Chapter 129: I Gave Up a 92% Compatible Trait… and My Rifle Reached 74.1%

Raven didn’t choose immediately.

Rain struck the Stormhorn Courser’s corpse, running over the plates of its opened chest and mixing with the blood pooled between the blades of grass. In his hands, the Pulse Core still held faint blue discharges that crawled along the silver fibers connected to the organ.

Two interfaces remained in front of him.

Predation wanted to consume it.

FORGE wanted to preserve it.

And for the first time since obtaining both Authorities, neither option was obviously superior.

Valeria remained crouched on the opposite side of the corpse. She had kept the tissue open during the extraction, but now the blood threads around her fingers hung motionless as she watched Raven.

"What does it offer you?"

Raven kept reading.

"Two options."

Valeria raised an eyebrow.

"I know that. I meant what you would actually gain if you chose Predation."

The interface responded almost as if it had heard her.

[DEVOUR Projection — "Kinetic Pulse."]

[Estimated Integration Success: HIGH.]

[Compatibility: 92%.]

[Potential Interaction: "Kinetic Acceleration" may evolve through repeated synchronization.]

[Burst Step efficiency projected to increase.]

[Physical strike acceleration available after successful adaptation.]

Raven spent several seconds processing the possibilities.

This wasn’t simply about running faster.

Kinetic Pulse stored part of the momentum generated by the body itself and allowed that force to be released in a chosen direction. In a Stormhorn Courser, it turned an ordinary gallop into absurd acceleration.

But Raven didn’t have four legs or the same body mass.

Predation wasn’t going to copy the Trait without adapting it.

It would make the ability his.

The possible applications came too easily.

He could accumulate momentum while running and discharge it through his legs to change direction without sacrificing speed. He could use Burst Step, recover part of the movement instead of losing everything when the Skill ended, then chain directly into another displacement.

He could release stored force through his shoulder or arm at the moment of impact.

Combined with Kinetic Acceleration, his body would stop being merely the platform from which he activated the Skill.

Even a modest improvement would be valuable.

The system was not describing a modest improvement.

Valeria caught something in his expression.

"It’s good."

Raven looked at her.

"Very."

"Better than you expected?"

"Yes."

He didn’t try to diminish it.

There was no point.

He had spent enough time with Valeria that pretending indifference would be more obvious than simply admitting interest.

Her eyes shifted toward the Pulse Core.

"What could you do with it?"

Raven raised one hand and moved his fingers slightly as he searched for the simplest explanation.

"The Courser stored part of the movement it was already generating, then released it. Predation thinks it can adapt that to my body. It wouldn’t just be speed. I could discharge momentum through my legs for acceleration, recover movement after Burst Step, or amplify physical strikes."

Valeria looked at his hand.

"Could your punches do what that Courser did every time it hit the ground?"

"Not at the same level immediately."

"I’m glad you added ’immediately.’"

Raven ignored the tone.

"It could also interact with Kinetic Acceleration. The system thinks that Skill might evolve with enough synchronization."

That erased the small smile from Valeria’s face.

"So you really want it."

Raven looked at the Pulse Core again.

"Yes."

The answer came immediately.

That seemed to surprise her more than the explanation itself.

Maybe because, weeks ago, Raven would have turned the answer into something clinical.

Efficient.

Compatible.

Increased combat capacity.

Now he didn’t need to hide the simpler truth.

He wanted it.

He could become stronger before the afternoon was over.

FORGE appeared beside Predation.

[HARVEST Projection — Projectile Acceleration System Available.]

[Core Compatibility: 96%.]

[Projectile Velocity Amplification: HIGH.]

[Reusable Kinetic Discharge Cycle: POSSIBLE.]

[Weapon Architecture Advancement: SIGNIFICANT.]

Valeria read Raven’s reaction even though she couldn’t see the interface.

"And that completes another part of the rifle."

"The fourth of five."

"How much would it advance?"

"FORGE won’t give me the final percentage until the component is preserved. But a lot."

Valeria glanced toward the open cavity in the Courser’s chest.

"You can find another one."

Raven slowly shook his head.

"Another Stormhorn Courser, yes."

"Then the choice isn’t completely irreversible."

"Not another Pulse Core with ninety-seven percent integrity, ninety-six percent kinetic retention, and this charge state without repeating the entire hunt."

He looked out across the plains.

The storm continued advancing.

Far in the distance, the rest of the Stormhorn herd had already disappeared beyond the hills.

"I’d have to locate another herd, find another Elite Courser with a sufficiently developed Core, wait for another opportunity to charge it through atmospheric electricity, and kill it without damaging the organ. That could take days. It could take weeks. And there would still be no guarantee I’d get one this good."

Valeria nodded slowly.

"But if you eat this one, you become stronger now."

"Yes."

"And if you preserve it, you stay exactly the same."

Raven lowered his gaze.

That was precisely what made the decision irritating.

There was no immediate personal reward in choosing HARVEST.

He could preserve the organ, seal it away, and stand up with exactly the same Skills he had possessed that morning.

Predator’s Instinct.

Stonehide.

Ember Spark.

Burst Step.

