From raping, stealing, and murdering the weak and innocent without remorse to killing his family to monopolize the family wealth and plotting the demise of entire villages in order to provide crucial materials for the production of healing pills so that he could make hefty profit out of it.

Ashclaw committed all these sins simply because he believed he deserved the best.

There was no other reason.

Ray was certain of that.

After all, when he used Devour on Ashclaw's corpse, Ashclaw's entire life had unfolded before his eyes like a painting.

Although it happened in a blink of an eye, Ray gained an intimate understanding of Ashclaw.

Ashclaw was born with a silver spoon. He never faced hardship, never suffered. His family loved him too much. When he was just a mortal, they would help him get out of trouble each time he messed with the wrong person. When he grew up, luckily favoured him and his life got even better.

Basically, there wasn't a single event in his life that could justify the sinful things he had done.

He chose to do evil simply because he could.

He was a psychopath.

Ray had guessed it when he absorbed Torvin's memories.

Only a psychopath would raise their child to become a murderous maniac.

Absorbing fifty years' worth of such memories of such a psychopath was neither good nor without risk.

A mounrful howl tore through Ray's lips as absorbing Ashclaw's memories overwhelmed him with rage and fury beyond control.

And so—

While roaring like a beast, he slammed his head hard onto the ground again and again.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Each strike shook the ground, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the point of impact, soil bursting into the air.

The self-abuse quickly helped him regain some semblance of sanity, and as it continued, the storm of rage and chaos threatening to consume him was forced out, replaced by cold, focused clarity.

Right then.

Ray's headbanging frenzy finally came to an end, leaving a deep depression carved into the earth in its wake.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and exhaled deeply.

"Devour is not a skill to be used recklessly."

Once successfully used, the Devour skill dumped all of the target's memories directly into his mind.

If the target had done more good things in their life than bad, absorbing their memories wouldn't be much of a threat.

But if the target was an psychopath with a lot of blood on his hands like Ashclaw, it could do a lot of harm, influencing the mind negatively, triggering bouts of insanity.

"Although its risky to keep using it on bad guys, I can't stop here."

Ray clenched his fists.

He was going after some really bad guys. He needed their memories to put an end to their disgusting operations for good. As a result, he would have to use Devour at least two more times on beings even more depraved than Ashclaw to complete the quest.

He didn't know what he would become by then, but he knew one thing for certain.

It wouldn't be pretty!

********

Ashclaw was devoured, but his items were left behind.

Ray looted them all, obtaining the following things.

1× Magic Pouch

1× Teleportation Scroll

1× Wolf Star Amulet

Several silver and gold bank notes

And finally, a handful of magic power recovery pills

Since his arrival in this world, Ray had gone through enough trials to recognize these items at a glance.

The Magic Pouch was like an outdated version of his inventory and interspatial ring.The Teleportation Scroll could preserve one's life in dangerous situations.The Wolf Star Amulet gave him an advantage against Nisha, as it negated the effect of charm skills.

Unless it was a silver ranker, the Wolf Star Amulet would prove useful against charmers.

The skills of Silver rankers were fueled by soul power, making them incomparable to skills that relied on magic power. The Wolf Star Amulet was great, but it had no ability to block the powers of silver rankers.

Silver bank notes were worth one gold coin each, while gold bank notes could be traded for ten gold coins each. Ashclaw's loot contained over ten silver notes and three gold notes.

This wasn't Ashclaw's entire wealth. Just a small portion of it.

From Ashclaw's memories, Ray knew where to find the rest. Once he finished looting all the areas Ashclaw had hidden his wealth in, he would be a platinum and a half richer.

And if he assumed Ashclaw's identity and sold his mine? He could end up owning around three platinum bars.

Of course, Ray wasn't going to do that until he had explored the greatest secret hidden within Ashclaw's copper mine and milked it for all it was worth.

********

"Muri, come out," Ray commanded. It was time to push Muri to the bronze rank.

A silver-grey light burst from his forehead, striking the ground before swelling into the shape of the Metal King Slime.

"Muri!" The Metal King Slime bounced excitedly, greeting Ray the moment it appeared.

Ray had helped it take revenge against the evildoers who had invaded its home and threatened its life, and for that, Muri was forever grateful.

The monster liked him greatly.

Such emotional displays were rare among wild demonic creatures, yet nothing unusual for tamed beasts. Most tamers shared an intimate bond with their companions, treating one another not as master and servant, but as family.

"I am going to upgrade you. Do you understand what I am saying?" Ray used the soul link that had established between them when he tamed it to relay his intention to Muri.

Muri bounced once, bubbling up with anticipation. If it hadn't heard him wrong, bronze rank was within its reach.

At the peak iron rank, it could already hold its own against bronze rankers. How strong would it become once it reached bronze? Muri couldn't wait to find out.

"System, upgrade Muri." Ray dared to do it because he had reasons to be confident.

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