in Greyhaven. These were much thicker, with runes covering the inner surface and small needles embedded along the inside.

Valeria picked one up without touching the points. ”Mana suppression.”

”And something else,” Nyxara said.

Raven brought his hand closer.

FORGE reacted weakly.

[Artificial Biological Suppression Device Detected.]

[Functions:]

[Mana-Flow Restriction]

[Bloodline Activation Interference]

[Pain Compliance Mechanism]

[Construction Quality: MODERATE.]

Roland frowned. ”That can restrain a Bloodborn?”

Nyxara looked at him. ”A weak one.”

”And you?”

Nyxara smiled. ”Would you like to test it?”

Roland looked back at the collar. ”Not particularly.”

Raven kept searching. He found shackles, rune-marked silks, surgical instruments, and small containers of preserved tissue.

Then he found something that made Nyxara stop smiling entirely.

A black horn.

Small.

Severed cleanly at the base.

Faint violet lines were still visible across its surface.

Predation reacted.

[Bloodborn Biological Material Detected.]

[Hereditary Signature Present.]

[Source:]

[Bloodborn — Female]

[Bloodline Quality: HIGH]

[Viability: DEGRADED.]

Raven looked up.

Nyxara was staring at the horn.

She didn’t look sad.

That would have been simpler.

She looked insulted.

Deeply.

”Did you know who it belonged to?”

”I don’t need to know her.”

The answer came colder than anything she had said since appearing.

Nyxara took the horn from Raven’s hand and placed it back inside the case.

”She was Bloodborn.”

Valeria noticed the change immediately. ”Is that why you’ve been following this network for weeks?”

Nyxara remained silent for several seconds before answering.

”Three months ago, lesser members of the Night Courts started disappearing along the border territories. At first, it looked ordinary enough. Debts, rivalries, murders, slavers getting too ambitious. Nothing worth my attention.”

Raven immediately understood that Nyxara’s definition of ordinary was different from most people’s.

”Then blood samples appeared at a private auction in Varkess,” she continued. ”Blood labeled by lineage. Not just common Bloodborn. Old Houses.”

Valeria frowned. ”How did you learn about the auction?”

Nyxara smiled faintly. ”I bought the man responsible for security.”

”That sounds expensive.”

”Not with money.”

Roland wisely chose not to ask.

Raven did.

”And that led you to this caravan?”

”After four intermediaries, two transporters, and an alchemist who bit through his own tongue before telling me who financed him.”

”Literally?”

”Literally.”

Raven looked over the bodies. ”So this network isn’t only stealing monster organs.”

”They buy and sell anything biological that can preserve power.”

Nyxara gestured toward the containers.

”Monsters. Humans with hereditary Skills. Beastkin with rare Traits. Elven blood. Demons. Bloodborn.”

Valeria picked up another document. ”There are numbers beside several names.”

”Prices,” Nyxara said.

Raven took another sheet.

There were categories.

Live acquisition.

Full extraction.

Blood-only.

Organ priority.

Bloodline retention.

One line described a sixteen-year-old human slave with a hereditary magical-vision Skill.

Price alive.

Price without organs.

Price for the eyes.

Raven stared at the entry for another second.

Not because the concept surprised him.

He had seen governments assign different values to human lives before.

Veyr simply used a more literal table.

”Efficient.”

Valeria looked at him. ”That sounded horrible even coming from you.”

”I said efficient, not good.”

Nyxara smiled again. ”I’m beginning to understand you.”

”Don’t get excited.”

Raven continued reading.

The caravan wasn’t an isolated operation. The documents referenced warehouses, routes, batch numbers, and receiving marks. Several origins were coded, but one designation appeared repeatedly.

DV-NORTH.

Dunvar.

Raven was about to ask Valeria when she picked up something different.

A broken piece of metal.

”Raven.”

The tone was enough.

He set the documents aside and walked over.

Valeria was holding part of one of the hidden compartment’s locking mechanisms.

Black metal.

Not iron.

Not steel.

A faint blue-gray sheen ran beneath the surface.

Raven recognized it from the description before FORGE responded.

The interface appeared.

[Compatible Structural Material Detected.]

[Material Family:]

[BLACK MITHRIL.]

[Purity: LOW.]

[Refinement Quality: POOR.]

[Structural Integrity: MODERATE.]

[Prototype Rifle Relevance Detected.]

[Current Sample Unsuitable for Primary Barrel Construction.]

For several seconds, Raven stopped listening.

Black Mithril.

Valeria was still speaking.

”...shouldn’t be here.”

Raven looked up. ”Repeat that.”

She narrowed her eyes. ”You weren’t listening.”

”FORGE detected Black Mithril.”

Nyxara gave a low laugh. ”And suddenly we stopped mattering.”

”Temporarily.”

Valeria raised the piece. ”It’s low-purity Black Mithril. That’s exactly why this is strange. Even discarded material is regulated in Dunvar.”

Raven took the mechanism.

FORGE continued analyzing.

[Trace Composition Consistent with Northern Asterian Black Mithril Deposits.]

[Purity: 18.4%]

[Possible Origin:]

[DUNVAR Region — HIGH PROBABILITY.]

”Dunvar.”

Valeria nodded. ”Probably.”

Raven looked at the other containers.

Many had identical locking mechanisms.

They weren’t using Black Mithril for luxury.

They were using it because it interfered with mana.

Exactly why it worked so well in containers holding Bloodlines and magical organs.

And someone had enough access to the material to waste it on dozens of clandestine crates.

Nyxara moved closer. ”Does your strange ability want to eat the metal too?”

”No.”

”How disappointing.”

”It wants me to build with it.”

She looked at the mechanism. ”Is that better?”

”For the metal, probably not.”

Valeria ignored them and examined an engraving along the lock.

”There’s a refinery mark.”

Raven leaned closer.

Small.

Almost hidden between the runes.

A hammer driven through a mountain.

Four numbers beneath it.

Valeria recognized the symbol.

”Dunvar.”

”We already knew that.”

”No. I mean this was refined there. It wasn’t merely mined somewhere in the region.”

Raven understood the distinction.

Stolen ore could leave through any mine.

Refined metal created an industrial trail.

”So someone inside the system is diverting it.”

”Or someone important enough to purchase it without questions.”

Nyxara picked up one of the documents and scanned the lines. ”My next intermediary is also in Dunvar.”

Raven looked at her. ”Convenient.”

”For me, yes. For the person I’m going to find, probably not.”

Valeria crossed her arms. ”Who?”

”I don’t have a name yet.”

”Then you don’t have an intermediary.”

”I have a seal, three payment routes, and a man who still thinks I don’t know where he works.”

”That sounded considerably less impressive than the first version.”

Nyxara smiled. ”Are you always like this?”

Valeria held her gaze. ”Only when someone appears on top of a pile of corpses, admits to killing humans, steals mercenary badges, and starts talking as if traveling with us has already been decided.”

Nyxara blinked slowly. ”I hadn’t mentioned traveling together yet.”

”You were going to.”

”Interesting.”

Raven looked at Valeria. ”You’re getting good at that.”

”I’ve had weeks of practice with you.”

Nyxara watched the exchange with far too much interest.