Chapter 187: I Ate a Holy Beast and Stole Its Sanctuary

Raven raised an eyebrow slightly.

Valeria noticed.

"I don’t like that expression either."

"It can evolve."

"How?"

Predation answered before Raven could speculate.

[Potential Future Adaptation Vectors:]

— Partial movement retention.

— Controlled termination.

— Directional discharge.

— Selective energy routing.

Raven studied the possibilities.

Those fit him much better.

Becoming completely immobile for six seconds was an excellent way to survive lethal damage.

It was also an excellent way to give every nearby enemy time to prepare for the moment those six seconds ended.

The Hound’s version was defensive by nature, designed to preserve its life, endure punishment, and retaliate against anything foolish enough to keep attacking.

Raven didn’t fight that way.

Neither did Predation.

But that was a problem for later.

First, he needed to acquire the Trait.

Raven picked up the knife.

Valeria closed her eyes.

"Of course."

The gland had been the worst part in terms of taste.

The motor-seal fibers were worse in texture.

Raven preferred not to think about that too much.

He cut only the structures Predation marked. Nothing more. A distributed ability didn’t require him to eat the entire animal, only the tissues responsible for reproducing its function.

The thoracic channels had the consistency of tendons made far too dense. The fibers surrounding the spine were thin and pale, while the small structures embedded inside the white plates resembled crystallized cartilage.

Valeria watched for the first few minutes.

Then she stopped.

Roland lasted longer.

That probably said concerning things about him.

Radiant Metabolism began working almost immediately. The next pieces still burned on the way down, but less than before.

Not much less.

Enough for Raven to notice.

[Trace Sacred Mana Metabolized.]

[Energy Recovery: 0.3%.]

Raven blinked.

Very little.

Perfect.

He had no interest in gaining a Trait that encouraged him to recharge by letting priests attack him.

The resistance was equally minor. The sacred tissue still damaged him, and Predatory Regeneration still had to compensate, but his body no longer treated every trace of sacred mana as something completely alien.

It was learning.

When Raven swallowed the last structure Predation had marked, the system responded.

[Required Structures Acquired.]

[Beginning Distributed Trait Reconstruction.]

Raven felt the change begin in his chest.

Then his spine.

After that came something stranger in his muscles and joints.

It wasn’t exactly pain.

It felt like restriction, as though his body were learning how to lock itself into place.

Valeria noticed him tense.

"What now?"

"Integration."

"That continues to be a terrible answer."

The sensation intensified.

Predation reorganized what was already there rather than creating visible new organs. Mana channels, connective tissue, and nervous responses shifted to reproduce the Hound’s function without turning Raven into one.

Then the system confirmed it.

[Distributed Sacred Trait Reconstruction Successful.]

[TRAIT ACQUIRED.]

[PENANCE SANCTUARY — Lv.1.]

Raven read the details.

[Activation Type: AUTOMATIC.]

[Trigger Condition: LETHAL PHYSIOLOGICAL DAMAGE.]

[Duration: 6.0 Seconds.]

[Movement: PROHIBITED.]

[Damage Storage Capacity: Dependent on Host Durability, Mana Capacity, and Trait Development.]

[Release: OMNIDIRECTIONAL.]

[Manual Activation: UNAVAILABLE.]

[Manual Termination: UNAVAILABLE.]

[Biological Recovery Requirement: HIGH.]

[Repeated Activation Before Adequate Recovery: UNAVAILABLE.]

Another notification appeared.

[Predatory Integration Modifier Applied.]

[Original Sacred Loyalty Imprint: REMOVED.]

Raven paused.

That was interesting.

Valeria noticed immediately.

"What?"

"The Hound had something integrated into the structure related to obedience."

"Of course it did."

"Predation removed it."

Roland moved a little closer.

"So the Trait isn’t going to make you obey the Church?"

Raven looked at him.

"I wasn’t planning to test that."

"I’m glad."

Valeria kept studying him.

"Can you activate it?"

"No."

"It doesn’t work?"

"It only activates if I’m about to die."

Silence.

Roland spoke first.

"Then I strongly recommend that we don’t test it."

Raven nodded.

"Agreed."

Valeria narrowed her eyes.

"That was unexpectedly sensible."

"I don’t need to personally test everything."

She stared at him.

Raven kept a straight face.

Roland started laughing.

"You almost managed to say that without lying."

