It seemed like both the demon and Théoden had similar aligning thoughts, in some way. The void in Théoden's stomach only grew at an alarming rate. He felt the constricting and twisting of his intestines and organs. His lips were salivating a little and his throat felt parched as if deprived of water for a long time. These were severe signs of starvation as his eyes looked nothing but hungry.

The demon looked like a dish in front of a starved person. Not the best dish but beggars couldn't be choosers, could they? This was exactly the situation.

A light shot out of Théoden and a thick light gray fog encircled the demon enough to just see its silhouette. In its confusion, it slowly and painfully disintegrated. It crumbled and fell apart, similar to being eroded.

"How? Human...Impossi..."

The demon died trying to utter something along the words but had completely disintegrated before it could finish. It didn't get enough time to even react as it completely vanished. Its words were unfortunately not passed on to its recipient who was in a trance-like salivatory state.

Théoden saw the demon turn into nothingness leaving a small red bead behind. Only it fell to the ground where the demon last stood, and the red ball flew and disappeared a close distance to Théoden.

'The look on its face was priceless. Hahaha.'

Théoden was confused but was also ecstatic. He was on cloud nine. Maybe it was because the threat to his life was eliminated or a far more venomous reason. He had no idea what had happened and he didn't care less what had. He was only glad of the fact that the abhorrent demon was erased from existence. However, his heart calmed in both relief and joy.

A warm smile appeared on his face a bit uncharacteristic of the scenery. The blood stained the ground from the wounds earned from battle. Nevertheless, he felt the joy of victory and achievement at the moment. The fact that he survived was the fact that he had worn the war.

He panted softly but deeply as he fell on his back looking at the already dark sky. The beauty of it was truly always remarkable. There wasn't anything like it, he would swear on that. Nothing he had seen in his life.

The light that had shot out returned and entered his chest area leaving a warm tingling feeling. It was denser and held a deep shade of red. Théoden was too tired to care about its origin or the reason it was that shade.

[Host has devoured the unranked demon.]

[The vitality in the demon is being transferred to the Host.]

[health has risen]

[Gained Intelligence +3]

[Gained mana +4]

[Gained stamina +2]

[Gained Strength +2]

[Gained Dexterity +4]

[Wounds (internal & external) are being healed.]

The pain Théoden was in slowly began to fade away as if it wasn't there. He didn't see it, but the cuts on his skin were mending while leaving no scars, just the residue of the already-dried blood. They happened with a tingling feeling like thousands of small ants eating away at him. It was a torturous but rewarding process. The recovery rate was at a rate that could be observed by normal human sight. It was an abnormally rapid recovery rate.

Théoden's eyes were heavy with fatigue and sleepiness. His mind was too exhausted to register anything other than his life was no longer in danger. With relaxation came all the tension from the fight being released at once. His eyes tried to resist the urge but he couldn't.

'I want to rest.'

[The demon core has been placed in the storage space]

[You have met the conditions to advance the authority]

[The omnipotent system upgrading and updating]

[Process: 0.2%]

After the torture, Théoden felt a warm embrace of the vitality he had absorbed. Like in the middle of a soft warm cotton ball. Just like that, he fell asleep in the sweet embrace of the warmth while in the cold night.

The next day greeted Théoden with a stiff body. His tense muscles were screaming with pain all over. Most of all, he couldn't believe he was alive in the first place. He had received many heavy injuries resulting in him checking his body first thing in the morning.

'W-what? Was it a dream? No...It can't be.'

However, there was no wound on his body which made him almost think it was a dream only if the blood stains weren't there. There were exactly at the places he was hurt making him believe something must have happened. He was confused and awestruck but he couldn't help but feel a bit of fear deep down.

He tried remembering. The last of his memories was seeing the demon's surprised face as it vanished into nothingness and the night sky after sunset.

[System update is complete]

[Your health has been fully restored.]

[Skills: Devour. Grade 3 unlimited growth. Type: Active skill. Description: Consumes a living creature's vitality. The host may gain healing of internal and external injuries in correspondence to the vitality absorbed. Assimilation of the core characteristics if absorbed. Can gain stats of the absorbed to a certain degree of difference in strength.]

A message Théoden stared at for a long time before understanding what had occurred and why it had occurred. It was abnormal for all the injuries he gained the previous night to suddenly heal for no reason. However, he wondered what 'assimilation' was.

That didn't answer the pain he was feeling all over his muscles. The cramps from the fight.

'I guess even with the system it doesn't take away the natural body biological activities and reactions like muscle pain and fatigue.'

Théoden was curious about something else. The thing called Authority. This was something that he had not come to understand yet.

What was Authority?