Yoo hadn't been consciously counting—Akasha Archive handled the inventory management, cataloging each absorption and integration automatically—but hearing the number stated aloud made him realize just how much he'd accumulated over ninety trials.
Thirty-two distinct powers, each one consumed from guardians or environmental hazards or conceptual entities, each one integrated into his growing patchwork of capabilities.
I'm a chimera, he thought distantly. Built from pieces of everything I've killed.
[NOW: THE-REAL-TEST.] The Devourer's wings unfurled slightly, six membranous expanses catching the Heart Chamber's light and casting shadows that seemed to have weight. [SHOW-ME: YOUR-TRUE-POWER. NOT-YOUR-TRICKS. YOUR-CORE.]
Yoo's enhanced cognition immediately began calculating—what counts as "core" power versus "tricks"?—but the answer was obvious once he stopped overthinking it.
His core wasn't any single ability.
It was Devour.
