I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-32

Ch-32 **The Glutton**

 

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“Here it comes! Here it comes!”

“Hey!”

“I took my pants off!”

“Ah, don’t do it!”

“Ugh…”

“….”

“… What? Nothing’s coming out?”

The boy, who was putting his pants back on, sighed heavily.

At that moment, Isabella, who was clutching a dagger and preparing to attack, had her expression change.

She twitched slightly, as if trying hard to suppress laughter.

But this was Necrovalley—the city of the dead.

It was incomprehensible for a young boy and girl to be in a dungeon connected to Necrovalley.

Moreover, their conversation…

**‘They mentioned a hidden camera.’**

There’s no such thing as hidden cameras in Pangenia.

Could it mean they were summoned from Earth?

That, too, was suspicious.

**‘I was supposed to be the last Summoned player. ’**

When I played Wilhelm before becoming a Player, the concurrent user count was just one.

This meant every other gamer had already been summoned as a Player.

But suddenly, new Summons appear?

**‘Could this have something to do with the collapse of Pangenia?’**

Collapse. Corruption.

The “First Fracture” that opens at 10% corruption might be connected.

“Hey! A person!”

When I revealed myself, the boy shouted.

He looked about twelve years old.

A round, chubby face suggested he hadn’t known much hardship. He wore glasses and a blue T-shirt embroidered with a cartoon elephant.

“See? I told you it’s a hidden camera!”

“What kind of person would be here…? And I don’t hear the crows.”

The girl appeared even younger.

She had her hair tied into a long braid, and her freckles stood out.

Unlike the boy, she seemed calm and composed.

“Mister, is this a hidden camera prank?”

“We’re trapped here, too.”

“Huh…?”

The boy’s eyes trembled deeply.

I wasn’t lying—right now, we needed to find a way out. If we failed, we’d end up lost here.

The dungeon connected to Necrovalley constantly shifted its layout.

The boy shrugged dramatically.

“Well, we’re doomed. These people aren’t any help.”

“Still, they’re adults. Better to rely on adults than kids like us.”

“Really?”

“Mister, and pretty lady, my name’s Jinha, and this chubby one here is Jinwoo. What are your names?”

“We’re…”

Isabella was about to answer when I raised a hand to stop her.

“When did you get here?”

Jinha pursed her lips and shook her head.

“I don’t know. Every time the crows caw, monsters show up. I lost my phone, so I have no idea how long it’s been…”

“Summoned from Earth, then?”

“Of course we’re from Earth. Mister, are you not? Are you an alien?”

Earth. Judging by their language, they were Korean.

Coincidence?

**‘Isabella’s smitten with them.’**

Her gaze was fixed on the children, clearly captivated.

Had she always liked kids this much?

“Were you summoned while playing a game?”

“Something like that.”

“Pangenia?”

“….”

“So *it* was that game’s fault! I shouldn’t have taken over that character just because this chubby kid asked me to.”

Jinha sighed.

From their conversation, it seemed they had shared a character and been summoned together.

“Either way, if we stay here, it’s over. We need to get out before the crows caw again.”

“Crows?”

“Yes. Every time they caw, monsters appear.”

Just as bears claim caves, dungeons, too, have rulers.

A dungeon’s features and quirks depend on its ruler.

To investigate freely, the dungeon’s ruler must be defeated.

“Follow me quietly.”

I started walking ahead.

—
—
—

The undead roamed the dungeon—zombies in particular.

In certain zones, they wandered aimlessly.

**‘They don’t attack unless the crows caw.’**

They weren’t hostile, merely bumping into walls and ignoring passersby.

Clearing this dungeon wouldn’t be hard, given the rules. That’s probably how the kids survived.

“Ugh, I’m hungry.”

“You ate all the chocolate bars?”

“Finished them ages ago.”

“Wait, didn’t you say you saved one, you pig?”

“Oh, right.”

The kids were chatty, as kids are. Seeing adults seemed to have eased their nerves.

Isabella gazed at them with a subtle, unreadable smile.

Come to think of it, she’d always paid attention to children—at the Golden City of Arcana, at the Knights’ Garden…

The more innocent they seemed, the longer her gaze lingered.

**Caw, caw!**

“C-Crows!”

“Eek!”

The sudden sound of cawing echoed.

Zombies began pouring in from all sides.

Terrified, the children cowered.

Shing!

But the zombies were only Level 3.

Even if there were a thousand, they were no match for Isabella.

In an instant, she decapitated five with her dagger.

**‘Her stats have increased.’**

After consuming the millennia-aged Mandrake granted by the forest spirits, Isabella’s movements were now even sharper.

As her talents blossomed, so did her stats.

Roar!

Once the zombies were defeated, a ghoul emerged.

Level 4.

Again, it posed no challenge for Isabella. Her movements were swifter and more precise than ever.

Despite the smooth progress, something felt off.

**‘The monster grouping in this dungeon is odd.’**

Typically, dungeons feature monsters of similar levels.