Kinetic Acceleration.

Predatory Regeneration.

Toxin Adaptation.

Nothing new.

If he chose DEVOUR, he could begin adapting a Trait before the day ended that fit almost perfectly into his existing combat style.

Predation displayed the projection again.

Raven let it remain.

Weeks ago, the decision would have been easy.

When he first woke in Veyr, every new ability meant survival. Every organ he devoured expanded the number of ways he could live through the next fight. A weapon that didn’t exist yet would have lost against an upgrade he could use immediately.

But FORGE was no longer theoretical.

Inside his luggage was an Arc Needle Queen organ capable of activating the weapon. A Deepwell Reservoir capable of storing mana safely. High-purity Black Mithril acquired after infiltrating a noble gala, uncovering a corruption network, and entering a mine that officially did not exist.

Three components.

Fifty-two point eight percent.

He had invested too much time, too many resources, and too many decisions into the project to continue treating it like a secondary curiosity.

Raven looked at the Core again.

"If I devour it, can FORGE recover the function later?"

The answer appeared immediately.

[Negative.]

[Trait source will be biologically assimilated.]

[Component integrity will be irreversibly lost.]

[Equivalent external source required for future FORGE integration.]

Raven exhaled.

"Naturally."

Valeria rested one forearm against her knee.

"You don’t have to build the rifle at any cost."

Raven looked up.

"No."

"That sounded suspiciously like you intend to do exactly that anyway."

"I didn’t say that."

"You didn’t need to."

Raven studied the organ for another moment.

"I also don’t need to eat every good ability I find."

Valeria smiled faintly.

"That does represent growth."

"That sounded condescending."

"It was a little condescending."

"Then everything is normal."

Her smile widened.

Raven returned his attention to the problem.

Predation did something extraordinary.

It made him stronger.

Every Trait he acquired expanded what he could accomplish with his own body. They were personal, adaptable, and difficult to take away from him. As long as Raven remained alive, those abilities remained with him.

FORGE did something different.

It allowed him to move power outside his body.

To turn biology into mechanisms.

Mechanisms into weapons.

And knowledge Veyr didn’t possess into something that could eventually exceed even the original design.

A Trait only made Raven more dangerous.

A design could be improved.

Repeated.

Adapted.

Once he understood how to integrate a Stormhorn Courser’s Pulse Core into an acceleration system, that knowledge wouldn’t disappear simply because he had finished one rifle.

He could apply it to another weapon.

Another design.

Something he hadn’t even imagined yet.

That was the difference.

If he devoured every exceptional organ simply because it could make him stronger immediately, FORGE would never become anything more than an interface that appeared shortly before Raven chose Predation.

And Raven already understood fairly well what he could do with more strength.

What he didn’t know yet was what he could do with a weapon this world had never built.

Valeria was still watching him.

"You already decided."

Raven didn’t ask how she knew.

"Yes."

"Which one?"

He looked at the DEVOUR projection one final time.

Ninety-two percent.

Excellent synergy.

Possible evolution of Kinetic Acceleration.

Improved Burst Step.

Amplified strikes.

It was a good Skill.

That was precisely why the decision mattered.

Raven selected the other option.

[HARVEST.]

For a fraction of a second, nothing happened.

Then Predation responded first.

["Kinetic Pulse" Assimilation Opportunity Forfeited.]

Raven stared at that single line.

There was no compensation.

No weaker Trait offered as a consolation prize.

No way to recover the decision.

The opportunity was simply gone.

Good.

That made the choice mean something.

FORGE took control immediately afterward.

[Stormhorn Courser Pulse Core Successfully Harvested.]

[Integrity: 97%.]

[Kinetic Retention: 96%.]

[Output Consistency: EXCELLENT.]

[Prototype Rifle Compatibility: 96%.]

[Preservation Protocol Available.]

The organ was no longer presented as food.

Now it was a component.

Raven followed FORGE’s instructions and finished separating the remaining conductive fibers in the required sequence. Valeria kept the cavity open while he carefully freed the Core without damaging the small blue crystals embedded around it.

Each severed fiber produced a weak contraction, as though the organ were still attempting to convert nonexistent movement into energy.

Once it was completely free, Raven held it in both hands.

It weighed less than he expected.

It still vibrated.

FORGE updated the project.

[PROJECT: PROTOTYPE RIFLE.]

[Completion: 52.8% → 74.1%.]

[Core Components: 4/5.]

[Projectile Acceleration System: AVAILABLE.]

[Activation System: AVAILABLE.]

[Stable Mana Storage: AVAILABLE.]

[Structural Barrel Material: AVAILABLE.]

[Remaining Core System: Pressure Containment.]

[Recommended Biological Analogue: "Pressure Chamber."]

[Known Source: Blastback Burrower.]

[Primary Habitat: KHARAD.]

Seventy-four point one percent.

Raven stared at the number.

The increase was larger than he had expected.

More than twenty percentage points.

The rifle was three-quarters of the way toward existing.

Not finished.

Not assembled.

Not tested.

But it no longer felt like an impossible idea FORGE was keeping alive through mathematical optimism.

Four of five.

Only one system remained.