My SSS-Rank Gluttony Talent: I Can Evolve Limitlessly-Chapter 40: There you are…

Another notification flashed across his eyes, and Riley smirked in satisfaction.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the secret Orc Area!]

[Completion Rating: SSS-rank]

[Rewards Granted: +20 Attribute Points, +30 Skill Points]

"SSS-rank rating..." Riley muttered, chuckling to himself in amusement.

He raised his gaze and let it sweep across the clearing.

All around him, dozens of civilian orcs remained, staring at him in terror.

He didn’t understand why they didn’t just return to their huts instead of standing around, but he didn’t care much.

It seemed like the system only registered killing the real threats in the area, like the warriors, knight and lastly, the king, as clearing the area.

As for these ones, they were nothing but fodder.

Grr!

His stomach growled again, and though it wasn’t as intense as before, the hunger was still there.

Riley flinched slightly, placing a hand over his abdomen, and then sighed.

He casted another glance at the ’civilian orcs’, and a cold thought suddenly slithered into his mind.

’I’m still hungry... maybe, I should eat them also.’

Riley’s eyes narrowed, locking on to one of them.

A young orc, looking no older than fifteen. It’s gray skin wasn’t as thick as the warriors, and its arms only had little muscles.

It was hiding behind a slightly larger orc—possibly a sibling, maybe a parent—but Riley could see its face.

Its eyes were wide with fear, and its hands melt trembling.

And when Riley met its gaze—

The orc child flinched violently, shrinking back like he’d just been stabbed.

Riley’s face twitched.

"...Tch."

He looked away, sighing softly.

"You don’t do that," he muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. "Some are still... children."

He clenched his jaw and glanced around again.

Even if he did devour them, he doubted he would get reasonable attributes or even EXP.

He’d already gotten more than enough from the knights and the king.

He might be a glutton, but he wasn’t the kind to just slaughter meaninglessly.

Still... his mouth felt dry, and he still felt the urge to consume something... anything.

Just then, another notification slid into view before him.

[Do you want to exit the secret orc area?]

[Yes / No]

Riley stared at it for a moment, then muttered, "No."

The prompt vanished without a sound.

His expression darkened slightly. His lips pressed into a thin line.

There was another reason he’d come here—one that had nothing to do with devouring orcs or collecting stats.

As if reading his mind, the system responded.

[Find the antidote to Harty’s poison and bring it back to him.]

[Reward: ???]

"Tch. That bastard," Riley scoffed, waving the message away with a flick of his hand.

The notification blinked out like dust in the wind.

’I guess it’s time.’ He thought, walking towards the large orc king’s palace in the distance, made with rocks and mud.

After a few seconds, he got in front of the massive, house built with mud and rocks, and walked into it without hesitation.

Since he had already cleared the area, there was no other threat who posed a threat to him.

But still, he didn’t drop his guard completely.

The inside of the hut was dark, some rays of light filtering in from a small window at the side.

The first thing that appeared before him was the large orc king’s throne, planted at the center of the room.

It was a monstrous seat carved crudely from stone, with skulls and other pony pieces placed as decorations around it.

Riley’s gaze only lingered on the throne for a while, before turning his gaze away.

There were other rooms in the structure—large doorways leading off the main chamber like hollowed-out tunnels.

He turned left, moving silently down the wide corridor.

His eyes scanned the walls, his mind trying to recall the vague descriptions left by the beta player in his last life.

’Something about a red potion...’ he thought, entering one of the rooms.

And then, it appeared in front of him... a long, glass vial filled with dimly glowing red potion.

It was hung on the far wall, with a leather string, and continued swaying gently as it signalling to him to pick it.

Riley’s brows twitched.

’A rare antidote... and they just left it out like this.’ He thought. ’I guess that’s expected of orcs.’

He was glad anyway, since this meant he didn’t have to waste time searching for it.

He approached slowly, plucking the potion from the string.

A tab immediately appeared above it.

[Poison Worm Antidote (Rare)]

[Completely neutralize the poisonous effect of the notorious Poison Worm monster.]

Riley scoffed.

With a flick of his wrist, he slid the potion into his storage device. It vanished with a soft shimmer.

Poison Worms. He remembered them well from his past life—grotesque creatures that slithered beneath the ground and struck with lightning speed.

