Jari Virtus awoke to the taste of something vaguely metallic and the distinct sensation of being *wrong*. His last memory was of the scratchy wool blanket in his Forge Spire dorm, dreaming of baked river-eel pastries. Now, cool, damp air kissed his cheek, and the floor beneath him vibrated with a low, resonant thrum. His eyes fluttered open. He wasn't in his dorm. He wasn't even *outside*. Above him, instead of the familiar, stenciled ceiling, stretched an impossibly vast dome of mineral flesh. It pulsed with a soft, internal luminescence, casting violet and cerulean light across the hollow expanse. The walls, too, were faceted, weeping trails of viscous liquid that pooled along the floor. Jari pushed himself up, his head swimming. He touched a glassy nodule near him. It felt warm, strangely supple, and undeniably organic. The thrum mounted, a deep beat that shook his ribs. He realized that the ribbed vault wasn't hollow rock at all. It was a chamber, carved from living tissue. A *stomach*. And the thrum was a heartbeat, titanic in its scope. “Oh, sweet mother's breath,” Jari muttered, his voice a reedy whisper in the immense space. “Did I eat something truly awful last night? This is a bit much, even for a bad dream.” As if in response to his bewildered thought, a cascade of luminous script flared into existence directly before his eyes, burning against the violet light. [System of Gluttonous Ascension Activated. Welcome, Host. Let the feast begin.] Jari blinked. Then he blinked again. An interface? Like in those old, forgotten tales his grandmother used to whisper? But those were just stories, meant to scare children into not raiding the pantry late at night. He peered closer at the glowing text. *Gluttonous Ascension*. He snorted, a nervous, almost manic sound. “Well, at least it knows me. I *do* love a good meal.” The text pulsed, then shifted. [Host detected: Jari Virtus. Soul-Core Volume: 10 units. Current Soul-Core Charge: 3 units. Weakness: Pathetic. Potential: …Intriguing.] “Pathetic?” Jari’s brow furrowed. He was from a minor family, yes, and his soul-core *was* on the lower end for a Spire student, but ‘pathetic’ felt a bit harsh. He’d barely passed the entrance exams! Just then, a small, fist-sized mineral node detached itself from the vault wall with a soft *plink*, landing a few paces from him. It glowed with an internal, vibrant emerald light, casting stark shadows across the pulsing floor. It looked, impossibly, like a perfectly ripe, faceted fruit. [First Course: Glimmering Gastrolith. Consumption Recommended. Permanent Soul-Core Capacity Increase: +10 units. Warning: Irreversible.] Jari stared at the stone. His usual instincts, honed by years of surviving on meager family rations and scrounging for extra snacks, urged him to swallow it whole. The promise of an expanded core beckoned any Soul-Forger, let alone one like him who had barely cleared the threshold. Sirkka Kallio, the Golden Forger herself, boasted a baseline well of fifty units, and she was only a year ahead of him. “Irreversible, huh?” He walked toward the green jewel. He knelt and picked it up. It hummed in his hand, radiating a comforting warmth. It looked too beautiful to be edible, too perfect. But the entity had *recommended* it. He hesitated for only a fraction of a second, his mind flashing to Sirkka’s disdainful glance during the last forging practicum. He was always trying to impress her, to bridge the impossible gap between their stations. If this was a way… Without another thought, he bit into the emerald shard. His teeth met with unexpected resistance, a faint crunch that echoed in the silent chamber. A sharp, burning pain shot through his mouth, spreading down his throat like molten gold. He gasped, dropping to his knees, clutching his chest. The pain wasn’t just physical; it was *spiritual*. His soul-core, usually a dim spark, felt like it was being ripped apart and then meticulously re-stitched with fiery threads. An internal pressure built, threatening to burst him open. He saw stars, not from the cavern, but from within his own being. His body trembled, sweat beading on his forehead. The emerald gleam faded as he swallowed the last grinding piece. Then, silence. The pain receded, leaving behind a profound sense of *fullness*. Not the fullness of a satisfied stomach, but a deep, resonant expansion within his very soul. He felt a sudden swell of power, a wider well carved into his chest. [Soul-Core Capacity Increased: 10 -> 20 units. Soul-Core Charge: 3 units.] Jari stared at the floating script. He had doubled his baseline, just like that. *Doubled it!* Even the most potent Soul-Forging elixirs from the Elder Clans offered only a fractional, temporary boost, never permanent growth of this scale. But with the exhilaration came something else, something far more primal and terrifying. A gnawing emptiness bloomed in his stomach, not just his physical one, but in the expanded void of his soul. It was a hunger so profound, so agonizing, that it dwarfed any craving he’d ever known. It wasn’t for river-eel pastries or roast gristle-boar; it was a desperate, burning need for *more*. More power. More expansion. More *consumption*. His fingers shook from the sudden craving. He looked around the hollow belly, seeing the weeping seams and glassy wall facets as cuts of meat. He wanted to cry, to scream, to curl into a ball and wish this agonizing emptiness away. But then, a different emotion surged, cutting through the pain like a hot knife: a surge of insane, almost reckless joy. He had been given a path. A grotesque, dangerous, unbelievably powerful path. He, Jari Virtus, the dim-witted student from a minor family, was holding the key to a power beyond his wildest dreams. A laugh bubbled up, strained and a little unhinged, but undeniably genuine. It echoed through the massive chamber, bouncing off the pulsing walls. He wiped a tear from his eye, a mixture of pain and manic delight. “Sirkka Kallio,” he whispered to the warm air, a wild grin splitting his face. “I hope you’re hungry for a challenge. Because I’m starving.” As his words faded, the rhythmic thrum quickened. A low groan rolled through the chamber walls. On the largest, most distant facet of the belly, a colossal, spectral eye slowly cracked open. It stared down in silence, gold and ancient. [A new guest at the heart of the world. Trespasser or successor?]

The Glutton's Awakening