Chapter 58: Greed Awakened

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Greed Awakened

Krono stepped closer, his shadow completely engulfing the kneeling farmer. The temperature around them plummeted, frosting the edges of the scorched craters left behind by the dragon fire.

​"I will grant you strength. But my generosity comes with three absolute laws. First, your mortal humanity dies today. You will no longer pity the weak, nor will you hesitate to slaughter those who stand in my way. Second, your loyalty belongs entirely and exclusively to me. If you ever harbor a single thought of betrayal, I will devour your soul so slowly that you will beg for the sweet release of hell. Third, you will consume absolutely everything I command you to consume. Wealth, flesh, magic, or entire kingdoms. You will become my ultimate weapon of acquisition."

​Elian did not tremble. The pathetic fear that had ruled his entire sixty years of mundane existence simply evaporated. The greedy landlords, the brutal tax collectors, the endless days of backbreaking labor in the mud, it all felt like a distant, meaningless dream.

He looked up into the terrifying, supernova eyes of the pale monster, then vowed,

​"I accept your terms, master. I have absolutely nothing left to lose. I willingly discard my humanity. Make me your weapon."

​Krono smiled widely,

​"Excellent. Then let us wake up the monster sleeping inside your fragile bones."

​Krono raised his right hand, and the air pressure in the ruined orchard instantly became suffocating.

Black Miasma erupted from his pale fingertips.

This was not normal elemental mana. It was the toxic, concentrated essence of the darkness itself. It was a highly corrosive, primordial energy that would melt an ordinary human into a puddle of black sludge in mere seconds.

​Without giving the old man a single moment to brace himself, Krono slammed his palm directly into Elian’s chest.

​The dark Miasma violently injected itself straight into the farmer’s heart.

​Elian threw his head back and unleashed a bloodcurdling scream.

"Arghhhhhhh!"

The agony was entirely beyond human comprehension. It felt as if boiling acid was being forcefully pumped through his fragile veins. Those Miasma violently tore apart his mundane mana pathways, completely destroying his human anatomy and aggressively rebuilding it from the inside out.

​His frail, withered muscles began to rapidly expand.

The loose, wrinkled skin on his arms tightened, turning a sickly shade of pale ash..

The loud popping and cracking of his mutating bones echoed sharply across the destroyed valley. His spine forcefully realigned, adding nearly two feet to his overall height.

​But the physical changes were absolutely nothing compared to the magical phenomenon occurring above him.

​The injected Miasma acted as a violent catalyst, forcefully cracking open the sealed core hidden deep within his mortal soul.

Hummmm!

A terrifying, dark golden aura erupted from Elian’s expanding body, shooting high into the crystal clear azure sky.

The intensity of the golden light created a massive vacuum, violently pulling the surrounding mana directly toward him.

​The lush green grass instantly withered and died.

The remaining apple trees turned into gray dust as Elian’s newly awakened core aggressively absorbed their remaining life force. He was passively devouring the raw energy of the world around him just by existing.

​"Yes, let the primordial hunger completely consume you!"

​Elian finally stopped screaming.

He slowly lowered his head and opened his eyes.

The muddy brown irises of a humble human farmer were completely gone. In their place burned two glowing, dark golden coins, swirling with bottomless, insatiable greed.

​The frail old man had completely vanished.

Kneeling in the dirt was a towering, ash gray humanoid radiating an aura of overwhelming avarice.

The Incarnation of Greed had finally opened its eyes to the world.

The towering ash-gray humanoid that used to be Elian remained kneeling in the ruined dirt. The glowing golden coins in his eyes spun with dark, fanatical reverence as he looked at Krono. The Incarnation of Greed had been born, but its absolute loyalty was permanently tethered to the pale monster standing before him.

​"Lead us to your settlement, Elian. We need geographical coordinates, and I am entirely tired of looking at this destroyed orchard."

​Elian stood up, his massive frame casting a long shadow over the scorched grass. He bowed deeply and immediately began walking down the winding dirt path toward the valley basin.

​Garth shook the loose rocks from his thick mossy scales.

The Mountain Dragon shrank his colossal sixty-meter body down to the size of a large siege wagon to avoid completely crushing the narrow canyon trail.

Nova hopped onto his broad back, her silver hair catching the morning wind as the bizarre group moved forward.

​The secluded farming village was exactly as pathetic as Krono expected.

​A cluster of rotting wooden huts and sinking mud roofs sat at the bottom of the valley. As the group approached the central square, the local peasants dropped their woven baskets and iron tools in absolute horror.

Mothers covered their children’s eyes. Grown men fell to their knees in the mud, trembling uncontrollably.

​They did not recognize the towering, ash-gray demon leading the group. They had absolutely no idea this terrifying monster of avarice was Elian, the frail man who had farmed potatoes on the hill just that morning.

​Krono ignored the terrified weeping. He had zero interest in ruling over dirt farmers. His goals were vastly larger. ℴ

​The Human Partition was unfathomably massive, violently divided into nine distinct continents separated by treacherous magical oceans. Krono needed to determine their exact landing coordinates. His original home kingdom, the treacherous empire that had betrayed him and thrown him into the abyss, was located on one of these nine landmasses. He fully intended to return there and burn their pristine capital city to the ground.

​But vengeance was secondary.

​Krono stared up at the crystal-clear azure sky, his supernova eyes narrowing. He needed to find his Master, Aurora.

​The memory of her cold, calculating magic and absolute brilliance burned vividly in his mind. She was the only entity in this entire miserable world who had ever earned his genuine respect. When he was weak, she had forged him into a weapon. Now that he was a god of the devourer, he needed to ensure her safety.

​Krono gestured casually toward the largest wooden structure in the village square.

​"Elian, Find the village elder. Extract a world map, or at least force him to tell us which of the nine continents we are currently standing on. If he lies to you, eat him."

​Elian smiled, revealing rows of jagged, ash-colored teeth. The primordial hunger radiating from his mutated body instantly froze the muddy puddles beneath his feet.

​"With pleasure, master," the monster of Greed hissed, stepping eagerly toward the trembling village elder.