Their bodies were frail, their strength unimpressive... but their venom was something else entirely.

Highly toxic, fast-acting, and almost impossible to heal from without this specific antidote.

However, they didn’t exist anywhere in the novice continent, not even in the village boss area.

Riley narrowed his eyes.

He had played dumb when Harty said he was injured by poison worms, but he knew better than anyone that the man was just lying to deceive him.

The lie would’ve worked on any other player.

In fact, Riley was sure that if it had been anyone else, they would’ve believed Harty’s little sob story about being poisoned by worms while fighting dire wolves.

He clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing.

In his past life, he had ventured outside the novice village, so he still remembered some unique monsters and where they could be found.

Poison Worms were one of them.

They were slimy, grotesque monsters above level 20, and could be found in areas such as the [Slimy crab area], which were far away from the novice continent.

Harty had definitely been poisoned out there, somewhere far from this village.

He must’ve wandered in afterward, hoping to use this as a ’safe zone’ to recover, while also finding someone who could get the antidote for him.

"Tch..." Riley’s fist clenched at his side, his glove tightening over his knuckles.

"I won’t let you succeed this time... demons."

He turned sharply, finally leaving the hut.

The still-lingering orcs, stood frozen in place, fear still painting their faces. But he ignored them.

He moved through the clearing, moving towards the weapons left behind by the red orc knights.

Riley picked up one of the blades, the hilt a bit worn, yet still glistening with sharpness.

A notification appeared above it:

[Silver Blade (Uncommon)]

[Grants +15 to Strength]

"Hmph." He gave it a glance, then the blade vanished into his storage ring with a flash.

He didn’t stop there.

Next, he turned and retrieved the massive club dropped by the king, and added it to the storage as well. One by one, he gathered the three remaining blades dropped by the elite orc knights, stashing them alongside the rest.

He tapped the ring on his finger with his thumb, a small grin creeping across his lips.

’These’ll sell for a fortune.’ He thought.

Since he was an assassin, he could properly use those weapons, but he could still sell them to the warrior-class players who would need it.

His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly snapped his gaze to the side, towards the dense forest behind the large orc king’s palace building.

’It’s time to find it... the dark crystal.’ He thought.

His fingers clenched into a fists, and then, he dashed forward.

His feet tore through the grass, barely making any sound as he dashed towards the bushes behind the orc king’s palace.

It didn’t take long.

Within a few minutes, he reached the far end of the forest.

The further the moved, the towering trees began to thin out, giving way to a more open, rocky terrain.

And then he saw it.

A massive cave mouth loomed ahead, carved into the face of a jagged hill.

It looked completely normal—if not mundane.

Rays of sunlight filtered into its entrance, revealing worn stone walls and a few scattered pebbles.

Moss clung to the sides, and small roots peeked from cracks above.

The entire place gave the impression of being nothing more than a forgotten part of the woods. Just another cave.

But Riley didn’t move forward. Not immediately.

His frown deepened. He stood still, eyes locked on the cave like he could see something within it.

He took another step.

Then another.

And then—

Crack!

The world around him trembled. A thin line split the air before him like glass breaking under pressure.

Crack!

Crack... CRACK!

Suddenly, the scenery shattered.

It was like watching a mirror implode—dozens of fractures spreading outward in all directions before the illusion broke completely.

The cave, the grass, the light itself—all twisted, melted, and distorted before his eyes.

A violent shudder pulsed through the air. And then...

Everything changed.

Where there had once been a normal cave now stood something far more sinister.

An enormous cave mouth stretched before him, easily twice the size it had appeared to be before.

The inside was pitch black—so dark it was like staring into an abyss. No light entered entered the cave, almost like the light was being absorbed by its entrance.

Dark smoke oozed slowly from the cave’s mouth, curling into the air like ink in water.

It slithered out in tendrils, seeping into the forest like a living thing.

The grasses and plants near the entrance were darkened and dried up, barely sticking out of the soil.

Even the wind had grown still, like the forest itself was holding its breath.

GROWLLL!!!

A deep growl thundered from within the cave.

The sound was deep, and echoed all across the forest.

However, Riley didn’t flinch.

Instead, he reached for his waist, and with a smooth motion, unsheathed both of his daggers.

He muttered under his breath, his tone low and cold— ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

"There you are..."