But here, the monsters varied widely—from Level 3 zombies to Level 4 ghouls, then a Level 6 Ghoul Knight.

Shing!

Isabella severed the Ghoul Knight’s head.

Suddenly, her body stiffened and collapsed.

Had she been careless against a Level 6 monster?

No, she wasn’t struck by the undead.

Jinha and Jinwoo.

The two children, now standing behind her, had transformed their hands into scorpion-like stingers.

Isabella’s eyes trembled violently.

Caw! Caw!

The children, their mission accomplished, began mimicking crow cries.

They had been bait from the start.

The dungeon’s ruler had placed them as lures to hunt humans.

My vision blurred.

A potent paralytic toxin coursed through my veins.

Before I could react, my body went limp.

—
—
—

**Master of the Raven Cemetery**

The giant undead crow let out a triumphant screech as it faced its lavish banquet.

“I will feast! Humans from another world! I will evolve again! Overflowing with knowledge and power!”

Isabella clenched her teeth as she glared at the creature.

Ordinary undead crows couldn’t speak.

They were also much smaller in size.

But the crow before her was different.

*“My body… it won’t move…”*

Paralyzed by an intense venom, Isabella found herself completely helpless.

She never imagined that even the children were undead.

She couldn’t comprehend how she hadn’t noticed, despite standing so close to them.

But they were nearly indistinguishable from living humans.

Their hearts beat, and there was no sign of decay.

*“This isn’t a normal undead crow.”*

Undead crows are monsters that feast on corpses and control the ones they consume.

But this crow had taken it a step further, disguising its victims as living humans, making it impossible to tell them apart.

This was no ordinary monster.

Even so, it had been a grave mistake to let her guard down.

Regardless of how innocent the children seemed, vigilance should never have faltered.

She had been caught off guard by the alien tactics of this monster, so different from those in the desert.

“I will evolve! I will feast! Evolve further!”

The crow’s eyes radiated madness.

Its massive beak could easily swallow a person whole.

The idea of such a colossal undead crow existing was utterly unprecedented.

Isabella couldn’t even twitch a finger.

The paralysis worsened the moment she locked eyes with the crow.

Not just paralysis—there was a curse intertwined, sapping her will and crushing her spirit.

Fear of death crept through her body, consuming her slowly.

There was nothing she could do but wait to be devoured.

The crow would peck out her eyes, tear into her insides, and savor its feast.

The crow opened its beak, revealing saw-like teeth. The anguished screams of countless devoured corpses echoed from within.

“Foolish humans!”

“Shut up, you cursed crow.”

—
—

At that moment, the knight king, who had been lying motionless, suddenly stood.

With calm composure, as if untouched by the paralysis or curse, he stretched his body.

Isabella’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The venom that paralyzed her completely—and the curse that compounded it—didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest.

He casually drew two swords.

*Slash!*

The crow unfurled its enormous wings.

Gusts of wind stirred as countless eyes appeared on its wings—eyes from its victims.

The hundreds of eyes amplified the curse’s effects, a display of absolute confidence that no one could withstand it.

It was certain that even if the venom didn’t work, there was no escaping its curse.

The curse of endless sleep, trapping its victim in a dream until they were consumed, grew stronger.

*Thunk!*

With the sound of thick flesh being severed, a massive chunk fell to the ground.

It was the crow’s head.

.
.
.

The undead crow couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

A human immune to poison and even the curse of illusion?

Above all, it couldn’t understand when its head had been severed. It felt as though it had fallen victim to a curse itself, unable to perceive the human’s movements.

— *A mere human!*

The impossible had happened.

It was the absolute predator.

To be killed by mere prey was a humiliation it couldn’t bear!

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The undead crow gathered all the lingering thoughts it had devoured and concentrated its curse on a single point.

The curse that spread across the entire dungeon coalesced, targeting one human with the intent to kill.

— *…It’s not working?*

But even that failed.

It was as if the human were immune to the curse itself.

*That… that’s no human. It can’t be.*

This being was entirely different from any lifeform it had ever known.

— *…!*

When its eyes met the human’s, the undead crow trembled.

It didn’t know why.

There was an inexplicable, incomprehensible curse within the human that went far beyond its understanding.

If it stayed still, it felt as though it would be devoured by that curse.

The undead crow, which once believed itself to be the true apex predator, realized the horrifying truth—it had always been the prey.

But there was nothing it could do.

*Thud!*

The undead crow’s body collapsed, and it finally met its complete demise.

—
—
—

From the beginning, something had felt off.

Why were children in the dungeon?

And why were they wandering around in modern clothing?

*‘It must have consumed their memories and recreated them based on those memories.’*

The two children were likely summoned players.

But summoned players naturally inherit bodies suited to this world. There was no way they could have brought over their clothes.

For those children, this dungeon must have been their *Main Quest 1: Survival.*

But cruelly, they hadn’t survived the quest. They became the undead crow’s prey.

