The feast concluded with a sense of deep, communal satisfaction. Ignis lay on her back, rubbing her scaled belly with a contented sigh. «That was the first time food ever tasted... good. Alice, you should store some for later!»

Alice, meticulously cleaning a paw, shot her a withering look. «Why should my Void Locker become your personal larder? If we are hungry, we hunt. That is the way of things.»

«But what if we can't find food that tastes this good?!» Ignis pleaded, rolling onto her stomach.

«Then you will eat what we find, as always,» Alice retorted, though her tone lacked its usual sharpness. The meal had put her in a marginally better mood.

Lilith, observing Adam's pensive silence as he gazed at the now-calm lake, skittered closer. «You seem nervous. Something's wrong?»

Adam blinked, refocusing his galactic eyes. "No. Just thinking. The guardian is gone. Its treasure is unclaimed. I'm going down to retrieve it."

«Good move. But be careful. The death of a Dungeon Lord creates a power vacuum. There might be a monster targeting you,» Lilith cautioned.

Adam nodded. He then glanced at Ignis and Alice, who were still engaged in a circular argument about food hoarding. "Lilith, keep an eye on those two. Make sure they don't burn down the cave."

«I will keep an eye on them so don't worry,» Lilith replied, a hint of dry amusement in her psychic voice.

Adam turned and slid back into the violet-hued water. He recalled the Kraken's movements during the fight, it had always orbited and protected a specific, deeper section of the lakebed. Using that memory and his Hunter's Tri-Sense, he navigated the gloomy depths.

The remaining eel-creatures scattered at his approach, sensing the apex predator aura that had just slain their master. Other aquatic predators, shadowy shapes in the periphery, kept their distance, watching with cold, wary eyes. They offered no challenge.

Soon, he found it. Resting on a bed of silt and ancient bones was a lone chest. It was not ornate, but made of a dark, waterlogged wood bound with tarnished silver. It looked surprisingly small compared to the guardian. Adam carefully took it in his jaws, ensuring his grip was firm but not crushing, and powered back towards the surface.

He breached the water and hauled the chest onto the shore with a soft thud. Ignis immediately bounced over. «Ooh! Treasure! Shiny treasure box!»

«It appears your retrieval was uneventful. A positive sign,» Lilith noted.

Adam set the chest down, a frown creasing his features. "It's too light. Almost feels empty. Did something beat us to it? Or was it a decoy?"

«Stop speculating and open it,» Alice said, curiosity finally overriding her aloofness as she padded closer. «Only fools debate a locked box's contents.»

«Yeah! Open it, Adam! Open it!» Ignis chanted, hopping from one foot to the other.

Adam nodded then he wedged the tip of his tail into the gap under the lid of the chest, and with a controlled flex, pried it open. The rusted latch gave way with a soft crack.

It was not a crown of gold or jewels. It seemed forged from a dull, greyish metal, perhaps iron or lead. Its design was simple yet unsettling: a circlet with five blunt, tooth-like prongs. It radiated a palpable, hollow hunger.

[ Item Identified: Crown of the Hollow Glutton - Legendary Artefact ]

[ This crown feeds on essence and ambition. It stores consumed souls to fuel its dormant authorities.]

[ Authority Unlocked: Domineering Will - 0/1000 Souls]

[ Ability: Exert crushing psychic pressure to intimidate, paralyze, or command weaker wills. Can physically repel or attract objects within a short range based on mental focus.]

[ Authority Locked: Avarice's Maw - 0/10000 Souls]

[ Ability: Store physical objects within a metaphysical stomach. Capacity and retrieval speed scale with soul investment.]

[ Authority Locked: Soul-Devourer's - 0/100000 Souls]

[ Ability: Upon defeating a sentient being, you may choose to devour its soul essence. Grants a chance to acquire one of its skills or traits. Maximum of 3 stolen skills/traits held at once. Skills can be replaced.]

A heavy silence fell over the group as Adam mentally relayed the system's information. The crown sat there, innocuous yet dripping with sinister potential.

Ignis was the first to speak, her voice a whisper. «Whoa... it eats souls? That's... kind of dark. But it can store things! Like a treasure belly!»

«A 'treasure belly' is the least of its functions,» Lilith said, her voice hushed with fascination and a hint of dread. «Intimidation and the theft of skills... This is not a tool for a hero. This is the artifact of a tyrant, an emperor of the deep places.»

