Pride — a word well known as one of the seven deadly sins.
Considered the gravest of the seven sins, it's also used as a title for the pinnacle of demons.
If this name showed up in a game, it would be on a final-boss-class enemy, or the name of a powerful but cursed weapon.
Just from the sound of it, you could imagine it being a pretty shady Skill.
But the confirmed effect was incredibly appealing.
Even knowing it was a trap, there was a temptation to leap at it.
A true devil's temptation.
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. Skill 'Overeating LV6' has become 'Overeating LV7'》 Before I knew it, I'd devoured every last monkey.
I'm amazing.
Did I really eat all of those?
Well, my stamina was fully recovered at least.
Combined with the stockpiled Overeating energy, I'd accumulated a pretty hefty amount of reserves.
Come to think of it, Overeating supposedly makes you gain weight when its effect activates, but my body — was it really that fat?
Hmm.
I couldn't see my whole body, so it was hard to say, but I didn't think I looked that fat, though.
Oh, right — even after Evolution, my appearance hadn't changed.
It was the same last time, so maybe the Taratect species just doesn't change much in appearance?
Or if not that, maybe the changes happen gradually?
Hmm — I didn't really feel like any changes were happening, though.
When I looked at monkeys and great apes, they clearly looked like completely different creatures.
It was hard to imagine that was the result of gradual change.
Anyway, time to stop running from reality and think about this seriously.
The description of this Pride Skill overlapped a lot with my mysterious Skill, 'n％I＝W'.
Since they were this similar, it was hard to believe they were unrelated.
As of now, this mysterious Skill's effect was still unknown.
It wasn't working for me or against me — probably.
Thinking about it that way, there were no downsides, right?
…Jumping to easy conclusions isn't good, though.
But my mind was made up.
No — had it been made up from the start?
I had a hunch.
This Skill — I had to take it.
That was the vague premonition I felt.
Benefits and drawbacks aside, I had to acquire this Skill.
That feeling was overwhelming.
《You currently possess 200 Skill Points.
Skill 'Pride' can be acquired for 100 Skill Points.
Would you like to acquire it?》 Yes.
《Acquired 'Pride'. Remaining Skill Points: 100》 Alright.
I did it!
《Proficiency has reached a certain threshold. Skill 'Taboo LV2' has become 'Taboo LV4'》 I've done it!
《Conditions have been met. Title 'Lord of Pride' has been obtained》 《Through the effect of Title 'Lord of Pride', Skills 'Abyss Magic LV10' and 'Naraku' have been obtained》 You've done it!
O-oh.
How did it come to this?
No, no.
This can't be right!
What is this?
What is this?
Let me say that again?
What is this?
Taboo leveled up.
And by two levels at that.
I've done it!
And I got some kind of incredible Title.
Yay?
No, Abyss Magic was obviously some kind of high-tier magic, right?
And at level ten.
That's not normal, is it?
Anyway, let me check the effects of the newly added Abyss Magic and Naraku.
'Small Poison Taratect LV1 Name: None Status HP: 56/56 (Green) MP: 14/156 (Blue) SP: 54/56 (Yellow) : 56/56 (Red) Average Attack Power: 38 Average Defense Power: 38 Average Magic Power: 127 Average Resistance: 127 Average Speed: 537 Skills "HP Auto-Recovery LV3" "Poison Attack LV9" "Poison Synthesis LV3" "Spider Silk LV9" "Slashing Thread LV4" "Thread Manipulation LV8" "Throwing LV3" "Concentration LV5" "Accuracy LV4" "Evasion LV2" "Appraisal LV8" "Detection LV4" "Stealth LV6" "Naraku" "Heterodox Magic LV3" "Shadow Magic LV2" "Poison Magic LV2" "Abyss Magic LV10" "Pride" "Overeating LV7" "Dark Vision LV10" "Visual Range Expansion LV2" "Poison Resistance LV8" "Paralysis Resistance LV3" "Petrification Resistance LV3" "Acid Resistance LV4" "Corrosion Resistance LV3" "Stun Resistance LV2" "Fear Resistance LV6" "Heterodox Resistance LV2" "Pain Nullification" "Pain Reduction LV6" "Life LV2" "Magic Power LV2" "Burst LV2" "Endurance LV2" "Brute Force LV1" "Toughness LV1" "Idaten LV2" "Taboo LV4" "n％I＝W"
Skill Points: 100' Hold on.
Wait a second.
Something's wrong.
My Status is wrong.
When did my MP, magic, and resistance jump that high?
They'd gone up by 100 each compared to the numbers from before.
Why?
…Was this also Pride's effect?
Well, I mean, I wasn't going to complain about an increase.
Yeah.
Overthinking it would just be a loss.
Now then, Appraisal, Appraisal.
'Abyss Magic: The highest-tier dark magic that manipulates the abyss. Available spells differ by level. LV1: Gate of Hell LV2: Hell of Faithlessness LV3: Hell of Lust LV4: Hell of Gluttony LV5: Hell of Greed LV6: Hell of
How should I put this?
This was off-the-charts terrifying.
What was this hell series?
Manifesting the Naraku was obviously insane.
'Gate of Hell: The Gate of Beginnings' 'Hell of Faithlessness: Hell for the faithless and the indifferent' 'Hell of Lust: Hell for those steeped in lust' 'Hell of Gluttony: Hell for those who indulged in fine dining' 'Hell of Greed: Hell for those consumed by greed' 'Hell of Wrath: Hell for those overtaken by wrath' 'Hell of Heresy: Hell for those devoted to heresy' 'Hell of Tyranny: Hell for those who committed acts of tyranny' 'Hell of Deceit: Hell for those who whispered lies' 'Hell of Rebellion: Hell for those who rose up in rebellion' And what was with these Appraisal results?
The magic's effects had nothing to do with this.
Who even wrote these descriptions?
Anyway, I tried using Naraku, but it didn't produce a single response.
I felt a strange mix of disappointment and relief — a pretty ambivalent reaction.
I had forgotten to update the HP, MP, and SP Skill increases, so I've corrected them.