The corpse was considerably less useful by the time Raven finished.

Not destroyed, but enough internal structures were missing that any competent priest would immediately recognize it had been dissected.

Raven cleaned the knife.

Valeria looked at what remained.

"When Elise arrives, she’s going to ask what you did."

"Yes."

"What are you going to tell her?"

"The truth."

Roland raised an eyebrow.

"That’s new."

"There’s no point lying if she can recognize the corpse."

Valeria folded her arms.

"The complete truth?"

Raven put the knife away.

"Depends on the question."

"There he is."

Raven reviewed what had changed.

Predation Lv.4.

Sacred Structures.

Radiant Metabolism.

Penance Sanctuary.

Four levels gained from the Hound the previous day, followed by an entirely new biological category today.

It was too much progress to dismiss.

Yet none of those things concerned Raven as much as what they implied.

He had arrived in this world assuming Predation had limits.

Monsters.

Humans.

Mutated creatures.

Mana-bearing organisms capable of providing useful biological functions.

That made sense.

Even FORGE operated within rules Raven could understand.

Material.

Function.

Design.

The Church used another word.

Sacred.

Not as a biological description, but as a moral category.

Something elevated.

Separate.

Something that should not be compared to ordinary flesh.

Raven looked at what remained of the Consecrated Lumen Gland.

Predation had shown no reverence.

It had recognized no divinity.

It had simply encountered a structure it couldn’t understand.

Then it had studied it.

Adapted to it.

Consumed it.

The conclusion was simple.

Sacred things could be food too.

Raven remained quiet.

That changed quite a lot.

Valeria watched him.

"You’re thinking too much."

"Yes."

"Want to share?"

Raven indicated the corpse.

"The Church considers it sacred."

"Because it is."

"Predation doesn’t."

She frowned slightly.

Raven continued.

"To Predation, ’sacred’ was just another category it couldn’t analyze yet."

Roland looked at the Hound.

"And now it can."

"Yes."

Valeria took a moment to understand where his thoughts were going.

"You’re thinking about other sacred creatures."

"Among other things."

She studied him more carefully.

"Raven."

"I’m not planning to eat a temple."

Roland started laughing.

Valeria closed her eyes.

"The problem is that you felt the need to clarify that."

Raven reopened the system interface.

[PREDATION Lv.4.]

[Unlocked Biological Categories:]

[Standard Biological Structures.]

[Mutated Structures.]

[Magically Adapted Structures.]

[Human Biological Structures.]

[SACRED STRUCTURES.]

Then a new line appeared beneath the list.

[Additional Categories May Exist.]

Raven went still.

That mattered too.

Predation wasn’t revealing the full extent of its limits.

It was admitting that it didn’t know what those limits were yet.

Raven closed the window.

"We’re done."

Roland pointed toward the remains.

"What do we do with the rest?"

"Preserve it."

Valeria looked at him.

"Why?"

Raven picked up the Order of Penance collar.

"Because Elise still needs to see what they sent after me."

"And now half its anatomy is missing."

"I don’t need it to look intact."

Roland examined the table.

"That would be difficult to hide anyway."

"I’m not hiding it."

Valeria’s smile developed slowly.

"You want to see her reaction when she discovers you ate part of one of her Church’s sacred creatures."

Raven considered that.

"Also."

"That wasn’t the answer I expected."

"I want to know what she recognizes."

That was the real reason.

If Elise was a Champion, if she understood Penance Hounds, and if she knew more about Sacred Structures than Raven did, then her reaction would provide information.

Valeria shook her head.

"Sometimes I forget you can turn a conversation into reconnaissance."

"It’s useful."

"It’s exhausting."

Roland opened the door.

"I’m going to find food."

Raven looked at him.

"We just ate."

Roland looked at the corpse.

"You just ate."

"Correct."

"I need something that hasn’t been blessed."

He left.

Valeria started to follow, then stopped at the doorway.

"Raven."

He looked up.

"When Elise arrives, try not to immediately tell her that her sacred flesh was nutritious."

Raven considered the statement.

"It wasn’t nutritious."

Valeria stared at him.

"That is exactly what I want you to avoid."

She left.

Raven remained alone with the corpse.

A faint trace of light still lingered within the remaining section of the gland.

The Church could call it blessing.

Miracle.

Purity.

Grace.

Predation had used a different word.

Biology.

And now it knew how to digest it.