«It is powerful,» Alice stated, her purple eyes fixed on the crown, her tail twitching. «And dangerous. That third authority... to steal the skills of the fallen. That is a power that could corrupt anyone. To see a desirable skill and then kill for it...»

Adam stared at the Crown of the Hollow Glutton. It was a key to immense power, but one that demanded a terrible price. It didn't just require souls; it required him to farm souls, to see living beings as nothing but fuel and skill repositories. It was the ultimate embodiment of the dungeon's ruthless logic.

Adam stared at the Crown of the Empty Glutton, his mind in turmoil. The third authority, Soul-Devourer's Privilege, was eerily familiar. It mirrored his own system's method of gaining Skill Fragments from consumed foes, but with one critical difference: choice.

His system was random, granting fragments based on what he ate. This crown would let him select the exact skill or trait he wanted from a fallen enemy. It was horrifyingly efficient. A tool for crafting the perfect set of abilities, a predator's ultimate cheat sheet.

"And the souls it needs... 'sentient beings'," he mused aloud. "That probably means anything with a will, a sense of self. Monsters, humans... Dungeon Lords. It doesn't specify alignment, just sentience. We've been harvesting EP and fragments from them already. This would just... formalize it. Make it a deliberate harvest." The moral line felt thin, but in the dungeon's calculus, it was a logical step.

Ignis piped up, her eyes wide as she stared at the dull crown. «Are you gonna wear it, Adam? It looks... scary.»

Adam glanced at her, seeing the poorly-hidden glint of curiosity and want in her draconic eyes. Before he could answer, Alice interjected, swatting Ignis's snout lightly with a shadow-tipped paw.

«Don't be absurd, you walking furnace. This is clearly for Adam. The crown demands a wielder with the strength to gather the souls it craves and the will not to be consumed by its greed. Who else here fits that description?» Her tone was final, but there was a protective edge to it.

Ignis deflated, scuffing a claw on the ground. «I was just asking... It's not like I wanted to wear a soul-eating crown or anything...» she mumbled, the lie transparent.

Adam let out a soft chuckle, a warm rumble in his chest. He leaned down and nudged Ignis's head affectionately with his snout. "Don't worry. If this dungeon has one legendary artifact, it might have others. I'll keep an eye for you. Just be patient."

Ignis immediately perked up, her fiery enthusiasm returning. «Really? You promise?!»

«And what of the rest of us?» Alice asked, her voice deceptively smooth, though her tail gave a single, telling flick «Are we to be left with mere scraps while you two adorn yourselves with dungeon finery?»

Adam turned his head, a gleam of amusement in his galactic eyes. "Of course not. I will give you the artifact when it fits." He made sure to meet Lilith's many-eyed gaze as well.

Lilith gave an elegant, approving dip of her cephalothorax. «Fufu... A very fair promise. I'll be looking forward to getting a decent accessory.»

Satisfied for now, Adam returned his attention to the crown. The potential was too great to ignore, and the first ability, Domineering Will, could be immediately useful for crowd control and exploration. He needed to know how it felt.

He focused on the artifact. A system prompt appeared in his vision, superimposed over the physical crown.

[ Bind to Legendary Artefact: Crown of the Hollow Glutton? ]

[ Warning: Binding is permanent. Artefact will respond to wielder's will and hunger. ]

[ Yes / No ]

'No going back,' Adam thought. But when had he ever chosen to go back? He mentally selected [ Yes].

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the dull, leaden metal of the crown shivered. Like dust being blown off a long-buried statue, a transformation occurred. The grey metal brightened to a dark, polished iron. The blunt, tooth-like prongs sharpened subtly, gleaming with a faint, inner edge. Intricate, almost invisible etchings swirled across its surface—tiny, hungry mouths and grasping tendrils. It didn't glow, but it now radiated a quiet, profound presence. An aura of latent authority and insatiable appetite settled around Adam, a subtle pressure that made the air feel heavier.

The crown lifted from the velvet, floated through the air, and settled itself upon the ridge of horns and scales between Adam's galactic eyes. It fit perfectly, as if it had been forged for him. A new line appeared in his status.

[ Artefact Equipped: Crown of the Hollow Glutton (Bound) ]

[ Current Souls: 0 ]

[ Active Authority: Domineering Will (0/1000) - Inactive ]

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