Orion suddenly opened his eyes.
A burning itch rose in his throat, and he coughed violently.
As far as his eyes could see, it was still the familiar, dirty, and narrow scene of Belobog's Lower District.
The terrifying power of the Stellaron Hunter, "The One," which had just controlled billions of insect swarms and devoured stars and seas, had vanished completely, leaving not even a trace.
In its place, the familiar hunger returned, once again burning his stomach.
Clearly, a piece of moldy bread was far from enough to fill the stomach of a child who had been starving for three days.
This drastic difference left Orion feeling a bit disoriented.
"Damn it... that was too intense," he muttered, raising a hand to rub his throbbing temples.
But he had to admit, the first simulation was quite exhilarating.
He got to experience what it was like to be a Stellaron Hunter, even if the ending became a bit strange.
However, the outcome was good.
Although he was still beaten down by the protagonist group of cheaters, he ultimately managed a desperate counterattack.
He merged with the power of Nurturing, stuffing them all into the mouths of insects and chewing them to pieces!
Now that's a villain!
Satisfying!
Of course, the most crucial thing was the Villain Points!
"System, settle the rewards!"
In his mind, the cold system prompt sounded at just the right moment.
[Overall simulation evaluation: Universe-Destroying Level!]
[You conquered the universe, but ultimately lost yourself. When the locusts of order inevitably swept across the entire cosmos as a disaster, your meaning as a villain was lost. Regardless of whether people resisted or not, they could only accept that outcome. You brought people into a beautiful dream, but they did not thank you. Your sister, Robin, even hated you for becoming a Stellaron Hunter... When people reunited with their families in the beautiful dream, only she lost her brother forever.]
[Evaluation Reward: Villain Points + 1000.]
[Final Settlement: A total of 3000 Villain Points were obtained in this simulation.]
[Simulation rewards settlement complete.]
[Based on this simulation's evaluation, the host will receive one opportunity to permanently exchange a [Gold and below] Word Devouring from the initial three talents for free, and can use Villain Points to exchange for other Word Devouring or items that appeared in this simulation.]
[Would you like to view the reward list and proceed with the exchange now?]
"View!" Orion said without hesitation.
The translucent interface in front of him refreshed, displaying the reward list.
[Free Word Devouring, choose one of three:]
[Talent on the Left (Purple): Talent on the Left, Madman on the Right. Your way of viewing the world is different from ordinary people. You are more likely to perceive the logic and loopholes behind rules, contracts, and systems. You are adept at identifying and exploiting others' weaknesses.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 4500 points.]
[Eloquent Speech (Blue): You are naturally skilled at saying things that please others, and adept at making black sound white. Inciting others is easier for you to succeed at and harder to be seen through.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 2500 points.]
[Word Devouring (Gold): When you personally kill a target, there is a certain chance to capture a random Word Devouring they possess.]
[Captured Word Devouring are temporary (effects last from hours to days), but there is a chance they can directly convert into permanent Word Devouring.]
[You can choose to load the captured Word Devouring onto your own template.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 20000 points.]
Did he even need to choose?
Eloquent Speech and Talent on the Left were indeed good, one blue and one purple.
But compared to the golden Word Devouring?
They were nothing!
Killing and plundering, seizing others' abilities to strengthen himself, growing infinitely!
How could a villain not have this!
This was it!
It had to be Word Devouring!
[Selection confirmed. The golden Word Devouring [Word Devouring] has been permanently loaded onto the host's template.]
A strange sensation flowed through his body... as if something had been added within him.
Orion nodded in satisfaction, turning his gaze to the Word Devouring available for exchange with points.
[Word Devouring list available for exchange in this simulation:]
[Gambler's Luck (Purple)]
[Captured from: Aventurine]
[Effect: When undertaking high-risk endeavors, success rate can be forcibly increased by 50%, but if it fails, the consequences may double.]
[Note: The original success rate of this matter cannot be lower than 10% (Cooldown: 48 hours).]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 5000 points.]
[Sneak Attack (Blue)]
[Effect: Enhances the next attack, dealing super high additional damage, with a chance to apply a defense reduction effect.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 2000 points.]
[Stellaron Hunter (Purple)]
[Captured from: Trailblazer (as a vessel of Stellaron)]
[Effect: Contains a Stellaron. Specific abilities are unknown, but if you die, you can blow up surrounding planets with you.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 10000 points.]
[One-Slash Termination (Red)]
[Captured from: Acheron (as a Nihility Emissary)]
[Effect: Drains 99% of stamina and spirit to unleash a reality-tearing slash, with a high probability of directly erasing the target's existence (effects are reduced against those close to or above the Emissary level).]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 30000 points.]
[Insect Swarm (Red)]
[Source: Nurturing]
[Effect: Summons a limited-proliferation Imaginary Insect Swarm (initial 50, maximum 500). Insect Swarm attacks come with 'Infection'. Unlucky individuals bitten to death have a 10% chance of turning into new insects.]
[Villain Points required for exchange: 40000 points.]
Orion's gaze was fixed on the exchange list.
Especially those two glaring red Word Devouring.
Holy cow!
One-Slash Termination? Acheron's drawn sword strike?!
And Insect Swarm? Even the Nurturing Word Devouring was available?!
But, one was thirty thousand, the other forty thousand...
His current Villain Points weren't even a fraction of that!
No choice.
He reluctantly tore his gaze away from the two red Word Devouring.
Looking at the other Word Devouring.
Adding the 30 points he got from beating up those thugs earlier, he now had a total of 3030 Villain Points.
He couldn't afford the red ones.
Even the purple Word Devouring [Stellaron Hunter] cost ten thousand points, which was also out of reach.
All that was left were the blue [Eloquent Speech] for 2500 points and [Sneak Attack] for 2000 points.
Sneak Attack was good for ambushing people at critical moments, but that was about it.
While Eloquent Speech was a blue Word Devouring, unlike other Word Devouring, it seemed to have no limit on uses or cooldown, similar to a passive skill.
Hmm... in terms of practicality, this seemed to have much greater use and frequency than Sneak Attack.
So, that's the one.
[Confirm exchange of blue Word Devouring [Eloquent Speech], consuming 2500 Villain Points.]
[[Eloquent Speech] has been permanently loaded onto the host's template.]
[Host Attribute Panel:]
[Name: Orion]
[Constitution: 2]
[Strength: 3]
[Agility: 3]
[Charm: 4]
[Permanently loaded Word Devouring: Word Devouring (Gold), Eloquent Speech (Blue), Rampage (Blue)]
[Remaining Villain Points: 530]
Looking at the pitiful remaining Villain Points, and his terrible physical attributes, except for charm which barely increased a bit.
Orion's mouth twitched involuntarily.
It was truly an exchange that brought him back to square one.
Only a pathetic 530 points remained; he couldn't exchange for any of the other Word Devouring.
However, successfully exchanging for two permanent Word Devouring, one gold and one blue, was not a loss this time.
Especially Word Devouring.
As long as he could keep killing, he could become stronger! A divine Word Devouring!
Next...
Now that he had Word Devouring, he was different from before. He had to quickly find a way to get some more food to fill his stomach.
Orion licked his chapped lips, leaned on the cold wall, and shakily stood up.
A cold wind blew, and the smell of blood mixed with rust and mold from the alley assailed him.
Orion frowned.
He couldn't stay here long.
But just then, one of the people on the ground got up!