Reborn: Demon's Legacy by D. W. Jackson

watching the battle Ash was sure that one could do it, but not nearly as easily.
    As Ash approached the dead titan, he had to once again hold the contents of his stomach in place. From afar it had just looked as if the skin was crimson in color, but up close Ash could tell that the titan had no skin. Its body was exposed and the red color came from the blood that dried and hardened giving the creature an earie glow in the torchlight. Forcing himself, Ash reached out and absorbed the monster. When he was finished, Ash had never been so happy to see a body disappear.
    “Are you ok my lord?” Tolarea asked as she bent her waist slightly too look him in the eye. “Your face looks a little pale.”
    Wiping the blood off his hand that had been left after touching the dead monster, Ash couldn’t help but suppress a shiver than threatened to run through his spine. “These titans are just a bit off putting,” Ash replied weakly.
    “I have to agree,” Tolarea said though her face still showed no emotion. “They tend to leave the most undesirable stains on one’s clothes. I don’t understand why the gods deemed it needed to make such dirty creatures.”
    Sighing at Tolarea’s words, Ash tried to find what was left of his shattered thoughts on the elegance of women. Looking back at Tolarea once again, Ash couldn’t help but shake his head before moving on to the next fallen titan.
    “Tring.”
    [Demon absorption has reached level 4.]
    Just as he did every time it gained a level, Ash checked the description of the ability. When it changed from level one to three, there had been no change other than the number of monsters that needed to be absorbed but this time there had been. It no longer just needed 10MP to be used now it required 25MP. It wasn’t a large change, but if he used it a lot if could quickly drain him of mana.
    Since he had already absorbed an unknown number of titans, Ash couldn’t use it as a count toward how many were needed now so he could only wait until the next time. He hoped that it was a large reduction, but he highly doubted it.
    “Tring.”
    [You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strike (active), Blood Strengthening (passive).]
    “Tring.”
    [You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strike.]
    [Blood Strike- cost 40SP 20HP: a fluid strike that ignores all defense to strike directly at an opponent’s heart. Level 1-0%.]
    Ash had long since gotten used to the sight of the dead titans and gave little thought as he wiped the blood from his hand. “One more ability down,” Ash said to himself as he moved to the next downed monster. As he absorbed the dead titan Ash kept count; one, two, five, nine, thirteen, seventeen, then twenty.
    “Tring.”
    [You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strengthening (passive).]
    “Tring.”
    [You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strengthening.]
    “Tring.”
    [You have received a new stat: Hardness.]
    [Blood Strengthening- cost 10 vitality: gain 1 point in hardness. Level 1-0%.]
    10 points for one. It seemed absurd to Ash, but that would depend on what the stat did. Not rushing too fast, Ash checked the description of his new stat. When he looked, Ash was surprised to find that he already had one point in his new stat.
    [Harness- strengthens the bones.]
    Bones were already hard, but they still broke under enough stress and while strength made his muscles stronger, he knew it did nothing for the rest of his body. Endurance had a little to do with strengthening the rest, but how much effect it had Ash didn’t know since it was hard to gage. Still unsure about the new stat, Ash could only resign himself to ignore it for now until he had a chance to ask the sage about it.
    Other than his new ability, it seemed that when demon absorption leveled up it reduced the needed number of creatures by ten again. He had half feared that it would only be reduced by one.