*‘A level 4 monster grew to level 8.’*

Such a dramatic level increase wasn’t just growth—it was evolution.

By consuming players, the undead crow had grown stronger. Its body grew larger, and its intelligence increased. It continued luring and killing players.

As the undead crow became stronger, so did the dungeon, explaining the extreme level disparities among its monsters.

Yet, it was a cunning creature, difficult to track down.

It hid its true body and used human children—especially players, whom others would instinctively try to save—disguising them as living beings.

It was truly vile, but many had likely fallen for the ploy.

It would lull players into complacency, paralyze them with poison, and devour them alive.

*‘If I lacked observational skills, I might have been fooled too.’*

The deception was masterful, but I possessed an unparalleled talent for observation.

Even without a hidden trait, maxed-out observational skills allowed me to detect the subtle discrepancies in heartbeat tremors.

Adding other clues, I became certain.

Still, showing any sign of suspicion would have prompted the true body to hide, so I played along.

*‘Without a countermeasure, even a level 10 player would be at risk from that poison.’*

The magical poison that paralyzed Isabella was concentrated solely for incapacitation.

As the undead crow evolved, its poison grew stronger.

The crow had confidently revealed itself, believing both of us were paralyzed.

But it could never have imagined this:

> *‘The magical poison (Level 8) has been completely neutralized by the Giant’s Magic Resistance.’*

> *‘The Illusion Curse (Level 9) is dispelled by the Iron-Blood Monarch’s Heart.’*

> *‘The Moonlight Butterfly drives out the surrounding foreign energy.’*

I was its natural predator.

*‘I don’t need a countermeasure.’*

Ordinary curses and poisons could never kill me.

My hidden traits were in absolute dominance over standard traits.

And I had 13 of them.

That meant most situations resolved themselves automatically.

The undead crow was originally a boss monster hiding in the dungeon, commanding the undead.

Its true body, however, had pitifully low attack and defense.

In short, the moment I identified its true body, the battle was already over.

> *You have cleared the “Underground Dungeon of the Raven Cemetery.”*

> *The dungeon master, the undead crow, has died, and the dungeon reverts to its original form.*

The dungeon was cleared more easily than I had expected.

With the master’s death, all the undead vanished, and the ever-shifting terrain of the dungeon stabilized.

Exploration would now be far easier.

But it wasn’t over yet.

> *“The Constellation of Adventure” praises your life-risking bravery and upgrades your reward.*

> *“The Constellation of Luck” sighs in relief and grants you blessings. Your reward is further upgraded.*

> *You possess the “Dice of Fortune.”*

> *Receive rewards three tiers higher than standard.*

> *Choose two from the following four items.*

Reward time, as deserved!

*‘Oh.’*

I was momentarily impressed.

…The Constellations of the Old Kingdom had returned.

Though they disliked the Goddess’s appearance and had refused to upgrade the reward for clearing Main Quest 4, they hadn’t entirely turned away.

Two of them showing up was a relief.

I turned to the displayed rewards:

– *Shattered Piece of the Golden Rule (9h: 6+3)*

– *Core of the Evolved Undead Crow*

– *Feather of the Eye Collector*

– *Tome of Amplification*

The best treasures in this dungeon!

One in particular caught my eye.

*‘A Shattered Piece of the Golden Rule?’*

Could it be because the undead crow had devoured players?

I hadn’t expected to obtain a piece of the Golden Rule as a dungeon reward.

No need to hesitate.

*‘The Golden Rule fragment and the Tome of Amplification. Those two are the best.’*

The Golden Rule’s significance couldn’t be overstated, and the Tome of Amplification, which enhanced skill effects, would be incredibly useful.

But suddenly, one of the rewards began to glow purple.

*‘…What?’*

The Core of the Evolved Undead Crow had changed.

Thanks to the Iron-Blood Monarch’s Heart, my momentary confusion was replaced with clarity.

I quickly deduced the reason.

*‘It must be tied to one of my traits.’*

Such a change could only be triggered by a hidden trait.

I revised my choice.

> *You have chosen “Shattered Piece of the Golden Rule (9h: 6+3).”*

> *You have chosen “Core of the Evolved Undead Crow.”*

The core slowly emerged from the crow’s corpse.

But then…

*Gulp!*

“Ugh!”

…I felt an overwhelming hunger.

Looking at the core, a maddening appetite surged within me.

My stomach growled thunderously, and saliva flooded my mouth.

Even the Iron-Blood Monarch’s Heart couldn’t suppress this hunger—it wasn’t mental, but physical. My body craved it intensely.

I couldn’t resist.

At the same time:

> *The hidden trait “Glutton” has manifested.*

The hidden trait “Glutton,” which had never activated before, reacted to the core.

*‘So, I’m meant to eat it.’*

A human consuming a monster’s core.

I grabbed the core.

And then—

*Crunch!*

*Chomp, chomp!*

I devoured the core.

At that moment:

> *You have completed consumption.*

> *“Trait Evolution” has begun.*

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