Chapter 48:Sin of Gluttony:Awakening in the Bamboo Grove

The night after the Fountain of Immortality incident, everything had changed—but not in the way Lucifer expected.

Instead of ascending... he had fallen.

Lucifer sat in a dim wooden room, flexing his fingers as a strange new interface flickered in front of him.

"Chirin... what the hell is this so-called skill creation panel?"

A cold mechanical voice responded instantly.

SYSTEM PROMPT: You can craft skills.

Lucifer froze for half a second.

"...Holy shit."

Chirin sighed from his blade form. "Here we go again."

Lucifer's grin slowly widened. "I can create my own skills now?"

SYSTEM PROMPT: One skill can be crafted per realm. Requirements: sufficient points and deep conceptual understanding.

Lucifer clicked his tongue. "Of course there are restrictions..."

Chirin replied dryly, "If there weren't, you'd already be a walking apocalypse."

Lucifer didn't even argue. "So I can only create one skill right now?"

SYSTEM PROMPT: Correct.

Lucifer leaned back. "Then all I need is karma points."

Chirin narrowed his tone. "And knowledge of what you're creating."

Lucifer waved his hand. "I already have the perfect idea."

That was when he stood up.

"We're going out."

Chirin sighed. "Where now?"

Lucifer's eyes gleamed faint red. "To the bamboo grove forest near the Demonic Cult border."

"...Why?"

Lucifer smiled. "Points."

Chirin paused. "And how exactly are you planning to get those?"

Lucifer answered like it was obvious.

"By killing things."

Chirin deadpanned. "You're in a broken body with a shattered dantian."

Lucifer stretched his shoulders. "That's why we farm outside the danger zone first. Weak monsters. Easy kills. Then we go deeper."

Chirin went silent for a moment.

"...You're insane."

Lucifer grinned. "No. I'm efficient."

They moved.

The bamboo forest greeted them with unnatural silence—too calm for a place rumored to devour cultivators.

And then—

goblins.

Dozens of them.

Lucifer exhaled.

"Perfect."

He moved instantly.

Steel flashed.

Blood painted the bamboo.

Chirin cut through enemies like black lightning, while Lucifer moved with brutal efficiency—no wasted motion, no hesitation.

Within minutes, the ground was a carpet of corpses.

Lucifer dusted his hands.

"See? Easy."

Chirin suddenly noticed something strange.

"...I changed."

Lucifer glanced at his sword.

Its blade had darkened—black and crimson veins pulsing faintly like it was alive.

Then he looked at his reflection in a shallow pool.

Black hair. Crimson eyes. Blood on his cheek like paint.

Lucifer smirked.

"...I look like a demon now."

Without hesitation, he cut his hair short with Chirin and tied the rest back.

"Better."

Chirin groaned. "I'm a sword, not a barber."

Lucifer ignored him. "Focus. We're almost there."

A notification flickered.

SYSTEM PROMPT: Sufficient points accumulated. Skill creation available.

Lucifer's eyes sharpened.

"Perfect."

He didn't hesitate.

"I want a skill that absorbs inner energy from dead enemies."

Chirin narrowed. "That sounds suspiciously like something the demonic cult already uses."

Lucifer shrugged. "Exactly. But I can't learn theirs right now."

SYSTEM PROMPT: Name the skill.

Lucifer smiled.

"...Sin of Gluttony."

Chirin went silent.

"...That name sounds like trouble."

SYSTEM PROMPT: Skill created — SIN OF GLUTTONY

Effect: Absorb 20% of target's inner energy upon death.

Chirin frowned. "That's... weak."

Lucifer shook his head. "It will evolve."

He stepped onto the pile of corpses.

"Absorb."

The forest shuddered.

Invisible energy surged into him like a flood tearing through blocked rivers.

Lucifer's body convulsed.

Every sealed meridian burned open.

His shattered dantian cracked—

then reformed.

Chirin widened slightly. "You're crazy..."

Lucifer breathed heavily, laughing through the pain.

"...This is nothing."

He stood again.

"Dantian isn't fixed."

A pause.

"It's stronger."

Then—

a voice.

"Kyaaaaa—!"

A girl collapsed nearby.

Lucifer blinked. "Why is she fainting?"

Chirin sighed. "You literally bathed in a mountain of corpses and demonic energy."

Lucifer shrugged. "Fair."

He woke her casually.

She trembled, staring at him like a monster in human skin.

In her mind:

This man slaughtered everything without hesitation... and he's smiling?

Lucifer tilted his head.

"What's your name?"

"H-Hua..."

"You came here for what?"

"Bamboo... elixir..."

She explained quickly—about the rare spiritual bamboo, the condensed essence, the monsters guarding it, and how cultivators died trying to reach the core.

Lucifer listened quietly.

Then—

"Okay. You can leave."

Hua froze. "...Just like that?"

Lucifer waved her off. "Don't die again."

She ran without looking back.

Silence returned.

Chirin spoke first.

"...So we going deeper?"

Lucifer's eyes sharpened toward the forest's core.

"Yeah."

A faint smile formed.

"Because now I know exactly where the real treasure is."

Chirin sighed.

"...You didn't even hesitate."

Lucifer stepped forward.

"I don't hesitate in worlds like this."

And with that—

they walked into the darkness of the bamboo forest.